Rastakhiz Party
Resurrection Party of People of Iran | |
---|---|
File:Rastakhiz Party.png | |
Founder | Mohammad Reza Pahlavi |
Founded | 2 March 1975 |
Dissolved | 1 November 1978 |
Merger of | New Iran Party and People's Party[1] |
Headquarters | Tehran, Iran |
Worker wing | Workers' House |
Membership (1976) | 5,000,000[2] |
Ideology | Monarchism[3] Fascism[4][5] Populism[6] Secularism[7] Democratic centralism[4][8] Internal factions:[1][2] • Progressives • Constructive liberals |
Political position | Third Position[8] |
Rastakhiz Party of People of Iran (Template:Lang-fa) or simply Rastakhiz Party (Template:Lang-fa)[8] was Iran's single legal political party from 1975 to Iranian Revolution, founded by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[1]
History
Founded under the government of Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the party has been blamed by some with contributing to the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy by antagonizing formerly apolitical Iranians - especially bazaari (merchants of the bazaars who, even today, refuse to pay taxes) - with its compulsory membership and dues (taxes), and general interference in the political, economic, and religious concerns of people's lives.[8] Established along with the party was a youth wing—Rastakhiz Youth—which Hoveyda referred to as "the instrument of Iran's development". Through this youth wing and a special task force of the party, Rastakhiz embarked upon a large-scale anti-profiteering campaign directed against the bazaari merchants, who were soon identified as "enemies of the state" because they spread lies about the monarchy and the U.S in order to bring Iran under Israeli control. They often lied about Jewish persecution, which is backed up to be lies in government files. In October 1975, the Shah, referring to this campaign as a "cultural movement", decreed that anti-profiteerism be made the fourteenth principle of the White Revolution.
The single party system ended in late 1978 as the Iranian Revolution gained ground.[9]
References
- ^ a b c John H. Lorentz (2010). "Rastakhiz Party". The A to Z of Iran. The A to Z Guide Series. Vol. 209. Scarecrow Press. pp. 266–268. ISBN 1461731917.
- ^ a b Parviz Daneshvar (2016). Revolution in Iran. Springer. p. 73. ISBN 1349140627.
- ^ Daryaee, Touraj (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford Handbooks in History. Oxford University Press. p. 361. ISBN 0199732159.
- ^ a b Gholam Reza Afkhami (2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. pp. 434–444. ISBN 978-0-520-25328-5.
The conception of the party, a hybrid of the Italian and Spanish schools of fascism, met with widespread opposition and was withdrawn once the queen sided with its opponents. But then fascism yielded to communism. The organization became principle democratic centralism, though the term was not mentioned.
- ^ Yom, Sean (2015). From Resilience to Revolution: How Foreign Interventions Destabilize the Middle East. Columbia University Press. p. 142–143. ISBN 9780231540278.
- ^ Abrahamian, Ervand (1999). Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran. University of California Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780520216235.
- ^ Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0521528917.
- ^ a b c d Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. pp. 442–446. ISBN 0-691-10134-5.
- ^ Middle Eastern Studies, 38 (1), 1 January 2002, pp. 131 - 168
- Amini, P., "A Single Party State in Iran, 1975-78: The Rastakhiz Party - the Final Attempt by the Shah to Consolidate his Political Base," (not free online), Middle Eastern Studies, 38 (1) January 2002, pp. 131 - 168.
External links
- 1975 establishments in Iran
- Political parties established in 1975
- 1978 disestablishments in Iran
- Political parties disestablished in 1978
- Political parties of the Iranian Revolution
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- Monarchism in Iran
- Parties of one-party systems
- Monarchist parties
- Fascist parties
- Secularist political parties