Brecht De Smet is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University and author of Gramsci on Tahrir: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Egypt (Pluto Press, 2016).
The fall of the Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, ten years ago today, was a triumph for popular mobilization. But the revolutionary forces lacked the political organization and vision needed to head off a counterrevolutionary backlash that restored the authoritarian state’s power.
The Egyptian legal system might have acquitted the late Hosni Mubarak of ordering a brutal clampdown on protesters. The verdict of history won’t be so kind.
In 1930s Europe, Hendrik de Man’s bid to replace class struggle with state planning led to a deadly embrace with fascism. His attempt to graft nationalism onto socialism offers a terrible lesson for social democrats today who adapt their politics to far-right ideas.