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
MER Article Iran's Economy Workers, bazaar merchants and artisans, farmers, salaried officials and professionals -- all expected that the departure of the Shah would mean better economic conditions for themselves and the Iranian people. At the very least, funds that had been diverted into corruption or used to purchase expens Patrick Clawson • 13 min read
MER Article "Signs of Civil War" Shirin Tehrani is an independent Iranian socialist who has lived most of the post-revolutionary period inside Iran and spoke with Fred Halliday in Europe in late April 1981. There has been much attention here on the dispute within the regime between the faction around President Bani-Sadr, and that (Author not identified) • 9 min read
MER Article The War and the Struggle for the State “Was it not your KGB which indirectly passed on to us the secret plan for the Iraqi offensive?” President Bani-Sadr’s point-blank question clearly embarrassed the Soviet ambassador. Vladimir Vinogradov lapsed into an embarrassed silence but his face was lit by a smile which was as broad as it was en Eric Rouleau • 15 min read
MER Article From the Editors (July/August 1981) The Iranian revolution is well into its third year. It has been difficult from the outside to follow the complex course of recent political developments there, but it is clear that Iran’s future will be determined for years or decades ahead by the balance of political forces that comes out of the in The Editors • 3 min read
