A “Communist” Revolution

In the mid-nineteenth century, the British Empire’s “free-trade imperialism” failed to achieve full domination in Upper Egypt, and its failure brought about a great revolution. This chapter tells six stories about a dysfunctional British market economy and resented imperial modernity in Qina province. These stories revolve around steamships, plantations, and coal mines, and show how the failures of these major players in market change devastated the lives of the province’s subalterns. The main protagonists of these stories are the peasants, laborers, and women of Qina. The village of Salimiyya—where a massive revolt broke out in 1864—is where most of the events take place.