Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Fred Halliday

Fred Halliday (1946-2010) was a long-time contributing editor of this magazine and a professor at the London School of Economics.

MER Article

Year Three of the Iranian Revolution

The third year of the Iranian revolution saw the final breakup of the political coalition that initially brought Khomeini to power, and the emergence in exile of an opposition that groups together many of those who played a part in the overthrow of the monarchical dictatorship. On the basis of evide

Fred Halliday • 7 min read

MER Article

The Arc of Crisis and the New Cold War

The latter half of the 1970s witnessed a sustained and geographically diverse series of social upheavals in the Third World which, taken together, constituted a lessening of Western control in the developing areas. In Africa, the Ethiopian revolution of 1974 was followed by a series of changes in th

Fred Halliday • 37 min read

MER Article

Capitalism in Rural Iran

Parvin Ghorayshi: Fred Halliday has suggested in the chapter on agricultural development in the first edition of his book, Iran: Dictatorship and Development, that the Iranian state successfully imposed capitalist relations on the rural areas by means of a land reform. While I agree that rural Iran

Fred Halliday, Parvin Ghorayshi • 12 min read

MER Article

Exonerating US Policy

Barry Rubin, Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience in Iran (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).

Fred Halliday • 13 min read

MER Article

Revolutionary Realism and the Struggle for Palestine

The discussion of socialist strategy in Palestine recorded in Towards a Socialist Republic of Palestine has lost none of its pertinence despite the fact that it was recorded some time ago, in 1976. Sadat’s initiatives have not yet revised the basic terms in which the problem has been set since 1948.

Fred Halliday • 27 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

Letter from Gilan

The western road from Tehran to the northern province of Gilan runs for about 270 miles up over the Elborz mountains till it reaches the Caspian port of Enzeli. Leaving Tehran on a clear Saturday morning, the first day of the week, the way is flanked by vendors -- melon sellers and men offering an a

Fred Halliday • 7 min read

MER Article

The Tudeh Party in Iranian Politics

Excerpted from Iran: Dictatorship and Democracy (1979), pp. 227-234: The Tudeh Party was, in contrast to the National Front, an organized political party, indeed, the most organized political force ever seen in Iranian politics. The earlier Communist Party (founded 1921) had been crushed by Reza Kh

Fred Halliday • 6 min read

MER Article

Interviews with Fedayi, Mojahedin and Tudeh Activists

Since the overthrow of the Shah, over 150 distinct political groups have declared their existence in Iran. Of these, the majority are probably groups adhering to some version of revolutionary socialism, and few have as yet a substantial following in the country. Perhaps the largest left-wing group j

Fred Halliday • 19 min read