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Mostafa Sho‘aiyan: The Maverick Theorist of Revolution and the Failure of Frontal Politics in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Peyman Vahabzadeh*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Victoria

Abstract

Based on the author's original research, the paper will offer a glimpse into the frontal theory of Mostafa Sho‘aiyan. The paper draws on his life and experience of the National Front in the 1950s as a model for political thought. Next, the paper will show how he tried, through his unique and uncanonical revolutionary theory, to make a revolutionary praxis compatible with frontal thinking. Analytically, Sho‘aiyan's work proves that an ideologically driven concept of national liberation becomes an impediment for frontal politics in a truly democratic way. Sho‘aiyan's works represent a theoretical and existential response to the national liberation dilemma which the Iranian Marxists faced in the 1960s and 70s.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2007

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Footnotes

He would like to acknowledge his debt to Khosrow Shakeri who, as the sole publisher of Sho‘aiyan's writings to this day, made the many texts and letters of Sho‘aiyan available, thus providing valuable sources on his works and activities. He would also like to thank the funding of this research that was provided by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Post-doctoral Fellowship (2001–2003).

References

1 To my knowledge, the only scholarly work that has mentioned Sho‘aiyan in passing is Behrooz, Maziar, Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran (London, 1999)Google Scholar. Behrooz briefly refers to Sho‘aiyan in various places in this book. Also, there has been a recent Persian title on Sho‘aiyan, which is more a work of admiration rather than systematic study and analysis. See Mahruyan, Hushang, Mostafa Sho‘aiyan: Yeganeh motefakkerr-e tanha [Mostafa Sho‘aiyan: The Unique Lonely Thinker] (Tehran, 2004)Google Scholar.

2 Vahabzadeh, Peyman, “Mustafa Shu‘a'iyan and Fadàiyan-i Khalq: Frontal Politics, Stalinism, and the Role of Intellectuals in Iran,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 34, no. 1 (April 2007): 4159Google Scholar.

3 Sho‘aiyan, Mostafa, Shesh nameh-ye sargoshadeh beh Sazman-e Charikha-ye Fadài-e Khalq-e Iran [Six Open Letters to the Organisation of Iranian People's Fadài Guerrillas] (Tehran, 1980), 1112Google Scholar.

4 Sho‘aiyan, Shesh nameh-ye sargoshadeh beh Sazman-e Charikha-ye Fadài-e Khalq-e Iran, 13.

5 See Group, Jaryan, Chand maqaleh va tahlil az goruh-e “Jaryan” (1335–1345) [Selected Essays and Analyses of the “Jaryan” Group (1956–1966)] (Tehran, 1979)Google Scholar.

6 Sho‘aiyan, Six Open Letters, 22, n. 2. The exact authorship of the text is contested. It has been pointed out that it could have been co-authored by Sho‘aiyan and Tavakkoli. The essay in question was published anonymously as “Dalayeli bar yek tahavvol” [“Reasons for A Transformation”], in Shakeri, Khosrow (ed.), Asnad-e tarikhi-ye jonbesh-e kargari, sosial demokrasi, va komonisti-ye Iran [Historical Documents of the Workers', Social Democratic, and Communist Movements in Iran] vol. 10 (np, 1983), 180Google Scholar.

7 With respect to Khalil Maleki's place in contemporary Iranian intellectual history, see Katouzian, Homa, “The Strange Politics of Khalil Maleki,” in Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left, ed. Cronin, Stephanie (London, 2004), 165–88Google Scholar. See also Katouzian, Homa, “Khalil Maleki: The Odd Intellectual Out,” in Intellectual Trends in 20th Century Iran, ed. Nabavi, Negin (Miami, 2003), 2452Google Scholar.

8 See Lahiji, Karim, Haqq-e doosti [“By Friendship's Obligation”] in Kanun-e Gerdavari va Nashr-e Asar-e Bizhan Jazani, Jongi darbareh-ye zendegi va asar-e Bizhan Jazani [Centre for Collection and Publication of Works of Bizhan Jazani, On the Life and Works of Bizhan Jazani] (Paris, 1999), 234Google Scholar.

9 For further details, see Vahabzadeh, Peyman, “Bizhan Jazani and the Problems of Historiography of the Iranian Left,” Iranian Studies 38, no. 1 (2005): 167178Google Scholar. An example of Jazani's manner of accusatory treatment of Jaryan is found in Bizhan Jazani, Tarh-i jame'eshenasi va mabani-ye estratezhi-ye jonbesh-e enqelabi-ye khalq-e Iran; bakhsh-e dovvom: tarikh-e si saleh-ye siyasi fasl-e avval) [A Sketch of Sociology and Foundations of the Strategy of Iranian People's Revolutionary Movement; Second Part: The Thirty-Year Political History Chapter One] (Tehran, 1979), 86; Jazani repeats the charge in Guruh-e Jazani-Zarifi: pishtaz-e mobarezeh-ye mosallahani dar Iran [The Jazani-Zarifi Group: The Vanguard of Armed Movement in Iran], 19 Bahman Teorik vol. 4 (April 1976), 9. See Sho‘aiyan's comments on the circumstances that led to Jazani's accusation in Sho‘aiyan, Six Open Letters, 24, n. 3.

10 Hamid Momeni, Shuresh na, qadamha-ye sanjideh dar rah-e enqelab [Not Rebellion, Judicious Steps on the Path to the Revolution] (np: Support Committee for the New Revolutionary Movement of Iranian People, 1977), 37.

11 See Sho‘aiyan, Six Open Letters, 14. While in prison, Nabavi developed great sympathy toward Mojahedin-e Khalq before the leftist coup among the Mojahedin (1975) caused him lose faith in eclectic Islam and in cooperating with Marxists. Upon release and after the 1979 Revolution, Nabavi became a founding member of the Organization of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin (Sazman-e Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e Eslami) that unified seven formerly underground militant Muslim groups. He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister in Executive Affairs after the Revolution before disappearing from the public arena. He returned to politics with the 1997 Reform Movement in Iran, served as a one-time Member of Parliament, and advocated legal and political reforms.

12 See Behzad Nabavi, “Razha-ye Behzad Nabavi” [“The Secrets of Behzad Nabavi”], Hamshahri 2706 (Saturday, 27 April 2002), available at http://www.hamshahri.org/hamnews/1381/810207/polig.htm (accessed 22 March 2004).

13 Sho‘aiyan, Mostafa, Pardehbardari [“Unveiling”] in Chand neveshteh [Selected Writings] (Florence, 1976), 1Google Scholar; article individually paginated. See also Sho‘aiyan, Mostafa, Enqelab [Revolution] (Florence, 1976), 13Google Scholar.

14 Anonymous, “Author's Telephone interview with Anonymous” (Vancouver, 6 November 2001).

15 Sho‘aiyan, Six Open Letters, 23, n. 2.

16 See Sazman-e Mojahedin-e Khalq: peydài ta fajam (1344–1384) Jeld-e avval [Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization: Arising and the End (1965–2005) Volume 1] (Tehran, 2005), 554. The book, written collectively by anonymous authors, shows information that results from access to the SAVAK archives as well as the archives of the post-revolutionary intelligence and security forces—archives that have been and are denied to independent social scientists and researchers. The book relies on the interrogation records Abdollah Zarrin-Kafsh to try to imply that Sho‘aiyan had a certain influence in the transformation of the Mojahedin-e Khalq through Taqi Shahram, but only vaguely so. Although it may well have been the case that in the absence of resources, Shahram had learned from Sho‘aiyan and his knowledge of Marxism (given Sho‘aiyan's inclusive and democratic attitude), he could not have had any influence on the bloody events that Shahram and his comrades created in the Mojahedin's ranks. As regards the scattered sections of the book that deals with Sho‘aiyan's life and activities, there are at least two gross errors that detract from the value of the accounts provided in this study.

17 See Matin, Afshin, Konfedrasion:tarikh-e jonbesh-e daneshjuyan-e Irani dar kharj az keshvar 1332–57 [Confederation: The History of Iranian Student Movement Abroad 1953–79], trans. Arastu Azari (Tehran, 1999)Google Scholar.

18 Anonymous, “Author's Telephone interview with Anonymous” (Vancouver, 6 November 2001). For more details about the PDF see, Vahabzadeh, “Mustafa Shu‘a'iyan and Fadàiyan-i Khalq”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 34, no. 1 (April 2007). 41–59; see also Vahabzadeh, Peyman, A Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy and the Fadai Discourse of National Liberation in Iran, 1971–1979 (forthcoming), Ch. 6Google Scholar.

19 Anonymous, “Author's Telephone interview with Anonymous” (Vancouver, 9 November 2001).

20 On the organizational life and purges of Fadàiyan, see Vahabzadeh, A Guerrilla Odyssey Ch. 2, Appendix 5.

21 The first exposition of the internal purges in the ranks of the Fadàiyan came in a talk presented by long-time activist Hassan Masali. Masali was an activist with the leftist group, National Front-Middle East (not to be mistaken with the nationalist National Front), and later with the Group for Communist Unity, and a facilitator between the National Front-Middle East and Fadàiyan's delegates in the Middle East, Ashraf Dehqani and Mohammad Hormatipur. Masali's talk was later published as Hassan Masali “Ta'sir-e binesh va manesh dar mobarezeh-ye ‘ejtema'i” [“The Influence of Perspective and Character on Social Struggle”], in Natayej-e seminar-e Wiesbaden darbareh-ye bohran-e jonbesh-e chap-e Iran [The Outcomes of Wiesbaden Conference on the Crisis of Iranian Leftist Movement] (Frankfurt, 1985). His exposition, while largely ignored due to the fact that at the time leftist organizations in Iran were either in prison or on the run (and thus dispersed), did not go without notice and some of his former comrades threatened him with revealing his true role in relation to the Fadàiyan (see Andisheh-ye Raha'i [Publication of Organization of Communist Unity Abroad], no. 6, [March 1987]). Later, the 1999 publication of Maziar Behrooz's work, Rebels with a Cause, which brought up the issue of purges once again—and now at a time when the Left had settled in exile—caused huge controversy among the leftist activists. The Persian translation of Behrooz's work did not escape the activists who had gathered around the Paris-based leftist journal, Arash, which dedicated a good part of its issue 79 (November 2001) to analyzing Behrooz's work. Responses to Behrooz differed: while some accepted his information regarding the purges but tried to trivialize the issue, others offered new information about it. On the other hand, Behrooz received a number of accusatory charges of various kinds. Indeed, Behrooz's work did a good job in awakening the Left to its own past.

22 Mostafa Sho‘aiyan, Sheshumin nameh-ye sargoshadeh be Cherikha-ye Fadai [The Sixth Open Letter to People's Guerrillas] (Florence, 1976), 16–18, 27, 29.

23 Cosroe Chaqueri, “Author's Interview with Cosroe Chaqueri” (Paris, 28 August 2001).

24 Sho‘aiyan, Six Open Letters, 99.

25 See the report on his death in the appendix to The Sixth Open Letter to the Fadai Guerrillas.

26 See Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization: Arising and the End, 566.

27 See Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization: Arising and the End. Given this source's haste in associating Sho‘aiyan with the Marxist-Leninist Mojahedin, such an account should be treated with caution.

28 The report is made by Parviz Qelichkhani in Arash, no. 79 (November 2001), 33.

29 For more detailed accounts of this brief sketch of the post-WWII Iranian history, see Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, NJ, 1982); John Foran, ed., A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran (Minneapolis, 1994); Nikki R. Keddie, Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran (New Haven, 1981); Vanessa Martin, Creating An Islamic State: Khomeini And the Making of New Iran (London, 2000); Roy Parviz Mottahedeh, The Mantel of the Prophet (Princeton, 1986).

30 Mostafa Sho‘aiyan, “Jahad-e emruz ya tezi barayeh tahharok” [“Today's Jihad or A Thesis for Mobilisation”], in Chand neveshteh [Selected Writings] (Florence, 1976). The article is signed by Engineer Mostafa Sho‘aiyan and is dated 12 April 1964 (23 Farvardin 1343) with the publication date of May–June 1964 (Khordad 1343).

31 See Sho‘aiyan's foreword to “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 3.

32 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 5, 7–8, 9.

33 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 9.

34 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 10; original emphasis.

35 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 10; original emphasis.

36 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 10–12.

37 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 14; original emphasis.

38 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 15; original emphasis. One can observe how he has modified from the original “Jaryan version” the conclusion he draws from the conflict between American and British imperialisms.

39 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 17–18.

40 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 18–22.

41 Sho‘aiyan, “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 23–25.

42 Sho‘aiyan's foreword to “A Thesis for Mobilisation,” 1–3.

43 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 12–14.

44 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 13.

45 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 16.

46 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 22.

47 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 20.

48 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 56.

49 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 29–30, 32.

50 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 201–2, n. 6. The term itself invoked a series of bitter face-to-face exchanges between Sho‘aiyan and the Fadài theorist, Hamid Momeni—exchanges which grew so hostile that the OIPFG leadership ordered both parties to produce their contentions in writings (to be internally distributed). See Hamid Momeni and Mostafa Sho‘aiyan, Juyeshi piramun-e roshanfekr ya roshangar-e tabaqeh-ye kargar [An Inquiry into the Intellectual or the Enlightener of the Working Class] (np, nd). See also Vahabzadeh, “Mustafa Shu‘a'iyan and Fadàiyan-i Khalq.”

51 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 169

52 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 40.

53 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 43.

54 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 45, 52.

55 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 71.

56 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 103.

57 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 265, n. 204. Sho‘aiyan, of course, refers to Che Guevara's 26 February 1965 speech in Algeria.

58 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 146, 153. This assertion allows Sho‘aiyan an internationalist gesture that refutes the “regionalizations” of liberation movement (e.g., Africanization) (see Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 224, n. 63; 234–35, n. 95). Nor does he allow any nationalization of socialism (Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 161).

59 See Bizhan Jazani, Nabard ba diktatori-ye shah bemasabeh-ye omdehtarin doshman-e khalq va zhandarm-e amperialism [War Against the Shah's Dictatorship as the Main Enemy of the People and the Gendarme of Imperialism] (np, 1978). For his emphasis on the symbolic presence of the Fadài guerrillas, see Bizhan Jazani, “Darbareh-ye vahdat va naqsh-e estratezhik-e Cherikha-ye Fadài-ye Khalq” [“On Unification and the Strategic Role of the People's Fadài Guerrillas”] 19 Bahman-e Tèorik 1 (September 1974): 41–48. For a critical summary of Jazani's thought, see Vahabzadeh, A Guerrilla Odyssey, Ch. 3.

60 See Maoud Ahmadzadeh, Mobarezeh-ye mosallahaneh: ham estratezhi, ham taktik [Armed Struggle: Both Strategy and Tactic] (Umeä, Sweden, 1976). For a critical summary of Jazani's thought, see Vahabzadeh, A Guerrilla Odyssey, Ch. 4.

61 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 90.

62 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 277–79, n. 247.

63 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 113.

64 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 99.

65 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 100.

66 With respect to the “mood” of the time, see also Mehdi Fatapour, “Khizesh-e roshanfekran-e javan-e Iran dar dah'e-ye 50” [The Revolt of Young Iranian Intellectuals in the 1970s], in Iran Emrooz (Iranian Political Bulletin), available at http://www.Iran-emrooz.de/maqal/fatapu0113.html (accessed 3 April 2001); Naqi Hamidian, Safar bar bal'ha-ye arezu: sheklgiri-ye jonbesh-e cheriki-ye Fadaiyan-e Khalq, Enqelab-e Bahman va Sazman-e Fadaiyan Aksariyat [A Voyage on the Wings of a Wish: The Formation of the People's Fadàiyan Guerrilla Movement, the February 1979 Revolution, and the Organisation of Fadàiyan Majority] (Vällingby, Sweden, 2004).

67 Sho‘aiyan, Revolution, 198, n. 3.