[3] Iskra's approach was that the first task of the communists was to build a base among revolutionary intellectuals, and that mass mobilisation would follow at a later stage.
[2] In 1944 Iskra established a study centre, Dar al-abahth al-'ilmiya (دار الأبحاث العلمية, House of Scientific Research).
[3] Iskra was one of the forces behind the foundation of the National People's University in 1945, an institution that provided courses in politics and social sciences for labour activists.
Many of the Iskra activists belonged to the upper strata of Cairo society, and were often recruited from the Lycée Français du Caire.
Some of the first women cadres were Latifa az-Zayyat, Soraya Adham, Fatma Zaki, Inge Aflatun, Aimée Setton and Odette Hazan Solomon.
In fact the anti-communist discourse in Egypt at the time, which was centered around claims that the communist movement was morally depraved and dominated by Jews, was largely based on the reputation of the Iskra group.