Egyptian revolution in permanence!

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THE Egyptian army opened fire on thousands of workers and young people in Tahrir Square on Saturday morning, killing four and wounding 117.

Present in the square were a group of revolutionary officers who stood alongside the demonstrators.

Before the attack the military chiefs had warned a group of soldiers and officers that if they took their place in the square they would face trial, court martial and execution.

The bourgeois leadership of the protest movement is now split between those who warn that they cannot risk alienating the army, and those who consider that if they do not demand the resignation of the head of the ruling military council Field Marshall Tantawi, they face the complete return of the Mubarak police state.

The working class remains standing fast, insisting on its right to strike and demanding trade union freedoms and trade union rates of pay as well as a government that provides jobs and homes for all.

Workers have ignored military and government orders to stop striking and go back to work.

The army, last Thursday, invaded the Shebin El-Kom textile plant, as hundreds of its workers voted to resume their strike after accusing management of backtracking on agreements made.

Management called the armed forces into the plant as workers approached it to resume their sit-in. The workers now say that they will not end their sit-in until all of their demands have been met.

Revolution also raised its head at a press conference after Saturday’s violent repressions when opposition leaders including Muslim Brotherhood members Essam El-Erian and Mohamed El-Beltagy, member of the Social Democratic Party, Amr Hamzawy, and George Isaac, presented a joint statement on the opposition’s stance on the violent repressions.

The conference, also attended by members of the Revolution Youth Coalition, rights and political activists, as well as journalists, turned tense after several criticised the statement and shouted that it did not represent the revolution.

The statement, read out loud by Isaac, started with the sentence: ‘As representatives of the revolution, we express regret regarding the violence that took place causing injuries and deaths’ but stated the signatories were conscious of attempts to create tensions between the army and people.

Isaac said that they urged unity within the army and asked the military to protect the revolution’s peaceful spirit and to achieve its demands.

Isaac ended with a request to the military, which is ‘concerned about the revolution and which agrees on combating the counter-revolution’, to try the heads of the former regime while maintaining self-control when dealing with the ‘sometimes inexperienced youth’ who might have created tensions in order to achieve the desired democratic nation.

Member of the Revolution Youth Coalition, Khaled Abdelhamid, responded that the statement read out did not condemn in any way the violations that took place and did not talk of accountability. ‘There is now blood between the army and the people,’ Khaled added. His statements were met with cheering from the audience while many of the coalition got up to leave in objection to the statement presented.

Anger erupted again when Amr Shawky, an eyewitness and victim of the violence which took place in Tahrir, stated: ‘We saw three of the officers with us shot and killed. Many of us were severely beaten, including me. With all due respect to the political figures and leaders present, you do not represent us. You should have come and asked us what happened before talking on our behalf.’

In fact, the military general staff are the counter-revolution and the protest leaders are covering up for them.

With capitalism in its death agony, only the working class can complete the democratic revolution – that historically fell to the bourgeoisie – before the working class goes over to carrying out socialist measures.

To lead this struggle, as part of the world socialist revolution, Egyptian workers and youth must build a section of the International Committee of the Fourth International.