Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) was the body established to supervise Egypt
and Sudan
after the Revolution of 1952. It initially selected Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister, but forced him to resign after conflict over land reform
. At that time, the Council took full control of Egypt. The RCC controlled the state till 1954, when the Council dissolved itself.
In July 1952, a group of disaffected army officers (the "Free Officers")
led by General Muhammad Naguib
and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser
overthrew King Farouk
, whom the military blamed for Egypt's poor performance in the 1948 war
with Israel
. The revolutionaries then formed the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council, which constituted the real power in Egypt, with Naguib as chairman and Nasser as vice-chairman. After assuming power, the Free Officers were not interested in undertaking the day to day administration of the Egyptian government. Thus, the Free Officers passed power to Ali Mahir Pasha
, a long-time political insider, whom they appointed as Prime Minister.
Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers' riots in Kafr Dawar
on August 1952, which resulted in two death sentences. The Revolutionary Council actually had strong ideological notions, and Mahir was forced to resign in 1952 because he refused to support agrarian reform laws proposed by the Council. Naguib assumed full leadership, but, from the beginning, Nasser was a powerful force in the Revolutionary Command Council. Naguib was appointed, first as Commander-in-Chief
of the Army, in order to keep the armed forces firmly behind the junior officers' coup. In September, Naguib was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt
and a member of the Royal Regent Council, with Nasser acting in the background as Minister of the Interior. Also in September, the Agrarian Reform Law was passed, signalling a major land redistribution program. In December 1952, the 1923 Constitution was abrogated "in the name of the people."
In January 1953, the officers of the RCC dissolved and banned all political parties, declaring a three-year transitional period during which the RCC would rule. A provisional Constitutional Charter, giving legitimacy to the RCC, was proclaimed on 10 February, and the Liberation Rally—the first of 3 political organisations linked to the July regime—was launched soon afterwards with the aim of mobilising popular support.
The Revolutionary Command Council had overstepped its popular support in dealing with Naguib, and large numbers of citizens joined protests demanding that he be reinstated. As a result of these demonstrations, a sizable group within the Revolutionary Command Council demanded that Nasser allow Neguib to return to the Presidency and then hold free elections to select a new President and Prime Minister. Nasser was forced to agree and Naguib reassumed the Presidency. Several days later, Nasser was forced to resign as Prime Minister in favor of Naguib, effectively destroying all progress that Nasser had made towards leadership.
seized power in Egypt, he decided to abolish the Council. Thus, on July 24, 1954, the Council dissolved itself and announced the end of the Egyptian revolution.
". Arguably, the most notable economic manifestations of Arab Socialism was the land reforms in Egypt in 1952 and the nationalization of major industries and the banking systems in the country. Later, many of these policies were later reversed though. The RCC also tried to further their secular ideology, which led to a conflict with the emerging Muslim radicalism, and argued for modernization
, industrialization and the abolishment of the more archaic society
and social traditionalism
.
, Britain controlled the Suez Canal
. But in 1951, Egypt repudiated the treaty. By 1954, Britain had agreed to pull out. Nasser signed an agreement with Britain that provided for the withdrawal of all British uniformed military personnel from the Suez Canal Zone, although a small civilian force was allowed to temporarily remain. This agreement finally gave Egypt true full independence and ended tensions between Britain and Egypt. Shortly after the treaty with the British, Nasser won forty million dollars in combined financial aid for economic development from the British and Americans.
The Egyptian economy was dominated by private capital until the revolution of 1952. The new government began to reorganize the economy along socialist lines in the late 1950s. The state played an increasing role in economic development through its management of the agricultural sector after the land reforms of 1952
. These reforms limited the amount of land an individual or family could own. Financial hurdles delayed the progress of the land reforms. The land reform proposed two basic steps to improve the lot of the Egyptian peasant:
In September 1952, the process of land reform
in Egypt began. A law was passed that had numerous provisions which attempted to remedy the Egyptian land problems. These were:
Additionally, the law provided for the redistribution of any land that owners held over the limits it established:
By the end of 1955, of the total of 567,000 feddâns subject to sequestration, 415,000 feddâns had been expropriated by the government. However, only a part of this land has been distributed among the small landholders, and the government held most of the expropriated land. By the end of the year 1955, 261,000 feddâns had been reallocated from the government reserve. In addition, 92,000 feddâns had been sold by large to small landowners just prior to the requisition. The government was attempting to organize the beneficiaries of this plan in cooperatives and also to continue the maintenance of the existing irrigation and drainage systems. The land reform of the revolutionary government had undoubtedly benefited the Egyptian peasantry. An Egyptian government source estimated that the new farmers have doubled their incomes, and that setting a limit on rents has reduced the total amount of land rent by $196,000,000.
There was growth in industrial production. Electricity consumption increased from 978,000,000 kW in 1952 to 1,339,000,000 kW in 1954. The cotton yarn output increased from 49,200 to 64,400 tons, and cotton fabric output increased from 157,800,000 meters to 240,900,000 meters. Cement production reached a new high of almost 1,500,000 tons.
. In addition, there was never a fully implemented democracy
and a return of the country to civilian rule. Naguib called for this early on, but was thwarted by other forces in the RCC. Naguib's view was that the army could interfere to change a corrupt regime
, but it should then withdraw (similar to the actions of the military in the history of Turkey
). As Naguib wrote later in his book, Egypt's Fate,
Nasser, by contrast, thought that any talk of democracy, or of a multi-party system
, or of the withdrawal of the army from politics, would allow the Wafd
, the Muslim Brotherhood
and the other political parties
to regain the ground they had lost in 1952.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
after the Revolution of 1952. It initially selected Ali Maher Pasha as Prime Minister, but forced him to resign after conflict over land reform
Egyptian land reform
The post-revolution Egyptian Land Reform was an effort to change land ownership practices in Egypt following the 1952 Revolution launched by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers Movement.-Problems prior to 1952:...
. At that time, the Council took full control of Egypt. The RCC controlled the state till 1954, when the Council dissolved itself.
History
| RCC Initial Membership |
|---|
|
In July 1952, a group of disaffected army officers (the "Free Officers")
Free Officers Movement
In Egypt, the clandestine revolutionary Free Officers Movement was composed of young junior army officers committed to unseating the Egyptian monarchy and its British advisors...
led by General Muhammad Naguib
Muhammad Naguib
Muhammad Naguib was the first President of Egypt, serving from the declaration of the Republic on June 18, 1953 to November 14, 1954. Along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, he was the primary leader of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which ended the rule of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in Egypt and Sudan...
and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
overthrew King Farouk
Farouk of Egypt
Farouk I of Egypt , was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936....
, whom the military blamed for Egypt's poor performance in the 1948 war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The revolutionaries then formed the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council, which constituted the real power in Egypt, with Naguib as chairman and Nasser as vice-chairman. After assuming power, the Free Officers were not interested in undertaking the day to day administration of the Egyptian government. Thus, the Free Officers passed power to Ali Mahir Pasha
Ali Mahir Pasha
Ali Mahir Pasha was an Egyptian political figure. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt from 30 January 1936 to 9 May 1936, a second term from 18 August 1939 to 28 June 1940, a third term from 27 January 1952 to 2 March 1952 and a final fourth term from 23 July 1952 to 7 September 1952...
, a long-time political insider, whom they appointed as Prime Minister.
Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers' riots in Kafr Dawar
Kafr Dawar
Kafr el-Dawwar is a major industrial city and municipality on the Nile Delta in northern Egypt. It has a population of about 265,300 inhabitants, and comprises a number of smaller towns and villages.-History:...
on August 1952, which resulted in two death sentences. The Revolutionary Council actually had strong ideological notions, and Mahir was forced to resign in 1952 because he refused to support agrarian reform laws proposed by the Council. Naguib assumed full leadership, but, from the beginning, Nasser was a powerful force in the Revolutionary Command Council. Naguib was appointed, first as Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Army, in order to keep the armed forces firmly behind the junior officers' coup. In September, Naguib was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt
Prime Minister of Egypt
The Prime Minister of Egypt is the head of the Egyptian government. According to the constitution, the prime minister is the leader of the largest political party in the Egyptian Parliament....
and a member of the Royal Regent Council, with Nasser acting in the background as Minister of the Interior. Also in September, the Agrarian Reform Law was passed, signalling a major land redistribution program. In December 1952, the 1923 Constitution was abrogated "in the name of the people."
In January 1953, the officers of the RCC dissolved and banned all political parties, declaring a three-year transitional period during which the RCC would rule. A provisional Constitutional Charter, giving legitimacy to the RCC, was proclaimed on 10 February, and the Liberation Rally—the first of 3 political organisations linked to the July regime—was launched soon afterwards with the aim of mobilising popular support.
Conflict and change
Naguib began to clash with other RCC members over how the Revolution's goals should be implemented. He wanted to phase out the political influence of the military and return the country to civilian rule, believing that the role of the military was not to rule the country, but rather to protect those in power. Following the brief experiment with civilian rule, the Free Officers declared Egypt a republic on June 18, 1953. With land reform fully under way, Naguib announced the official abolition of the Egyptian and Sudanese monarchy and proclaimed himself President of the Republic of Egypt. After the establishment of the republic, Naguib and Nasser began to come into conflict with each other. These troubles culminated in Naguib’s resignation from his posts as both President and Prime Minister. The Revolutionary Command Council then proclaimed Nasser as Prime Minister; however, they selected no President at that time. Next, the Revolutionary Command Council placed Naguib under house arrest, hoping to prevent any chance that he would return to power.The Revolutionary Command Council had overstepped its popular support in dealing with Naguib, and large numbers of citizens joined protests demanding that he be reinstated. As a result of these demonstrations, a sizable group within the Revolutionary Command Council demanded that Nasser allow Neguib to return to the Presidency and then hold free elections to select a new President and Prime Minister. Nasser was forced to agree and Naguib reassumed the Presidency. Several days later, Nasser was forced to resign as Prime Minister in favor of Naguib, effectively destroying all progress that Nasser had made towards leadership.
End of the council
Nasser did use his brief time as Prime Minister to “purge... pro-Naguib elements in the army”, and over the duration of the RCC he gradually forced Naguib from power. Finally, in October 1954, Nasser formally removed Naguib from power and established himself as the effective leader of Egypt. Nasser remained in power over Egypt for the next fifteen years with no major domestic challenges to his power. When NasserGamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
seized power in Egypt, he decided to abolish the Council. Thus, on July 24, 1954, the Council dissolved itself and announced the end of the Egyptian revolution.
Characteristics
The Revolutionary Command Council promoted and implemented "Arab socialismArab socialism
Arab socialism is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years...
". Arguably, the most notable economic manifestations of Arab Socialism was the land reforms in Egypt in 1952 and the nationalization of major industries and the banking systems in the country. Later, many of these policies were later reversed though. The RCC also tried to further their secular ideology, which led to a conflict with the emerging Muslim radicalism, and argued for modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
, industrialization and the abolishment of the more archaic society
Pre-industrial society
Pre-industrial society refers to specific social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution. It is followed by the industrial society....
and social traditionalism
Traditionalist School
The term Traditionalist School is used by Mark Sedgwick and other authors to denote a school of thought, also known as Integral Traditionalism or Perennialism to denote an esoteric movement developed by authors such as French metaphysician René Guénon, German-Swiss...
.
Accomplishments
Under the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936
The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egypt; it is officially known as The Treaty of Alliance Between His Majesty, in Respect of the United Kingdom, and His Majesty, the King of Egypt...
, Britain controlled the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
. But in 1951, Egypt repudiated the treaty. By 1954, Britain had agreed to pull out. Nasser signed an agreement with Britain that provided for the withdrawal of all British uniformed military personnel from the Suez Canal Zone, although a small civilian force was allowed to temporarily remain. This agreement finally gave Egypt true full independence and ended tensions between Britain and Egypt. Shortly after the treaty with the British, Nasser won forty million dollars in combined financial aid for economic development from the British and Americans.
The Egyptian economy was dominated by private capital until the revolution of 1952. The new government began to reorganize the economy along socialist lines in the late 1950s. The state played an increasing role in economic development through its management of the agricultural sector after the land reforms of 1952
Egyptian land reform
The post-revolution Egyptian Land Reform was an effort to change land ownership practices in Egypt following the 1952 Revolution launched by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers Movement.-Problems prior to 1952:...
. These reforms limited the amount of land an individual or family could own. Financial hurdles delayed the progress of the land reforms. The land reform proposed two basic steps to improve the lot of the Egyptian peasant:
- dramatic reduction of agricultural rents
- expropriation of all landed property-holdings above 200 feddâns (1 feddân = 1.038 acres)
In September 1952, the process of land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
in Egypt began. A law was passed that had numerous provisions which attempted to remedy the Egyptian land problems. These were:
- Land owners were prohibited to possess more than 200 feddanFeddanA feddan is a unit of area. It is used in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria. The feddan is not an SI unit and in Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen': implying the area of ground that could be tilled by them in a certain time. In Egypt the feddan is the only non-metric unit which remained in use...
s of land. However, fathers with more than 2 children were allowed to own 300 feddans. - A limit on the rental rate for land was set at seven times the land tax value of the plot of land.
- All land leases were given a minimum duration of three years.
- The government established cooperatives for farmers holding less than five feddans. The members of these cooperatives worked together to obtain supplies such as fertilizers, pesticides, and seedsSEEDSSEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India....
as well as cooperating to transport their products to market. - A minimum wage for agricultural workers was set at 18 piastres per day.
Additionally, the law provided for the redistribution of any land that owners held over the limits it established:
- Each affected owner would receive compensation for his excess land in government bondsGovernment bondA government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country...
worth a total of ten times the rental value of the land. These bonds would pay three percent interestInterestInterest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
and mature in thirty years. - All land bought by the government would be sold to peasants though no person could obtain more than five feddans from the government. Peasants who bought land would pay the government the cost of the land and a 15% surcharge over a period of thirty years.
By the end of 1955, of the total of 567,000 feddâns subject to sequestration, 415,000 feddâns had been expropriated by the government. However, only a part of this land has been distributed among the small landholders, and the government held most of the expropriated land. By the end of the year 1955, 261,000 feddâns had been reallocated from the government reserve. In addition, 92,000 feddâns had been sold by large to small landowners just prior to the requisition. The government was attempting to organize the beneficiaries of this plan in cooperatives and also to continue the maintenance of the existing irrigation and drainage systems. The land reform of the revolutionary government had undoubtedly benefited the Egyptian peasantry. An Egyptian government source estimated that the new farmers have doubled their incomes, and that setting a limit on rents has reduced the total amount of land rent by $196,000,000.
There was growth in industrial production. Electricity consumption increased from 978,000,000 kW in 1952 to 1,339,000,000 kW in 1954. The cotton yarn output increased from 49,200 to 64,400 tons, and cotton fabric output increased from 157,800,000 meters to 240,900,000 meters. Cement production reached a new high of almost 1,500,000 tons.
Failures
Egypt, under the RCC, never fully implemented socialismSocialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. In addition, there was never a fully implemented democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and a return of the country to civilian rule. Naguib called for this early on, but was thwarted by other forces in the RCC. Naguib's view was that the army could interfere to change a corrupt regime
Regime
The word regime refers to a set of conditions, most often of a political nature.-Politics:...
, but it should then withdraw (similar to the actions of the military in the history of Turkey
History of Turkey
The history of the Turks begins with the migration of Oghuz Turks into Anatolia in the context of the larger Turkic expansion, forming the Seljuq Empire in the 11th century. After the Seljuq victory over forces of the Byzantine Empire in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert, the process was accelerated...
). As Naguib wrote later in his book, Egypt's Fate,
Nasser, by contrast, thought that any talk of democracy, or of a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
, or of the withdrawal of the army from politics, would allow the Wafd
WAFD
WAFD is a Hot Adult Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Webster Springs, West Virginia, serving East Central West Virginia. WAFD is owned and operated by Summit Media Broadcasting, LLC.-External links:*...
, the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
and the other political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
to regain the ground they had lost in 1952.
External articles
- "1950 - 1959". ahram.org.e.g.
- James Jankowski, "8. Arab Nationalism in "Nasserism" and Egyptian State Policy, 1952-1958".
- "Egypt at the crossroads domestic stability and regional role". DIANE Publishing. ISBN 1428981187
- Joel BeininJoel BeininJoel Beinin is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History at Stanford University. From 2006 to 2008 he served as Director of Middle East Studies and Professor of History at the American University in Cairo.-Education:...
, "Was the Red Flag Flying There?". I.B.Tauris, 1990. 350 pages. ISBN 1850432929 - Mahmud A. "Faksh Education and Elite Recruitment: An Analysis of Egypt's Post-1952 Political Elite". Comparative Education Review, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Jun., 1976), pp. 140–150
- James A. Bill, "The Military and Modernization in the Middle East". Comparative Politics, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Oct., 1969), pp. 41–62. doi:10.2307/421481
- Michael B. Oren, "Escalation to Suez: The Egypt-Israel Border War, 1949-56". Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 24, No. 2, Studies on War (Apr., 1989), pp. 347–373