ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Soviet encouragement for the setting up and then dismantling of Iran’s Communist Party in favour of a broad front. It discusses the rebellion of communist students and intellectuals, especially the Fedayeen, against the Tudeh Party and the shortcomings of their ultimately unsuccessful efforts. The basis for the establishment of the Tudeh Party of Iran was laid down with Soviet encouragement. There are conflicting opinions about the role of the Soviet Union in forming the Tudeh Party. The Soviet proposal offered the recognition of the independent state of Azerbaijan by Iran, the acquisition of north oil concessions and Soviet military presence in a buffer zone consisting of five major provinces north of Iran. The Tudeh supported nationalization of the British Anglo-Persian Oil Company oil fields, or ‘southern oil fields only’. In the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century British imperialism and tsarist Russia dominated every aspect of political and economic life in Iran.
