The Workers National Democratic Party (WDP) () is a workers' political party in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

formed shortly after the

Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

. It is backed by the Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions and forms part of the Coalition of Socialist Forces. The party name is sometimes translated in English as Democratic Workers Party, Democratic Labour Party or Labour Democratic Party.

History

The party was initiated by the

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

front Hashd and the

Revolutionary Socialists The Revolutionary Socialists (; ) (RS) are a Trotskyist organisation in Egypt originating in the tradition of ' Socialism from Below'. Leading RS members include sociologist Sameh Naguib. The organisation produces a newspaper called ''The Social ...

(RS) in response to the country's growing

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

movement which preceded the revolution. WDP spokesperson Kamal Khalil says "Most leftist attempts to form a party include

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s as major players and a number of workers as members... This party aims at having workers as the main players and leaders of the party joined by a number of intellectuals."

Politics

Although the RS have been instrumental in the formation of the party, the WDP does not present itself as a

revolutionary party Revolutionary Party is the name of several political parties, including: Active parties Former parties See also

* People's Revolutionary Party (disambiguation), People's Revolutionary Party * Communist Party (disambiguation)#Revolutionary, ...

. Party officials claim

socialist revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

"is not feasible in the current political environment", citing the Egyptian

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

' "lack of political experience and the underdevelopment of the

labour movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

". They instead advocate the re-

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

of industry and more genuine worker democracy. Although not a self-proclaimed revolutionary party, the WDP cites revolutionary language and theory. For example, on

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

, 2011 - the first May Day after Mubarak - the party chanted "A workers' revolution against the capitalist government" while marching to

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square (, ; ), also known as Martyr Square, is a public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations. The 2011 Egyptian revolution and the resignation of President of Egypt, ...

. The same day,

Hossam el-Hamalawy Hossam el-Hamalawy (, ; AKA Arabic chat alphabet, 3arabawy , ; born 14 July 1977) is an Egyptian journalist, blogger, photographer and socialist activist. He is a member of the Revolutionary Socialists (Egypt), Revolutionary Socialists and the C ...

, a representative of the party, called for "a complete halt to the

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

program." And Ahmed Ezzat, one of the founders of the WDP has admitted "

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

's '' What is to be Done'' and '' April Notes'' helped shape our strategy, as did

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's theories". Ezzat has also labeled the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

counter-revolutionaries A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...

". On 10 May 2011, the WDP agreed to enter into a "socialist front" with four other Egyptian leftist groups called the Coalition of Socialist Forces. The new grouping includes the

, the

Egyptian Communist Party The Egyptian Communist Party (ECP; ) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party in Egypt. History and profile The modern Egyptian Communist Party (ECP) was formed in 1975 by a number of members of the former Egyptian Communist Par ...

, The Socialist Party of Egypt and the Popular Democratic Alliance Party.

Demands

The party's most important principles are "the respect of all Egyptians' religious beliefs and bringing an end to discrimination on the basis of

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

." The re-nationalization of industry is one of the WDP's key demands but unlike under

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, where the heads of state-owned factories were appointed by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, the WDP calls on workers of these factories to appoint their own managers. The WDP stands for abolishing

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

and

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

policies, and redirecting development plans to benefit "underserved social classes". The party is also coordinating with other forces to establish a higher

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

for Egyptian workers, the establishment of

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s independent of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, and to improve working conditions in all workplaces. They are also calling for "combating administrative corruption and reevaluating Egypt’s economic ties to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

". Their slogan is "the workers must be united".

Legality

Under the current Political Parties Law, the WDP may not acquire official recognition, due to the law banning parties forming on a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

basis. Also, party leaders are required to raise at least to publish the names of at least 5,000 founders in two widely circulated

dailies In filmmaking, dailies or rushes are the raw, film editing, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. The term "dailies" comes from when movies were all shot on film because usually at the end of each day, the footage was dev ...

. The WDP sees this as the

Supreme Council of the Armed Forces The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF; , ', also Higher Council of the Armed Forces) is a Statutory authority, statutory body of between 20 and 25 Senior officer, senior Officer (armed forces), officers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and ...

way of discriminating against the

poor Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse

and labour movement: "This shows that the old mentality is still there and that the government is siding with businessmen rather than workers." The WDP is expected to defy the legislation and launch their party as soon as they recruit at least 10,000 workers and 10,000 farmers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Workers Democratic Party 2011 establishments in Egypt Anti-Zionism in Egypt Anti-Zionist political parties Labour parties Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) Political parties established in 2011 Political parties in Egypt Revolutionary Socialists (Egypt) Socialist parties in Egypt