The situation facing the Egyptian working this year is extreme perilous, with the Muslim Brotherhood consolidating its grip on power following the referendum in December.
President Mohamad Mursi of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won 64% of the vote on a dismal 32% turnout in the referendum over a new constitution, which took place in two stages in December. He received 56% in the first of two rounds, despite many urban and working class centres including Cairo and Mahalla voting against. The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) distributed two million leaflets against the new constitution in workplaces. However the Brotherhood were strong enough to carry the vote, especially with support from the countryside.
Despite some liberal rhetoric, the constitution makes everything dependent on sharia law. Mursi is likely to further restrict the democratic light and air that a workers’ movement needs to thrive. He has already moved swiftly to appoint 90 members to the 270-member upper house of parliament, already dominated by Islamists. The upper house now becomes Egypt’s legislature until the new lower house is elected, which are scheduled for February.
The new constitution includes many anti-working class provisions. Article 14 ties wages to production, as opposed to rising prices. Articles 63 and 70 allow for certain sorts of forced labour and child labour to be regulated, rather than banned. Furthermore, Article 53 stipulates that there can only be one union per sector, which is intended as a blow to the growing independent union movement.
The referendum and the new constitution are the second stage of the Brotherhood’s bid to consolidate its power. Last August, Mursi issued an executive order abrogating the military’s prerogative at act as the legislature. He also made several high-ranking generals retire from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). He then combined the executive and legislative branches to centralise his power with his declaration on 22 November, declaring his executive orders above judicial review, followed by the rush to endorse the constitution.
The Brotherhood still do not have complete control. Mubarak’s supporters are still strong in the judiciary, which largely refused to carry out the referendum. Nor has the military entirely been tamed. The old state was never smashed when Mubarak was overthrown. The US still provides $1.6 billion a year to Egypt, including military aid. Mursi and the military are wary rivals, despite the modus vivendi they have established over the last year. The bourgeois opposition is largely craven. Amr Moussa of the National Salvation Front has proposed a truce with the Islamists, asking for a national unity government, with members of the opposition in the cabinet and to postpone parliamentary elections for six months.
US analyst Juan Cole has written that “Egypt is deeply polarised, and there has been blood in the streets in Cairo and Alexandria. The Muslim Brotherhood has moved from a cadre organisation to providing street thugs to attack leftist demonstrators, in a haunting evocation of what happened in revolutionary Iran in the early 1980s”. This process is not a foregone conclusion, but Cole identifies a real trajectory that cannot be ignored.
In this context, the SWP’s assessment verges on the ridiculous. Socialist Worker (online 21 December 2012) included the following comment: “To denounce the Brotherhood as fascist is a mistake,” said Sameh, a member of their sister organisation, the Revolutionary Socialists. “There are elements which represent the counter-revolution, and counter-revolutions are violent against workers and activists. But we are not witnessing fascism in Egypt. The working class has not been defeated and the struggle from below is deepening.” This is bizarre after Brotherhood thugs killed a member of the Revolutionary Socialists during the demonstrations and are clearly moving against the labour movement and democracy.
The election of Mursi last year represented a decisive setback for the Egyptian democratic revolution, which swept Mubarak from power the year before. Mursi has used his executive power to consolidate the Islamists hold on the reins of government, undermining his rivals (both old regime and new), while preparing to take on the burgeoning labour movement. In the context of these political developments and the dire economic situation, the coming months could witness a decisive confrontation between the Islamists and the workers. The key question for the left internationally will be: which side are you on?
The Mursi regime is attempting to “Brotherhood-ise” the trade union movement, using the law, the old ETUF labour front and the Ministry of Manpower. When Mursi granted himself sweeping powers on 22 November, his first decree was Law 97/2012. This decree amended Trade Union Law 35/1976 with provisions allowing the Ministry of Manpower to appoint replacements for the state-controlled ETUF labour front’s board members over the age of 60. Furthermore, Mursi also postponed ETUF elections for another six months, although these elections had already been delayed for a year. The ETUF claims 4.5 million members.
The great hope of the Egyptian revolution – the working class movement – is clearly under attack. Independent union organisations, like the EFITU and the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress (EDLC) have recruited thousands of new members and established hundreds of new unions. Together they claim a membership of over 2.5 million workers. In October the EFITU and EDLC sought to merge their unions into one unified structure and are also coordinating their efforts as the National Front for the Defense of Labor Rights and Union Liberties.
While the exact figures for industrial action are still being tallied, well over 150 strikes were reported in 2012, along with more than 2,000 worker protests and sit-ins across Egypt. Nearly one million workers and employees are reported to have embarked on industrial action during 2012. There were an estimated 3,000 strikes during the first decade of this century, which helped topple Mubarak and show where the counter-power to Mursi is located.
The left internationally needs to warn loud and clear about the threat from the Brotherhood. It must make solidarity with the new Egyptian labour movement, making direct links and help it to thrive. This labour movement is the best guarantor not only of workers’ rights but of democratic liberties in the face of the threat from the Islamists.
