Nasser Nasser/AP/Press Association. All rights reserved.In February 2012, the first anniversary after the removal of Mubarak and the peak of the struggle against the then-ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), there was a call for a general strike. I awaited this day like a young boy did the end of school, hoping that the strike would succeed and become the point of transformation for resistance against the military. At the time, the resistance was focused on street protests, which was proving increasingly ineffective.
The strike call went unheeded by the working class. The day passed like any other working day. The failures of the strike not only highlighted the weak connection between the urban middle class led protest movement and the working class, it also revealed something about the working class and the nature of their economic and political demands.
It became clear that the working class was still dominated by Nasserist ideology. This ideology does not necessarily see the state as an enemy, but rather as a patron that needs to be reminded of its obligations towards the working class. The working class, though exhibiting clear signs of class consciousness, did not develop a revolutionary consciousness with the aim of overthrowing the regime; their goal was restoring what was: the Nasserist social contract with labour.
