ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the pre- and post-1952 economic and political institutions and processes in rural Egypt and to assess their impact on the quality of life available to the Egyptian peasant. It focuses on the agricultural cooperative because in many ways this institution presents an ideal framework for analyzing the changes that have characterized Egypt over the twentieth century. Probably the most common system of agricultural exploitation before Second World War was the infamous 'izba system, based on the use of tamaliyya laborers, who were usually hired by the year and received both money wages and payment in kind, including the use of a small plot of land for subsistence purposes. The rise of nationalism gradually stimulated increased political awareness in urban and rural areas. In the late 1940s agricultural conditions were widely reported in the press, but a series of proposals for social and economic reform were defeated in a landlord-dominated Parliament.
