Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council - Accomplishments

Accomplishments

Under the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, Britain controlled the Suez Canal. But in 1951, Egypt repudiated the treaty. By 1954, Britain had agreed to pull out. Nasser signed an agreement with Britain that provided for the withdrawal of all British uniformed military personnel from the Suez Canal Zone, although a small civilian force was allowed to temporarily remain. This agreement finally gave Egypt true full independence and ended tensions between Britain and Egypt. Shortly after the treaty with the British, Nasser won forty million dollars in combined financial aid for economic development from the British and Americans.

The Egyptian economy was dominated by private capital until the revolution of 1952. The new government began to reorganize the economy along socialist lines in the late 1950s. The state played an increasing role in economic development through its management of the agricultural sector after the land reforms of 1952. These reforms limited the amount of land an individual or family could own. Financial hurdles delayed the progress of the land reforms. The land reform proposed two basic steps to improve the lot of the Egyptian peasant:

1. dramatic reduction of agricultural rents
2. expropriation of all landed property-holdings above 200 feddâns (1 feddân = 1.038 acres)

In September 1952, the process of land reform in Egypt began. A law was passed that had numerous provisions which attempted to remedy the Egyptian land problems. These were:

• Land owners were prohibited to possess more than 200 feddans of land. However, fathers with more than 2 children were allowed to own 300 feddans.
• A limit on the rental rate for land was set at seven times the land tax value of the plot of land.
• All land leases were given a minimum duration of three years.
• The government established cooperatives for farmers holding less than five feddans. The members of these cooperatives worked together to obtain supplies such as fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds as well as cooperating to transport their products to market.
• A minimum wage for agricultural workers was set at 18 piastres per day.

Additionally, the law provided for the redistribution of any land that owners held over the limits it established:

• Each affected owner would receive compensation for his excess land in government bonds worth a total of ten times the rental value of the land. These bonds would pay three percent interest and mature in thirty years.
• All land bought by the government would be sold to peasants though no person could obtain more than five feddans from the government. Peasants who bought land would pay the government the cost of the land and a 15% surcharge over a period of thirty years.

By the end of 1955, of the total of 567,000 feddâns subject to sequestration, 415,000 feddâns had been expropriated by the government. However, only a part of this land has been distributed among the small landholders, and the government held most of the expropriated land. By the end of 1955, 261,000 feddâns had been reallocated from the government reserve. In addition, 92,000 feddâns had been sold by large to small landowners just prior to the requisition. The government was attempting to organize the beneficiaries of this plan in cooperatives and also to continue the maintenance of the existing irrigation and drainage systems. The land reform of the revolutionary government had undoubtedly benefited the Egyptian peasantry. An Egyptian government source estimated that the new farmers have doubled their incomes, and that setting a limit on rents has reduced the total amount of land rent by $196,000,000.

There was growth in industrial production. Electricity consumption increased from 978,000,000 kW in 1952 to 1,339,000,000 kW in 1954. The cotton yarn output increased from 49,200 to 64,400 tons, and cotton fabric output increased from 157,800,000 meters to 240,900,000 meters. Cement production reached a new high of almost 1,500,000 tons.