The Battle of Tahrir Square¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter Digest: The Battle of Tahrir Square¶
This chapter dissects the counterrevolutionary assault on Tahrir Square, arguing that it was not a spontaneous eruption of violence but a meticulously orchestrated operation directed by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party and security forces. The regime deliberately emptied prisons and mobilised the lumpenproletariat—what Marx termed the “dangerous class,” a bribed tool of reaction—alongside criminal gangs and slum youth, arming them with cudgels, iron bars, rocks, and Molotov cocktails. The army’s complicity was decisive: it colluded by opening barriers to allow thugs free entry while refusing to intervene, a treacherous “neutrality” that amounted to active support for the counterrevolution. Outnumbered but unbowed, revolutionaries fought back, breaking paving stones to hurl at attackers and ultimately driving Mubarak’s forces from the Square.
The chapter sharply criticises Western governments, particularly the United States, for their hypocritical calls for “restraint on all sides,” which falsely equated armed assailants with unarmed victims. Obama’s carefully coded language betrayed Washington’s impotence: it dared not demand Mubarak’s resignation for fear of destabilising Saudi Arabia and Jordan, yet could not openly endorse a bloody crackdown. The revolutionary tide, however, continued flowing across the region, exposing the limits of imperial influence.
Drawing on the lessons of these weeks, the text argues that counterrevolutionary armed gangs can only be defeated if the people arm themselves for self-defence, matching the weapons used against them. Pacifism is rejected as useless against armed thugs. To decisively break the regime’s power, mass action must escalate into an all-out general strike across Egypt, depriving the state of transport, petrol, communications, light, heat, and water—demonstrating that the organised working class is more powerful than any gang or police force. The key organisational demand is the establishment of elected committees for the defence of the Revolution in every factory, street, and village, linking up locally, regionally, and nationally. These committees are presented as the embryo of a future democratic people’s government, an alternative to the dictatorial regime. The chapter’s central polemic is clear: appealing to the army or the “international community” is futile; the people can trust only themselves—their own strength, solidarity, courage, and organisation.