Collection Shuhdi `Atiyya al- Shafi`i

Period 1945, 1955-1958
Total size   0.36 m.
Consultation Not restricted

Biography

Born in 1912, died in Cairo 1960; Egyptian communist and publicist; studied literature; took his masters degree at Cambridge University; returned to Egypt during the Second World War; one of the founders of the Dar al-Abhath al-cIlmiyya (Scientific Research Council), which attracted many left-wing intellectuals; within the Egyptian communist movement Shuhdi 'Atiyya belonged to the Iskra Group and was one of the authors of its programme; involved in the student and workers' revolt against the British domination of Egypt in 1946; editor of the communist newspaper al-Jamahir (The Masses) from 1947; in 1948 sentenced to a seven years prison term; in the 1950s he supported a rapprochement with the regime of the Free Officers of Gamal Abdel Nasser because of its policy of land reform, nationalizations and anti-imperialism, which reached its summit during the Suez crisis in 1956; in 1958 however, the unification of Egypt with Syria strained the cooperation with the Nasserist regime; with hundreds of other communists Shuhdi 'Atiyya was arrested in 1959 and sentenced in 1960; he died under torture in the Abu Zacbal prison in the same year; his publications include `Amrika wa-l-Sharq al-Awsat' (`America and the Middle East') 1955 and `Tatawwur al-Haraka al Wataniyya al-Misriyya 1882-1956' (`The Development of the Egyptian Nationalist Movement, 1882-1956') 1957, which is one of the most penetrating Marxist interpretations of Egyptian history.

Content

Parts of the manuscript of `Tatawwur al-Haraka al Wataniyya al-Misriyya 1882-1956'; manuscripts of short stories; typewritten notes and printed source material used for different books; copy of the Iskra Group programme `Ahdafuna al-Wataniyya' (`Our National Goals') 1945.