Left guerrilla movement in Iran

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From 1971 onwards, several groups of the left guerrilla movement in Iran wanted to bring about the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi by force of arms. Although the individual groups of the movement differed in their ideological orientations, they all agreed that the Shah could only be overthrown by force of arms. The groups developed their main activities in the years 1971 to 1975 and in 1978.

Although the leaders of the guerrilla movement did not belong to the inner circle of leaders of the Islamic Revolution , it is now considered certain that there were four predominantly Marxist and Islamist-socialist guerrilla organizations, namely the People's Fedajin , the pro- Tudeh Fedajin-e Munscheb, the Volksmodschahedin and the Marxist Modschahedin ( Peykar ), who “ dealt the regime the fatal blow” with their participation in the street fighting of February 9-11 , 1979.

background

According to Ervand Abrahamian , the guerrilla movement can be divided into five groups:

  1. the Sazman'i Mujahedin-i Chalq-i of Iran known as the People's Mojahedin ;
  2. the Marxist secession of the Modschahedin known as the Marxist Modschahedin or Peykar ;
  3. the Sazaman-i Cherikha-yi Feda'i Chalq-i Iran, Organization of the People's Fedajin Guerrilla of Iran, abbreviated to Marxist Fedayeen;
  4. smaller Islamist groups with only local significance, such as the Gorueh-i Abu Zarr (Abu-Zarr Group) in Nahavand , Gorueh-i Schi'iyan-i Rasin (True Shiite Group) in Hamadan, Gorueh-i Allah Akbar (Allah Akbar Group ) in Isfahan , Goreueh-i al-Fajar (Al-Fajar Group) in Zahedan ;
  5. smaller Marxist groups such as the independent groups Sazman-i Azadibachschhi-i Chalscha-yi (Organization for the Liberation of the Iranian People) and the Gorueh-i Luristan

The guerrilla groups formed mainly because the Tudeh party, as a mass organization, was unable to develop any political force in Iran due to the intense repression on the part of the state apparatus . Guerrilla movements led by Mao Tse Tung , General Vo Nguyen Giap and Che Guevara , on the other hand, were regarded as a successful form of organization of "armed political struggle." Based on these partly historical models, a wide range of guerrilla groups formed in Iran. According to Abrahamian, the Iranian guerrilla movement wanted to "break the government's terror through heroic actions" .

Since the Iranian population was largely hostile to the guerrilla movement, the success of the movement was initially low. Ervand Abrahamian writes:

“In a situation where there is no close connection between the revolutionary intellectuals and the masses, we are not like the fish in the water, but more like isolated fish threatened by crocodiles. Terror, repression and the lack of democratic structures have prevented the formation of working class parties. In order to overcome our weaknesses and to move the population to action, we must turn to armed struggle. ... "

The members of the guerrilla movement were mostly recruited from the educated middle class. Over 90% of the guerrillas killed between 1971 and 1977 came from an academic background.

Terrorist activity

The attack on a police station in Siahkal on the Caspian Sea on February 8, 1971, is considered to be the beginning of the guerrilla war in Iran . Guerrillas murdered three police officers in order to free two previously arrested members of the movement. In the shooting that followed, nine members of the guerrilla movement were killed and twelve were wounded.

Between 1973 and 1975, three US colonels, an Iranian general, an Iranian sergeant, and an Iranian translator who worked for the United States Embassy, ​​were murdered by guerrilla groups. In January 1976, 11 members of the guerrilla movement charged with participating in these murders were sentenced to death and executed.

After 1975 the guerrilla groups fell into political sideline due to political divisions and increased persecution by the government:

  • The leaders of the People's Mujahedin discussed at length whether they should stop or continue the armed struggle. It was observed that terrorist activity decreased from June 1978.
  • The leadership of the Organization of the People's Fedajin Guerrilla Iran was largely shattered after the arrests and executions of 1976. Initially, the organization was only able to carry out minor actions to signal to its political sympathizers that the group still existed. Their strength was estimated at a few dozen members. The leadership of the group had declared that there were no conditions for a revolution in Iran.

With the increase in the activities of Islamist groups in 1978, the number of members of the guerrilla movement grew again. Half a dozen terrorist attacks were counted for December 1978, and in January 1979 there were already a dozen.

The Islamic Revolution

With the massive demonstrations in 1978 and the return of opposition members from abroad, the pressure on the security forces in Iran increased. The number of members of the guerrilla groups increased again. In the course of 1978, the guerrillas concentrated mainly on the murder of Iranian military and police officers, the organization of violent demonstrations, arson attacks, armed attacks on the security forces, etc. Fedayin and Modschaheds were able to recruit a large number of young women and men in the course of 1978, who took part in both the violent riots during the demonstrations and in terrorist acts.

The ongoing violence in 1978 left the population with a feeling of insecurity and threat, which led to a general destabilization of the security situation in Iran. Above all, the exaggerated representation of the numbers of demonstrators who died in the acts of violence and who were accused of the security forces served as evidence of the "brutality of the security forces", whereby the "brutality of the guerrilla movement" faded more and more into the background and was later completely faded out .

After the Islamic Revolution, the People's Mojahedin were persecuted by the new Islamic regime and forced into exile in Iraq . The Mojahedin then fought on the side of the Iraqis in the Iran-Iraq war . The Marxist-oriented fedayeen groups were persecuted just like the Mojahedin and continue their fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran to this day. Another group was formed after the Islamic Revolution by splitting off from the Fedayeen movement. In 1994 the Union of the People's Fedajin Iran was created as a splinter group of the Organization of the People's Fedajin Iran (majority) .

The Islamic fedayin groups had more success in distributing power in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. They formed the core of the security forces in the emerging Islamic Republic of Iran.

Important guerrilla groups in Iran

literature

  • Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982.
  • Roy Mottahedeh: The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran . One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 495.
  2. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 481.
  3. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 485.
  4. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 480.
  5. ↑ Roy Mottahedeh: The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran . One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p. 329.
  6. ↑ Michael J. Fischer: Iran, From Religious Dispute to Revolution . Harvard University Press, 1980 p.128
  7. ^ Charles Kurzman : The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran . 2004, p.145f.
  8. ↑ Kurzman: The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran , 2004, pp. 145f.
  9. ↑ Nikki R. Keddie, Yann Richard: Modern Iran . P. 233