In the years immediately following World War II, Hatata was invited and accepted to join Iskra,[1] one of Egypt's major communist movements, founded in 1942 by Hillel Schwartz.[9] Hatata cited his reasoning for joining Iskra because the left-wing movement in Egypt in general was "progressive, open, ... wasn't traditional or fanatical," while other ideological movements seemed predicated on "emotional patriotism."[3] In 1947 Iskra merged into Democratic Movement for National Liberation (DMNL). In 1948, Hatata was arrested by the authorities during an anti-communist crackdown by the monarchist authorities.[4][10]