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Young Egypt Party (1933)

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Young Egypt Party
حزب مصر الفتاة
ChairpersonAhmed Hussein
FoundedOctober 1933(1933-10)(as organization)
1936 (as political party)
Dissolved1953(1953)
Preceded byMashrue al-Qarsh
Succeeded byNationalist Islamic Party
HeadquartersCairo
NewspaperAl-Sha'ab
Paramilitary wingGreen Shirts
IdeologyFascism[1][2]
Egyptianultranationalism[3]
Agrarianism
Anti-colonialism
Anti-capitalism
Anticommunism
Antisemitism
Anti-Masonry
ColoursGreen
Anthem"To you Egypt, I'll give my Youth"
Arabic:لك يا مصر شبابي
Party flag

TheYoung Egypt Party(Arabic:حزب مصر الفتاة,Masr El-Fatah) also known as theGreen Shirts(Arabic:القمصان الخضراء,el-Komsan el-Khadra) was a fascist[4]Egyptiannationalistpolitical party.It is notable for counting a youngAnwar Sadatas a member.

Historical Context

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Map showing the Kingdom of Egypt

Egypt in the 19th century had undergone massive modernization andWesternization,including the construction of theSuez Canal.[5]The EgyptianKhediveIsmail Pashawent so far as to say, "My country is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe."[6]However, Egypt accumulated unpayable amount of debt to European creditors, eventually having to create theCaisse de la Dette Publique( "Public Debt Commission" )to supervise payments. The growing political influence of the commission angeredAhmed Urabi,an Egyptian officer, who led an uprising against the government. It was during the revolt that the famous nationalist phrase "Egypt for the Egyptians!" was coined.[7]After Egypt's defeat in the1882 Anglo-Egyptian War,Britain would govern Egypt as a "veiled protectorate",with British officials likeEvelyn Baringbeing the de facto ruler of Egypt.[8]

King Fouad I of Egyptwith Prime MinisterMostafa el-Nahasduring a horse race in 1931

During this time, the Egyptian state was morphed into a de facto British colony. Foreigners in Egypt were not subject to Egyptian law, but a separate legal system called theCapitulations.[9][10]During this time, a new generation of Egyptian nationalists, such asMuhammad FaridandMustafa Kamil,organized the new liberal nationalist movement in Egypt. A new generation of variably-educated modern Egyptian nationalists, called theeffendi,became emerged as the new social class to march Egypt in the modern world.[11]During the1919 Egyptian revolution,Egyptian nationalists formed theWafd Party,a liberal nationalist party that dominated post-1923 constitutionKingdom of Egypt.[12][13]Major cities likeAlexandriaandCairoexperienced a major explosion in progressive art and values.[14]Art decos, dancers, movies and nightclubs were established.[15]Women activists likeRose al Yusuf,Safiya Zaghloul,Nabawiyya Musa,Saiza NabarawiandDoria Shafikfought for women's rights in the socially conservative environment of Egypt. As an example, theEgyptian Feminist Unionwas founded byHuda Sha'arawiin 1923.[16]Alexanderia and Cairo had large populations of French, Greeks and Italians who contributed to the cosmopolitan atmosphere and culture of the big cities.[17]

However, the new constitution did not turn Egypt into a completely independent nation. TheUnilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independencegave Britain several special legal rights in Egypt, including the right to station troops in Egypt, the right to govern the Sudan, and the right to the Suez Canal. Britain was still the real power behind the throne. Politically, Egypt was divided between the conservative palace led by the king and his allies and the liberal nationalists led by the Wafd and their allies, with the British acting as the tie breaker. Political parties at the time were not organizations separated by ideology, but political cliques set run by members of the political elite.[18][19]As the Egyptian writerTawfiq al-Hakim,said:

"In Egypt there is no party in the true sense of the word, a party as the word is understood and used in genuine democratic regimes. Rather, in Egypt there are separatist factions called parties. None of these factions has a goal other than dividing up the seats in parliament, obtaining government office, and managing election campaigns through passing out ballots. But as for any program, none of them. even thinks about it!"[20]

The situation in the early 1930s

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The1929 Great Depressionrevealed the stark economic disparities between the peasants, the majority underbelly of Egyptian society, and the well-off land-owning elite, motivating social unrest in Egypt.[21]

Protesters demanding the retraction of the Constitution of 1930

In 1930, prime ministerIsmail Sidqiformed his cabinet. His first major change was the creation ofa new constitution,which granted the executive - the King - more powers over the democratically elected parliament. The king had the sole power to propose financial bills, had the power to appoint three-fifths - the majority - of theSenate,and had the power to appoint the leaders of major religious institutions such as theShiekh of al-Azhar,while the parliament was weaken, such as the lowering of a minimum of parliamentary session to five months instead of six, and the requiring of an absolute majority for ten days for ano-confidence voteto be passed.[22]Opponents of Sidqi, the WafdistMustofa el-Nahhasand the Liberal ConstitutionalistMuhammed Mahmud,were vehemently opposed to the new constitution, organizing protests against this move. The British backed the 1930 constitution, believing that the re-instatement of the 1923 constitution would bring the Wafd back into power. During the1935-36 protests in Egypt,the opposition agreed to enter negotiations with Britain, specifically regarding the lack of an Egyptian military, British troop presence, and the Mixed Courts. On the 12th of December 1935, the new government ledt byMohammed Nasimreinstated the 1923 Constitution.[23]

It was during this time in the early 1930s that the local youth leaders organized nationalist outbursts against foreign domination. Local Wafdists demanded the boycott of British good and the encouragement of local industry. On March 3, 1931, a manifesto was published arguing for local industrialists to product Egyptian made products. In 1930,Salama Musaformed the "Society of the Egyptians for Egypt", urging Egyptians to buy Egyptian made products for a re-awakening of the nation's economic consciousness.[24]

History of the Party

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Beginning of the Party

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Poster about the Egyptian Fez Factory Project

In late 1931, a committee of students headed byAhmad Husseinformed the Piastre Plan, which was a drive to raise funds for developing Egyptian industry, using the funds to establish a localfezfactory.[25][26]This was after discovering that the famous Egyptian headdress was produced in a foreign country. Hussein had been a supporter of the Liberal Constitutionalists leader Muhammed Mahmud during his last year in secondary school.[27]One of the principles of the party was buying only Egyptian-made products.[28]The party was formed on the 12th of October, 1933 as a nationalist party with "religious elements" by Ahmed Hussein. Its aim was the pursue a more nationalist anti-British policy than the established Egyptian parties. Its name was similar to the nationalistYoung ItalyandYoung Turksparties.[29]Young Egypt emerged as a student organization that existed outside of the control of the traditional Egyptian parties.[30]

Ahmed Hussein during the inauguration of Young Egypt in 1933.

Involvement in Egyptian politics

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On the 5th of December 1935, the party founders Ahmed Hussein and Fathi Radwan left Egypt for Great Britain, where they met with British politicians, spreading the message of Egypt's case against Great Britain, later returning to Egypt as heroes.[31]Young Egypt played a major role in the1935-36 Egyptian protests.[26]It was during this time that future Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser joined these protests, though whether he was a formal member is debated among historians.[32][33]Members mostly engaged in street demonstrations, with the most committed wearing a green shirt, the party uniform.[34][35]

The paper - Al-Sarkha - would publish letters to officials and collect signatures in petitions for publicity. In late 1933 Hussein sent an open letter to the British Prime Minister demanding the complete independence of Egypt and the removal of British troops from Egypt and the Sudan; in 1934 Young Egypt collected signatures for a petition to the king demanding the abolition of the Capitulation system and the Mixed Courts of Egypt.[36]

Green Shirts of Young Egypt party, including future Egyptian presidentGamal Abdel Nasser,in the 1930s.

One of the main issues of the time was the exact relationship between Egypt and Britain, especially regarding the Mixed Courts, the Suez Canal and the stationing of British troops in Egypt. The nationalist slogan had long been "No Negotiation Except After Evacuation!", so when the Wafd agreed to seek a compromise with Britain, Hussein wrote "There is no way for us to achieve all except by means of force, physical force".[37]Young Egypt opposed theAnglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936,because it allowed British troops to be stationed in Egypt for 20 years, in effect legitimizing British domination over Egypt.[38][39]During theMontreux negotiations of 1937 for the abolition of the capitulatory system in Egypt,Hussein wrote:

"If he [Nahas] had a spark of patriotism, he would prefer to remain in his own house, strong, and to invite the foreigners to come to him. The Capitulations must be abolished. The Mixed Courts must be abolished. But their abolition should occur in Egypt, not inSwitzerland,because Egypt is the competent authority, the deciding element, the master in its own house. "[40]

Blue Shirts. Mohammed Bilal and Mustafa al-Nahas (Wafd party).
Muhummad Bilal and the Wafd's Blue Shirts.
Blue Shirts (Wafd party) Abdeen Palace Parade 1936.

TheWafd Party,the mainstream liberal party, viewed Young Egypt with suspicion, believing it to be controlled opposition sponsored by the king. After the Wafd's victory in the1936 elections,the Wafdist leaderMostafa el-Nahasaccused Young Egypt with collaborating with a foreign power, implying Italy.[41]This incited a series of street battles between the Green Shirts and the Blue Shirts - the Wafdist youth branch.[42]Frequent clashes took place between the Green Shirts of Young Egypt and the Blue Shirts of the Wafd, culminating in the unsuccessful attempt on the life of el-Nahas by a member of Young Egypt on November 28, 1937.[43][44]While there are similarities between the Green Shirts and the fascist paramilitaries of the ItalianBlack Shirtsand NaziBrown Shirts,a key distinction is that Young Egypt's fighters were college students fighting with clubs and bricks - not demobilized, brutally experienced and disillusioned World War One veterans.[45][46]These "shirt" organizations would participate in marches and street brawls. After numerous incidents of violence between militant students, paramilitary organizations were banned in March 1938.[47]

Despite being formally founded as a party in 1936, Young Egypt never sent representatives to the Egyptian parliament. Until its wartime ban in 1941, the only parliamentary election it could have participated in was in 1938, however none of its members met the minimum age of 30 to run for office.[48]Young Egypt claimed to have almost 2,000 members, though the historian James Jankowski claims that the true number was around one thousand at its peak.[49]It was around this time that Young Egypt began to decline, due to the Wafdist government ordering crackdowns such as preventing meetings and issues fines and arrests for members, ironically under the government ofMuhammed Mahmud Pasha,whom Hussein was a supporter of before founding Young Egypt.[50]

Al-Ishtrakeyia Journal (Young Egypt party).

The group was renamed theNationalist Islamic Partyin 1940, when it took on a more religious, as well as anti-British tone. After the war it was renamed yet again, now theSocialist Party of Egypt.The group's one electoral success came when it sentIbrahim Shukri,its vice-president, toparliamentin 1951. However, it was disbanded, along with all other parties, in 1953 following the1952 coup d'état.[51]

After political parties were allowed again in Egypt,Ibrahim Shoukryformed a group, theSocialist Labor Partyin 1978, which despite its name look much like the social nationalistic ideology of Young Egypt. It consists of members from different economic and social levels.

Ideology

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Young Egypt espoused the most extreme Egyptian nationalism at the time, going further than any of the existing party. It believed in the complete rejection of foreign influence. One of its Ten Principles was to "cling steadfastly to your nationality, making it an obsession."[52]Ahmed Hussein saw in his vision of Egypt a country that has only been recently held back by foreigners, and Egypt should instead return to its former glory, saying:

"I will tell you, gentlemen, a reality which I discovered in Europe. It is that most of its peoples are close to the primitive, primal stages of life. The only thing responsible for their progress in life is the great amount of learning which they receive all over Europe. Their knowledge, their character, their virtues, their peculiarities - all of these have been acquired by striving and only by that. This means that if you strip from them this learning and this knowledge which they have won through striving and study, you will find Europeans close to the barbarism of prehistoric times."[53]

Hussein believed that while Europe had abandoned religion for "godless, materialist principles", modern Egypt's religious culture made it superior.[54]This is in stark contrast to the Wafd, who were secularists. Young Egypt railed against foreign-owned factories, "anti-Islamic" entertainment, gambling, cinemas and alcohol.[55]Young Egypt combined the religious values of the Egyptian urban worker with the nationalist values of the modern Egyptian student.

References

[edit]
  1. ^Laqueur, Walter (18 March 2011)."Age Against the Machine".The New Republic.
  2. ^"Fascism in Interwar Egypt: Islam, Nationalism and Political Modernization".28 January 2015.
  3. ^Gershoni & Jankowski 2010,The Young Egypt Movement: An Egyptian Version of Fascism?.
  4. ^"NASR: PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE (SUMMARY ANALYSIS OF SPEECHES OF NASR AND HIS LIEUTENANTS)"(PDF).cia.gov/readingroom.Archived(PDF)from the original on 1 September 2023.
  5. ^Hunter, Frederick R. (1999).Egypt under the Khedives, 1805 - 1879: from household government to modern bureaucracy(1. publ ed.). Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.ISBN978-977-424-544-2.
  6. ^Scham, Sandra A. (2013)."The Making and Unmaking of European Cairo".Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies.1(4): 313–318.ISSN2166-3556.
  7. ^Schölch, Alexander (1981).Egypt for the Egyptians! the socio-political crisis in Egypt, 1878-1882.St. Antony's Middle East monographs. London: Published for the Middle East Centre, St. Antony's College, Oxford [by] Ithaca Press. p. 126.ISBN978-0-903729-82-6.
  8. ^"Veiled Protectorate | historical territory, Egypt | Britannica".britannica.Retrieved6 September2023.
  9. ^Booth, Marilyn; Gorman, Anthony (2014).The long 1890s in Egypt: colonial quiescence, subterranean resistance.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 41.ISBN978-0-7486-7012-3.Whether in life or death, British and European nationals were subject to a legal system separate from that of indigenous Egyptians. The Capitulations, the Consular Court system and the subsequent (and coinciding) Mixed Courts system (after 1876) fostered an environment in which 'foreign' nationals were not necessarily subject to Egyptian law. "
  10. ^Brown, Nathan J. (1993)."The Precarious Life and Slow Death of the Mixed Courts of Egypt".International Journal of Middle East Studies.25(1): 33–52.ISSN0020-7438.
  11. ^Ryzova, Lucie (2014).The age of the efendiyya: passages to modernity in national-colonial Egypt.Oxford historical monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-968177-8.
  12. ^Terry, Janice J. (1982).The Wafd 1919-1952, a cornerstone of Egyptian political power.Third World Centre for Research and Publication, London (1st ed.). London: Third World Centre for Research and Publication.ISBN978-0-86199-000-9.
  13. ^Ramdani, Nabila (2016).The rise of the Egyptian nationalist movement: the case of the 1919 Revolution(mphil thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science.
  14. ^Cormack, Raphael (2021).Midnight in Cairo: the divas of Egypt's roaring 20s.New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.ISBN978-0-393-54113-7.
  15. ^"A look back at Egypt's roaring '20s".Enterprise.Retrieved24 September2023.
  16. ^Sullivan, Earl L. (1986).Women in Egyptian public life.Contemporary issues in the Middle East. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press.ISBN978-0-8156-2354-0.
  17. ^Abdulhaq, Najat (2016).Jewish and Greek communities in Egypt: entrepreneurship and business before Nasser.Library of Middle East history. London (GB): I.B. Tauris.ISBN978-1-78453-251-2.
  18. ^Botman, Selma (1991).Egypt from independence to revolution, 1919-1952.Contemporary issues in the Middle East. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press.ISBN978-0-8156-2530-8.The political parties that stood as rivals of the Wafd were often called minority parties, since they customarily had little support among the people and were essentially founded as vehicles through which leading politicians could be elected to Parliament. Often little more than splinter groups of the Wafd, they were characteristically set up in response to the Wafd after important members were expelled or chose to leave because of personal or ideological conflicts.
  19. ^Gorman, Anthony (2003). "The Mutamassirun".Historians, state and politics in twentieth century Egypt: contesting the nation.London New York: RoutledgeCurzon, Taylor & Francis Group.ISBN978-0-415-29753-0.
  20. ^Jankowski & Gershoni 1995,p. 4-5.
  21. ^Deeb 1979,p. 221-237.
  22. ^Deeb 1979,pp. 241–242.
  23. ^Deeb 1979,pp. 221–237.
  24. ^Deeb 1979,p. 260-262.
  25. ^Jankowski 1975,pp. 11–12.
  26. ^abAbdalla 1985,p. 52.
  27. ^Jankowski 1975,pp. 9–10.
  28. ^Jankowski & Gershoni 1995,pp. 18–19 "One of the Ten Principles drafted for the guidance of Young Egypt's followers in 1933 called on them" 'to buy only from Egyptians, to wear only what is made in Egypt, and to eat only Egyptian foods "; another instructed them" 'to scorn anything which is foreign, each one of you, and to cling steadfastly to your nationality, making it an obsession. "'"
  29. ^""مصر الفتاة": الوطنية بثوبها الاستبدادي ".hafryat(in Arabic).Retrieved22 January2022.
  30. ^Abdalla 1985,p. 44.
  31. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 22.
  32. ^Gordon, Joel (2006).Nasser: hero of the Arab nation.Makers of the Muslim world. Oxford: Oneworld Publ. p. 16.ISBN978-1-85168-411-3.There is no indication that he joined the ranks of the green shirts, the mujahidin (fighters), but he may well have attended Young Egypt rallies, read the movement's publications and contributed a few coins to its "piaster plan" to help finance local industrial projects.
  33. ^Aburish, Saïd K. (2004).Nasser: the last Arab(1st ed.). New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press. p. 22.ISBN978-0-312-28683-5.Whether or not he joined the party cannot be verified and is not important except to denote a restless state of mind. There isn't even a hint that he ever acted on orders from the party, nor was its fiery leader, the uneducated rabble-rouser Ahmed Hussein, his type of man.
  34. ^Jankowski 1975,pp. 17–21.
  35. ^Jankowski 1970,p. 77-95.
  36. ^Jankowski 1967,p. 33.
  37. ^Jankowski 1967,p. 48.
  38. ^Jankowski 1967,p. 110.
  39. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 20.
  40. ^Jankowski 1975,pp. 50–51.
  41. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 24.
  42. ^Jankowski 1970.
  43. ^Deeb 1979,p. 376.
  44. ^Jankowski 1967,p. 134.
  45. ^Gershoni & Jankowski 2010,p. 239 "Largely composed of enthusiastic high school and college students devoid of either previous military experience or lethal armament, the marches and demonstrations conducted by Young Egypt’s Green Shirts were a pale shadow of the urban disruption and savaging of opponents wrought by the militants of contemporary European fascist movements. Compared to the systematic violence and brutality practiced by Fascist squadristi or by the SA paramilitary auxiliary of the Nazis, Young Egypt was playacting at paramilitarism.".
  46. ^Jankowski 1970,p. 84 "By contemporary American standards of urban violence, the armament employed by both groups of militant youth was minimal; clubs and infrequently knives as hand-weapons, with bricks and stones as missiles. Loss of life was infrequent, but bruises abundant."
  47. ^Jankowski 1970,p. 81.
  48. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 28.
  49. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 31 "In June 1937 the party claimed a membership of 1536 mujahids in Cairo alone, 384 in Alexandria," approximately the same number "in Lower Egypt, and gave no membership figures for Upper Egypt. Interviews with former party leaders indicate that these claims were inflated, the estimates of those leaders pointing to a core membership of perhaps one thousand dues-paying activists at the movement's peak in 1937-1938. Ahmad Husayn calculated that a figure of 500 active members for Cairo (always the heart of the movement)" would be exaggerated. "Fathi Radwan's recollection was that the movement's active membership in the 1930's" never exceeded one thousand in all Egypt in any one year. "A former journalist for Jaridah Misr al-Fatah gave the following estimates for the movement at its peak;" not more than 300 members "in Cairo, perhaps another 200 in Alexandria, with the size of provincial branches varying widely."
  50. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 41-43.
  51. ^"Military seizes power in Egypt".
  52. ^Jankowski & Gershoni 1995,p. 69.
  53. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 51-52.
  54. ^Jankowski 1975,p. 49.
  55. ^Jankowski 1967,p. 34.

Sources

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  • Gershoni, Israel; Jankowski, James (2010). "The Young Egypt Movement: An Egyptian Version of Fascism?".Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship Versus Democracy in the 1930s.Stanford University Press.ISBN978-0-8047-6343-1.
  • Jankowski, James; Gershoni, Israel (1995).Redefining the Egyptian nation, 1930-1945.Cambridge Middle East Studies.ISBN9780521475358.
  • Abdalla, Ahmed (1985).The Student Movement and national politics in Egypt: 1923-1973.London: Al Saqi books. London: Al Saqi Books.ISBN9780863561177.
  • Jankowski, James P. (1975).Egypt's Young Rebels: "Young Egypt": 1933-1952.Hoover Institution Press.ISBN9780817914516.
  • Jankowski, James P. (1970)."The Egyptian Blue Shirts and the Egyptian Wafd, 1935-1938".Middle Eastern Studies.6:77–95 – via JSTOR.
  • Deeb, Marius (1979).Party Politics in Egypt: the Wafd & its rivals 1919-1939.Ithaca Press 13 Southwark Street London SE 1: The Middle East Centre St Antony’s College Oxford.ISBN9780903729406.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location (link)
  • Jankowski, James P. (1967).The Young Egypt party and Egyptian nationalism, 1933–1945(Thesis).OCLC9355034.ProQuest302267635.

Further reading

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  • Tachau, Frank (1994).Political Parties of the Middle East and North Africa(1st ed.). Greenwood.ISBN978-0313266492.
  • Vatikiotis, P.J. (1978).Nasser and his Generation.Billing & Sons Ltd, Guildford, London and Worcester.ISBN9780856644337.
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