Communist Party of Iran

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The Communist Party of Iran (KPI) or Communist Party of Persia (KPP) was founded in Bandar Anzali in Gilan Province in 1920 .

Predecessor organization

The Communist Party of Iran was not originally an Iranian party. Rather, their origins lie in Russia. Iranian workers who worked in the Baku oil fields founded the Adalat (Justice) party under the leadership of Haidar Khan after the 1917 October Revolution . The group quickly grew to over 6,000 members. Haider Khan sent agitators who founded the party's local chapters in Tabriz, the cities of the Caspian provinces of Iran and Tehran.

Founding history

The founding convention of the Communist Party of Iran (KPI) took place in the port city of Bandar Anzali from June 23 to 25, 1920 , five weeks after Soviet troops invaded northern Iran. From then on Adalat called itself the Communist Party of Iran . A party program was adopted at the party congress, which provided the following tasks for the concrete implementation of the dictatorship of the proletariat:

  1. Liberation of the exploited workers and peasants through the establishment of a Soviet democracy
  2. Building a Red Army as an instrument of the dictatorship of the proletariat
  3. Solving the Iranian nationality question through the establishment of a federal union
  4. Respect for the religious sentiments of the masses due to their backwardness and ignorance
  5. Establishing a comprehensive free education system across the country, ensuring that communist ideology is taught from kindergarten to the highest academic institution
  6. Nationalization of all factories, mills, mines, banks, transport companies; Establishment of a national public transport system; Establishment of cooperatives for craftsmen and small businesses; Abolition of private land ownership; Transfer of the private arable land of the large landowners to the landless farmers and farm workers
  7. Develop a national housing program to be implemented by both central government and local councils; Adoption of legal regulations for work and health

A united front made up of Jangali rebels led by Mirza Kutschak Khan and Iranian communists had already conquered Rasht and the Mazandaran province with Russian help on June 5, 1920 and, with the support of the Russian Caspifleet and 2,000 Red Guards, proclaimed the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic . An Iranian Red Army was immediately set up and Ehschanollah Khan became its commander.

First political successes

The Central Committee of the KPI was unsure which political strategy to pursue. Lenin advised the comrades to put the question of land reform at the center of political disputes in Iran, since the arable land was in the hands of a few large landowners, and a revolution in the countryside would therefore be of political importance for millions of peasants. The party quickly gained supporters among Iranian workers. In 1921, eleven trade unions were active in Tehran alone. More than a hundred party members attended the Communist University for the Workers of the East to study Marxism-Leninism between 1920 and 1930 .

After the withdrawal of the Russian Red Guards, Ehschanollah, with the help of Jafar Pischewaris , headed a revolutionary government in Gilan on July 21, 1920 and undertook attacks against Tehran , which, however, led to heavy losses in the Iranian Red Army. In return, the Persian Cossack Brigade , which was crushed by the Russian Red Army but rebuilt by the British, occupied Rasht at the end of 1920 and put an end to the autonomous Persian Socialist Republic.

cleavage

In exile in Baku , the Communist Party of Iran split after Pischevari was replaced by the Soviet Russians by the former Social Democrat Haidar Khan Amu Ogli. It was not until May 1921 that Ehschanollah, Kutschek Khan and Haidar Khan concluded a new united front . In June 1921, Ehshanollah Khan and 2,000 men again marched against Tehran, but was crushed.

The Revolutionary Council then expelled Ehshanollah Khan on July 30, 1921 from the Communist Party of Iran. On August 4th, Kustschek Khan and Haidar Khan were able to establish another Soviet city administration in Rasht. The military counterattack of the Persian Cossack Brigade under the leadership of Reza Khan, who later became Reza Shah Pahlavi , tried to forestall Kutschek Khan by means of a coup, the murder of Haidar and the sole takeover of power in Rasht. Reza Khan rejected Kutschek Khan's offer of surrender, which was linked to a guarantee of autonomy for Gilan. On November 3, 1921, Rasht fell for good. Mirza Kutschek Khan froze to death while fleeing, and the head that had been severed from the body was brought to Tehran. Ehshanollah Khan escaped to the Soviet Union, the Jangali were wiped out.

Jafar Pishevari went to Moscow to the Communist University for the Workers of the East to study Marxism-Leninism . After completing his Marxism-Leninism studies, he went back to Tehran , opened a bookstore and was co-editor of the trade union newspaper Haqiqat (Truth) .

Prohibition

After these events, regular party work was no longer possible. Under the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Communist Party was finally banned. Members of the party were arrested for continuing to work for the KPI.

Re-established as a Tudeh party

It was not until 1941 that the company was re-established. Iran was occupied by British and Soviet troops in the course of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on August 25, 1941. On October 2, 1941, the Tudeh Party (Party of the People's Masses) was founded with the support of the Soviet Union in order to continue the work of the previously banned KPI. One of the founding members was u. a. the writer Bozorg Alavi . Soleiman Mohsen Eskandari was elected its first chairman.

Re-established as the Communist Party of Iran

In 1984 Mansoor Hekmat split from the Tudeh party. The new party is called the Communist Party of Iran. During the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Hekmat founded the Union of Communist Fighters and took part in the Islamic Revolution . However, he resisted working with Khomeini , fled to Kurdistan in 1981 and joined the Kurdish resistance group Komalah . In 1984 the Communist Party of Iran was founded.

In 1991 Hekmat left the Communist Party of Iran and founded the Workers' Communist Party of Iran (WPI).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rouholla K. Ramazani: The foreign policy of Iran. University Press of Virginia, 1966, p. 142.
  2. ↑ Chosroe Chaqueri: The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran. University of Pittsburg Press, 1995, p. 158.
  3. ↑ Chosroe Chaqueri: The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran. University of Pittsburg Press, 1995, p. 160.
  4. ^ Rouholla K. Ramazani: The foreign policy of Iran. University Press of Virginia, 1966, p. 143.
  5. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Tortured confessions. University of California Press, 1999, p. 36.
  6. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Tortured confessions. University of California Press, 1999, p. 36.

Web links

See also