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

The theorist

Ismail Sabri Abdallah, 70 is one of the founding fathers of Tagammu. After obtaining a Ph.D. in economics from Paris University in 1951, he taught at Cairo and Alexandria universities and held several posts, including minister of economic planning, director of the Institute of National Planning, chairman of the Third World forum, member of the UN Committee for Development Planning and chairman of the Arab Society for Economic Research. He was awarded the state merit award for social science in 1986 and serves on the advisory boards of several specialised publications.

During the period between the late 1940s, when he embraced Marxism, and 1965, when Egyptian communist organisations voluntarily dissolved, Abdallah was a leading member of the underground communist movement. He is noted as one of the major theorists of Marxism in Egypt.

A prolific author, Abdallah has written 20 books in English, including Development Strategies in the Arab World and The World Order and Economic Independence through Socialism. His eleven books in Arabic include, Towards an Arab Economic Community and The Public Sector: Theory and Practice. His 10 books in French include La Voie Egyptienne Vers le Socialisme and Role du Secteur Public dans le Developement et la Planification.

Between 1972 and the party's establishment in 1976, Abdallah was a leading member of a group which brooded over the idea of tagammu or a coalition that would bring together various leftist trends to share common political goals, despite their ideological differences. The idea had gained urgency following the death of Abdel-Nasser in 1970 and the subsequent retreat of his brand of socialism.

Abdallah played an active role in the party until two years ago when, along with other senior members, he decided to step down from his high-profile position in favour of the younger generation. However, although he has not been involved directly in preparations for the forthcoming elections, he has been regularly consulted on election issues at meetings of the party's Planning and Research Centre.

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