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

Realism on the left

"Freedom, socialism and unity" has been the slogan of the National Progressive Unionist Party, widely known as Al-Tagammu (Rally), since its establishment under the leadership of Khaled Mohieddin in 1976. But bowing to political reality, this slogan has been quietly dropped from the party's 1995 election campaign, and replaced by: "Change in response to the people's will - against oppression, corruption and terrorism; for justice, progress and democracy."

"We have to be practical and realistic," said the party's secretary-general Rifaat El-Said. "We cannot call for socialism at this stage because we do not have a clear definition of the term or how it could be applied."

Party sources agree that Tagammu lost some of its credibility, and was forced to reconsider its policies, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which, they say, signified the "collapse of socialism". Another factor that contributed to the shift in the party's position was the American-shepherded Middle East peace process, leading to the 1993 peace agreement between Israel and the PLO.

Tagammu, which was a strong opponent of the late President Anwar El-Sadat, has even been accused of clinching a deal with the government to jointly oppose radical Islamist groups, which both view as a major threat to the nation's stability.

"There are changes on the ground," El-Said, a one-time member of the underground communist movement, said. "There are new political realities, mainly the growth of terrorist groups who use Islam as a cover. Every Egyptian has to confront them strongly."

But, El-Said explains, "this does not mean that we have scaled down our opposition to the government. We do not have to choose between the government and the terrorists. We can provide a third alternative."

However, El-Said said the exercise of opposition "depends on the changing political conditions and the way the government treats us. We cannot deal with [President Hosni] Mubarak in the same way we used to deal with Sadat. Sadat suppressed us fiercely. But as this is no longer the case, we have to change too."

Hussein Abdel-Razek, a member of Tagammu's central committee and the head of its political section, acknowledged that the party had lost much of its appeal, as well as many of its prominent members. Within party ranks, he said, members were divided on the approach they should take towards the government, with some expressing fears that closer ties with the regime could undermine the party's position.

"There is definitely a trend towards a more practical approach," Abdel-Razek said. "We can no longer call for nationalisation or oppose privatisation."

According to El-Said, Abdel-Razek and Tagammu leader Khaled Mohieddin, the "third alternative" for which the party will campaign in the approaching elections is "democracy" and the "necessity of change in accordance with the people's will".

Reflecting this "realistic" policy, Tagammu is nominating only 40 candidates in 16 governorates, leaving more than 400 parliamentary seats uncontested. This strategy of nominating a limited number of candidates who have a good chance of success was used by the party in the 1990 elections.

According to El-Said, the party's main problem is finance. Its election campaign will depend on donations by party members as well as the candidates themselves. "The party will not be cable to spend more than LE200,000 to support its 40 candidates. But we will depend on the skills of our members and the services they can provide," he said.

Mohieddin denied that Tagammu was involved in any sort of coordination with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), or with Islamic groups or their sympathisers - an allusion to the Labour Party. "The only coordination we have is with the Nasserists, and we have not ruled out the possibility of coordination with the Wafd," he said.

Mohieddin said he expected between 10 and 15 Tagammu candidates to make it to the Assembly.

History

Tagammu was first established as the leftist platform in the Arab Socialist Union - then the nation's sole political party - in 1975. One year later, in 1976, Sadat allowed the Union's three wings - right, left and centre - to become full-fledged parties. Tagammu projected itself as a coalition of leftists, including Nasserists, Marxists and Arab nationalists.

A 123-member founding committee held its first meeting on 10 April 1976 and elected a 29-member secretariat with Khaled Mohieddin as its chairman. But from the very beginning, there were divisions between the Marxists and the Nasserists, with both groups vying to shape the party's policy and fighting for its top positions. While the divisions did not lead to the party's disintegration, the leftist groups within Tagammu nevertheless continued to maintain their independent organisations outside its framework.

According to experts and insiders, Tagammu managed to survive because its members, more often than not, maintained a minimum of cohesion and, in times of crisis, chairman Mohieddin stepped in to play the arbiter. Mohieddin, a leading member of the Free Officers Movement which overthrew the monarchy in 1952, remains highly respected by party members.

The broad lines of the agreement reached by the party's founding members were: a positive assessment of the July 1952 Revolution and its leader., Gamal Abdel-Nasser, strong opposition to imperialism and Zionism; joint struggle to defend national independence, including respect for democratic rights and freedoms, respect for revealed religions, and building a socialist society that is free of exploitation; upholding Egypt's Arab identity, the struggle for Arab unity and support of the Palestinian resistance.

However, as a result of the divisions between Nasserists and Marxists, many members left the party, and there was a widespread belief that Tagammu's existence would come to an end if the Nasserists and communists were allowed to function legally as independent political parties.

Yet Tagammu survived, despite the establishment of the Arab Democratic Nasserist party in 1992.

Tagammu perhaps owes its survival to the fact that its leaders believe it would be best for leftists to present a united front if the left is to regain some of its lost strength and popularity.

From the party's establishment in 1976 and until Sadat's death in October 1981, Tagammu adopted a hard line in opposing the government, which reacted by rounding up some of its members and confiscating some issues of its mouthpiece, Al-Ahali, later shutting it down. The party also came under fire in the national press, which labeled it as communist.

With Mubarak's rise to power, a new chapter was opened, but greater government tolerance was insufficient to bring the party into the limelight of Egyptian politics.

In the 1984 elections, Tagammu won 4.2 per cent of the national vote but this dropped three years later to 2.2 per cent.

The fall of socialism in Eastern Europe and the break-up of the Soviet Union has certainly been the greatest blow. Mohieddin said he believed the party survived this blow because of its support for a true democracy and a multi-party system. With poverty on the increase in Egypt, he added, there would always be a need for a party that advocates social justice and protecting the rights of the poor.

Tagammu was the only opposition party that contested the 1990 elections. At the time, party officials said they could not miss any opportunity for getting in contact with the public to prove that the left was still alive. Tagammu nominated 33 candidates and five of them found their way to parliament.

Platform

The party's 1995 election platform claims that the country has reached a dead end as a result of the government's policy. Finding a way out depends on the people's will to change. According to Tagammu, the government's economic reform programme has caused widespread unemployment, a widening gap between classes, corruption, a deterioration of public services, rising debts and suppression of basic freedoms.

The solutions it recommends are: building up an independent national economy; promoting democracy and the change of government through the ballot box; justice in the distribution of national income and services; combating corruption; promoting enlightenment and tolerance; protecting national unity; and adopting an independent foreign policy based on the interests of Egypt and the Arab world.

The programme emphasises the need for a comprehensive change that gives priority to the interests of the under-privileged. It strongly opposes the withdrawal of the state from the public services sector, particularly health, education and housing. It also calls for reforming and restructuring the public sector, but there is no mention of opposition to its privatisation.

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