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Iran on the Brink
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Iran on the Brink

Rising Workers and Threats of War

Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian
Pluto Press, 2007
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Background

Recommendation

Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian provide a thorough if leftist history of the fall of the Shah of Iran and the rise of the ayatollahs. Their political perspective weights this complex story as they delve into the political parties, conflicts, motives and factional disputes that brought the ayatollahs to power. Today, Iran has a very complicated political environment as Communist and U.S. ideologies confront radical Islam. The authors reach a few odd conclusions, fall into hackneyed rhetoric about the bourgeoisie, and present very tainted views of Israel, though, if you must quote Ahmadinejad to meet your book’s purpose, it’s hard to avoid rhetoric straight from the source’s mouth. The authors know Iran and analyze its politics in depth. They provide background on the leftist labor parties, their interactions with Islamic radicals, and Iran’s controversial nuclear and oil policies. getAbstract thinks that those who read this with an awareness of its filters will find a telling, alternative perspective on a dangerous problem.

Summary

Resisting Authority

Modern Iran traces its history to 1906 when the Qajjar dynasty tried to auction large portions of the country to other nations, primarily Russia and Britain. When the merchant class learned of these plans, they challenged the authority of the Qajjar shah (king). In response, he set up a parliament, or Majles, to write a constitution and establish formal authority between the royals and parliament. The job of monitoring national elections fell to local guilds, which set up councils, or anjumans, in numerous cities. After the elections, the anjumans began providing the infrastructure to deliver health and welfare benefits, collect taxes and build roads.

The activist, popular anjuman in Tabriz tried to reduce basic commodity prices over the objections of merchants and landowners. As the wealthy turned against these changes, in 1907 Tehran’s top cleric, Sheikh Fazlullah Nuri, proposed an amendment to impose an Islamic theocracy. The amendment “triggered a renewal of” Iran’s Constitutional Revolution – involving disenfranchised groups, such as peasants, artisans, traders, women and workers – and precipitated a general...

About the Authors

Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian are editors at Arbeteren, Sweden’s major progressive weekly newspaper. Malm is the author and editor of several books in Swedish. Esmailian is an Iranian journalist and activist living in Sweden.

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