Al-Ahram Weekly 29 July - 4 August 1999 Issue No. 440
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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'Cleansing the party'

By Fatemah Farag

El-Alim

Eissa

People were rudely reminded of the outlawed Egyptian Communist Party (ECP), an underground political group self-declared in 1975, as leading members publicly smeared each other with the old/new labels of "traitor", "Zionist" and "agent provocateur". The squabble began with a statement in the name of the Central Committee of the ECP, entitled "Our Party Cleanses Itself of the Traitors", which was distributed early this month during the anti-normalisation conference.

The statement claimed to expel six leading figures from party ranks accusing them of deviating from the party line and actively encouraging normalisation with Israel. "The disgrace which has besmirched communism and our party as a result of this renegade Zionist group cannot be washed away by coexisting with them in one organisation... This is a disgrace and national treason," harangued the statement.

In response, Mahmoud Amin El-Alim, a prominent Marxist writer and thinker, announced that all of the information released in the statement was false and that the ECP's Central Committee had not met to issue a statement. He described the action of the three members who issued the statement as "irresponsible", and did not rule out the possibility that the move had been on behalf of security forces. He also hinted that a squabble over finances was in fact the root of the attack.

More important than the particulars of the accusations themselves and their validity, is the fact that the statement and discussions which followed brought to the fore issues such as the relationship between communist groups and Zionism (paralleling discussions which took place in the late 1940s regarding the "Egyptianisation" of the communist movement), questions over the meaning and acceptable parameters of normalisation and foreign funding, whether underground political activity is pertinent and what the guidelines which rule such activity are? In short, the history and validity of the Egyptian communist movement as a whole was brought into focus.

Ibrahim Badrawi, who speaks in the name of the faction that issued the statement, denied El-Alim's counter-charges. "Many of the grievances mentioned are not new ones. We have noted that finances have been controlled in such a way as to direct the activities of the party away from the positions agreed upon in the 1992 Party Congress in which we reasserted that we were a Marxist-Leninist, internationalist party. Some [members] did not hold with these positions and instead they have conformed to government policy and are actively distorting the consciousness of the people."

The crux of the matter seems to lie, however, not only in the shift of the accused members towards more liberal/reformist views, but also in a shift of the accusers towards a more Nasserist/Islamist perspective. Salah Eissa, columnist and prominent leftist intellectual, believes that the rhetoric used by the faction that issued the statement indicates that they were targeting an audience beyond Marxist ranks. "If you look at the slogan they use: 'the struggle against Israel is a struggle for existence and not borders,' you will note that the pan-Arab nationalist/Islamist rhetoric is very clear," pointed out Eissa. The question then, is for whose benefit is this rhetoric being used, he asked.

Neither was Badrawi shy about his faction's desire to woo Nasserists and Islamists. The line adopted by the "treacherous" faction had, in his view, "alienated" what he considers to be "friendly" political trends. "The ECP adopts a 'united front' policy and the actions of these people are sabotaging this policy. For example, on the issue of democracy and anti-normalisation our natural allies are the Wafd, the Nasserists and the Islamists."

Hence, the need to make a public offering. Badrawi elucidated that, "Of late these people have been openly working with Zionists and the issue has become very serious. It was important for us to clear the name of the party before everyone, and it was not enough to do so behind closed doors. We must announce to everyone that we are a part of the nationalist movement."

The predominance of "nationalist" considerations over all else was underlined even further by Badrawi. Asked about his position regarding relations with Israeli communists, his reply did not seem to correspond to any known brand of Marxism, old or new. "Most Israeli communists are Arabs and when there was a delegation here a while ago, I refused to meet Jewish members. I am willing to deal with all the Arabs, but unwilling to deal with any Jews, even if they are communist, because I am against normalisation," said Badrawi.

So, how do leftist intellectuals in general perceive the contentious issue of normalisation nowadays? "When the boycott became an adopted policy it was accepted that Arab countries would not withdraw from international organisations, such as the United Nations, because it would be leaving the world to Israel." explains Eissa. "Today, are NGOs considered to be international forums? Or how about attending an international poetry conference with Israeli poets there? These are grey areas that should be left up to the people involved to make decisions about."

Badrawi's faction, however, seems to see only "traitors" and "patriots" in the debate about normalisation. The history of the Egyptian communist movement is being mustered as evidence of an "enemy within", which seems to have been lying low for over half a century. According to Badrawi, the "Zionists" in the ECP leadership have been in close contact with "the Paris Group". An informal gathering of Jewish communists who left Egypt for Paris in the late '40s and early '50s, the Paris Group is closely associated with the late Henry Curiel, the founder and leader of Hadeto, a major Egyptian communist organisation during the forties. The predominantly non-Egyptian -- mostly Jewish -- leadership of Hadeto and other communist groups had in the late '40s given rise to the ultimately successful call for the "Egyptianisation" of the movement.

Badrawi, who blames the Egyptian communist movement's support for the UN's 1947 Partition of Palestine Plan ("which consolidated Zionist presence in Palestine") on its predominantly Jewish leadership, claimed that his opponents' ties to Curiel and "the Paris Group" had tarnished the image of Egyptian communists. "The correct action to be taken in the forties was to launch an "Egyptianisation" of the movement. Today, the correct action is to reclaim the party from Zionist traitors," said Badrawi.

The role of Jews in the Egyptian communist movement in the '40s continues to be a matter of historical debate. However, Eissa pointed out that the Egyptian Communist Party (El-Raya), which from the start was an "Egyptianised" communist organisation, had a predominantly Coptic leadership. "So what is that supposed to mean? What the predominance of Jews or Copts in a communist party really means is that minorities come under severe oppression and they had two choices: for Jews, either to become Zionists or communists and for Copts also either to become fanatics or believe in the possibility of a truly egalitarian world."

Eissa believes that history is relevant, but in the following terms. "The ECP was established in 1975 according to the concept of 'unifying communist ranks', postponing the debating of disagreements over ideological and political orientation to inner-party dynamics. It [the ECP] comprised old cadres as well as a mishmash of members reaped from the student movement. Contradictions have manifested themselves over the past 25 years in several splits. Then, in the 1992 congress, I noted after reading the documents that despite the major events which had shaken the world -- like the dissolution of the Soviet Union -- the party behaved as if nothing had happened. Nothing was up for questioning or re-evaluation and hence, problems were bound to occur."

None of these issues seems to have been resolved by the past month's fracas. However, the relationship of the ECP to the Tagammu, the legal left-wing party, is one that is sure to witness conclusive developments within the upcoming weeks. Badrawi noted, "We feel that the independence of the Communist Party is at stake, that it is being transformed into a tail of the Tagammu."

As far as Eissa is concerned, the real question lies elsewhere. "In the final analysis the constraints on democratic options has meant that political parties -- whether legal or underground -- turn inwards and gnaw at their insides. The only way to put all these warring ideas to the test is for political parties to be able to work outwards, to have grassroots activities." In addition to making a point of this vote of confidence in the 'new developments in Algeria under President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika', Egyptian diplomacy is also taking a particular interest in encouraging warmer relations between Algeria and both Morocco and France -- the two countries which are of most obvious geo-political relevance to Algiers.

With his third visit to the Algerian capital in less than one month, Mubarak has also set the tone for greater political and economic cooperation between both the governments and the private sectors of the two countries.

'President Mubarak's visits have certainly given new impetus to relations between the two countries, which in the past were always good,' commented Abdel-Moneim Sa'udi, Egypt's ambassador to Algiers.

According to Sou'di, there are already several signs of this 'upbeat interest in improving relations'. 'Egypt and Algeria are now revising their mechanism and frameworks for economic cooperation, to see how they can make them work for even closer cooperation between the two countries,' Sou'di said.

Mubarak's visit to Algeria also provided an ideal opportunity for a meeting, on the fringes of the OAU summit, with a number of African leaders to discuss issues of both bilateral and multi-lateral interest.

Of these, Mubarak's long-awaited meeting with Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir, which took place only hours after the Egyptian President had arrived in Algeria, was perhaps the most important.

The meeting was fairly brief. But it was also the unmistakable culmination of two years of intense diplomatic efforts to restore good relations between the two Nile Valley countries.

'We [President Bashir and I] are meeting in the framework of the contacts between Egypt and Sudan. We are constantly improving relations with Sudan and we hope that these relations will once again be as normal as they used to be,' President Mubarak declared on leaving the meeting room.

As Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail told the Weekly, 'This meeting, which I have worked very hard to see happen, will certainly facilitate the job of my brother Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and I. We want to see our bilateral relations become as good as they should be.'

Asked about the implications of this meeting, Foreign Minister Moussa replied, 'I think that the coming days will witness a sustainable improvement in relations'. And questioned as to whether this 'sustainable development' could mean sending an Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum -- a post that has stood vacant since the mid-1990s -- as well as an exchange of visits between officials from the two countries, Moussa added, 'All this is possible, although nothing has been firmly scheduled yet. But there are clear intentions that both sides are ready to make progress in bilateral relations.'

According to Moussa, a broader definition of such progress would encompass a concerted and continuous Egyptian effort to encourage Sudanese national reconciliation.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Moussa will be meeting in Cairo with representatives of the Sudanese opposition to discuss these reconciliation efforts.

Closer relations between Cairo and Khartoum are described by diplomats on both sides as something which could be counted on to bring greater stability to East Africa.

The need for stability in this, as in other parts of the continent, was one issue highlighted by Mubarak in his speech to the OAU summit, as was the need for closer economic cooperation as a means to make such stability possibly in this predominantly poor and heavily-indebted continent. These same concepts were reiterated in bilateral meetings which Mubarak held on the fringes of the summit with a number of African leaders, as well as with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Mubarak's visit to Algeria, which came to an end Tuesday afternoon, thus helped advance three key objectives of Egyptian foreign policy: stronger ties with the Arab countries of north of Africa, warmer relations with Sudan, and closer contact with as many African countries as possible.

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