Communist Party of Persia

Communist Party of Iran
General SecretaryHaydar Khan Amo-oghli
First SecretaryAssadollah Ghaffarzadeh (first)
Avetis Sultan-Zade (last)
Founded1917
Banned1921
Succeeded byTudeh Party of Iran[1]
NewspaperPeykar
Youth wingYoung Communist League of Persia
IdeologyCommunism
Political positionFar-left
International affiliationCommunist International

The Communist Party of Persia (Persian: حزب کمونیست ایران, romanizedḤezb-e komūnīst-e Iran) was an Iranian communist party. Originally established as the Justice Party (Persian: فرقه عدالت, romanizedFerqa'ye ʿEdālat) in 1917[2] by the former social democrats who supported Baku-based Bolsheviks, it participated in the Communist International in 1919 and was renamed the "Communist Party of Persia" in 1920.[2]

Haydar Khan Amo-oghli, one of the leaders of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, was elected as its general secretary. Its foundation came about as a result of the establishment of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic, earlier that year, by Mirza Kuchik Khan and his Jangali ("Jungle Movement") insurgents.

The party was banned in 1921 (coinciding with the defeat of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic), though members continued activities underground until the foundation of the Tudeh Party of Iran in 1941, which thereafter became the official communist party in the country.

  1. ^ Vahabzadeh, Peyman (2010). Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and the Fadai Period of National Liberation In Iran, 1971–1979. Syracuse University Press. p. 182. ISBN 9780815651475.
  2. ^ a b Tachau, Frank (1994). "Justice Party I". Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa. Greenwood Press. p. 159. ISBN 9780313266492.