Looking back at Egypt’s July 23 revolution, 70 years on

CAIRO: Egypt’s so-called July 23 revolution established the “first republic” in the country, radically changing the face of life not only in Egypt, but also the entire region, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said.

Speaking on the 70th anniversary of the 1952 uprising, El-Sisi said that the tumultuous events contributed significantly to the end of colonialism in many Arab and African states, as well as fostering a “growing spirit of national feeling” in those countries.

However, seven decades after the revolution, opinions on its merits and mistakes remain divided.

Ahmed Al-Nabhani, professor of history at Menoufia University, told Arab News that Egyptian society before the July revolution faced a growing disparity between the social classes, with a widening gap between rich and poor, and successive governments failing to help those who were less well off.

According to Al-Nabhani, out of the total cultivated land area of about 6 million acres, 280 owners owned 583,400 acres, while most agricultural owners owned no more than a quarter of an acre.

“The July revolution addressed the issue of corruption and bribery that prevailed in society at that time. In addition, the revolution took many successful measures to improve the social situation in Egypt, including the agrarian reform law, which called for equal distribution and ownership among small farmers. That gave them an opportunity to diversify the sources of agriculture and not rely on just one cultivation,” he said.

“Those in charge of the July revolution adopted a national economic policy, and made many major national projects, such as the Aswan High Dam, as well as building iron and steel factories, and spinning and weaving,” he said.

The revolution sided with the workers, Al-Nabhani said.

“The government issued a decree establishing the Supreme Consultative Council for Labor to examine workers’ problems. It also established the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions in January 1957, and issued laws setting the upper limit for individual salaries and incomes for the purpose of bringing social classes together in 1961. All of this contributed to improving the social environment for Egyptians.”

Writing in the Egyptian newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm, Maj.-Gen. Samir Farag, a former military leader, said that one of the positive outcomes of the revolution was a growing sense of patriotism and Arab nationalism.

However, entering into a costly Yemen conflict had damaged Egypt militarily and economically, he said.

Political expert Sayed Fouad agreed that Egypt’s participation in the Yemen war was perhaps the most significant mistake of the revolution.

However, it was “a necessity at the time, after the disintegration of the Arab unity project with Syria, which Gamal Abdel Nasser wanted to revive,” he said.