Shuhdi Atiya ash-Shafi

Shudi Atiya ash-Shafi () was an Egyptian communist theoretician and activist. Ash-Shafi studied in Britain, and returned to Egypt in 1942 with a Master of Arts degree from Exeter College. After his return to Egypt he was employed at the Ministry of Education as an English-language supervisor. He joined the communist "Iskra" group, of which he became a prominent member. He went on to become director of the House of Scientific Research (a Marxist study centre set up by "Iskra") for a period. In 1947 he became editor of the newspaper of the group, "al-Jamahir". In the same year "Iskra" merged into the Democratic Movement for National Liberation (HADITU).
As HADITU passed through inner-party conflicts, ash-Shafi resigned from the movement towards the end of 1947. After leaving HADITU, ash-Shafi became an active advocate for greater unity in the Egyptian communist movement.
Ash-Shafi was arrested in a crackdown on leftist intellectuals, which had begun in January 1959. In 1960 he was beaten to death in the Abu Zabal prison camp.
Bibliography.
In 1957 a major work by authored by ash-Shafi was published, "Tatawarah al-harakah al-wataniyah al-misriyah, 1882-1956" ('Development of the Egyptian Nationalist Movement, 1882-1956'). It was republished in 1983.