National Front (Iran)

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The National Front ( Persian جبهه ملی Dschebhe Melli ) wasan alliance of national, liberal, socialist, social democratic opposition groups and parties in Iran that was founded in1949 by Mohammad Mossadegh and Mozaffar Baqai and was active with interruptions until 1979. Despite the sometimes strongly diverging interests of the individual groups, the National Front fought for the national independence of Iran and the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. She opposed the policies of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , who after the end of the Second World War sought to rebuild Iran according to the Western model.

Mohammad Mossadegh (center) accompanied by his son Gholem Hossein Mossadegh and his daughter Zia Aschraf Bayat, 1951

history

The term "national front"

The “National Front” is not only a “reference to the concept of the Popular Front” . A popular front is a vague term for a political alliance of left parties with one another or a coalition of left parties with liberal or other bourgeois forces. The political concept of the Popular Front enabled the Iranian communists to see themselves not only as the vanguard of the working class, but also as the “spearhead of the Iranian people”, following the example of the GDR National Front, which was founded in May 1949 . The National Front played an important role in the elections to the Iranian parliament.

The first national front

On Friday, February 4, 1949, there was a momentous attack on Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . The assassin Fachr Arai had fired several shots at the Shah, which injured him but were not fatal. On the same day there was a special session of the parliament, in which Prime Minister Mohammad Sa'ed Maraghei made two government statements. In the first declaration he requested a state of emergency for the city of Tehran and the surrounding area and in the second government declaration he requested the dissolution of the Tudeh party . The government statement read by Manutschehr Eghbal read:

“For some years now, rotten traitors have been gathering in our country under the name Hesbeh Tudeh Iran. They seduced ordinary citizens with promises and tried day after day to create chaos and disorder. Your goal is to undermine the state foundations of our country. They accept any damage, injuries and persecution, murder and pillage, no matter how great, to divide up our land, just as they did in Mazadaran, Gilan and Azerbaijan some time ago. The reports we have before us show how they try to politically seduce ordinary citizens and spread communist ideology between young people and students in order to prepare the basis for a revolution. For this reason, in order to protect our country, ensure unity and independence, and prevent chaos and unrest, the government has decided to disband this anti-independence party and treason against whom there is sufficient evidence on the basis of the law to arrest and punish. "

At the meeting on February 5, 1949, the deputies approved the government's order to dissolve the Tudeh Party with immediate effect, without dissenting.

After the Tudeh Party was banned, the National Front of Iran was founded in October 1949. Mohammad Mossadegh and some MPs turned to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in ​​protest against alleged manipulation in the elections to the Iranian parliament. A parliamentary group called the National Front was formed from this group . The MPs consisted of Social Democrats, representatives of the Labor Party, supporters of the constitutional monarchy and representatives of the Shiite clergy. As a political program, they formulated the end of British dominance in the exploitation of Iranian oil reserves and a stronger political orientation towards the principles of Islam. In the parliamentary by-elections held in 1949, the National Front had 8 seats out of 136. With this small number of MPs, it seemed almost impossible that Mossadegh would become Prime Minister. The only way for Mossadegh to become Prime Minister was to politically instrumentalise the nationalization of the British AIOC.

In 1951, with the election of Mossadegh as Prime Minister of Iran, the National Front was able to achieve this goal and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) was removed from British control. Even the boycott of Iranian oil following the nationalization ( Abadan crisis ) did not dissuade Mossadegh from his national politics. He made it clear that independence was more important to him than all economic advantages.

Mossadegh was confirmed in the office of Prime Minister in 1952 and could only be removed from the office of Prime Minister of Iran by a coup (" Operation Ajax ") by the CIA and MI6 . After the coup, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi went to court with the political opposition in the country tougher and more ruthlessly. The secret service SAVAK , which was set up for this purpose among other things , developed into a permanent threat to opposition and criticism.

At the time of the fall of Mossadegh, the National Front consisted of the organizations: Party of Iran , Party of the Iranian People , the Socialist Third Power , the Nationalist Party of the Nation of Iran , the Association of Merchants of Bazaars , the Council of Ulema of Tehran as well other smaller groups. The parties and organizations were all banned after the coup, their leaders arrested, exiled, or pushed out of the public eye.

National resistance movement

Mehdi Bazargan

Some of the leading politicians from the First National Front founded the National Resistance Movement (Nahzat-i Moqavemat-i Melli) in 1954 with the political principles of the National Front. The Third Power was no longer represented in this alliance, which otherwise united a similarly broad spectrum of groups and organizations as the first National Front.

Important and influential personalities were Shapur Bakhtiar , Mehdi Bāzargān , Dariusch Foruhar , Mahmud Taleghani and the chairman of the Party of Iran Karim Sandjabi .

The National Resistance Movement has been under observation by the SAVAK from its inception. Already in 1956 almost all leaders of the movement were arrested for undermining the constitutional monarchy. In addition, several organizations split off from the alliance. There were internal disputes over the strategy of the resistance movement. While Bāzargān and Taleghani rejected the monarchy as a whole and rather sought to get closer to the Shiite opposition, it was above all the party of Iran that wanted to find its way into parliament within the existing conditions and thus ensure reforms. In 1958, these contradictions brought about the quick end of the National Resistance Movement.

In 1961, at the urging of the new US President John F. Kennedy , the Shah relaxed his pace against the National Front. Public rallies were allowed and the movement was reformed.

The second national front

The second national front included the Party of Iran , the National Party , the Socialist Party and the alliance of opposition groups around Bāzargān called Movement for the Liberation of Iran ( Nahzat-i Azad-i Iran ). This new National Front embraced nationalism, Islam and the constitution and stood in the tradition of Mossadegh politics.

The activity of the Second National Front extended mainly over the first three years of its existence. After the exclusion of the Third Power , it included the secular socialists again and made use of the possibility of public demonstrations to commit to the constitution. Criticism was mainly directed against the disproportionate violence of the SAVAK, for which it was held accountable, but the British influence on the oil deals was also discussed.

In the wake of the riots in Iran led by Ruhollah Khomeini in June 1963 against the White Revolution of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the National Front split again. From different views on the necessary radicalism against the Shah regime, three new movements emerged. On the one hand, the alliance around the Party of Iran , which continued to call itself the Second National Front and aimed for a moderate opposition role. On the other hand, the Radical Socialists and the movement for the liberation of Iran , which allied more and more with the Shiite opposition. The movement for the liberation of Iran and the Socialist Party (both called the Third National Front ) radicalized their opposition to the Shah, but increasingly distanced themselves from each other.

The movement for the liberation of Iran around Mehdi Bāzargān played an important role in the Islamic Revolution in 1979. A critical public discussion of the national ideas of the so-called "National Front" and its consequences has not taken place either on a political or on a cultural-literary level .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rolf van Raden: Popular Front (PDF; 229 kB)
  2. ↑ Protocol of the Majles Schora Melli, 16 Bahman 1327
  3. ^ Iran National Front in the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
  4. ^ Alan W. Ford: The Anglo-Iranian Oil Dispute of 1951-1952. A Study of the Role of Law in the Relations of States. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1954, p. 49.
  5. ↑ Jürgen Martschukat : “This is how we get rid of the crazy!” In: Die Zeit , from October 14, 2003.
  6. ↑ Amad Farughy, Jean-Loup Reverier: Persia. Departure into chaos? Munich 1979, p. 211.
  7. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran between Two Revolutions. Princeton NJ 1982, p. 457.
  8. ↑ Ervand Abrahamian: Iran between Two Revolutions. Princeton NJ 1982, p. 458.