The Egyptian Communist Party (Arabic: الحزب الشيوعي المصري), often referred to as the Raya group after its publication ar-Rayat ash-Sha'ab (الراية الشعب, 'People's Banner'), was a communist party in Egypt founded in late 1949.
[1] The Raya leadership argued that Jewish influence and sexual libertinism had led to the fall of Hadeto, and they Jews and women were barred from party membership (The prohibition for women to join the party was later gradually relaxed).
[5] At Ibrahim Pasha University Raya student leader Amr Moheddin led a joint sit-in protest June–July 1954 with the Muslim Brotherhood against the Anglo-Egyptian Evacuation Agreement.
[5] By late 1956, unity talks began among the main factions of the Egyptian communist movement.
[5][2] As the Unified Egyptian Communist Party had nominated four imprisoned members to the Central Committee, the erstwhile Raya group (who only nominated party members outside of prison) came to dominate the new Central Committee.