Egypt under Nasser
| Author | F. R. C. Bagley |
| Published date | 01 September 1956 |
| Date | 01 September 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205601100305 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
EGYPT
UNDER
NASSER
F.
R.
C.
Bagley*
HORTLY
before
their
military
regime's
fourth
anniversary,
Egyptians
were
to
go
twice
to
the
polls;
on
June
23
to
ap-
prove
a
new
constitution
and
on
July
7
to
vote
for
a
President
of
the
Republic.
Four
years
ago,
the
two political
forces
which
had
dominated
Egypt
since
1922-the
Palace
and
the
Wafd
party-were
morally
bankrupt.
Each
was
discredited
by
corruption
which
has
far
exceeded
conventional
limits
and
seriously
injured
the
country's
interests.
Though
some
fairly
advanced
social
legislation
had
been
passed,
neither
side
was
prepared to
carry
out
fundamental
reforms;
and both
represented
mainly
the
westernized
upper
and
upper
middle
classes.
Meanwhile,
the
peasants
and
the
urban
workers
and
clerks
had
been
experiencing
a
protracted
decline
in
their
living
standards
caused by inflation
and
the
Malthusian
pressure
of
a
3
per
cent.
annual
population
increase.
Educated
Egyptians
suffered
from
a
chronic
inferiority
complex
vis-A-vis
their
former
British rulers
and
the
West
generally;
and competitive demagoguery,
culminating
in
the
unilateral
re-
pudiation of
the
1936
treaty,
had
led
to
an
impasse
in
relations
with
Britain.
The
army
had
been
disastrously
and
humiliatingly
beaten
by
the
Israelis-a
defeat
largely
due
to
poor
Egyptian
diplomacy
and
strategy,
but
partly
to
corruption
in
the
Palace
and
ultimately
to
Western
(and
to
a
lesser
extent
Soviet)
support
of
Zionism.
These
circumstances
had
favoured
the
rise
of
the
Moslem
Brotherhood,
which
promised
social
justice
in
an
"Islamic
state."
Large
concentrations
of
wealth
would
be
abolished,
along
with
wine-drinking
and
usury
(including
banking
and
bond-financ-
ing);
and
social
security
would
be
provided
by
a
revival
of
the
Koranic
alms-tax.
Use
would
be
made
of
foreign technology,
but
other
foreign
influences
and
ideas
would
be
eliminated.
The
Brotherhood
did
not shrink
from
political
assassination,
and
its
founder,
Hasan
al-Banna',
was
himself
assassinated
in
1948.
Though
prohibited
by
successive
governments,
it
spread
*Assistant Professor
at
the
Institute
of
Islamic
Studies,
McGill
Uni-
versity.
From
1942-45
Mr.
Bagley
was
U.K.
Vice-Consul
at
Baghdad,
from
1945-48
at
Djakarta
and
Consul
at
Isfahan
from
1950-52.
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