The Communist Party of Iran revisited: historical connections, Bolshevism and the rise of Reza Shah
Middle Eastern Studies, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.1080/00263206.2026.2719752
- Journal Name: Middle Eastern Studies
- Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, Geobase, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Jewish Studies Source, Linguistic Bibliography, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Index to Jewish Periodicals, MLA International Bibliography, Political Science Abstract (IPSA), Social Sciences Abstracts, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Art, Design & Architecture Collection (ProQuest), Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Art, Design & Architecture Collection (ProQuest), Arts Premium Collection (ProQuest), Humanities Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Political Science Database (ProQuest), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
- Keywords: Bolshevism, Communist Party of Iran, Iranian Left, Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran
- Hacettepe University Affiliated: No
Abstract
This article examines the Communist Party of Iran, founded in 1920, by situating it within the broader trajectory of Iranian political history. Existing scholarship has often approached the party primarily through the lens of its Soviet connections, interpreting Iranian communism in terms of dependency and foreign intervention. Rather than reducing Iranian communism to Bolshevik influence, this article argues that Bolshevik ideas were reinterpreted and reproduced within an Iranian political context already shaped by constitutionalism, social democracy, anti-imperialism, national independence and modernization. The article develops this argument through several interconnected historical episodes, including the establishment of Adalat Party, the Jangali movement, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, and the party’s shifting position toward Reza Shah. Drawing on Persian-language sources, party programs, newspapers and memoirs, it shows that Iranian communists adapted Bolshevism through existing Iranian political vocabularies and concerns. In doing so, the article challenges reductive ‘Soviet puppet’ narratives and resituates the Communist Party of Iran within the longer development of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iranian political thought.