Longing for the Day

EGYPT Longing for the Day

From the moment Strongman Mohammed Naguib proclaimed a revolution in Egypt, he began a furious fight against the nation's constitutional inertia. There was not much time. He had to transform Egypt before cowed politicians could make a comeback, and a fickle public got too impatient waiting for results.

Naguib gave himself six months of supreme powers and personally took over jobs that would tax three ordinary men: Premier, defense minister, chief of staff. Twenty hours a day, seven days a week he labored. Once, at a cornerstone-laying ceremony, he blurted out: "Believe me, I am tired and prepared to give up office." But he stayed on the job.

Lost Momentum. Less than a month stood last week between him and his deadline. As he stepped out of his bulletproof Cadillac to preside over another midnight sitting of his nine-man military politburo, the onetime jaunty bounce was gone.

The revolution had lost momentum, inevitably. Four months ago, Naguib had jailed 62 old-line politicians, including such discredited jobholders as Fuad Serag el Din, Wafd Party secretary general. Last week all were free men.

The country passively awaited miracles, and complained when it saw none. Landlords grumbled because Naguib had ordered land redistribution; peasants grumbled because it had not happened. Hardest blow of all, and no fault of Na-guib's, was the sharp decline of King Cotton, the "white gold" that brings in most of Egypt's cash and (indirectly) the government's revenues. A worldwide textile slump had filled Egypt's warehouses to bursting with unsold cotton, slowed up all other business and forced Naguib to raid his dwindling treasury for $158 million to bail out growers.

Purges & Production. For the past month, Cairo's rumor markets were astir with talk that a disenchanted Naguib was about to quit. Instead, Naguib's government:

P:Ordered a sweeping purge, retroactive to 1939, of "all persons . . . who have indulged in nepotism, political corruption, and misuse of power and influence." P:Allotted $200 million to further land reform, and decreed the expropriation of "surplus" lands (more than 200 acres) of in landowners, including exiled King Farouk's family.

P:Set up a production council of Egypt's eleven top engineering, agricultural and production brains to find new industries, thereby freeing Egypt from the tyranny of King Cotton.

To a TIME correspondent, Naguib announced that he has decided to rule beyond his six months' deadline, until he is certain his revolution has succeeded. "I have never believed in dictatorship," said Naguib, "and I long for the day when I will be able to retire from this position. But only when the nation is able to stand on its feet."

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