Abdel Khaliq Mahjub

Abdel Khaliq Mahjub (23 September 1927 – 28 July 1971) was a Sudanese communist politician and theoretician.

Mahjub was born in Omdurman. He served as the general secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) from 1949 until his death by execution in Khartoum during the dictatorship of Gaafar Nimeiry. Following his execution, Muhammad Ibrahim Nugud became the leader of the party.

Biography Views and ideology Mahjub was introduced to communist ideas while studying at Fuad I University in Egypt, from which he was expelled in 1948 for political activities. He became the general secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party in February 1949.

As a leading Marxist thinker in the Arab and African spheres, a number of his writings centered on the adaptation of historical materialism to the specific socio-economic formations of Sudan, rejecting the mechanical transposition of Soviet or Chinese industrial models. Although he anchored the party firmly in orthodox Marxism-Leninism, he defended the tactical independence of the SCP against directives from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In contrast to strict state atheism, Mahjub argued that Marxism in Sudan had to respect the deeply rooted religious consciousness of the masses, supporting freedom of religion. Under Mahjub's leadership, the SCP played an instrumental role in the mass uprisings that overthrew Abboud in 1964.

Mahjub was executed by hanging at Kobar prison in the early hours of Wednesday, 28 July 1971. The execution of its intellectual and organizational leadership severely weakened the Sudanese Communist Party, which never fully regained the hegemonic influence it held during the 1950s and 1960s.

Writings New horizons (1956) Defense before military courts (1966) Rectifying the wrongs in working amongst the masses: report presented to the central committee of the Sudanese Communist Party (1963) Socialist schools in Africa (1966) Marxism and the quandaries of the Sudanese revolution (1967) Marxism and linguistics (n.d.) Literature in the age of science (1967) On the program (1971) The life of Rashed Omer Abdel Khalig Mahgoub (1989)