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{{BLP sources|date=February 2017}}
{{Short description|Iranian Communist revolutionary (born 1949)}}
{{Short description|Iranian Communist revolutionary (born 1949)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
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| name = Ashraf Dehghani
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| native_name = Əşrəf Dehqani
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| birth_place = [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azarbaijan Province]], [[Pahlavi Iran]]
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'''Ashraf Dehghani''' ({{lang-fa|اشرف دهقانی}}, born 1949) is amongst the best known Iranian female [[communist]] revolutionaries, and is a member of the [[Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]].
'''Ashraf Dehghani''' ({{lang-fa|اشرف دهقانی}}, born 1949) is an [[Iranian Azerbaijanis|Iranian Azerbaijani]] communist revolutionary, best known as the leader of the [[Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (IPFG).

Exposed to [[Progressivism|progressive politics]] from an early age, along with her brother, Dehghani joined the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (OIPFG), becoming the only woman on its [[central committee]]. Not long after the OIPFG initiated its armed struggle against the [[Pahlavi Iran|Imperial State]], Dehghani was arrested and imprisoned by the [[SAVAK]].

In prison, Dehghani was constantly subjected to torture and rape, which she later detailed in her memoirs. Time in prison strengthened her belief in [[historical materialism]] and developed her perspective on [[anti-authoritarianism]] and [[feminism]]. She managed to escape prison and rejoin the OIPFG, becoming the leading figure in its [[ultra-leftism|ultra-left]] faction after the [[Iranian Revolution]].

While the majority of the OIPFG moved away from armed struggle and accepted the authority of the new [[Islamic Republic of Iran]], Dehghani continued to advocate for [[guerrilla warfare]] against the new government, which she considered to be a continuation of [[capitalism]]. Together with a minority of OIPFG members, she split off and formed the [[Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (IPFG), which continued to fight against the government. After the suppression of the [[1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran]], Dehghani and her faction fled the country to [[Europe]], where she is presumed to be living clandestinely.


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life===
Deghani was born in [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azarbaijan province]] in 1949.<ref name=hamsed/> In 1971, at age 22 Ashraf Dehghani (then a member of the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] ([[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas|OIPFG]]) cadre) was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for her political beliefs under the rule of the [[Pahlavi dynasty|Shah of Iran]], [[Mohammed Reza Pahlavi]].<ref name=hamsed>{{cite book|author=Hamideh Sedghi|title=Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling|year=2007|location=Cambridge
In 1949, Ashraf Dehghani was born into a working-class family in [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Iranian Azerbaijan]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Sedghi|1y=2007|1pp=162n19, 183|2a1=Shahidian|2y=1997|2p=18}} She was brought up in a politically progressive household, where from an early age, her parents told her stories of the short-lived [[Azerbaijan People's Government]]. In school, she developed a reputation as a political agitator, being reported to the [[SAVAK]] by her own teacher for writing an essay that criticised the [[Pahlavi Iran|Imperial State]].{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=183}} After graduating from school, she became a teacher in a poor Azeri village.{{Sfn|Shahidian|1997|p=18}}
|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510380|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511510380|pages=152,183|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511510380 }}</ref> Her memoirs, entitled ''Torture and Resistance in Iran'', document the events before and during her imprisonment.<ref name=hamsed/> The memoirs provide not only a detailed personal account of Ashraf Dehghani's inner struggles while in prison, but also a description of the broader political struggles and objective conditions required for any revolutionary party to survive outside and inside of prison.


Although she had promised the SAVAK that she would cease political activities,{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=183}} she continued her political agitation under the wing of her older brother Behrouz and his friend, the Iranian social critic [[Samad Behrangi]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Sedghi|1y=2007|1p=183|2a1=Shahidian|2y=1997|2p=18}} During the late 1960s, Dehghani joined her brother in the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (OIPFG),{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghissi|1y=1996|1pp=114-115|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2pp=152, 183}} becoming the only woman on its Central Committee.{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghadam|1y=2019|p=9n2|2a1=Moghissi|2y=1996|2pp=114-115|3a1=Sedghi|3y=2007|3pp=152, 183|4a1=Shahidian|4y=1997|4p=24}}
In 1973, she and Nahid Jalali, a member of MKO, organized a successful escape from prison. Ashraf Dehghani wrote her memoirs after escaping the Shah's prison in Iran, near the end of 1971. During her years of underground activity, at some point, she worked directly with the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas|OIPFG]] leader [[Hamid Ashraf]]. Later she fled abroad, where she directed the organization's international relations.


===Imprisonment===
In 1979, she led a split away from [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas|OIPFG]], and formed the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas. The dispute with the leadership of the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas|OIPFG]] stemmed from Ashraf's unwavering loyalty to [[Masoud Ahmadzadeh]]'s theories. She also accused the leadership of deviating from Fadai's revolutionary traditions and inclination to compromise with the government. After a war between Kurds and Iranian Islamic Republic in 1981, a Kurdish revolutionary group of Ashraf Dehghani's group was formed. {{citation needed|date=May 2012}}
On 8 February 1970, the OIPFG launched its first attack against the Imperial State, with an assault against the gendarmerie at [[Siahkal]]. In the wake of the "Siahkal incident", revolutionary actions surged in Iran, to which the SAVAK responded with violent repression. Dehghani herself continued her activities, and on 13 May 1971, she was arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to ten years in prison.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=183}} During her time in [[Evin Prison]], she reported to have been constantly tortured and raped by the SAVAK.{{Sfnm|1a1=Sedghi|1y=2007|1pp=152, 184|2a1=Shahidian|2y=1997|2p=18}} Nevertheless, she refused to cooperate with her interrogators, remaining silent.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=152}}

She managed to survive the torture, holding to her [[Historical materialism|historical materialist]] belief in the inevitability of [[social revolution]]. She also developed an analysis of the Imperial State's [[authoritarianism]], concluding that the system was inherently weak as it couldn't suppress dissent even through torture.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|pp=184-185}} She also noted the [[class discrimination]] with which the SAVAK treated different women of different social classes; [[sex worker]]s were abused by the guards, while upper-class dissidents received fully-furnished private cells; and reported the hatred that imprisoned women displayed for [[Ashraf Pahlavi]] during her visit.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=185}} While she concluded that working-class women were "dually exploited", she also came to suggest that women that had attained [[class consciousness]] needed class conscious male partners, in order to together build a [[classless society]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghissi|1y=1996|1pp=117-118|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2p=185}} Dehghani thus contrasted "reactionary women" against "human beings", claiming the latter to be women engaged in [[class struggle]] with the aim of achieving [[freedom]] and [[social equality]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghissi|1y=1996|1pp=117-118|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2pp=185-186}}

On 13 March 1973, she escaped prison dressed in a [[chador]] and returned to work with the OIPFG.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|pp=152n1, 184}} Her memoirs of her struggles in prison, published the following year in [[London]], were banned from publication in Iran until the outbreak of the [[Iranian Revolution]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Sedghi|1y=2007|1p=186|2a1=Vahabzadeh|2y=2015}}

===Post-revolutionary activities===
Following the Revolution, many Iranian communist groups deviated from the program of armed struggle, claiming the tactic to be outdated and accusing its proponents of [[ultra-leftism]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghadam|1a2=Ashtiani|1y=1991|1pp=89-90|2a1=Zabir|2y=2011|2p=109}} One of the OIPFG leaders that continued to advocate for [[guerrilla warfare]] was Dehghani,{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghadam|1a2=Ashtiani|1y=1991|1p=89|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2p=186n73|3a1=Vahabzadeh|3y=2015|4a1=Zabir|4y=2011|4pp=108-109}} who was expelled from the OIPFG over the issue.{{Sfnm|1a1=Sedghi|1y=2007|1p=186n73|2a1=Vahabzadeh|2y=2015|3a1=Zabir|3y=2011|3pp=108-109}} She in turn denounced the OIPFG's new leadership for [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionism]] and [[anti-communism]], accusing them of having abandoned the organisation's political prisoners.{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|p=109}} She considered the Khomeini government to have constituted a new bourgeois regime, little different from the Shah; and felt that armed struggle was still a valid tactic, in order to prepare the masses for a social revolution and to build resistance to imperialist intervention in the country.{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|pp=109-110}}

Dehghani led a minority away from the organisation and established the [[Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (IPFG), which committed itself to continued armed struggle against the new Iranian government.{{Sfnm|1a1=Javadzadeh|1y=2011|1pp=12-13, 173|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2p=186n73|3a1=Vahabzadeh|3y=2015}} Although the government understood the IPFG and OIPFG to be separate, the IPFG's continued advocacy of armed struggle was used as pretext to suppress both, with their centres being raided by Khomeinists.{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|p=110}}

When the [[1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran|1979 Kurdish rebellion]] broke out, Dehghani's faction decided to join it,{{Sfnm|1a1=Vahabzadeh|1y=2015|2a1=Zabir|2y=2011|2pp=110-111}} declaring their support for the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party (Iran)|Kurdistan Democratic Party]] (KDP) and fighting alongside them against the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] (IRGC).{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|pp=110-111}} In June 1981, the IPFG and KDP were joined by the MEK, who had decided up armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghadam|1a2=Ashtiani|1y=1991|1p=89|2a1=Zabir|2y=2011|2pp=109-110}} After the MEK, Dehghani's IPFG would become one of the most effective guerrila groups, with its members accounting for 20% of arrests and executions by the authorities.{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|p=208}}

By July 1981, the MEK and IPFG were facing harsh repression by the authorities.{{Sfn|Zabir|2011|p=111}} This would eventually lead to the group's effective elimination, with its surviving members fleeing to Europe.{{Sfn|Vahabzadeh|2015}} Dehghani herself left the country, and has remained in exile ever since.{{Sfn|Shahidian|1997|p=18}} Little is known of Dehghani's life after this point, although she is believed to be living clandestinely in [[Germany]].{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=186}}

==Legacy==
In her memoirs, Dehghani depicted her struggles with torture by the SAVAK and provided an analysis of Iranian politics. In the introduction to her autobiography, her "heroic resitance" was held up as "an example of [the] courage and determination of the Iranian revolutionaries."{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|pp=182-183}} Hamideh Sedghi later said of Dehghani: "Iranian scholars and feminists alike have largely ignored Dehghani’s tale. She had a unique life and experiences: she was a non-conformist, militant, and defiant political actor."{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=152}}

Dehghani was a mentor to fellow OIPFG member [[Roghieh Daneshgari]], describing her as a "courageous fighter" against the Imperial State.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|pp=186-187}} Dehghani's feminism provided an inspiration for Iranian feinists, with a number of women's organisations that were established during the Iranian Revolution taking up a number of her ideas.{{Sfn|Sedghi|2007|p=186}} But historian Haideh Moghissi has criticised Dehghani's view on feminism, claiming that she "explicitly accepts women’s weakness".{{Sfnm|1a1=Moghissi|1y=1996|1p=117|2a1=Sedghi|2y=2007|2p=185}} Her guerrilla tactics ultimately proved to be a model that couldn't be followed by most women, mostly providing an image of guerrilla women for inspiration.{{Sfn|Tohidi|1991|p=258}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book|last=Javadzadeh|first=Abdy|year=2011|title=Iranian Irony: Marxists Becoming Muslims|url=https://books.google.com/books?ddae3eBHGK4C|publisher=[[Dorrance Publishing Company|RoseDog Books]]|isbn=978-1-4349-8292-6}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Moghadam|first1=Val|last2=Ashtiani|first2=Ali|year=1991|title=The Left and revolution in Iran|journal=[[Race & Class]]|volume=33|issue=1|pp=86-91|issn=0306-3968|doi=10.1177/030639689103300106}}
*{{Cite book|last=Moghadam|first=Valentine M.|date=December 2019|chapter=Revolutions and Women’s Rights: The Iranian Revolution in Comparative Perspective|editor-first1=Leif|editor-last1=Stenberg|editor-first2=Sarah|editor-last2=Savant|title=40 Years On: Reflections on the Iranian Revolution|url=https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/64334501/AFAOcassionalPaperSeries_Issue1-libre.pdf?1599044186=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3D40_Years_On_Reflections_on_the_Iranian_R.pdf&Expires=1695142048&Signature=TbZ~EBYcvIPe8RnvfCiYi~MEgNRmbV1RGiEHGjWCQzNfiD9oMGh8cSYTbQylrW4NnWmwVxBCm9cGrUNkgThB1UWVIzj-GztkJi7t34nb8DkWsot7qq89x6tGsOe7r3mwe16ro7xJqzfnO8ACwFSdZWrcTlduF3gFFNBBxZpCmrKbFgxq12v8QAR058ylOwFnwaPz3H8kQhxnjekD8k0aCmZwMRiksawK~11yI7jE83mfQLlOWbiBL2xkZmuJP3Iv3jmyNgB7wrmZClOtDJwqfXu-cVVbY-QgQ6enDp2iWchZWO3h0j-g~0wOqfFflewkviEtIkQaec0dtrDTrtqDWA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA#page=11|pp=8-11|series=Occasional Paper|volume=1|issn=2633-8890}}
*{{Cite book|last=Moghissi|first=Haideh|year=1996|orig-year=1994|chapter=The Fedayeen and Women's Struggle|title=Populism and Feminism in Iran|pp=107-138|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan|Macmillan Press]]|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25233-6_7|isbn=978-0-333-67412-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Sedghi|first=Hamideh|year=2007|chapter=Women and the State|title=Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-83581-7|pages=152-196|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511510380}}
*{{cite journal|last=Shahidian|first=Hammed|year=1997|title=Women and Clandestine Politics in Iran, 1970-1985|journal=[[Feminist Studies]]|volume=23|issue=1|pp=7-42|doi=10.2307/3178296|jstor=3178296}}
*{{cite book|last=Tohidi|first=Nayereh|year=1991|chapter=Gender and Islamic Fundamentalism: Feminist Politics in Iran|editor-first1=Chandra Talpade|editor-last1=Mohanty|editor-first2=Ann|editor-last2=Russo|editor-first3=Lourdes|editor-last3=Torres|title=Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQ6Fh-s_OVEC|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|pp=251-267|lccn=90-43510|isbn=0-253-33873-5}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|last=Vahabzadeh|first=Peyman|date=7 December 2015|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/fadaian-e-khalq|title=Fadāʾiān-e ḵalq|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|access-date=20 September 2023}}
*{{cite book|last=Zabir|first=Sepehr|year=2011|orig-year=1982|title=Iran Since the Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQKiElHySdUC|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-61069-8|pp=109-111, 208}} <!-- Oddly uses he/him/his pronouns for Dehghani. -->
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Baneinia|first1=Masoumeh|last2=Dersan Orhan|first2=Duygu|year=2021|title=Women As A Political Symbol in Iran: A Comparative Perspective Between Pahlavı Regime and Islamic Revolution|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/nevsosbilen/issue/67629/1003864|journal=Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi SBE Dergisi|volume=11|issue=4|pp=1906-1919|doi=10.30783/nevsosbilen.1003864}}
*{{cite book|last=Dabashi|first=Hamid|year=2007|title=Makhmalbaf at Large|url=https://www.torrossa.com/it/resources/an/5209749|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|isbn=9781845115319|oclc=419310458}}
*{{cite book|last=Daneshvar|first=Parviz|year=1996|chapter=From Consolidation to Theocratic Despotism|title=Revolution in Iran|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|pp=128-174|isbn=978-1-349-14062-6|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-14062-6_6}}
*{{cite journal|last=Dorraj|first=Manochehr|year=2006|title=The Political Sociology of Sect and Sectarianism in Iranian Politics: 1960-1979|journal=Journal of Third World Studies|volume=23|issue=2|pp=95-117|jstor=45194310}}
*{{cite book|last=Joya|first=Malalai|author-link=Malalai Joya|year=2009|title=A Woman Among Warlords|publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nJFvCMEMpUC|lccn=2009021072|isbn=978-1-4391-0946-5}}
*{{cite journal|last=Kamal|first=Muhammad|year=1986|title=Iranian Left in Political Dilemma|journal=[[Pakistan Institute of International Affairs|Pakistan Horizon]]|volume=39|issue=3|pp=39-51|jstor=41393782}}
*{{cite book|last=Rad|first=Assal|year=2022|title=The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?6EB8EAAAQBAJ|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|lccn=2021059851|isbn=978-1-009-19358-0|doi=10.1017/9781009193573}}
*{{cite journal|last=Rahnema|first=Saeed|year=2009|title=Lessons (Not) Learned: Reflections on a Failed Revolution|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/262225/summary|journal=[[Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East]]|volume=29|issue=1|pp=72-83|issn=1089-201X}}
*{{cite journal|last=Moghadam|first=Val|year=1987|title=Socialism or Anti-Imperialism? The Left and Revolution in Iran|url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/i166/articles/val-moghadam-socialism-or-anti-imperialism-the-left-and-revolution-in-iran.pdf|journal=[[New Left Review]]|issue=166|issn=0028-6060}}
*{{cite journal|last=Moghadam|first=Valentine M.|year=2018|title=Feminism and the Future of Revolutions|journal=[[Socialism and Democracy]]|volume=32|issue=1|pp=31-53|issn=0885-4300|doi=10.1080/08854300.2018.146174}}
*{{cite journal|last=Saadatmand|first=Yassaman|year=1993|title=State capitalism: Theory and application case of Iran|journal=[[Middle East Critique|Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies]]|volume=2|issue=3|pp=55-79|issn=1943-6149|doi=10.1080/10669929308720040}}
{{refend}}
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*[https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FpLDEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22Ashraf+Dehghani%22&ots=eVgLrHnUc-&sig=hAF12od3vSxtCyEhoSpGO48no98&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Ashraf%20Dehghani%22&f=false]
*[https://www.proquest.com/openview/cdaa29b75530814520e81fac778d44bf/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]
*[https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pPaHOfDNwnkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22Ashraf+Dehghani%22&ots=eUYJNpRRXo&sig=E9WvWTJG-Gqu3uVWkWEV5lP_QxA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Ashraf%20Dehghani%22&f=false]
*[https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=o9y-DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=%22Ashraf+Dehghani%22&ots=mf3NiCcNxg&sig=plJQHfzMENXhH7wjBTnREbt-cIY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Ashraf%20Dehghani%22&f=false]
*[https://www.proquest.com/openview/919cc8b6b5abbdba9c84eef8847c4bc9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]
*[https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DcGsYRRxbdIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=%22Ashraf+Dehghani%22&ots=ql762eyy6l&sig=kxkAYGWgnomXtPJGko-6Se8umS8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Ashraf%20Dehghani%22&f=false]
*[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/510534]
*[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-14208-8_1]
*[https://www.proquest.com/openview/92679362ccfca16ad86aae6394a26bc8/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]
*[https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8W66T45]
*[https://www.proquest.com/openview/69fbe6c42c934d0ce1f5b4940690b23b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]
*[https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wT-1SAEXRPEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA203&dq=%22Ashraf+Dehghani%22&ots=I_0xUrZ4V-&sig=K1pUZ-zV9TOQWICaVJRiq3WrlJU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Ashraf%20Dehghani%22&f=false]
*[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/state-of-resistance/foreign-shah-and-the-failure-of-pahlavi-nationalism/0A852C46A535BC74618583DC1E178940]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220811082133/https://hph.alzahra.ac.ir/article_6099.html]
*[https://www.proquest.com/openview/a0a2f354d4c7598000b86b8b01243011/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]
*[https://www.anarkismo.net/article/584] -->


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[[Category:People of the Iranian Revolution]]

Revision as of 15:33, 20 September 2023

Ashraf Dehghani
Əşrəf Dehqani
Born1949 (age 74–75)
Azarbaijan Province, Imperial State of Iran
NationalityIranian Azerbaijani
Political partyOrganization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (1971–1979)
Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (1979–present)
MovementCommunism, feminism
Opponent(s)Imperial State of Iran (1971–1979)
Islamic Republic of Iran (1979–present)
Websiteashrafdehghani.com

Ashraf Dehghani (Persian: اشرف دهقانی, born 1949) is an Iranian Azerbaijani communist revolutionary, best known as the leader of the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (IPFG).

Exposed to progressive politics from an early age, along with her brother, Dehghani joined the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG), becoming the only woman on its central committee. Not long after the OIPFG initiated its armed struggle against the Imperial State, Dehghani was arrested and imprisoned by the SAVAK.

In prison, Dehghani was constantly subjected to torture and rape, which she later detailed in her memoirs. Time in prison strengthened her belief in historical materialism and developed her perspective on anti-authoritarianism and feminism. She managed to escape prison and rejoin the OIPFG, becoming the leading figure in its ultra-left faction after the Iranian Revolution.

While the majority of the OIPFG moved away from armed struggle and accepted the authority of the new Islamic Republic of Iran, Dehghani continued to advocate for guerrilla warfare against the new government, which she considered to be a continuation of capitalism. Together with a minority of OIPFG members, she split off and formed the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (IPFG), which continued to fight against the government. After the suppression of the 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran, Dehghani and her faction fled the country to Europe, where she is presumed to be living clandestinely.

Biography

Early life

In 1949, Ashraf Dehghani was born into a working-class family in Iranian Azerbaijan.[1] She was brought up in a politically progressive household, where from an early age, her parents told her stories of the short-lived Azerbaijan People's Government. In school, she developed a reputation as a political agitator, being reported to the SAVAK by her own teacher for writing an essay that criticised the Imperial State.[2] After graduating from school, she became a teacher in a poor Azeri village.[3]

Although she had promised the SAVAK that she would cease political activities,[2] she continued her political agitation under the wing of her older brother Behrouz and his friend, the Iranian social critic Samad Behrangi.[4] During the late 1960s, Dehghani joined her brother in the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG),[5] becoming the only woman on its Central Committee.[6]

Imprisonment

On 8 February 1970, the OIPFG launched its first attack against the Imperial State, with an assault against the gendarmerie at Siahkal. In the wake of the "Siahkal incident", revolutionary actions surged in Iran, to which the SAVAK responded with violent repression. Dehghani herself continued her activities, and on 13 May 1971, she was arrested by the SAVAK and sentenced to ten years in prison.[2] During her time in Evin Prison, she reported to have been constantly tortured and raped by the SAVAK.[7] Nevertheless, she refused to cooperate with her interrogators, remaining silent.[8]

She managed to survive the torture, holding to her historical materialist belief in the inevitability of social revolution. She also developed an analysis of the Imperial State's authoritarianism, concluding that the system was inherently weak as it couldn't suppress dissent even through torture.[9] She also noted the class discrimination with which the SAVAK treated different women of different social classes; sex workers were abused by the guards, while upper-class dissidents received fully-furnished private cells; and reported the hatred that imprisoned women displayed for Ashraf Pahlavi during her visit.[10] While she concluded that working-class women were "dually exploited", she also came to suggest that women that had attained class consciousness needed class conscious male partners, in order to together build a classless society.[11] Dehghani thus contrasted "reactionary women" against "human beings", claiming the latter to be women engaged in class struggle with the aim of achieving freedom and social equality.[12]

On 13 March 1973, she escaped prison dressed in a chador and returned to work with the OIPFG.[13] Her memoirs of her struggles in prison, published the following year in London, were banned from publication in Iran until the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution.[14]

Post-revolutionary activities

Following the Revolution, many Iranian communist groups deviated from the program of armed struggle, claiming the tactic to be outdated and accusing its proponents of ultra-leftism.[15] One of the OIPFG leaders that continued to advocate for guerrilla warfare was Dehghani,[16] who was expelled from the OIPFG over the issue.[17] She in turn denounced the OIPFG's new leadership for revisionism and anti-communism, accusing them of having abandoned the organisation's political prisoners.[18] She considered the Khomeini government to have constituted a new bourgeois regime, little different from the Shah; and felt that armed struggle was still a valid tactic, in order to prepare the masses for a social revolution and to build resistance to imperialist intervention in the country.[19]

Dehghani led a minority away from the organisation and established the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (IPFG), which committed itself to continued armed struggle against the new Iranian government.[20] Although the government understood the IPFG and OIPFG to be separate, the IPFG's continued advocacy of armed struggle was used as pretext to suppress both, with their centres being raided by Khomeinists.[21]

When the 1979 Kurdish rebellion broke out, Dehghani's faction decided to join it,[22] declaring their support for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and fighting alongside them against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).[23] In June 1981, the IPFG and KDP were joined by the MEK, who had decided up armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.[24] After the MEK, Dehghani's IPFG would become one of the most effective guerrila groups, with its members accounting for 20% of arrests and executions by the authorities.[25]

By July 1981, the MEK and IPFG were facing harsh repression by the authorities.[26] This would eventually lead to the group's effective elimination, with its surviving members fleeing to Europe.[27] Dehghani herself left the country, and has remained in exile ever since.[3] Little is known of Dehghani's life after this point, although she is believed to be living clandestinely in Germany.[28]

Legacy

In her memoirs, Dehghani depicted her struggles with torture by the SAVAK and provided an analysis of Iranian politics. In the introduction to her autobiography, her "heroic resitance" was held up as "an example of [the] courage and determination of the Iranian revolutionaries."[29] Hamideh Sedghi later said of Dehghani: "Iranian scholars and feminists alike have largely ignored Dehghani’s tale. She had a unique life and experiences: she was a non-conformist, militant, and defiant political actor."[8]

Dehghani was a mentor to fellow OIPFG member Roghieh Daneshgari, describing her as a "courageous fighter" against the Imperial State.[30] Dehghani's feminism provided an inspiration for Iranian feinists, with a number of women's organisations that were established during the Iranian Revolution taking up a number of her ideas.[28] But historian Haideh Moghissi has criticised Dehghani's view on feminism, claiming that she "explicitly accepts women’s weakness".[31] Her guerrilla tactics ultimately proved to be a model that couldn't be followed by most women, mostly providing an image of guerrilla women for inspiration.[32]

References

  1. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 162n19, 183; Shahidian 1997, p. 18.
  2. ^ a b c Sedghi 2007, p. 183.
  3. ^ a b Shahidian 1997, p. 18.
  4. ^ Sedghi 2007, p. 183; Shahidian 1997, p. 18.
  5. ^ Moghissi 1996, pp. 114–115; Sedghi 2007, pp. 152, 183.
  6. ^ Moghadam 2019; Moghissi 1996, pp. 114–115; Sedghi 2007, pp. 152, 183; Shahidian 1997, p. 24.
  7. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 152, 184; Shahidian 1997, p. 18.
  8. ^ a b Sedghi 2007, p. 152.
  9. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 184–185.
  10. ^ Sedghi 2007, p. 185.
  11. ^ Moghissi 1996, pp. 117–118; Sedghi 2007, p. 185.
  12. ^ Moghissi 1996, pp. 117–118; Sedghi 2007, pp. 185–186.
  13. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 152n1, 184.
  14. ^ Sedghi 2007, p. 186; Vahabzadeh 2015.
  15. ^ Moghadam & Ashtiani 1991, pp. 89–90; Zabir 2011, p. 109.
  16. ^ Moghadam & Ashtiani 1991, p. 89; Sedghi 2007, p. 186n73; Vahabzadeh 2015; Zabir 2011, pp. 108–109.
  17. ^ Sedghi 2007, p. 186n73; Vahabzadeh 2015; Zabir 2011, pp. 108–109.
  18. ^ Zabir 2011, p. 109.
  19. ^ Zabir 2011, pp. 109–110.
  20. ^ Javadzadeh 2011, pp. 12–13, 173; Sedghi 2007, p. 186n73; Vahabzadeh 2015.
  21. ^ Zabir 2011, p. 110.
  22. ^ Vahabzadeh 2015; Zabir 2011, pp. 110–111.
  23. ^ Zabir 2011, pp. 110–111.
  24. ^ Moghadam & Ashtiani 1991, p. 89; Zabir 2011, pp. 109–110.
  25. ^ Zabir 2011, p. 208.
  26. ^ Zabir 2011, p. 111.
  27. ^ Vahabzadeh 2015.
  28. ^ a b Sedghi 2007, p. 186.
  29. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 182–183.
  30. ^ Sedghi 2007, pp. 186–187.
  31. ^ Moghissi 1996, p. 117; Sedghi 2007, p. 185.
  32. ^ Tohidi 1991, p. 258.

Bibliography

  • Javadzadeh, Abdy (2011). Iranian Irony: Marxists Becoming Muslims. RoseDog Books. ISBN 978-1-4349-8292-6.
  • Moghadam, Val; Ashtiani, Ali (1991). "The Left and revolution in Iran". Race & Class. 33 (1): 86–91. doi:10.1177/030639689103300106. ISSN 0306-3968.
  • Moghadam, Valentine M. (December 2019). "Revolutions and Women's Rights: The Iranian Revolution in Comparative Perspective". In Stenberg, Leif; Savant, Sarah (eds.). 40 Years On: Reflections on the Iranian Revolution (PDF). Occasional Paper. Vol. 1. pp. 8–11. ISSN 2633-8890.
  • Moghissi, Haideh (1996) [1994]. "The Fedayeen and Women's Struggle". Populism and Feminism in Iran. Macmillan Press. pp. 107–138. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-25233-6_7. ISBN 978-0-333-67412-3.
  • Sedghi, Hamideh (2007). "Women and the State". Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling. Cambridge University Press. pp. 152–196. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511510380. ISBN 978-0-521-83581-7.
  • Shahidian, Hammed (1997). "Women and Clandestine Politics in Iran, 1970-1985". Feminist Studies. 23 (1): 7–42. doi:10.2307/3178296. JSTOR 3178296.
  • Tohidi, Nayereh (1991). "Gender and Islamic Fundamentalism: Feminist Politics in Iran". In Mohanty, Chandra Talpade; Russo, Ann; Torres, Lourdes (eds.). Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Indiana University Press. pp. 251–267. ISBN 0-253-33873-5. LCCN 90-43510.
  • Vahabzadeh, Peyman (7 December 2015). "Fadāʾiān-e ḵalq". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  • Zabir, Sepehr (2011) [1982]. Iran Since the Revolution. Routledge. pp. 109–111, 208. ISBN 978-0-415-61069-8.

Further reading

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