MER Article Letter (June 1980) To the Editors: Your issue on the left forces in Iran (MERIP Reports 86) was interesting and informative, albeit somewhat dated. I found Ervand Abrahamian’s essay to be an altogether good description of the origins and development of the guerrilla movement in Iran. While I disagree with the importan (Author not identified) • 7 min read
MER Article Halliday, Iran: Dictatorship and Development Fred Halliday, Iran: Dictatorship and Development (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1979). The Iranian revolution of 1978-1979 was a momentous historical event. It probably involved a greater proportion of any country’s population in direct insurrectionary action than has any previous revolution. In t Robert Dillon • 6 min read
MER Article Khomeini: "We Shall Confront the World with Our Ideology" The following speech, written by Ayatollah Khomeini on the eve of the Iranian New Year, is his most comprehensive summary of his political philosophy and world outlook. Here Khomeini lays out not only his concept of revolutionary Islam -- an aspect of his thought well-known in the West -- but also t (Author not identified) • 14 min read
MER Article Ahvaz Steel Workers' Strike The workers of the Foster Wheeler-Tehran Jonub Company, part of the Ahvaz Steel Industry Contractors Company, today ended their 56-day strike following a meeting with Hojjat-ol-Islam Jannati and Engineer Gharavi, governor of Khuzestan. Dr. Sheybani, member of the board of directors for the National (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Iran's Oil Workers A shroud of silence seems to have enveloped Iran’s oil industry since last fall when the top oil official Hassan Nazih was dismissed under charges of treason, allegedly for failing to purge non-Islamic elements from the ranks of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Even production and export fig Joe Stork • 2 min read
MER Article "Everything Positive Has Come from the Masses Below" This interview is with an Iranian woman active on the left who had lived in the US for seven years before returning to Iran in January 7979. She visited MERIP in Boston in early February 1980. Could you tell us what your impressions were when you returned to Iran a year ago? I had been away about (Author not identified) • 15 min read
MER Article Workers' Councils in Iranian Factories During July and August 1979 I visited a number of Iranian factories. There I held discussions and interviews with militants and activists of different political hues, and with ordinary working people, about the workers’ councils that have appeared in Iranian factories since the February 1979 revolut Chris Goodey • 12 min read
MER Article Iran's Revolution: The First Year A year after the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime, the Iranian revolution is still going through a tumultuous and uncertain period, the end of which is by no means in sight. To evaluate the long-term import of this revolution now is therefore, in any serious sense, impossible: It would be like trying Fred Halliday • 7 min read
MER Article Nobari, Iran Erupts Ali-Reza Nobari, Iran Erupts (Iran-American Documentation Group, Stanford University, December 1978). Nikki Keddie • 1 min read
MER Article Zabih, Iran's Revolutionary Upheaval Sepehr Zabih, Iran’s Revolutionary Upheaval: An Interpretive Essay (San Francisco: Alchemy Books, 1979). (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Interview with Tudeh's Kianuri Excerpts from an interview with Tudeh Party Secretary General Nureddin Kianuri by Elevtherotipia (Athens), November 27 and 28, 1979. Since it is a timely issue, I would like to begin with the occupation of the US Embassy. What is your party’s position on this issue? From the very beginning, our pa (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Interview with Revolutionary Guard Commander The following interview with Abbas Zamani (Abu Sharif), operations commander of the Revolutionary Guard, appeared in al-Safir (Beirut), December 1, 1979. The interview took place at the Guards’ operations command north of Tehran, in the complex that served as SAVAK headquarters under the Shah. What Abbas Zamani • 8 min read
