Production¶
Core Argument¶
The chapter’s core argument is that the eruption of the Arab revolutions in 2011 was not a spontaneous or inexplicable outburst but the direct product of deep-seated contradictions within the capitalist mode of production in the region. It insists that these upheavals must be understood through the lens of historical materialism, not as cultural or religious phenomena. The central claim is that decades of neoliberal restructuring, imposed by the International Monetary Fund and local ruling elites, systematically dismantled public services, agriculture, and industry, creating a vast, impoverished, and precarious working class. This class, swollen by mass rural-to-urban migration, formed the social base for the uprisings. The chapter draws on Marx’s theory of alienation and exploitation, arguing that the Arab masses were not merely poor but were subjected to the specific degradations of wage labour under capitalism. It uses the example of Egypt to illustrate the process: the collapse of state-led industrialisation under Nasser, the subsequent “Open Door” policy under Sadat, and the full-blown neoliberal assault under Mubarak, which privatised state assets, slashed subsidies, and created a super-rich elite while millions scraped by in the informal economy. The evidence cited includes the staggering concentration of wealth—the chapter notes that 95% of Egyptians lived on less than two dollars a day while a tiny clique controlled vast fortunes. The historical context drawn upon is the failure of post-colonial nationalist regimes (Nasserism, Ba’athism) to break with capitalism, which left their economies vulnerable to imperialist pressure and internal decay. The chapter’s polemical thrust is directed squarely at bourgeois and liberal commentators who sought to explain the revolutions through the lens of Islamism, “youth unemployment,” or a generic desire for “democracy.” It argues that such analyses are superficial and ideological, obscuring the class dynamics at play. It also implicitly critiques those on the left who downplay the revolutionary potential of the Arab masses, insisting that the objective conditions for socialist revolution are now more mature than ever. The chapter concludes that the revolutions will not be satisfied with a change of faces at the top; the logic of capitalist production itself, which generated the crisis, must be overthrown.