Leftover Leftists

A Group of Hypocrites Who Are Against Democratization and Modernization in Iran

By Farhad Mafie

These days, more than ever, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is worried about potential U.S. actions in the Middle East and, of course, its own gloomy future. One more time, alongside IRI promoters and supporters in the West, Iran’s leftover leftists are showing their comradeship and their solidarity with the current dark ruling forces of Iran. They, too, are attempting to paralyze any potential chance for starting the democratization process in Iran and in the Middle East. That’s why IRI supporters are collecting signatures and giving the red-carpet treatment to officials who would say “No” to a potential U.S. attack on Iraq. They all know that today’s Iran, with its internal problems resulting from more than twenty-three years of IRI oppression, will not make it through such a shakedown in the Middle East. Although the objection of Iran’s leftover leftists to such a shakedown is very disappointing, their behavior is very consistent with all their past activities to paralyze any chance of starting the democratization process in Iran.

In 1946 Iran’s Tudeh Party (its official Communist party) cooperated with the Soviet Union’s ploy to separate one of Iran’s vital provinces (i.e., Azerbaijan). This action proved to many Iranians that Soviet Communism made no provisions for independent nationalist communist movements in other countries. It also proved that Iran’s Tudeh Party was simply a Soviet pawn working in Iran against Iran. After the Azerbaijan crisis, several Iranian nationalist intellectuals like Khalil Maleki left the Tudeh Party and established other parties, such as Malaki’s Third Force Party, independent of the Tudeh Party and closer to Dr. Mosaddegh’s National Front.

For more than half a century Iran’s leftist organizations (not only the Tudeh Party but also Marxist, Leninist, Maoist, Islamic-Marxist groups, etc.) either directly or indirectly worked nonstop to paralyze Iran’s struggle for reconstruction and democratization. They used every possible means, even religion, to stop Iran’s transformation to the modern world.

During Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, all of Iran’s leftist organizations collectively played an instrumental role in brainwashing the masses, including Iranian students, to overthrow the Pahlavi Dynasty, and they empowered an unknown Ayatollah as the leader of the IRI. That same Ayatollah soon massacred thousands of Iranians, including many of the same leftists who brought him to power!

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, many Iranian leftists moved to the United States (or to modern European countries). Although they all are enjoying the luxuries of the Western World and of capitalism, they have stayed faithful to two key principles: their outdated communist beliefs and their commitment to continuously work against Iran and the well-being of Iranians.

In April 1997 a German court (Mykonos Trial) was able to prove the Islamic Republic of Iran’s direct involvement in and responsibility for the murder of Iran’s dissident Kurdish leaders in 1992 and thus convicted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini, President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and Information and Security Minister Ali Fallahian. The conviction was the result of superb cooperation and teamwork among all the Iranian opposition forces, allowing the German court to gather all the needed documents and necessary evidence. The court’s ruling led the E.U. nations, all 15 countries, to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran on April 11, 1997. Immediately afterward, on April 15, Japan suspended its high-level dialogue with Iran. By April 15, 1997, the Islamic Republic of Iran became completely isolated from the Western World. The same countries that were supporting the IRI in every possible way ultimately suspended their political ties with the IRI due to the pressure of their own internal public opinion. This is a strong message to all those who continuously say, “Iranian opposition in the West can’t make a difference in Iran!” Public opinion counts!

The IRI needed to present a completely different image in order to rebuild its badly damaged relationships with its European trade allies and avoid complete political and economic isolation from the West. That’s when the idea of the moderate movement as a vehicle to save the IRI from this serious blow was suddenly created, and President Khatami’s so-called “moderate government” was born.

One more time, the infamous Iranian leftover leftists stood alongside the Islamic Republic of Iran to save this oppressive and totalitarian system. One more time, they used every possible means to show their comradeship and their solidarity with the IRI to keep the ruling oppressors alive and active in Iran. They arranged meetings, dog-and-pony TV and radio interviews, conferences, etc., to convince everyone that Khatami is the solution to the democratic movement in Iran and that everyone should support this deceptive charlatan Mullah. They tried to sell the Islamic reformist movement as a pro-democratic party, but they conveniently ignored the basic question: Isn’t “Islamic democracy” an oxymoron?

Nader Naderpour (1929–2000) was the first Iranian thinker who identified the Islamic government’s reformist movement as another deceptive act, a political maneuver intended to extend the Islamic government’s life. In his famous article “Khomeini on the Moon and Khatami on a Satellite,”[1]he called the reformist movement and its leader President Khatami “another lie for Iran and Iranians.” In the same article he also expressed his extreme disappointment with those Iranian leftists living in the West who became IRI reformist supporters almost overnight. Of course, he came under tremendous attack by the IRI and all its leftist supporters in the West. A few years later, when many Iranian writers, journalists, students, and political activists such as Daryoosh and Parvaneh Forouhar were brutally murdered in Iran during Khatami’s regime, more and more Iranians respected Naderpour’s pointed vision and his accurate judgment. This respect grew stronger as President Mohammad Khatami continuously approved and justified these criminal activities against innocent Iranians.

Leftist déjà vu: “the feeling that the Leftover Leftists are at it again”

These days, one more time, Iran’s leftover leftists are showing their commitment to paralyzing Iran’s potential chances for democracy and freedom. They are now standing next to the tyrannical IRI government and trying to gather the necessary support to hopefully stop the shakedown in Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East. Just like their support for the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and its Ayatollah Khomeini, just like their support for another deceiving Mullah called Khatami, they are now committed at any cost to preventing the potential dismantling of the Islamic system in Iran. Even though their actions appear as “déjà vu all over again,” unfortunately this déjà vu is very much real!

Among the greatest treasures that the United States offers to everyone are democracy and freedom. The same way that Iran’s leftover leftists and IRI supporters here in the West are using their freedom to support an oppressive government in Iran, we too can use that same freedom of expression and say “NO” to the IRI and “NO” to IRI supporters in the West.

We all live outside of Iran because of the barbaric Islamic system. Let’s not forget or forgive the real enemy of Iran and the Iranian people. Let’s not be duped into quickly accepting a petition or an email on its face value. Any sloppy action on our part supports more oppression in Iran. “Clicking without thinking” will only help Iran’s ruling dark forces and prolong the life of the ruthless IRI government.

[1] The title “Khomeini on the Moon and Khatami on a Satellite” (published in Kayhan in London) refers to Iran’s 1979 revolution—specifically, to the claim of many Iranian intellectuals, students, political activists, artists, university professors, and other educated people that they had seen a picture of Khomeini’s face on the moon. The fact that so many educated and sophisticated people made the claim contributed greatly to convincing the illiterate and rural masses of Khomeini’s holiness, which eventually helped the overall momentum of the Islamic Revolution, stopped Iran’s modernization movement, and launched Iran’s social, political, and economic regression.

In the second part of the title Naderpour ridicules the Khomeini witnesses by “envisioning” Khatami on a satellite. His barbs are directed at the Khatami supporters (mostly leftists) living in the West who accept the Islamic government’s deceptions through satellite communication and who participate in disseminating pro-Islamic government messages to the Iranian communities in the West.