WHEN the Free Officers staged their coup d'etat (which was soon named the July 23 Revolution to give the movement a much broader social and popular perspective) the students were 'hibernating', i.e. they were enjoying the lengthy summer vacation. Therefore, there had been no immediate or direct reaction on the part of students. However, the months before the Revolution had witnessed numerous and vehement anti-monarchical student demonstrations. At that time, corruption was reigning high and King Farouq's scandals were on every tongue. When the King had begotten the baby-boy he had long waited for, students took to the streets shouting, for the first time, perhaps, explicit bitter anti Farouq slogans including “Down with the Father; Down with the Son” while the birth of the 'Crown Prince' was being lavishly celebrated at top official levels. One may be tempted to ask: What would have been the reaction of students to the successful coup if it had been staged during the school year? Given contemporary conditions and facts, they would have most certainly welcomed it and in the most enthusiastic fashion. However, it may also be suggested that in planning their coup, the Free Officers might have not wished it to receive the immediate clamour it was natural to receive from already incited and 'politicised' students. Themselves former 'activists' and a product of the prevailing turbulent political, social and economic climate of the early decades of the 20th century, the Free Officers were well aware of the pros and cons of a definitive tumultuous student reaction; and therefore, it seems they had decided to do without it, temporarily at least, until they had gained full control of the country. They must have also recognised even the slightest possibility of so-called 'reactionary penetration' into the student body and with it potential instability or at least harassment to the new regime. The first 18 months or so of the Revolution saw nothing particularly disturbing on the part of students. However, during what came to be known as the March Crisis (power conflict between General Mohamed Naguib and the majority of the Free Officers) students staged several demonstrations in favour of the elderly General. As much of the background of planning for the revolution was little known or misty, students could not easily grasp the notion of the much older General, 'savior of Egypt' as he was popularly dubbed, being deposed by his younger colleagues. However, the Liberation Rally (the quasi-political organisation set up by the Free Officers to fill the vacuum left by the dissolution and banning of political parties) managed to rally workers. They also made a tactical shift by way of 'wait and watch' or rather 'stoop to conquer' until the wave of protest had subsided. [email protected]
