User:FuzzyMagma/Graduates' General Congress

When the students of Gordon Memorial College went on strike in 1931 because of the government's decision to reduce the salaries of graduates during the Great Depression. It was a strike that shook the joints of the government and made it tries to co-opt both parties, graduates and students at the work level to revive the activity of graduates.{{Cite book |last=Hasabu |first=Afaf Abdel Majid Abu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZsJAQAAIAAJ |title=Factional Conflict in the Sudanese Nationalist Movement, 1918-1948 |date=1985 |publisher=Graduate College, University of Khartoum |isbn=978-0-86372-050-5 |language=en}}

The idea of the GGC began as a result of the activity of Sudanese intellectuals in the cultural and social fields. The call for the gathering of graduates began in an article by Khader Hamad in the newspaper Al-Sudan in 1935. The Wad Madani Literary Society played an important role in calling for an inclusive alumni conference especially by Ahmed Khair in a lecture in Wad Madani in 1937, where he called for intellectual union. Al-Fajr magazine published the lecture and presented the idea to the committee of the Graduates' Club in Omdurman headed by Ismail Al-Azhari, who was not excited about the idea at first, and then conferences and seminars were held everywhere Omdurman (Abu Rove and Hashimab), Wad Madani, and Port Sudan.{{Cite book |last=Elbadawi |first=Ibrahim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UhJBhHhpcBUC&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA294 |title=Democracy in the Arab World: Explaining the Deficit |date=2011 |publisher=IDRC |isbn=978-0-415-77999-9 |language=en}}

After the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, political organisation emerged subtly in Sudan through the Graduates' General Congress, established on 12 March 1938 in a meeting attended by 1180 graduates, in which the constitution was approved, and a fifteen-member committee was elected with a secretary and a president whose appointment changes each month to one of the members of the executive committee.{{Cite book |last=Division |first=Great Britain Central Office of Information Reference |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxsuAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA14 |title=The Sudan, 1899-1953 |date=1953 |publisher=British Information Services, Reference Division |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Anders |first=Breidlid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YYhBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA163 |title=A Concise History of South Sudan: New and Revised Edition |date=2014-10-20 |publisher=Fountain Publishers |isbn=978-9970-25-337-1 |language=en}}

The Congress sought to advocate for the welfare of Sudanese graduates and the broader population, but the government refused to recognise it as a political representative body.{{Cite journal |last=Holt |first=P. M. |date=1956 |title=Sudanese Nationalism and Self-Determination Part I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4322822 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=239–247 |issn=0026-3141 |jstor=4322822}} The GGC worked to mobilise public support for Sudanese independence through a variety of means, including organizing rallies, publishing newspapers and other media, and forming alliances with other nationalist groups in Sudan and other African countries. It also organised strikes and protests to pressure the British government to grant greater autonomy to Sudan.

On 3 April 1942, amid global shifts like the publication of the Atlantic Charter, the Congress presented twelve demands to the government, including a call for Sudan's right to self-determination after the World War II. These demands, however, were firmly rejected, with officials accusing the Congress of overstepping its remit and asserting that governance remained solely the responsibility of the Sudan Government.

This rejection led to divisions within the Congress. Moderates like Sayyid Ibrahim Ahmad, willing to cooperate with the government, clashed with more assertive figures such as Ismail al-Azhari, who sought to politicise the Congress. Al-Azhari's faction eventually gained control when he was elected as the first secretary of the GGC in 1940, transforming the Congress into a platform for broader nationalist ambitions, though at the cost of its credibility and original intent. His influence culminated in the formation of the Ashiqqa (Brothers') party in 1943, advocating unity with Egypt. His main support came from the Khatmiyya Sufi order, one of the two main Muslim groups in the country. When the more moderate nationalists formed the Umma Party in 1945, its principal support came from the chief rival of the Khatmiyya, the anti-Egyptian Mahdist sect.{{Cite book |last=Gaffer |first=Nowar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbZJnQAACAAJ |title=The Rise and Contribution of the Graduates' General Congress Towards Sudan's Independence, 1938-1956 |date=2013 |publisher=Jabatan Sejarah, Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya |language=en}}

Conversely, the moderate faction aligned with the Ummah Party under Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi, which championed Sudanese independence. This division among nationalist factions, compounded by historical and ideological tensions, hindered a unified front. Efforts in 1946 to negotiate a common stance on Sudan’s future further exposed these rifts, solidifying separate paths for unity with Egypt and full independence. This fragmentation shaped the trajectory of Sudanese political developments for years to come.

The GGC was led by a number of prominent Sudanese nationalist figures, including Ismail al-Azhari, who would later serve as Sudan's first prime minister after independence, and Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub, who served as foreign minister, and many who went on to become key figures in the independent Sudanese government after the country gained independence in 1956.

{{Cite journal |last=Ibrahim |first=Hassan Ahmed |date=1973 |title=The Sudan in the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42677922 |journal=Sudan Notes and Records |volume=54 |pages=1–16 |issn=0375-2984 |jstor=42677922}}{{Cite journal |last=Taha |first=Fadwa A. A. |date=July 2008 |title=The Sudanese Factor in the 1952–53 Anglo-Egyptian Negotiations |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263200802120665 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |language=en |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=603–631 |doi=10.1080/00263200802120665 |issn=0026-3206}}{{Cite journal |last=D'Agoôt |first=Majak |date=December 2022 |title=Toward Stable Civil‐Military Relations in Sudan |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mepo.12659 |journal=Middle East Policy |language=en |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=107–120 |doi=10.1111/mepo.12659 |issn=1061-1924}}{{Cite book |last1=Daly |first1=M. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1OQX-J7XbkC |title=Imperial Sudan: The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium 1934-1956 |last2=Daly |first2=Martin W. |date=2003-12-11 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53116-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Kramer |first1=Robert S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OKZRewiEOsC&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA186 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Sudan |last2=Jr |first2=Richard A. Lobban |last3=Fluehr-Lobban |first3=Carolyn |date=2013-03-22 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7940-9 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sharkey |first=Heather J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGAOWah8IT0C&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA54 |title=Living with Colonialism: Nationalism and Culture in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan |date=2003-03-18 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92936-4 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Ginat |first=Rami |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K40wDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA159 |title=Egypt and the Struggle for Power in Sudan: From World War II to Nasserism |date=2017-08-24 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-19793-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Holt |first1=P. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXB_BAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA100 |title=A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day |last2=Daly |first2=M. W. |date=2014-09-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-86366-3 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Warburg |first=Gabriel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKhlAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA45 |title=Islam, Nationalism and Communism in a Traditional Society: The Case of Sudan |date=2013-12-19 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-16478-2 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Marie Grace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UUkDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA118 |title=Khartoum at Night: Fashion and Body Politics in Imperial Sudan |date=2017-08-22 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-0268-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Perham |first=Margery |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2OaxEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT40 |title=Colonial Sequence 1949 to 1969: A Chronological Commentary upon British Colonial Policy in Africa |date=2023-05-03 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-85604-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Beckman |first=Rosina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ErVDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Graduates'+General+Congress%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT105 |title=Colonial and Postcolonial Africa |date=2016-12-14 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |isbn=978-1-5081-0280-9 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Holt |first=P. M. |date=1956 |title=Sudanese Nationalism and Self-Determination Part I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4322822 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=239–247 |issn=0026-3141 |jstor=4322822}}{{Cite web |title=JSTOR: Search Results |url=https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=ti:%22The%20Making%20of%20the%20Modern%20Sudan:%20The%20Life%20and%20Letters%20of%20Sir%20Douglas%20Newbold,%20K.%20B.%20E.%22 |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=www.jstor.org}}{{Cite book |last=CUDSI |first=ALEXANDER SOLON |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28607/1/10672766.pdf |title=THE RISE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE SUDANT 1936 - 1946 |publisher=UNIVERSITY OF LONDON |type=PhD Thesis}}

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