MER Article From the Editors (March/April 1982) When the history of the Iranian revolution is compiled, the third year of the Islamic Republic may stand out as particularly decisive. The alliance of left-leaning lay political elements with the Islamic Republican Party ruptured completely. Iranian forces scored important gains on the battlefield w The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Approaching the Islamic Revolution Shahrough Akhavi, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran: Clergy-State Relations in the Pahlavi Period (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1980). Michael M. J. Fischer, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980). Michael Gilsenan • 7 min read
MER Article Ali Shariati: Ideologue of the Iranian Revolution Westerners commonly perceive the Iranian Revolution as an atavistic and xenophobic movement that rejects all things modern and non-Muslim, a view reinforced by the present leaders of Iran. They claim that the revolution spearheads the resurgence of Islam, and that the revolutionary movement is an au Ervand Abrahamian • 15 min read
MER Article Religious Ritual and Political Struggle in an Iranian Village The villagers of Aliabad do not presume political stability. They were not especially surprised at the fall of the Shah, nor at the demise of the most powerful person in the village, Seyyid Ibn Ali Askari, some months after the Iranian revolution. “One day the saddle is on the horse, the next day th Mary Hegland • 25 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 Government's Nabavi on Inflation and Labor Unrest Edited text of Tehran Radio interview with Behzad Nabavi, minister of state for executive affairs and chief government spokesman, February 23, 1981: What practical steps has the government taken to combat inflation? What you mean in fact is the high cost of living. Incidentally, we have been follo (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Khomeini Workers' Day Message Text of message by Ayatollah Khomeini on the occasion of Workers’ Day, May 1, 1981, as read by announcer on Tehran Radio: In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Blessed be Workers Day for the ranks of the valuable workers, for the nation in general and for the oppressed the world over (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Mojahed: "At the Beginning of the Third Year" Edited text of lead article in Mojahed (February 12, 1981), the organ of the Mojahedin-e Khalq: Having celebrated the second anniversary of the revolution, we are at the brink of the third year. The anniversary of the revolution and the days of Bahman remind us of...the days of great victories and (Author not identified) • 4 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 "Tudeh's Policy Is a Betrayal of the Working Class" Fereidun Keshavarz was elected to the Tudeh politburo at the Party’s first congress in 1942. He was elected to the Iranian parliament in 1944 and in 1946 served as minister of in the short-lived government of Prime Minister Qavam. In 1958 he resigned from the Tudeh politburo and central committee. H (Author not identified) • 7 min read
MER Article "The Clergy Have Confiscated the Revolution" Abdulrahman Qassemlu is secretary-general of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in Iran. He is the author of Kurdistan and the Kurds (7965) and Problems of Economic Growth in the Developing Countries (1969). From 1960 to 1975 he taught at the Ecole Superieure d’Economie in Prague. He met with Fred H (Author not identified) • 9 min read
MER Article Economic Sanctions and Iranian Trade Former President Jimmy Carter’s announcement of economic sanctions against Iran on April 7, 1980 aroused little enthusiasm except in Tehran, where crowds roared their approval of a formal break in ties with the “great Satan.” At home, hadn’t the freeze of Iranian assets, the longshoremen’s refusal t Philip Shehadi • 4 min read
