Youssef Darwish (1910–2006) was born to a Karaite Jewish family of modest means in the Cairo neighborhood of ‘Abbasiyya. His father was illiterate, but made sure that his children received a first-rate education. In France to study commerce and then law, Darwish met the Communist Party of France in the heyday of Stalinism. Returning to Egypt in 1934, Darwish was instrumental in a succession of Egyptian communist groups.