As violence intensifies in Egypt, the new Egyptian dictator accuses the protesters of being counter revolutionary. Are we going to see the Egyptian workers facing their Kronstadt or are they on the verge of a genuine Arab Spring?
A year ago thousands of working class Egyptians battled the police and army throughout the streets of Cairo. They were seeking to overthrow a brutal, corrupt, and undemocratic regime who made it clear that they would not go willingly.
Following a huge stand-off in Tahir square the regime was swept away. The Egyptian revolution then became the spark that kick started similar actions around the Arab world.
To say I was cynical about the Egyptian revolution is an understatement. To rid themselves of the Mubarak regime was fantastic, however I didn’t have much faith in what was to replace the old regime. It seemed that they were just swapping one set of bastards for another.
Twelve months down the line, what has changed in Egypt? Absolutely fuck all has changed. The lived experience of the Egyptian working class is no better. They do not have a democracy, or anything resembling one and the people are now back in the streets of Cairo fighting with the new regime. The new regime is suppressing the people just as the last one did. Nine hundred protestors have been injured so far.
The new Egyptian dictator Essam Sharaf, has called on the protestors to leave Tahir square as they are “threatening the revolution”. Spoken like a true Leninist!
There is no revolution in Egypt, all that has happened is that one group of bosses have replaced the other, and anyone who dares question the new regime is labelled as counter revolutionary.
I sincerely hope that there is a now a ‘real’ revolution in Egypt, where there is genuine workers control rather than just a new set of bosses who are friendly to the West. The coming weeks will show whether the Egyptian workers are facing their Kronstadt, or a genuine ‘Arab Spring’.
Comments
No, one mportant figure in a
No, one mportant figure in a regime that merged capitalist and militarist interests ( the military leaders are big time capitalists as well) was removed, the regime persisted. One group of bosses was not replaced by another, a few figures within the regime were removed. The Egyptian masses seem to be understanding this a lot better than this article does. And to compare the Egyptian events to the Russian Revolution is plain daft.
I have a number of problems
I have a number of problems with the Bolsheviks as a group when they seized power in 1917 - but I would hardly draw a parallel between the Bolsheviks - who in their overwhelming majority were genuine revolutionaries - with the bonapartist military caste in Egypt who have never been genuine anything other than career opportunists and sycophants.
The Russian revolution was a true uprising of the workers and peasants that had any number of political parties that were genuinely dedicated to the interests of the workers even if they were "wrong" on this or that issue. The "Arab Spring" is a true uprising but it lacks political parties like existed in Russia in 1917. A significant number of the "revolutionaries" are in fact witting or unwitting agents of the imperialists.
By 1921 the Bolsheviks had transformed from leaders of the revolution into a substitution for the workers. Kronstadt was an expression of workers disgust with the corruption of the Bolsheviks. The Egyptian military has never been a "leader" of either workers or peasants and has not "betrayed" anything. It is like saying that Barack Obama "betrayed" the workers.
If you have to force an
If you have to force an analogy with the Russian Revolution surely the current regime is equivalent to Kerensky's and not the Bolsheviks.