Between Reformism and Revolution: the Muslim Brotherhood and the Student Movement in Egypt in the 1930s and 1940s

The article presents an overview of the formation, organisation and political role of the Muslim Brotherhood student movement in the Egyptian contentious political scene of the 1930s and 1940s up to the 1952 military coup, by combining the rich secondary literature of the period with the Brotherhood’s internal sources. The reconstruction focuses on the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood – as any mass organisation – was far less homogeneous than what is normally claimed by both internal and external sources, both sharing a general overstating of internal discipline and absolute obedience, especially during Ḥasan al-Bannā’s charismatic leadership (1928–1949). The students of the Muslim Brotherhood were clearly channelling bottom-up pressures for more radical political action, sometimes ignoring directives from above and influencing the trajectory of the larger movement. In the warming political context of the late 1940s, Islamist students were acting independently, for instance taking the initiative to build tactical alliances with other student organisations even those belonging to the antagonist leftist/progressive camp, thus actively contributing to creating the momentum that led to the 1952 Revolution. However, and despite the clear message from its base, the Brotherhood leadership ended up by always opting for a moderate and cautious course, avoiding head-on confrontation with the government even at the cost of multiple crises and defections.