نشریه مطالعات تاریخی
پیاپی 58 (پاییز 1396)

What you read here is the interview conducted by Historical Studies Quarterly with Mr. Hedayatollah Behboodi about the Oral History of Islamic Revolution. In this interview he has tried to answer some principal questions around Oral Historiography as a researcher who has had an effective role in compiling Islamic Revolution History. Hedayatollah Behboodi was born in 1960 in Tabriz and grown up in Tehran. He is an alumnus of Tehran University in History. He began his historical studies with Russo-Persian Wars and Modern Persian Literature before Constitutional Movement period and then expanded his studied to 1960s and 1970s. 25 volumes of Islamic Revolution Narrated by SAVAK Documents is the outcome of his 11 years of hard work in 1990s and 2000s. In 1993 he was appointed as the supervisor of Islamic Revolution Literature Bureau in Hozeh Honari (Arts Center) and could manage to produce a group of books about Islamic Revolution in the form of Encyclopedia, Chronology and Memories. Iranian Contemporary History Chronology 1920-1925 in 4 volumes is one of his books.

This article shows the most important theories about the creation of Babiism are gathered by Inductive Reasoning. However, it cannot be argued that the used induction is the “Complete” one, since there are possibly theories that are not mentioned here. The aim of this study is to understand Babi Movement in mid18th century. There has not been any study conducted on the theories about the creation of Babiism up to now. Therefore this article can be considered as the first step. In this article, 11 theories about the creation of Babiism are recognized. Noting these theories in a single study can help us in identifying the different aspects of Babiism and give us the possibility to compare these different theories and find the pros and cons of each. Babiism theories can be categorized in two main categories: “inborn” and “exogenous” theories. Inborn theories are the ones that argue the creation of Babiism has inborn causes rooted in Iranian history, culture and society. While the exogenous ones argue the reasons and elements behind creating Babiism arte rooted out of Iranian historical, cultural and social facts. These two general theories have different types which are discussed in this article.

In this article the author has tried to study Tudeh Party developments after 1953 Iranian coup d'état and also this party’s activities in Iraq and its members’ relations with Teymour Bahktiar. Since after the coup, national, religious, and leftist activists including Tudeh Party members were arrested in large numbers and many of its members including the executive board and the rest of its leadership cadre immigrated to Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, the party collapsed inside Iran and was forced to begin its limited activities in Soviet Union. In early 1958 for different reasons the executive board was forced to move to Leipzig in East Germany. After a short period after the settlement of party members in East Germany, General Abd al-Karim Qasim in an anti-monarchy coup on 14 July 1958 put an end to the life the monarchy of Faisal II of Iraq. In this period Abd al- Karim Qasim legalized the free activities of Iraqi Communist Party. Then, Radmanesh, the 1st secretary of Tudeh Party went to Baghdad along with Hassan Nazari, Nasser Saremi, Engineer Goharian, and Rahim Namvar in order to check the possibility of this party’s activity in Iraq (because of neighboring Iran). The details of this round of negotiations between Tudeh Party and Teymour Bakhtiar and the attempts to have common cooperation are discussed in this article.

In this article one aspect of Islamic Revolution, i.e. participation of revolutionary people of counties, is studied. Absolute majority of Iranian nation in different cities and towns took part in the vast struggles against the Pahlavi government and this phenomenon referred to as a “Multi-City” revolution of Iran. This participation was sometimes suppressed by the Shah’s regime agents with harsh suppressing methods and the uprising known as Bloody Saturday of Gorgan or Azar 5th 1357 (26/11/1978) is one of them; the uprising that faced shooting thousands of bullets by the regime agents to suppress a calm vast rally. In this suppression 14 people were martyred and more than 150 were injured and some were arrested. In this article the author has tried to present a firsthand narrative of this important event based on in the city of Gorgan to the readers based on the survived documents from the time of the tyrannical regime of the Shah. Undoubtedly, this event had and important effect on the trend of victory for the Iranian people during the Islamic Revolution and finishing the government of monarchial system in Iran.

The story of “Shahid-e Javid” (The Eternal Martyr) and the conflicting viewpoints around it in 1970s, is one of the important events that could entertain believing religious movements with themselves and to some degree could weaken the struggle against the regime. The aim of SAVAK was to make benefit of the wave made by the reaction of traditional religious movements headed by Ayatollah Golpaygani. SAVAK also wanted to implant the seed of conflict between the religious groups in society with the excuse of publishing this book which had effect at least for the next ten years. In one hand, SAVAK security system tried to help publishing this book secretly and in the other side by using its agents tried to manage the situation and deepen the intensity and power of the attacks made by nonpolitical traditional religious movements against the anti-regime opposing religious groups. Hence, SAVAK tried to weaken both movements using this trick. Ultimately, what you would read in this article is a documentary review on the role that SAVAK played in flaming up the fire of conflicts made by “Shahid-e Javid” in order to divide the rows of struggling movement.

One of the most dramatic efforts at modernization among the less developed countries is taking place in Iran. This modernization follows no bloody coup or overturn of the social order, but is an attempt by a longestablished political and social system to adapt itself and its institutions to new needs. Power in Iran remains, as it has been, in the hands of a small segment of society which enjoys the available rewards of money, status, and political influence. Heading the list of the privileged few is the Shah, followed by the royal family, and courtiers, followed by politicians, influential businessmen, entrepreneurs, and educators. A new class of professional bureaucratic intelligentsia is beginning to emerge; if this group is not absorbed by the elite, it may play an increasingly important independent role. In the privileged group, but playing an essentially negative role at present, are those members of the educated professional class-some even from establishment families-who refuse to cooperate with the ruling elite, and the clergy, whose strength lies in the emotions of the Iranian masses and whose opposition to the Shah’s government is nearly total. Note: This report was prepared by the Office of Current Intelligence and coordinated within CIA.