Darwish, the son of a Jewish jeweler, devoted his life to working class issues. He, together with veteran lawyer Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly, led a split from the underground Egyptian Communist Party (ECP) in the late 1980s, protesting Ref3at el-Sa3eed’s authoritarian command over the organization. Darwish and Hilaly formed a faction inside the ECP around 1984, denouncing el-Sa3eed’s revisionist views on Mubarak’s regime and the state of Egyptian capitalism. El-Sa3eed then claimed there were divisions within the regime, between the institution of the presidency, which he claimed represented the “progressives” (sic), and other institutions like the interior ministry, etc. El-Sa3eed also claimed there was a difference between “parasitic” capitalism and “patriotic” capitalism. The job of the Communists, he stated, was to support the latter against the former.
The two veteran activists also opposed el-Sa3eed’s drive to merge the ECP with the licensed Tagamu3 Party. They were careful to outline the limits of “legalism� in the Egyptian context, and the necessitiy for the Egyptian working class to organize itself independently in a revolutionary party.
The faction finally split from the ECP sometime between 1987 and 1989, forming the People’s Socialist Party (PSP), which maintained presence in Ain Shams University, Cairo University and some industrial centers.
There was also a debate within the left then on the position towards the rising Islamist giant. El-Sa3eed’s line on Islamism regarded the Muslim militant groups as “fascists,” who should be repressed by the government at any cost. Thus, during the 1990s, the Egyptian Communist Party foolishly allied itself with Mubarak’s regime in his “war on Islamic fascists.”
Darwish and Helaly, refused allying themselves with Mubarak. For sometime before the outbreak of the Islamist insurgency in 1992, there were conflicting views within the PSP towards the Islamists. Some inside the PSP, regarded militant Islam as an “armed movement of the oppressed,” that should be supported. Hilaly reportedly subscribed briefly to that view. Darwish did not support this view, but neither held the Islamists as fascists. A raproachment happened between the PSP and the Trotskyte-leaning Revolutionary Socialists in the 1990s. Darwish and Helaly expressed sympathy to Trotsky’s theory of the “Permenant Revolution,” which stands opposite to the Stalinist legacy Egyptian communism was also trapped in. Still, Darwish was more cautious when it came to alliances with Islamists. He remained hesitant to adopted the RS’s position which states that “Socialists should be sometimes with the Islamists, but never with the state.” That stand produced interesting scenes last year, with a National Alliance declared between the Muslim Brothers and the Trotskytes. It was interesting to see unveiled Socialist women activists waving red flags, together with bearded Brothers in the same demo.
Darwish enjoyed a saint-like place among the hearts of leftists and activists from all political shades.
He will be missed.
Both Darwish and Roza were people i was highly looking forward to meeting in the summer as part of a research project on student/youth movements in Egypt over different periods of time. My thoughts on reading more about them, were focused on how important it was to document such experiences, to preserve them, and truly learn from them.
Most importantly i think we need to really focus on building on their work, or picking up what they left off..
Hopefully we’ll eventually give meaning to what they spent their lives working towards.. or who or what they spent their lives working for.
God bless them both, we Allah yer7amhom..
Sorry, the last comment mistakenly got sent before I finished:
The challenge, however, is to find a new language, new organizational forms, and new alliances appropriate to the current situation.
It seems the first part of my comment got lost altogether, so:
The passing of Youssef Darwish is agreat personal loss to me. He was a long-time friend and confidant. His passing along with that of Mohamed Sid-Ahmed a few months ago mark th4e end of an era. From the 1940s to the 1960s the Egyptian left tried to link anti-imperialism and the struggle for social justice in a cosmopolitan and internatonalist framework.
That struggle was renewed by the new left of the early 1970s, in which Amed Abdalla played such a major role. His passing, too marks the end of an era.
Some of his comrades remain politically active. Their historic and current contributions to the struggles for democracy, human rights, and social justice must be acknowledged.
Then to comment above
Further thoughts about Youssef Darwish and Ahmed Abdalla
Youssef Darwish and Ahmed Abdalla passed away within days of each other. They were both major historic figures of the Egyptian left. In some ways they were very different from each other. But ultimately they shared the most important thing – a commitment to working closely with Egypt’s working people in their struggles for social justice and equity.
Darwish became a Marxist and an orthodox communist while studying law in France during the 1930s. His political trajectory when he returned to Egypt was inevitably influenced by the heyday of Stalinism, including an unyielding conception of class struggle and a unified international communist movement. Despite this commitment to a rigid ideological framework, Darwish was one of the most successful of all the Egyptian communist intellectuals in forming deep and lasting bonds with important elements of the industrial working class. As a labor lawyer from the late 1930s to the 1950s he represented many trade unions in the textile producing region of Shubra al-Khayma and the surrounding area. Darwish’s relationship with the trade unionists he represented was very close, both physically and personally. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty. Over the course of the two decades of our personal friendship, I met several former trade union leaders in his home, decades after he ceased to be active in this arena. It was clear that they retained deep bonds of respect and affection for him.
Darwish was one of the few communists of his generation who opposed the dissolution of the two Egyptian communist parties in 1965. While he acknowledged the anti-imperialist achievements of the regime of Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasir, he believed until the day of his death that the Egyptian working class needed its own political party. He was active in the reformation of the Communist Party of Egypt and during the 1970s and 1980s served as the party’s representative to the Cominform in Prague. Among the most important contributions of his later years was his role as a supporter and advisor of the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services under the leadership of Kamal Abbas, a former steel worker who was fired for leading wildcat strikes at the Iron and Steel Company in the mid-1980s.
When Darwish came to the conclusion that the Communist Party conciliated too much with the regime of Husni Mubarak he led a split that resulted in the formation of the People’s Socialist Party. However one judges the political efficacy of this action, it is testimony to a lifelong commitment to revolutionary struggle, not merely on behalf of, but most importantly alongside, the Egyptian working class.
Ahmed Abdalla is a political being of a different time and temperment. He was shaped by the global new left of the 1960s and early 1970s, which rejected both anti-communism and pro-Soviet orthodoxy. His main field of struggle, as was the case for much of the new left, was the university campus. He was a brilliant and successful leader, ultimately forcing President Anwar al-Sadat to acknowledge him, even if only to proclaim that he would not negotiate with Rozza (Ahmed’s nickname). Like Yousef Darwish, Abdalla spent much of the 1970s and 1980s in political exile. The chief product of this period is an important scholarly book, the first of many he wrote, The Student Movement and National Politics in Egypt, 1923-1973 (London al-Saqi, 1985). The title indicates the new left’s openness to the radical potential of strata other than the traditional working class.
Some years after Abdalla returned to Egypt, he established Markaz al-Jeel, a center for impoverished children in ‘Ein al-Sira. Whenever I visited Egypt he urged me to visit him, not at home, but at the center so that I could be reminded concretely and in the flesh of the conditions of the majority of the Egyptian people. Many taxi drivers were more than a little surprised that a foreighner wanted to go to such a place. Ahmed believed that educating the children he worked with to be curious, critical, and broad-minded was the most important socially transformative activity one could do in Egypt. I remember one conversation at the center with a twelve year old girl about the difference between Zionism and Judaism. She had more sophistication on the subject than many journalists three times her age – a testament to Ahmed’s success as an educator.
Youssef Darwish and Ahmed Abdalla, each in their own way, were different than most of Egypt’s leftist intelligentsia. Neither of them came from a wealthy background. Their political differences are minor compared to their deeep commitment to working at the grass roots and on the basis of equality with the people in whose name and for whose causes they struggled.
Thanks A LOT Joel for sharing this brief, yet excellent, account of the lives and views of the two activists. Their departure is a great loss for the Egyptian left, and for Egypt.
Many thanks, Joel. Readers might be interested to know that Prof. Joel Beinin is a leading historian of the Egyptian left, having written among other works the now classic “Workers on the Nile.”
He was a great man and a trow beliver i saw him once when he was celebrating his 90 th aniverseray ,he was wearing a red T-Shirt with the pic. of Che Givara on it .Lei in Peace ,one of the last of the moekans .
[…] Veteran Marxist activist and lawyer, Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly this morning in El-Salam Hospital, only 11 days after his life-long friend and comrade, Youssef Darwish passed away. […]
[…] Around 300 activists demonstrated Tuesday evening in front of the press syndicate, calling for the release of the pro-democracy detainees. The demonstrators included several of the recently released detainees, who showed up dressed in the white prison costumes they wore in Tora. The scene was beautiful. Released activists who haven’t seen one another since they got out of prison were hugging, and in tears. Others were recalling their prison stories, and exchanging jokes and laughters. Veteran socialist Kamal Khalil, and his colleagues Wael Khalil and Ibrahim el-Sahary got the lionshare of hugs and kisses. They led the demonstrators, in chants against Mubarak, and against State Security police. Central Security Forces surrounded the syndicate. The usual support brigades of baton-wielding plainclothes thugs were also present, together with few officers from State Security’s CounterCommunism’s Bureau. However, no hassels were witnessed, and one could get into the syndicate easily. The one-hour protest was followed by a conference inside the syndicate, organized by the Liberties’ Committee. Several detainees took the poduim, and shared their experiences with their supporters. Kamal Khalil denounced any talks between the opposition and Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, called for the release of Dr. Ayman Nour, Sharqawi, Sha3er, and the 700+ Muslim Brothers detainees. Kamal also condemned the US support for Mubarak and Israel, affirming that the movement for change in Egypt sees their democracy cause to be organically linked to other regional causes, most importantly Palestine and Iraq. Kamal also expressed his sorrow for the loss of his mentors and colleagues, Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly, Youssef Darwish and Ahmad Rozza, who passed away while he was in prison. “Rest in peace,” he said to his lost comrades. “The socialist movement has been revived. The Communists in Egypt are only getting stronger day by day. You taught us a lot, and we will not fail you.” I went out later with 3alaa, Manal, and Malek to a friend’s place where we were supposed to party. Unfortunately, after two hours of laughter, we were showered with SMSs about the Israeli invasion of Gaza. We lost the mood for partying, and decided to go home and follow the news. Israeli tanks, as I write now, are rolling into north and south of the strip. Israeli F-16s have bombed two bridges in Gaza’s central zone. Gaza is now in darkness as Israeli jets shelled the only electric power station Gaza has. […]
[…] MONDAY, JULY 3 Kefaya and socialists are meeting with labor activists to strategize for the August national labor union elections, 7pm, at the Center for Socialist Studies. TUESDAY, JULY 4 Kefaya is holding a press conference, 12 noon, publicizing the findings of its report on Corruption in Egypt. The detailed report is the product of months of work by a group of the movement’s youth, academics and economists. The conference will be held at the Egyptian Center for Studies, building #15, 26th of July Street, behind Grand Hotel in Ramsis. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 The Press Syndicate’s Liberties’ Committee has called for a demonstration in front of the Arab League HQ, 12 noon, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. FRIDAY, JULY 7 A group of bloggers have called for a demo in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, 3pm, following the Friday prayers, to protest the Israeli military operations in Gaza. The meeting point would be in front of Nahdet Masr’s statue. For more information click here. MONDAY, JULY 10 A Memorial will be held for Egypt’s two “Communist Saints,” Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly and Youssef Darwish, 7pm at the Press Syndicate. FRIDAY, JULY 14 A memorial will be held for Ahmad 3abdallah Rozza, the 1970s legendary student activist, 7pm at the Press Syndicate. TUESDAY, JULY 18 The Center for Socialist Studies is organizing a lecture, 7pm, titled, The Palestinian Divisions: New pressures on Hamas. Speakers include: Dr. Hassan Naf3a, Political Science prof at Cairo University, together with one of the center’s members. TUESDAY, JULY 25 The Center for Socialist Studies is organizing a discussion on, The Ya3qoubian Building… An insight into Mubarak’s Egypt. Participants will include, Judge Noha el-Zeini, the novel’s author 3alaa el-Aswani, and Khaled el-Sawi, movie star and member of Artists for Change. […]
Thanks Joel. WE Egyptians are proud of Mr Darwish the great Egyptian Jew.God bless his soul