The president of the republic, Mohamed Mursi, won’t be allowed to go to bathroom without Field Marshal Tantawi’s permission. Scaf will remain political leader.

The consciousness of the masses meant that the old regime could not win the elections. So the revolutionary possibilities are much bigger than anyone could have imagined.

Some people think there is no difference between the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and that of the generals. From a class perspective, if we look at their programmes, there isn’t a difference there.

But there is an extremely important difference. The Brotherhood has a mass base—an ability to mobilise. The regime depends completely on its security apparatus and on creating terror.

But the vacillating forces of the Brotherhood are under pressure from above and from below. We must make use of that contradiction.

Audience

The Brotherhood’s own rank and file, and the masses who support them, are the audience for the left in Egypt. They are the audience for the revolution.

The Revolutionary Socialists don’t "support" the Brotherhood. But in the battle between the Brotherhood and the military we are on the barricades with the Islamists.

We are there with our own independent propaganda and without dropping our criticism.

There is a huge audience looking for a revolutionary alternative that doesn’t support the Brotherhood or the military. This is especially true among the working class.

The youth can fill the squares to overflowing. But the working class can paralyse the state. A general strike would bring Egypt to a halt.

We have to tell Egyptian workers and the masses that if the military win they will smash workers’ organisations.

They will try to defeat the revolution. We must have confidence that the masses can stop that from happening.

Sameh Naguib is a member of the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt