Egyptian political party founded by former Prime Minister Adli Yakan (October 1922).
Members of the party, mainly landowners and intellectuals, were former members of the Wafd who came to oppose Saʿd Zaghlul because of his intransigence and demagogery. The program of the party, written by Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid, called for an independent Egypt, constitutional rule, the protection of civil rights and free speech, and social justice. The party defended the 1922 declaration of independence granted by Britain, which many nationalists considered inadequate, and supported the 1923 constitution, which it had helped to draft. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the party alternated between allying with the Wafd against Britain and joining with Britain in forming anti-Wafd governments. The newspaper of the party was al-Siyasa (Politics). The party was banned by the Revolutionary Command Council in 1953.
Bibliography
Goldschmidt, Arthur, Jr. Modern Egypt: The Formation of aNation-State. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988.
Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lutfi al-. Egypt's Liberal Experiment,1922 - 1936. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
— DAVID WALDNER
