Zhao Yueqing: The Origins and Evolution of 20th-Century Egyptian Marxist Historiography
As a historiographical development with an inherently global dimension, Egyptian Marxist historiography has been successively influenced by Western socialist thought, classical Marxism, and the Sinicization of Marxism. From the perspective of intergenerational transmission, Egyptian Marxist historiography both continues the traditional method of class analysis and attempts new theoretical ventures based on early Marxist historical thought. It has proposed concepts such as "dependency theory" and "pseudo-Islam," exerting a profound influence on the development of global Marxist historiography. Since the 20th century, Chinese research on Marxist historiography has primarily focused on the West and socialist countries. Due to obstacles in the collation of Arabic historical records, research on Egyptian Marxist historiography has been largely absent; existing studies are mainly concentrated on the developmental history of Egyptian communism. Foreign academic circles examine Egyptian Marxist historiography primarily from three levels—historical, philosophical, and practical. Although these works possess high academic value, they suffer from a lack of systematic research and are marred by ideological bias. Therefore, a systematic study of Egyptian Marxist historiography will not only benefit the development of Middle Eastern historiography in China but also assist in examining the broader development of global Marxist historiography. This article examines the developmental trajectory of Egyptian Marxist historiography through the lens of historical materialism and, by delving into Arabic literature, traces its origins and transformations.
I. The Theoretical Origins of Egyptian Marxist Historiography
Marxist historiography developed not only amidst extremely harsh political struggles but also matured on the basis of critiquing various bourgeois academic trends, such as speculative philosophy of history and historicist historiography. The emergence of Egyptian Marxist historiography was grounded in the broad dissemination of socialist thought in Egypt, a process that lasted nearly a century from the early 19th century until the October Revolution. Trends in Utopian Socialism, Fabian Socialism, and National Socialism provided the fertile soil for the birth of Egyptian Marxist historiography and established the theoretical foundation for the birth of the Egyptian Communist Party. Marxist historiography involves more than just historiography; it is a synthesis of empirical evidence and theoretical thinking. Consequently, the birth of Egyptian Marxist historiography was often accompanied by the historical mission of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. From the perspective of theoretical tracing, Egyptian Marxist historiography was influenced successively by Western socialism, classical Marxism, and the Sinicization of Marxism, ultimately forming a distinctive Middle Eastern school of Marxist historiography.
First, Egyptian Marxist historiography sprouted from Western socialist theory. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, an Enlightenment thinker, came to France in 1824 as the imam for the first Egyptian student delegation. Under the influence of Saint-Simonian Utopian Socialism, he translated the French Constitution into Arabic to promote democratic social systems to the Egyptian public. In his book The Path of Civilized Hearts under the Aegis of Modern Ethics, he further categorized society into industrial, agricultural, and commercial sectors, emphasizing the idea of "public welfare" (common good) and becoming the first person to spread socialist thought in the Arab world. He systematically studied the doctrines of French Enlightenment thinkers and was deeply influenced by Montesquieu, advocating for the protection of national resources, the development of national industry and commerce, and the liberation of women. Beyond his theoretical contributions, Tahtawi introduced journalism to Egypt by founding the first Arabic-language newspaper, Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya (Egyptian Current Affairs), paving the way for the later rise of Marxist publishing in Egypt.
As Egyptian socialism developed and the working class grew further, Salama Moussa—a famous Egyptian historian and founder of the Egyptian Socialist Party—moved beyond Utopian Socialism toward gradualist socialism, specifically Fabian Socialism. Salama first encountered Marx and communist thought under the influence of Voltaire's view of history; later, in Britain, he joined intellectual societies and the Fabian Society. His intellectual sources and theoretical heritage primarily derived from Bernard Shaw's humanism and Darwin's theory of evolution. In 1913, he published the first socialist pamphlet written in Arabic, Socialism, aimed at enlightening public consciousness and clarifying the essence of socialism so that Arabs might understand the goals of European and American socialists and their active role in legislation. The spread of Western socialist theory gradually developed into an enlightenment movement across all strata of Egyptian society, eventually leading to the establishment of the Egyptian Communist Party and the rise of the national liberation movement.
Second, Egyptian Marxist historiography emerged out of classical Marxist theory. Following the same developmental trajectory as global Marxist historiography, the Egyptian variant originated in the translation and introduction of classics. In 1939, the Egyptian communist activist Henri Curiel founded the French-language weekly Don Quichotte in Cairo, utilizing classical Marxist theory to explore Egyptian social issues. In 1943, he established the organization "Movement for National Liberation" (HAMETU/DMNL), which launched the "Green Book Series" publishing movement with the aim of translating and introducing classical Marxist works; he also collaborated with experts from the Academy of the Arabic Language to set up a translation bureau for the national liberation movement. During the tenure of the Egyptian Marxist historian Fawzi Girgis as its head, the bureau published a large number of high-quality translations, such as the Arabic edition of Das Kapital and Socialist Interpretations of History: Selected Works of Engels by the Egyptian economist Rashid al-Barrawi. With the construction of the classical Marxist theoretical system, Egyptian scholars gradually shifted toward interpreting classical Marxist texts, exemplified by Reading Karl Marx’s Capital and On the Necessity of the Socialist Program by Ismail Sabri, an Egyptian Communist Party member and professor of economics.
Regarding the intergenerational transmission of Marxist historiography, the historian Rifa'at al-Sa'id was the first Egyptian scholar to systematically study the history of the communist movement in East Germany. He obtained doctorates from Leipzig University and Berlin University, receiving systematic training in classical Marxist theory. Upon returning to Egypt, Rifa'at joined Henri Curiel's Movement for National Liberation and was subsequently imprisoned for 15 years. Using materialism, he chronicled the development of Marxism in Egypt, publishing works such as The History of the Egyptian Communist Movement, The History of the Development of Leftist Organizations in Egypt, Leftist Periodicals in Egypt, and The Egyptian Left and the Palestinian Issue. Rifa'at emphasized the important historical role of the Egyptian Communist Party in promoting the process of Egyptian independence and pointed out that an examination of the Egyptian leftist press would reveal the internal logic and core issues of its Marxist theoretical development. Through a long process of recording, selecting, and revising, he compiled relevant documents from the Egyptian leftist press into volumes, which have become essential references for the study of Egyptian Marxist historiography.
Finally, the Sinicization of Marxism expanded the academic field of Egyptian Marxist historiography, accumulating intellectual vitality for its development and intergenerational transmission. As a component of global Marxist historiography, Chinese Marxist historiography—alongside the success of the New Democratic Revolution—exerted an important influence on world Marxist historiography, making valuable explorations and major contributions, particularly in the application of materialist principles to solve theoretical problems in the discipline of history. In addition to classical Marxist works, the translation bureau of the Egyptian national liberation movement translated Mao Zedong’s works—such as On the Ten Major Relationships, On New Democracy, On Practice, and On Contradiction—into Arabic, selling them in Henri Curiel's private bookstore, "Le Rond-Point" [1]. The successful practice of the Sinicization of Marxism allowed an increasing number of Egyptian Marxist historians to recognize methods of historical interpretation beyond the Soviet and Western models, with the Egyptian economist and neo-Marxist historian Samir Amin being the most representative figure.
In the process of studying Arab, East Asian, and African issues, Amin discovered that Western national historiographical theories were not entirely applicable to the historical development of these regions. He systematically examined the history of Marxist development in France, the Soviet Union, and China, proposing that the study of the Sinicization of Marxism is an essential requirement for deciphering the "Chinese model." In The Long Revolution of the Global South: Toward a New Anti-Imperialist International, he pointed out that the principle of socialist public ownership of land is the root of all China’s achievements. In 1984, Amin published Maoism and Revisionism, outlining the developmental characteristics of Chinese Marxism at various stages. Using comparative historical methods, he systematically examined the Chinese model, the Soviet model, and the Third World model, concluding: "Through a historical analysis of the Chinese development model, we can see that Chinese Marxism drew a clear line against revisionism from the very beginning. The theoretical source of this socialist model is Mao Zedong’s On the Ten Major Relationships." The development of Amin’s economic theory and historiographical thought reflects the staged characteristics of Egyptian Marxist historiography.
II. The Egyptian Communist Movement and the Early Development of Marxist Historiography
The period from the Russian October Revolution in 1917 to the Egyptian July Revolution in 1952 constitutes the early developmental stage of Egyptian Marxist historiography; its emergence and growth were complementary to the Egyptian communist movement. The outbreak of the October Revolution inspired the Egyptian grassroots, further intensifying the contradictions between Egypt and the British colonial authorities. Between 1921 and 1922, 81 strikes occurred across 50 Egyptian factories. Due to the close interaction between Marxist theory and the Arab national revolution, the Lebanese historian Wajih Kawtharani defined Arab Marxist historiography as "revolutionary historiography"—that is, a historiographical paradigm integrated with nationalist thought, using historical determinism and dialectical materialism as its main thread, basing itself on historical class struggle, and applying Marxist theory to examine historical, political, cultural, and economic development.
Among the external factors, the two World Wars shattered the old international order. The new international order closely linked the developmental trajectories of various countries, facilitating the rapid spread of Marxism from Europe to the Arab region. Among the internal factors, the development of Marxist historiography in Egypt was closely related to its internal revolutionary demands for anti-colonialism and anti-feudalism. Marxist historiography opened a door for interpreting Egypt’s economic, social, and political history. Egyptian historians explored a way out of the dilemmas of democracy, development, and national transformation experienced by Egyptian political forces by analyzing international issues, feudal ownership, and factors hindering the development of national capitalism. As internal and external conditions matured, Egyptian Marxist historiography gradually developed, manifesting the following characteristics:
First, leftist newspapers and periodicals became the primary battleground for the practice of Egyptian Marxist historiography. To enable loose labor union organizations to exert greater political influence in parliament, Egyptian intellectual elites established the Socialist Party in 1921, renaming it the Egyptian Communist Party the following year. The establishment of the Egyptian Communist Party led to a multiplication of Marxist political-cultural groups and leftist publishing houses in Egypt. The three most influential organizations were: the "Movement for National Liberation" founded by Henri Curiel, the "Iskra" (Spark) [2] founded by Hillel Schwartz, and the "People’s Liberation Organization" led by Marcel Israel. Subsequently, Egyptian leftist periodicals sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, with increasingly diverse scopes and content—for example, The New Dawn under "20th Century Publishers," the "Scientific Research Publishing House" under Iskra, and the Young Egypt Party’s Socialism. The rise of leftist publishing houses provided a practical platform for the development of Egyptian Marxist historiography. Various leftist publications also had certain differences in public image, historiographical thought, and political stance; the conflicts and polemics between these historiographical schools further promoted the development of the Egyptian Marxist school of history.
Second, an emphasis on utilizing the principles of Marxist political economy to examine historical drivers. After World War II, sociology and economics jointly promoted the formation and development of socio-economic historical research. This pushed forward the development of Marxist historiography, which took "social and economic" factors as a breakthrough point and assumed the responsibility of researching human socio-historical issues and historical change. Ahmed Rushdi Salih was the first historian to apply Marxist thought to explain contemporary Egyptian history, publishing works such as Cromer in Egypt, American Colonialism in the Middle East, and The Suez Canal. He pointed out that the influx of large amounts of foreign financial capital made Egypt subject to capital markets and European politics, which Britain used to colonize Egypt and establish its own monopoly system. In addition to his interpretation of colonialism, Rashid al-Barrawi, in The Economic History of Modern Egypt, manifested a belief in Marx’s dictum that "the productive force of social labor is, first and foremost, the power of science," emphasizing that science and technology are the primary forces shaping Egyptian history; only by following programs of state-led planning, collectivization, and large-scale industrialization can national development be guaranteed.
Third, the initial formation of an Egyptian Marxist historical viewpoint. The 1940s represented a golden age for the development of Egyptian Marxism, epitomized by the historian Fouad Mursi. In his early years, Mursi established the Marxist study group "Alexandria Vanguard" and founded the periodical The People’s Banner, demonstrating a strong materialist spirit. In his 1949 book The Development of Capitalism and Class Struggle in Egypt, he took historical materialism as his point of departure, emphasizing that Egyptian history since 1798 has been a precise manifestation of the principles of "dialectical materialism." Mursi summarized the reasons for the further intensification of class struggle in Egypt after World War II: the growth of domestic industry and the expansion of the working class; the increased opportunities for the bourgeoisie to exploit the laboring people; the widening gap between price levels and workers' wages; the improvement of labor organizations and the development of their bargaining power; and the further expansion of the spread of liberal and class-based ideas.
The "constitutional experiment" carried out in Egypt from 1923 to 1952 objectively promoted freedom of speech, thereby enabling Egyptian Marxist historiography to undergo a qualitative leap from non-existence to existence during this period; however, it did not create a "prairie fire" [3] across Egypt. As a nascent ideology, it primarily faced double suppression from religious and political forces. In the religious sphere, Marxist advocacy of atheism harmed the vested interests of the Egyptian Ulama [4]. In August 1919, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i (1856–1935), issued a religious edict (fatwa) strongly condemning the threat Bolshevism posed to religious faith. In the political sphere, the Egyptian national revolution was essentially a bourgeois reformist movement aimed at seeking the survival and development of the national bourgeoisie; therefore, it could not represent the interests of the proletarian majority. The rulers declared that establishing communist parties and organizations in Egypt would damage the cause of national independence. This move restricted the growth of the communist movement and Marxist historiography in Egypt. Their politically marginalized status forced Egyptian Marxists to take the field of publishing as their primary battleground, through which Egyptian Marxist historiography gradually grew in strength.
III. Professionalization and Prosperity: Egyptian Marxist Historiography during the Nasser Period
After the July Revolution of 1952, and especially after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the implementation of "democratic, cooperative socialism" in the early 1960s, a powerful new trend emerged in Egyptian historical circles: socio-economic issues became the focus of inquiry and debate. Against this backdrop, Egyptian Marxist historiography ushered in a period of comprehensive development. The prosperity of Egyptian Marxist historiography during the Nasser period was due to several primary factors. First, Egyptian Marxist historiography completed its theoretical construction during its developmental phase. Egyptian historians Mursi and Rushdi used the principle of the "contradictory movement of the two basic laws" [5] to explain that "historical development is the result of the interaction between the productive forces and the relations of production, which inevitably leads to changes in politics and the superstructure." Second, the "1964 Constitution" provided a legal basis for Egyptian Marxist historiography. This constitution stipulated that Egypt is a democratic state based on the "power of the working people" and that its economic system is a "socialist system." Nasserism—characterized by "people’s control over the means of production," a "planned economy," "class struggle," and "secularism"—spread rapidly throughout Egypt. Finally, relatively relaxed domestic policies made the development of Egyptian Marxist historiography possible. Because Nasser emphasized the indigenous nature of his propositions, the academic environment for research involving socialist theory improved significantly compared to the parliamentary and British occupation periods. Meanwhile, the socialist reforms of the Nasser government and the nationalization of the Suez Canal gave Egyptian Marxists new hope; their attitude toward the authorities shifted from confrontation to support and selective cooperation.
Marxist historiography in this period reflected a reconciliation between Egyptian communists and the state power; Egyptian Marxist historians attempted to integrate themselves into nationalist historical narratives by blurring differences. This was followed by a second peak in the development of leftist publishing houses, among which "Nadim Publishing House" and "Egyptian Media Press" were the most active. Furthermore, Nasser ordered the founding of the newspaper Al-Massa (Evening News), using nearly half of its pages to publish Marxist research covering analysis and solutions for the transformation of Egyptian society. As Third World countries gained independence in the 1960s, Egyptian Marxists recognized the methodological value inherent in Marxist theory, which promoted problem-oriented practical applications and produced a series of historical works intended to influence the political process. During this period, the analysis of the past and the critique of the present were merged into a new trend of historical research, opening a new stage for Egyptian Marxist historiography, manifested primarily in the following four aspects:
First, an emphasis on the fusion of Marxist historiography and nationalism. Ibrahim Amir was the first Egyptian historian to apply Marxist theory to explain the national movement. He advocated for Marxism as a national ideology and used materialism to explain the Egyptian national revolution in historical textbooks. In his book The Egyptian National Revolution: 1919–1952, he combined nationalism with socialist theory and applied the theory of historical materialism to elucidate the general laws of revolution, pointing out that the task of socialism is to break the links between capital, colonialism, and traitors, and to form a united front with the common classes and nationalism. In 1958, when Egypt and Syria formed the United Arab Republic, the Central Politburo issued a statement written by Martian thinkers Mahmoud Amin al-Alim and Abdel Azim Anis. Based on Stalin’s Marxism and the National Question, they argued for the republic's legitimacy from the perspectives of language, geography, economy, and culture, weakening the divergence between nationalism and Marxism.
Second, an emphasis on a holistic view of history based on structural analysis. Egyptian Marxist historiography in this period emphasized the importance of structural analysis for understanding historical processes, focusing on how foreign rule, exploitation, and capitalist structures influenced Egypt's socio-economic development and political landscape. Fawzi Girgis proposed studying the entire socio-economic structure of Egypt and its relationship with power politics from its origins, stimulating interest in the characteristics, laws, and nature of political development within Egyptian historical circles. In The Political History of Egypt: Since the Mamluk Era, he discussed in detail how the upper bourgeoisie, large landowners, and capitalists thwarted the Egyptian proletarian revolution. Starting with issues such as standards of living, income distribution, class formation, social justice, and political structures, he refuted debates regarding 19th-century Egyptian modernization, pointing out that Egypt's industrialization under Muhammad Ali was fragile and superficial, designed to maintain Egypt’s feudal-autocratic social structure and maximally satisfy the interests of capitalism.
Third, an emphasis on the historical practice of scientific socialist theory. With the spread of scientific socialist theory in Egypt, Egyptian Marxist historians gradually took the nature, conditions, and goals of the proletarian liberation movement as their primary objects of investigation. In the book The Development of the Egyptian National Movement, Shohdi Attia al-Shafei combined nationalist narrative with a Marxist interpretation of Egyptian society, enumerating the roles played by Egyptian workers and peasants in the revolution and analyzing the key factors that prevented the revolution's success. He established important conceptual links between labor organization, legislation, representation, poverty, taxation, and workers' rights, encouraging readers to choose between capitalism and socialism. He called on the government to eliminate monopolies by expanding the public sector and implementing central planning, demonstrating the dialectical unity between scientific socialist theory, movements, and social systems.
Fourth, the gradual establishment of a "system of historical science." The achievements of Egyptian Marxist historiography during the Nasser period were inseparable from the standardization of historical writing. On April 1, 1963, the Marxist historian Mohamed Anis published a signed article titled "Our National Heritage" in Al-Ahram, pointing out the importance of historical archives as national heritage. This sparked a broad historiographical movement, enabling professionally trained historians to use official historical archives for research. He also prompted Egypt to promulgate archive protection laws, effectively preventing the outflow of Egyptian historical archives. To facilitate researchers' access to materials, Anis also established the "Center for Contemporary Egyptian History," aimed at collecting and preserving Egypt's historical archives.
The demand to rewrite the history of the people is typical of all post-colonial and post-revolutionary societies, especially for a country like Egypt that had cast off the burdens of foreign rule and a bankrupt regime. Against this background, the development of Egyptian Marxist historiography reached its peak during the Nasser period. Marxist theory was widely applied to historical writing across different academic interests, such as Mohamed Ahmed Anis’s social history of Egypt, Ahmed Izzat Abdel Karim’s history of Egyptian education, Shohdi Attia al-Shafei’s nationalist historiography, Fawzi Girgis’s political history of Egypt, Ahmed Sadiq Saad’s economic history of Egypt, and Ghali Shukri’s intellectual history of Egypt.
IV. Localization and Innovation: Egyptian Marxist Historiography after the Infitah Policy
With the end of the Nasser era, his successor Sadat announced the launch of the "Corrective Movement" [6], and Egypt began to exhibit characteristics of liberalization in political life and de-nationalization in economic policy. The Egyptian urban bourgeoisie suddenly expanded, and the bureaucratic bourgeoisie took a dominant position; "the limited benefits farmers obtained from tenancy laws during the Nasser era ceased to exist by the eras of Sadat and Mubarak." In addition to policy shifts, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood (hereafter referred to as the "MB") also exerted a certain negative influence on the development of Egyptian Marxist historiography in an ideological sense. However, after the 1970s, many Marxist historians still produced works of high reference value. Egyptian Marxist historiography in the post-Nasser period achieved major theoretical breakthroughs and made progress in opposing religious extremism.
First, in terms of research methodology, it enriched and developed Marxist political economy. Egypt's Infitah (Open Door) policy fundamentally took shape in the mid-1970s; Sadat officially promulgated Law No. 43 of 1974 regarding "Arab and Foreign Investment and Free Zones." Globalization gradually highlighted the flaws of capitalist economic crises and the unequal development of the international economy. In the same year, the Egyptian Marxist economist Samir Amin published Unequal Development. By inheriting Marx’s class theory, Lenin’s theory of imperialism, developmentalism, and Andre Gunder Frank’s theory of colonial capitalism, he proposed "dependency theory," which became a powerful explanatory tool for examining the historical development of Third World countries. He attached great importance to examining maritime trade and its role in the economy, ensuring that reflections on the nature of the state and the development of Eastern societies occupied a place in Arabic historical research.
In addition to economics, Amin placed great emphasis on the guiding significance of class analysis and historical materialism in research, believing that socialism is the only way for humanity to eliminate capitalist exploitation. He pointed out that the Soviet model was only suitable for European historical narratives; Egyptian historiography should break free from this predicament and seek a Marxist historiographical paradigm applicable to Asia, Africa, and specifically Arab countries. In The Law of Value and Historical Materialism, Amin argued that historical materialism is not only the essence of Marxism but also the theoretical source of capitalist economic laws. The interaction between dialectical unity, class struggle, and economic laws plays an important role in examining social formations in the pre-capitalist period. To better explain the roles of the superstructure and consciousness, he also integrated Weberian concepts into Marxist social stratification theory.
Second, in terms of research content, there was a shift from deconstructing "capitalism" toward a critique of "religious extremism." Prior to the 1970s, the mainstream ideologies in Egyptian society were secular nationalism and socialism; however, with the intensification of the Cold War and Arab-Israeli conflicts, an increasing number of Egyptian scholars returned to Islam to seek answers for national rejuvenation. Following Egypt's crushing defeat in the 1967 Third Middle East War, Islamic revivalism began to rise in Egypt, gradually moving from opposition to communist thought toward the camp of political Islam. Consequently, anti-extremism became the forward frontier of Egyptian Marxist historiography. In 1977, Khaled Mohieddin, chairman of the National Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu), published Religion and Socialism. In this work, he explored the relationship between religion, socialism, and Marxism, refuted the claim that atheism posed a threat, and, by integrating the history of the Egyptian national movement, elucidated the necessity for Muslims and Christians to utilize Marxist methods in the struggle against oppression.
With the global evolution of religious extremism and terrorism, the Egyptian Marxist historian Rifa'at al-Said expanded upon the foundations laid by Mohieddin, the founder of the National Progressive Unionist Party. He redefined the categories of religion and politics, critiqued the anti-communist tendencies within Islam, and further argued for the necessity of Arab states to employ Marxism to solve development issues. In 1996, Rifa’at al-Said formally proposed the theory of "Pseudo-Islamism" (al-Ta’aslim), defining those who held such views as "Pseudo-Islamist terrorists." In his book Against Pseudo-Islamism, Rifa’at denied the legitimacy of political Islam, pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood was the primary reason for the Egyptian Left's withdrawal from the political arena, and argued that religious attempts to "reform the system by invoking the ancients" [7] were unsuited to modern society. This theory had a profound impact on the development of Marxist historical theory in Egypt and the broader Middle East, and it continues to be widely applied today in the interpretation of the politicization of Islam.
Third, in terms of research influence, Marxist historiography promoted the development of the Egyptian women's liberation movement. Egyptian Marxist historiography exerted a positive influence on the women's liberation movement by revealing the historical and material conditions that shaped the status of Egyptian women and examining the historical shifts in women's social and economic positions within the capitalist mode of production. During this period, a group of outstanding female Marxist historians emerged, such as Arwa Salih, a member of the Egyptian Communist Workers' Party. She translated Tony Cliff’s Class Struggle and Women’s Liberation into Arabic for publication. In her memoir, The Premature Ones, she summarized the historical problems of the Egyptian Marxist movement in the 1970s, pointing out structural issues within Egyptian communist organizations and criticizing the "rationalist" disguise of party leaders who prioritized publishing activities while neglecting the necessity of political struggle, thereby leading to their ultimate defeat.
Egyptian Marxist feminist historians focused on using class analysis to explore the interaction between the nature of gender and power, analyzing the marginalization of Egyptian women in the fields of family, education, and labor. In The Egyptian Female Working Class: Origins, Development, Struggle, Amina Shafiq traced the emergence and development of the female proletariat in Egypt, emphasizing that achieving true women's liberation requires a total transformation of society. She argued that merely advocating for gender equality under the existing capitalist system was insufficient, calling instead for a socialist revolution to fundamentally challenge the structures of class exploitation and gender oppression. Furthermore, Egyptian Marxist historiography demonstrated strong "humanistic concern." The Egyptian Marxist Mohamed Sayed Said founded the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and published Against Female Circumcision, which facilitated the legislative process for the Egyptian government to abolish this harmful practice.
Looking at the background of historical writing in this period, Islamic thought gradually became the mainstream ideology of Egyptian society. To draw a clear line against socialist development models, Sadat used the Muslim Brotherhood to suppress leftists, leading to a rapid expansion of Islamic forces in Egypt—a situation that remained controlled only when Mubarak began to crack down on Islamic forces in the mid-1990s. At the same time, influenced by global Marxist trends and the rise of the New Left, Egyptian Marxist historiography expanded its scope of research from class struggle to fields such as gender and culture, achieving a degree of theoretical innovation. Although the development of Egyptian Marxist historiography faced certain internal and external constraints after the 1970s, it remained active in the Egyptian media and resonated with global Marxist historiography, demonstrating robust historiographical vitality.
V. The Value of Egyptian Marxist Historiography
Marxist historiography has exerted significant guiding influence on Egyptian historical research in both epistemology and methodology. Powerful theoretical tools such as the determinism of productive forces, class analysis, and dialectical materialism provided the basis for the rapid formation and development of Egyptian Marxist historiography. On this foundation, Egyptian Marxist historians carried out the Sinicization—in this context, the indigenization—of Marxist historiography, deconstructing traditional Egyptian historical perspectives and conducting their own explorations toward an Arab model of Marxist history. Therefore, the study of Egyptian Marxist historiography is of great value; it has not only significantly influenced the development of Egyptian historiography but also played an irreplaceable role in the interactions of global Marxist historiography.
First, it constructed a Marxist historiographical discourse system, laying the foundation for the development of Egyptian Marxist history. The discourse system of modern Egyptian historiography underwent a transition from a traditional historiographical discourse to a nationalist one, and then from a nationalist discourse to a Marxist one. Anwar, a professor at Helwan University in Egypt, pointed out that investing cultural energy into the development of linguistic resources was a deliberate act by Marxists, as new ways of thinking and behaving require a new language as a medium of expression. Consequently, many new terms became increasingly popularized in modern Egyptian society, such as "progressive thought," "revolutionary movement," "revolutionary theory," "class struggle," "feudalism," "dialectical materialism," "reactionary," "police state," "class consciousness," and "class composition."
The transformation of the historiographical context provided the basis for the "Egyptianization of Marxist historiography," allowing Egyptian historians to further integrate the basic positions, viewpoints, and methodologies of Marxist history with the historical realities of Egypt. Another historiographical term that was very popular during the Nasser era was "conspiracy theory" (Mu’āmarah). Egyptian historians initially used it to describe political events that Marxist empiricism and structuralism could not explain; later, it merged with other historical traditions and was used paranoically to mask the failures of national decision-making. Although it appears now that many of the discourses of that time did not establish a complete logical relationship with historical interpretation—appearing mostly in the "prefaces" and "conclusions" of works—Egyptian Marxist historians nevertheless drew clear lines between themselves and other Egyptian historical schools in terms of discourse, concepts, interests, hypotheses, and concerns, which objectively promoted the development of Egyptian historiography and the formation of an Egyptian Marxist historical system.
Second, it changed the traditional writing paradigm of Egyptian historiography, providing a theoretical basis for the writing of a "subaltern view of history." Before the emergence of Marxist historiography, Egyptian historiography mostly took major public events involving political leaders and ruling groups as its primary subject of research; class analysis was naturally excluded from the scope of history. This top-down paradigm often took the glorification of the ruling class as its motive for historical compilation, rarely focusing on historical development from the perspective of ordinary people. Even the Egyptian nationalist historian Shafiq Ghorbal believed that "European power politics in the East was the womb that nurtured modern Egypt; the 'matchmaker' was Napoleon, and the founder was Muhammad Ali." Guided by a "bottom-up" conception of history, Egyptian Marxist historians studied both the lived experiences of the lower classes of society and the historical development of the upper echelons. Through the experiences of peasants, workers, women, and other socially vulnerable groups, they revealed their agency and contributions to historical development.
Ahmad Sadiq Saad and Ibrahim Amir, in The Peasant Question and Land and the Peasant: The Agrarian Question in Egypt respectively, recorded the miserable conditions of modern Egyptian peasants and their loss of interests during the process of modernization. Setting his work against the background of Egypt under the intervention of capitalism and imperialism, Saad provided a detailed analysis of the concomitant socio-economic problems. He argued that the imperialist alliance attempted to permanentize the Egyptian peasant problem, pointed out that the roots of the peasant issue lay in the parasitism of the great landlord class, and proposed setting ownership limits on agricultural land exceeding 50 feddans [8], confiscating land above the limit for distribution to landless peasants, and establishing agricultural production cooperatives. Amir placed this issue under the standards of historical scientific research, comprehensively using traditional methods and modern theories to analyze historical archives and information. This focus on the peasant question shook the traditional paradigm of Egyptian historiography and reflected the essence of the people-centered historical materialism.
Third, it integrated intersectional research methods into historical analysis, providing a new path for Egyptian nationalist historiography. In the early 20th century, Egyptian Marxist historiography was still in its Enlightenment stage. Historians often possessed multidimensional, overlapping identities of class, gender, and nation. This intersectionality helped provide a more comprehensive understanding of historical events and reflected the unique historiographical characteristics of Egyptian Marxism. Among these, the Egyptian socialist pioneer Salama Moussa is the most representative. Moussa believed that Marxist theory was essential for understanding and analyzing history, frankly stating: "I must admit that no one in this world has influenced me as deeply as Karl Marx, but I once deliberately avoided his name for fear of being accused of being a communist." His thought can be summarized in three aspects: Western rationalism and modernization; socialism as the means to achieve social justice; and tracing the roots of Egyptian national identity back to the Pharaonic period.
Salama developed Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid’s idea of "liberal nationalism," advocating for the severance of the link between Egypt and religion and the redefinition of Egyptian national identity. He combined national identity with the economic system and the rights of the people, proposing the entirely new concept of "Pharaonism" and calling for Pharaonism to serve as the cornerstone of Egyptian affiliation. Regarding historical writing, he established the "Egyptian Society for Scientific Culture" and published the journal Al-Majalla al-Jadida (The New Magazine), advocating for the replacement of traditional Arabic writing habits with Western scientific modes of thought. Salama’s "Pharaonism" opened a new path for Egyptian nationalist historiography, an influence that lasted until the revival of Islamic thought in the 1970s. It should be noted that while his thought possessed the progressiveness of striving for national independence, it failed to break free from the shackles of "Eurocentrism" and possessed certain historical limitations.
Fourth, it developed a theoretical system of New History and broadened the fields of historical research. Along with the development of Western historical theory in the 20th century, trends in Egypt opposing narrow diplomatic and political history and advocating for "total history" and "problem-based historiography" developed rapidly. In 1945, the Egyptian historian Shafiq Ghorbal founded the "Egyptian Society for Historical Studies," ending the long history of Egyptian historical writing being dominated by government officials, and published the bilingual (English and Arabic) Egyptian Historical Review. This provided a platform for Egyptian Marxist historians to express their discourse and expanded the academic influence of Marxist historiography. By emphasizing the role of social and economic factors in shaping history, Egyptian Marxist historiography provided a broader perspective for the study of historical events and processes. However, they did not treat Marxism dogmatically; instead, they used Marxism as a form of academic thought and research methodology while introducing theories from other disciplines for comprehensive research.
The focus of Egyptian historiography began to shift from political history toward fields such as the history of education, culture, society, thought, and science and technology. Marxist literary criticism was applied to contemporary Egyptian cultural works, as seen in Ahmad Izzat Abd al-Karim’s History of Education in the Era of Muhammad Ali and Social Change in 19th-Century Cairo; Ahmad Rushdi Salih’s Folk Literature and Art and Studies in Egyptian Social History; Mahmoud Amin al-Alim’s On Egyptian Culture; Ibrahim Fathi’s Narrative and Criticism in Egypt; and Abdel Azim Anis’s Science and Civilization: Ancient and Greek Civilizations. The fruitful explorations of these Egyptian Marxist historians demonstrate that Egyptian Marxist historical research is capable of producing a rich and diverse array of empirical works. Their achievements also showcased to the international historical community the power of historical materialism as an analytical tool.
Marxist historiography has exerted significant guiding influence on Egyptian historical research in terms of epistemology and methodology. Powerful theoretical tools—such as the determinacy of the productive forces, class analysis, and dialectical materialism—provided the basis for the emergence and evolution of Egyptian Marxist historiography and influenced the developmental trends of modern and contemporary Egyptian historiography. This is manifested in the following aspects. First, the widespread dissemination of the materialist conception of history influenced a group of non-Marxist historians, including the titan of Arabic literature Taha Hussein; by conducting multi-perspective analyses of historical objectivity, they proposed more possibilities for historical interpretation. Second, an emphasis on studying the power dynamics between the ruling class and the laboring class—stressing exploitation, inequality, and the resistance of the lower classes against ruling structures—ensured that investigating the impact of economic structures on social development became a primary characteristic of 20th-century Egyptian historical writing. Finally, the in-depth analysis of colonialism and imperialism promoted the development of Egyptian nationalist narratives. By analyzing the economic, political, and social relations of Egypt under colonial rule, a new path was provided for examining the Egyptian nationalist struggle.
Conclusion
Egyptian Marxist historiography sprouted in the 19th century, with its intellectual sources primarily including rationalism, liberalism, and socialist traditions. The rapid development of the global capitalist economy led to the gradual establishment of the Western colonial system. Egypt was reduced to a market for cheap labor for developed capitalist countries, and the growth and strengthening of the working class laid the foundation for the spread of Marxism in Egypt. After the October Revolution, Russia issued the "Appeal to All the Toiling Muslims of Russia and the East" [9], and the Comintern’s economic concepts regarding the redistribution of social wealth encouraged a large number of Egyptian people, objectively promoting the spread of Marxism in Egypt. In the first half of the 20th century, the development of the international communist movement facilitated the birth and development of Egyptian Marxist historiography. During this period, the group producing Egyptian Marxist historical writing consisted mainly of left-wing journalists who used the field of journalism as a front-line position for struggle, integrating class struggle with the cause of national liberation. In the second half of the 20th century, along with the professionalization of historiography, Egyptian Marxist historiography conducted independent explorations of historical methods building upon Western models. The most influential of these were Samir Amin’s economic historiographical paradigm and Rifa’at al-Sa’id’s achievements in the field of counter-religious extremism.
Although Egyptian Marxist historiography made significant progress in the 20th century, it still faces several problems. On the political dimension, after Egypt restored a multi-party system, historians representing various interests erroneously attributed the problems Egypt encountered during its revolutionary process to Marxism during the course of partisan struggles. This intensified the interaction between political consciousness and historical writing, and the struggle for the power to command historical interpretation weakened the objectivity of Egyptian Marxism. On the social dimension, the rapid development of the Muslim Brotherhood allowed Islamic thought to occupy a dominant position in Egypt; the inherent contradiction between religious belief and atheism created resistance to the development of Marxist historiography in Egypt. On the dimension of historical outlook, some historians exhibit a tendency to overemphasize economic determinism and ignore non-class factors in historical analysis. In its academic lineage, practical path, and value orientation, Egyptian Marxist historiography reflects the cultural traditions and social changes of the time, undertaking the functions of moral education and providing historical lessons. Therefore, incorporating Egyptian Marxist historiography into an integrated research method based on individual investigation, and reflecting on its merits, drawbacks, gains, and lessons, can provide benefits for the study of the history of Middle Eastern historiography.