October 14—Thousands of workers at the Mahalla Weaving and Textile Company have ended their most recent three-day strike after a massive sit-in got them assurances that promised bonuses would be paid. These workers were in the forefront of the movement that toppled Mubarak, then against Morsi, and now against the military rulers.
We need to hasten the day when they will give leadership in mobilizing the masses worldwide for communism. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy responded to the October 10th US postponement of some military aid to Egypt by stating that "We chose the easy option and did not diversify our options... this led the US to wrongly believe that Egypt would always follow its policies and aims." In an interview on September 24, Fahmy explained why his first foreign visit had been to Moscow, declaring that the Egyptian rulers want to "rebuild ties, or increase the level of ties, with Russia."
This sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry in Egypt makes the following analysis more critical than ever.
The attack on Egyptian workers, caused by the worldwide capitalist imperialist crisis, is sharpening as the crisis deepens. Workers are responding by rebelling against the bosses.
The Egyptian military coup was sold as an attempt to "save the nation and democracy" from the restrictive Morsi regime. Then the army sent tanks directly into a Suez Steel complex to smash a sitin strike the last week of August. The illusion was shattered.
Earlier, 2,000 Suez Steel workers struck nearby only days after the coup. Here too the army intervened. The military arrested thirteen leaders under the "right to work" law enacted in the wake of Mubarak's downfall in 2011.
Near Suez, one hundred km north of Cairo, is Mahallah, called the core revolutionary city. Militant, mostly women strikers in the city's sprawling textile district often gave birth to broader movements. The 2008 strikes there were the direct impetus for the mass protests that led to Mubarak's ouster.
The Muslim Brotherhood-led government also tried to suppress these workers. They attempted to forcibly conscript striking rail workers in April 2013. They used police dogs to break up a sit-in by Portland Cement workers in February 2013. The Islamists' failure to keep the Egyptian working class in check may very well have forced the military's hand. From Mubarak to Morsi to the military the form of oppression may change, but the exploitive essence remains the same.

Fear of the "Mob"
Mass mobilizations have erupted in Egypt for three years now. Obviously capitalism can't satisfy the needs of the masses. The continuing worldwide economic crisis makes it impossible for workers to live in the old way.
The ruling class both fears and disdains the fury of the mobilized masses. Demonstrations per se do not upset the bosses if those who know when "enough is enough" lead them. Bourgeois culture demands that protests transition, in a timely manner, to elections and the orderly continuation of business.
Mobilizing the masses for communism rejects this bosses' logic. Mobilized masses are necessary to make a revolution and to ensure the success of communism.
Communist mobilization requires a great degree of organization. Our party exists to organize the working class to mobilize masses for communism now and after the revolution.
Mobilized masses can smash every institution of bourgeois control: from the government to the factory, from the universities to the primary schools. Production will no longer be based on profit and sale, but on satisfying the material and cultural needs of the working class.
Education won't be segregated from work. Capitalist leaders sit for years in classrooms or seminars to bleach out any stain of pro-working class empathy. Communist education will mobilize the working class and work to teach all the technical and ideological skills necessary to defend and expand communist collectivity. In short, the never-ending mobilization for communism!

The Bosses' Chaos Is Our Opportunity
The Egyptian bosses wouldn't stand a chance if Mahallah workers brought their discipline and revolutionary history, in the name of communist revolution, to the masses already in the streets. The bosses fear the situation in Egypt will lead to chaos. We call it opportunity.
Unfortunately, it's not likely the Egyptian working class will fulfill this revolutionary potential any time soon. Workers will continue to fight with one hand tied behind their backs without a party like ours to mobilize for communism.
The lessons of Egypt must be debated and absorbed in every factory, school, barracks and community in which we have a base. International solidarity demands we increase the worldwide circulation of Red Flag. We focus on factory and army networks, but must use all means of distribution available.
We hear from workers all over the world who are excited about our party and its potential. The heroism of the Egyptian working class demands we overcome every obstacle to recruit them.