The Western left and the Iranian Revolution

[Mohammad Maljoo <mmaljoo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Embracing death: the Western left and the Iranian revolution,
1978-83
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 13:48:10 -0600

Economy and Society


Publisher:
Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group


Issue:
Volume 34, Number 1 / February 2005


Pages:
105 - 140


URL:
http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?id=wtp4rcnufjlrtvx3


DOI:
10.1080/0308514042000329351

Embracing death: the Western left and the Iranian revolution, 1978-83

David Greason

Abstract:

The Iranian revolution of 1978-83 was a disaster for Iranian leftists, who,
having worked for the overthrow of the Shah, soon found themselves being
persecuted by the hard-line followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini. This paper
looks at the response of Western leftists to the unfolding of the
revolution, considering, first, to what extent Marxist and class-based
analyses helped explain the revolution and, second, why so many Western
leftist groups and individuals defended the Khomeini faction even as it
moved against secular leftists and liberals. It concludes that an uncritical
identification with Khomeini's declared 'anti-imperialism' distorted the
views of those who would ordinarily have opposed his regime on class
grounds, and that such a misreading was aided by an inadequate distinction
between bourgeois democracy and dictatorship.

Keywords:

Iran, Iranian Revolution, left, Marxist, imperialism, Foucault

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