A Leftist Approach to the Socio-Political Developments of Contemporary Iran: The Views of Avatis Mikaelian (Sultanzadeh)

The present article discusses the views of Avatis Mikaelian, known as Sultanzadeh, in relation to the developments of contemporary Iranian history. Sultanzadeh is one of the most famous figures of the communist left thinkers in Iran. His ideas played a major role in the strategy and orientation of the Communist Party of Iran from the beginning of its formation until long after the Second Congress. According to Sultanzadeh, the most important problem in Iran is the economic development. He considered the unity of triple factors as the obstacle to the natural process of growth: imperialism, court and feudalism. The method of this article is descriptive-analytical and the main question is what was the difference between Sultanzadeh's view and that of other communist left activists and Soviet academics on the historical process of contemporary Iran. Sultanzadeh tried to analyze and explain the history of Iran based on the internal and global realities of the country based on Marx's doctrines. Accordingly, his views on Iran's economic development, colonization, the jungle movement, and the rise to power of Reza Shah were obvious deviations from the Soviet Communist Party theorists who considered the process of societies to be linear.