ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the significance of economic planning as the centerpiece of authoritarian modernism and examines the changing perceptions of the new regime in the liberal weekly Ruz aUYusuf between 1955 and 1958. It deals with the gradual change in the communist movements attitude towards the regime, which moved from total rejection to far-reaching support. The communist movement was relatively late in appreciating the importance of planning to the regimes policy. The authoritarian modernist strain in the new regime was primarily responsible for its positive evaluation by the communist movement. The chapter demonstrates the role of planning in the changed attitude towards the regime. The reforms propagated by the new regime promised to change Egypt from a corrupt, “feudal,” and “backward” country to a modern, integrated society. Symbols of the new society were the huge public projects such as the High Dam, the Iron and Steel complex at Helwan, and the Tahrir Province land development project.
