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Marxists Into Muslims: an Iranian Irony Abdolrahim Javadzadeh Florida International University, [email protected]

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Marxists Into Muslims: an Iranian Irony Abdolrahim Javadzadeh Florida International University, Abdolrahim.Javadzadeh@Fiu.Edu Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-13-2007 Marxists into Muslims: An Iranian Irony Abdolrahim Javadzadeh Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI08081527 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Javadzadeh, Abdolrahim, "Marxists into Muslims: An Iranian Irony" (2007). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 36. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/36 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida MARXISTS INTO MUSLIMS: THE IRANIAN IRONY A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY by Abdolrahim Javadzadeh 2007 To: Interim Dean Mark Szuchman College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Abdolrahim Javadzadeh, and entitled Marxists into Muslims: The Iranian Irony, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ____________________________________ Douglas Kincaid ____________________________________ Mohiaddin Mesbahi ___________________________________ Barry B. Levine, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 13, 2007 The dissertation of Abdolrahim Javadzadeh is approved. ___________________________________ Interim Dean Mark Szuchman College of Arts and Sciences ____________________________________ Dean George Walker University Graduate School Florida International University, 2007 ii © Copyright 2007 by Abdolrahim Javadzadeh All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my father whose love and support instilled in me unshakeable security and to my mother who continues to provide me with eternal and unconditional love and to my one and only sister who has been there for me every step of the way. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As a Ph.D. student I received much support from the Sociology/Anthropology department at Florida International University. I made many good friends among students, professors, and staff. I am particularly indebted to Professor Barry B. Levine who gave me invaluable guidance both in writing my dissertation and other professional matters. I am also grateful to have received abundant assistance form both Dr. Mohiaddin Mesbahi, professor of international relations and Dr. Douglas Kincaid, professor of sociology and anthropology. Their comments were invaluable to me. Dr. Mesbahi, in particular, invested hours in discussions with me. He, during extensive interviews, introduced me to his thesis on variations in Islamic challenges faced by the Marxists, including what he has termed contextual Islam. I have benefited from our many interchanges and borrowed many of his ideas. He, of course, is not responsible for any misinterpretations on my part.. Writing this dissertation only became a possibility through the many sessions I spent with Dr. Pamela Katzir. She laboriously went through many parts of my writing and guided me with great advice. June Belkin helped me be clear and exact in the presentation of my ideas. My progress toward completion of the degree would not have been possible without the personnel in the department: Cristina Finlay, Arelis Lopez, and especially Michelle Lamarre. Without Michelle’s patience and understanding the entire period in the Ph.D. program would have been unbearable. My cousins Fereshteh and Mahasty facilitated contact with people I needed to interview. I am very grateful for their intellectual and moral support. Furthermore, I v would like to thank my father for giving me the strength, incentive, motivation, and courage to search the world to define myself. He inculcated in me compassion for the oppressed. His love is an everlasting flame. My mother keeps providing me with constant, absolute and unconditional love. She is my safety net, my lifeguard, and my companion. In addition, I am grateful to my sister who listened, encouraged, and gave wholehearted support for my work. Last but not least, I would like to thank my better half, my significant other, the one who endured my ups and downs and gave me sustenance during the writing of this dissertation, Claudia Mancuello. I am grateful to all of you and will never forget your love and patience. Without you this dissertation would not have been possible. Thank you. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION MARXISTS INTO MUSLIMS: THE IRANIAN IRONY by Abdolrahim Javadzadeh Florida International University, 2007 Miami, Florida Professor Barry B. Levine, Major Professor This dissertation examines the influence of Islamic ideology on Iranian Marxists during the 1979 revolution. The purpose of this study is to extricate the influence of Islamic culture, ideology, and terminology on Marxist organizations and on individuals who identified themselves as Marxists in Iran. This is especially of interest since in many ways Marxism and Islam are ideologically in conflict. Were Marxists aware of the influences of Islam in their behavior and ideology? To investigate the irony publications put forth by several Marxist organizations before and after the 1979 revolution were examined. A history of such influence both ideologically and contextually is depicted to demonstrate their political and cultural significance. Through the study of Marxist political organs, theoretical publication and political flyers distributed during and after the revolution, the phenomenon of Marxists converting to an Islamic ideology became clearer. Many Marxist organizations were demonstrably utilizing Islamic political ideology to organize and mobilize masses of Iranians. This study shows a historical precedence of Marxists’ usage of Islam in the political history of Iran dating back to early twentieth-century. vii Primary and secondary Marxist literature showed that Islam was an inescapable social and political reality for Iranian Marxists. Not only was there a common upbringing but a common enemy fostered provisional collusion between the two. The internalizing the idea of martyrdom—of Shi’a Islam—was a shared belied that united Marxists with Muslins in their attempt to effect sociopolitical change in Iran. Studying Marxist publications shows evidence that many Iranian Marxists were not conscious of using Islamic ethics and terminology since Islamic beliefs are part of the taken-for-granted world of Iranian culture. This contextual belief system, pervasive within the culture and a change of political ideology is what created the conditions for the possibility of Marxists becoming Muslims. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Introduction: The1979 Iranian Revolution 1 Methodology 7 Research Design 10 Description of Sources 16 Procedure of Analysis 23 II. Sociology of Knowledge 27 Marx: Ideology, False Consciousness, and Economic Structure 27 Marxism, Religion, and Relations of Production 31 Scheler and Mannheim on Sociology of Knowledge 33 Peter Berger and the Sacred Canopy 36 Weber and Elective Affinity 42 Marx on Religion 43 Martyrdom and Metaphysical Idealism 47 III. Contextual Islam and Political Islam 50 Islam: Resistance and Revolution 54 Islamic Resistance and Radicalism 60 Martyrdom 68 Karbala and the Inception of Shi’a Islam 73 Marxists Using Islamic Ideology 78 Formation of the State and Islam 84 IV. Marxists Who Became Muslims 91 Tudeh Party and the New Islamic Republic 92 Tudeh Party and Islamic Jurisprudence 96 Tudeh Party after the Revolution 101 Tudeh Party before the Revolution 105 Islamic Republic’s Denunciation of the Tudeh Party 108 Tudeh-Majority Alliance 113 The Liberation and Equality Group 121 Ehsan Tabari and Islam 125 V. Hybrids and Muslims 130 Socialist Republic of Gilan 130 The National Front 139 The Liberation Movement 144 Organization of Iranian Peoples Mojahedin 147 Dr. Ali Shariati 150 ix VI. Origins of Three Major Marxist Organizations 160 The Tudeh Party 160 Tudeh Party and the Soviet Union 172 The Organization of Iranian People’s Fadaee Guerillas 178 The Organization of Combat for…(Paykar) 184 VII. Conclusion 190 Contextual Islam 194 Ideological Islam 196 Developing Common Terminology 199 Theoretical Implications of This Dissertation 202 The Subordination of Class Struggle 203 Discussion 206 BIBLIOGRAPHY 211 Appendices 219 VITA 241 x CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION THE 1979 IRANIAN REVOLUTION The path for a political culture and Islamic discourse was made prior to the 1979 revolution…the resistant Islam of Khomeini, the fundamentalist Islam of Shariati, and liberal Islam of Bazargan, and the Liberation Movement were among the nationalist constitutional culture. John Foran In 1979, the Iranian people gathered enough force to finally oust one of the more authoritarian rulers in the Middle East, Mohammad Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty. The Shah’s regime was uprooted in a matter of months despite its vast military power and Gestapo-like secret police, the SAVAK. His regime, dubbed an ‘island of stability’ by American President Jimmy Carter, was not able to withstand the force behind the discontent of the Iranian masses. The Pahlavi dynasty, which had ruled Iran for more than fifty years (1925 to 1979 between the Shah and his father, Reza Shah) was toppled
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