Student Movement and Political Radicalism: How did the Student Struggle during Pahlavi II Lead to the Unintended Result of Stabilizing the Status Quo?

This study aims to examine some critical moments in the history of the student movement during the second Pahlavi era to show how insisting on maintaining the protest worldview and turning intransigence into a political virtue can paradoxically provide room for reactionary forces to exploit revolutionary radicalism. This research used documentary study and Karl Marx's class analysis of the political forces active in France after the 1848 revolution. In some critical moments, student protests, contrary to expectations, instead of criticizing the ruling power and the dictatorship of the court, unwittingly rushed to its aid and, in practice, became supporters of the court and the king’s power. During the three prime ministerial periods of Ahmad Qawam, Mohammad Mossadegh, and Ali Amini, politicians who had the ability to revive the government’s power against the court came to power. However, the student protests weakened the power of these governments, and the court was able to remove these competitors from its way and establish its dictatorship more than before. One of the traumatic dimensions of political culture in contemporary Iran is the lack of attention to the tactical value of radicalism and its transformation into a fixed and unchanging policy at some historical moments. Recognizing the patterns and choices that have led to the closure of society to create an open political space should be subject to critical-historical reflection so that their repetition does not lead to the aggravation of political problems and sufferings.