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Western commentators have referred to the Egyptian revolution as a Facebook­‑revolution, i.e. a social and political phenomenon mostly instigated (basically through social media) by middle-classes and highly­‑educated young people calling for Western democratic (and, ça va sans dire, pro­‑market) reforms. This untrue revolutionary postcard have been erased the underlying socioeconomic roots of the 2011 Egyptian uprising. As a consequence, the unprecedented wave of labour protests over the last three years almost seems to come out of the blue and, moreover, the Egyptian workers’ role in the 2011 upheaval receive little attention. This paper argues that socioeconomic factors are at the very heart of the Egyptian uprising and, in this perspective, it aims to contribute some essential aspects in considering the rising Egyptian labour movement as a key actor in a long­‑term revolutionary process.

An oft-used representation of the Egyptian mass uprising in Western journalistic and academic debates is: through the use of social networks, young people have been able to quickly mobilize millions of protesters. Egyptian uprising is often interpreted as social and political phenomena, mostly instigated by middle-classes, highly educated and unemployed young people. In this perspective, workers’ movement and its decadal struggles receive less attention and is considered a priori irrelevant. This paper aims to contribute some essential steps in considering the recent Egyptian uprising as a complex historical process, in which labour movement’s role was pivotal. At methodological level, the paper seeks to combine literature, quantitative and qualitative research methods.