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REVOLUTION DAY: Tomorrow Egypt marks the 52nd anniversary of the July Revolution, in which the Free Officers Movement (made up of middle-ranking nationalist army officers) took over power in a military coup, deposed the king and set the nation onto a new historical path. It was, however, only in 1954, half a century ago, that this new path would be defined. In the so- called March Crisis of that year, the Free Officers real leader, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, easily defeated his opponents both within the Revolution Command Council and outside it, decisively settling, thereby, the question of whether army would "return to its barracks" and hand over power to an elected government, which at the time could only have been one formed by the Wafd Party.

Fifty years on, Nasser's legacy continues to the be the subject of heated debate. There is little doubt that Nasser's Egypt was a considerably more equitable society than it was before he came to power, or was to become after his passing. This, however, came at the price of an authoritarian system of government which, 50 years later, is yet to complete what many view as a long delayed process of transition to full democracy.

In the photo, Nasser chats amiably with one of the millions of underprivileged Egyptians who viewed him as their liberator.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/700/eg9.htm