Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 245 2 - 8 November 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Unorganically intellectual

The founders of Tagammu were mostly former Marxists and communists, some of the country's finest intellectuals. The party has remained loyal to the socialist agenda: the public sector; workers' rights; it is anti-fundamentalist, anti-Western, and anti-corruption.

The party's principal problem has been its failure to establish an organic link with the masses.

I expect that they will step up their campaign in the coming elections but they will not win many seats, probably 10 to 15, mainly through the family ties of some party leaders such as Khaled Mohieddin and Lutfi Waked, whose relatives command wide support in their constituencies.

I don't think that the Islamists will be a threat to Tagammu in the coming elections. They appeal to different constituencies: the Islamists to the lower and lower-middle classes and Tagammu to organised labour and the working class.

I don't think that the parties have equal chances in the elections because the NDP candidates have an administrative advantage, government support and tremendous resources. None of the other parties have the same advantages.

Saadeddin Ibrahim
Professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo and head of the Ibn Khaldoun Research Centre

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Cultural impact

Although nearly two decades have passed since the establishment of Tagammu, it has failed to communicate successfully with the working class and with a considerable section of the intelligentsia.

Party leaders claim that this failure is due to restrictions imposed by the government on the activities of political parties. It can actually be attributed to two other important factors.

The first is that a significant number of Tagammu members are Nasserists, or are influenced by the Nasserist model, in the sense that they are still looking for a leader who would introduce progressive reforms without being a product of a people's movement.

The second reason is that after a long period of debating whether they should cooperate with the government or oppose it, the party came to the conclusion that they should support the existing regime rather than try to marshal support for themselves among the people.

I cannot be certain whether Tagammu will be able to improve on its electoral record in the last elections, when it was the only opposition party contesting them. This time, it is facing competition from the Wafd, Labour and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Although Tagammu gets a small percentage of the national vote, it is popular with certain sections of the intelligentsia and has an important cultural impact. It also takes positions, such as defence of workers' rights, which are popular with the working class.

Mustafa El-Sayed
Professor of political science at Cairo University

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Developmental flaws

The Tagammu Party is a mixture of political trends: socialist, Marxist and Nasserist. And yet the party has always been keen on distinguishing itself from all these groups and projecting itself as Arab unionist.

The most important characteristic of Tagammu is that it recognises the system of government and uses legitimate methods to challenge it peacefully. It is part of the political order in the sense that it seeks grater democracy peacefully and as a political end. The party is a true champion of national unity between Muslims and Christians, independence, close relations with Arab countries and freedoms of belief and expression.

The party has been influential mainly in intellectual circles, and, to a lesser degree, among workers. It also has a presence among students, although this category is more influenced now by Islamism.

The party's main flaw is its definition of economic development from a Marxist perspective: the emphasis on the public ownership of the means of production, through the public sector. As a result, the party is torn between the ineffectiveness of these slogans and their importance as a means of attaining social justice and workers' rights.

Tagammu is expected to win between five and 10 seats in the coming elections. Their presence in parliament is positive because they are sincere in their goals, they defend workers' rights in an acceptable manner and challenge corruption.

Osama El-Ghazali Harb
Editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyassah El-Dawliya (International Politics)

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