The Iranian left: historical, local and global themes (In-Person)

The Iranian left has a long and tumultuous history, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century when socialist and communist groups came to play a significant role in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 and the subsequent decades which followed. A range of leftwing forces advocated for greater equality, cultural and economic reforms, social and labour rights and self-determination, navigating a perilous path between creeping authoritarianism and foreign encroachments. These struggles had a considerable political and social impact but were at the same time fraught with miscalculations and tragic compromises. The left played a significant role in the Iranian Revolution of 1979 but was eventually marginalized by the rise of the Islamic Republic. Despite repression and persecution, left-wing movements have continued to exist in Iran, advocating for workers' rights, social justice, and political reform. This workshop brings together leading specialists on the history and politics of the left in Iran to consider the historical and contemporary status of the left in Iran and amongst the diaspora. It will consider the role of the left in the 1979 revolution and in the protest movements of 2009, 2019 and 2021 and focus on how Iranian leftist movements have dealt – theoretically and politically – with issues of nationalism, Islam, imperialism, gender and Third-Worldism.

Workshop will be a hybrid event, it is free to attend but registration is required.

Organizer: Hadi Enayat, Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

Programme

9.30 am-10 am Registration & Reception/Coffee

10 am-10.15 am Welcome

Hadi Enayat (AKU-ISMC)

10.15 am-11.30 am - Panel 1

Unhappy Marriage? Menage a Trois? Uneasy co-existence? Feminisms, Nationalisms, and Leftisms in Twentieth-Century Iran.

Joanna De Groot (University of York)

The Left and the Fantasies of Power in Contemporary Iran.

Fatemeh Sadeghi (University College London)

Discussant: Sevgi Adak (AKU-ISMC)

11.30 am-11.45 am Coffee break

11.45 am-1.30 pm - Panel 2

The Left in Iran: A Global History.

Stephanie Cronin (St Anthony’s, University of Oxford)

Revolutionary Kinship: The Nexus Between pre-1979 revolutionary Iranian Leftist Ideals and the Palestinian Struggle

Seyed Ali Alavi (SOAS, University of London)

The Creation of the Cold War: The British and the Tudeh in Iran.

Rowena Razzak (Queen Mary University, London)

Discussant: Sanaa Alimia (AKU-ISMC)

1.30 pm-2.30 pm Lunch

2.30 pm-3.45 pm - Panel 4

Workers, the Left and the Quest for Social Justice in Iran: A Stolen Dream.

Stella Morgana (University of Liverpool)

The Holy Family: Iranian Leftists and the Kurdish Movements.

Yassamine Mather - 'The Iranian Left in Kurdistan: Personal Reminiscences'

Discussant: David Styan (Birkbeck College, University of London)

3.45 pm- 4:15 pm Coffee break

4.15 pm- 5.30 pm Keynote Deniz Kandiyoti (University of London, SOAS)

5.30 pm – 6.30 pm Reception for in-person attendees

Host or Publisher AKU-ISMC