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Labour and Politics in Egypt, 1919–1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Marius Deeb
Marius Deeb
Affiliation:
Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey
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Extract

The aim of this essay is to analyse the rise and development of a new labour movement in Egypt between 1919 and 1939, the crucial interwar period. As the history of the movement was inextricably linked to the Wafd as well as to the competing political forces in Egypt at the time, I examine the extent to which the various political parties and personalities were able to hamper the development of an independent trade union movement during those years. I also discuss the factors which assisted or hindered, at times, the promulgation of labour laws, and view the achievements of the trade union movement (in different sub-periods) in terms of its success in satisfying the demands of workers, which were being opposed by those of the predominantly foreign local bourgeoisie.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , May 1979 , pp. 187 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

1 Commission de Conciliation de Travail, VIIeme Rapport, Annex II, F.O. 141/779/9321/106. There are no figures for the membership of these labour syndicates. Figures pertaining to some syndicates which went on strike during the period 1919–1921 are available. Twenty-eight such syndicates had a total number of 26,714 workers, i.e., an average of approximately 954 workers per syndicate.Google Scholar

2 Ibid.

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12 Marun was a lawyer at the Mixed Courts in Alexandria, and an advisor to labour trade unions (ibid., 29 May 1924).

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54 Ibid.

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63 Ibid., No. 6, 21 March 1930, p. 8.

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105 Ibid., 9, 1 (1933), 8.

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