The Revolution and students (5), Ikhwan and communist students El-Ikhwan el-Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood) considered students as 'the striking force' of the movement. Hassan el-Banna, the founder of the Movement, had therefore devoted particular attention to them. In the early years, the Ikhwan did not recruit large numbers of students. However, before World War II, student membership amounted to some 500, mostly from Al-Azhar. On February 4, 1942, the British ambassador, escorted by British tanks, surrounded Abdin Palace and forced King Farouk to dismiss an allegedly pro-Italian Cabinet and to replace it with the popular Wafd Cabinet. The King surrendered to British demands, and the Wafd ruled till 1944. After that incident, the Ikhwan made every effort to absorb those students who were disappointed and frustrated by the Wafd's attitude. The Ikhwan magazine gave more space to student affairs, and a regular talk for students was arranged every Thursday. The landslide victory of Ikhwan in the Students' Union elections at Cairo University (then known as Fouad I University) in November 1951 reflected the Ikhwan expanding influence within the student body. It was due partly to the military training provided by the Ikhwan for students so that they can participate in anti-British guerrilla activities in the Canal Zone, and partly to the frustration and mistrust students felt towards party politics. The Ikhwan students were highly organised. Many of them had gained their organisational skills through membership of the para-military Rover Scouts, which was the only group to be exempted from the 1938 Act banning all para-military organisations. Some Ikhwan students were also members of the Society's underground Special Apparatus, a number of whom had been among volunteers in the 1948 Palestine War. The most prominent of Ikhwan student leaders was Moustafa Mo'min, who was an indefatigable campaigner and could always rouse the enthusiasm of crowds. He is particularly remembered for conveying the 'voice of Egypt' to the UN Security Council in 1947 when he accompanied an official delegation carrying a petition written in the blood of students demanding the country's independence. His famous slogan was ‘Justice for our Country'. Towards the end of WW II, the emerging Egyptian communist movement began to attempt to influence the student movement. The academic year 1955/1956 witnessed a high point of communist activism among students, especially in the faculties of Science and Medicine in Fouad I University and Farouk I University (today's Cairo and Alexandria universities respectively). Due to the concentration of communists, the Faculty of Science at Farouk I University was nicknamed 'The Red Faculty'. The communists formed an organised group within the student body. Each of the communist organisations encompassed a high proportion of students and maintained a separate student section. The organisations that were most active among students was Iskra (The Egyptian Movement for National Liberation: EMNL), and to a lesser extent the Citadel and the Dawn groups. [email protected]
