Iskra (Egyptian communist organisation)

Iskra (Arabic: الشرارة, ash-Sharara) was a communist organization in Egypt. Iskra was founded in 1942 by Hillel Schwartz.[1] In the initial phase of its existence, the membership of Iskra was a small group of less than 100.[2]

The followers of Iskra were, like the supporters of other Egyptian communist factions, active inside the Wafdist Vanguard (see Wafd).[2] Iskra emphazised studies of Marxist theory and its application in Egyptian society.[3] Iskra's approach was that the first task of the communists was to build a base among revolutionary intellectuals, and that mass mobilisation would follow at a later stage.[2]

In 1944 Iskra established a study centre, Dar al-abahth al-'ilmiya (دار الأبحاث العلمية, House of Scientific Research). The centre published literature and gave classes on communist thought.[3] Iskra was one of the forces behind the foundation of the National People's University in 1945, an institution that provided courses in politics and social sciences for labour activists.[3]

In February 1946, Iskra was one of the groups that organised the National Committee of Workers and Students, a mass movement for national independence and social reforms. The National Committee lasted until July the same year.[2]

In 1947 the organisation began publishing the newspaper al-Jamahir (الجماهير, 'The Masses').[4] Shudi Atiya ash-Shafi was the director of the House of Scientific Research and later the editor of al-Jamahir.[5] Ash-Shafi had been the first Egyptian Muslim to become part of the Iskra leadership.[1] That same year Iskra merged with the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation (HAMITU) to form the Democratic Movement for National Liberation.[6]

  1. ^ a b Beinin, Joel. Was the Red Flag Flying There?: Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt and Israel, 1948-1965. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. p. 57-58
  2. ^ a b c d Ginat, Rami. The Egyptian Left and the Roots of Neutralism in the Pre-Nasserite Era, published in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1, (May, 2003), pp. 5-24
  3. ^ a b c Gorman, Anthony. Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 90
  4. ^ Gorman, Anthony. Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 91
  5. ^ Gorman, Anthony. Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 93
  6. ^ Gorman, Anthony. Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 222