Rastakhiz Party

Rastakhiz Party of People of Iran (Persian: حزب رستاخیز ملت ایران‎) or simply Rastakhiz Party (Persian: حزب رستاخیز‎, romanized: Ḥezb-e Rastāḵiz, lit. 'Resurgence Party')[8] was Iran's single legal political party from 1975 to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, founded by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[1]

Resurrection Party of People of Iran
Logo featuring 'Resurrection Party of People of Iran' (center), 'Constitution' (top left), 'Shah–People Revolution' (below), 'Imperial System' (top right) writings in Persian
Founder	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Founded	2 March 1975
Dissolved	1 November 1978
Merger of	New Iran Party and People's Party[1]
Headquarters	Tehran, Iran
Worker wing	Workers' House
Membership (1976)	5,000,000[2]
Ideology	Monarchism[3] Fascism[4][5] Populism[6] Secularism[7] Democratic centralism[4][8] Third Position Internal factions:[1][2]  • Progressives  • Constructive liberals
Political position	Far-right
Party flag
Politics of Iran Political parties Elections

History

Congress of Party

Founded under the government of Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the party has been blamed by some with contributing to the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy by antagonizing formerly apolitical Iranians - especially bazaari (merchants of the bazaars who, even today, refuse to pay taxes) - with its compulsory membership and dues (taxes), and general interference in the political, economic, and religious concerns of people's lives.[8] Established along with the party was a youth wing—Rastakhiz Youth—which Hoveyda referred to as "the instrument of Iran's development". Through this youth wing and a special task force of the party, Rastakhiz embarked upon a large-scale anti-profiteering campaign directed against the bazaari merchants, who were soon identified as "enemies of the state". They often lied about Jewish persecution, which is backed up to be lies in government files. In October 1975, the Shah, referring to this campaign as a "cultural movement", decreed that anti-profiteerism be made the fourteenth principle of the White Revolution.

The single party system ended in late 1978 as the Iranian Revolution gained ground.[9]

Electoral history

Election	Party leader	Parliament	Senate	Ref
1975	Amir-Abbas Hoveyda	268 / 268	30 / 30	IPU

Leadership

Secretary-Generals Name Tenure Ref Amir-Abbas Hoveyda 1975–1976 Jamshid Amouzegar 1976–1977 Mohammad Baheri 1977–1978 Jamshid Amouzegar 1978 [10] Javad Saeed 1978 [10]

Deputy Secretary-Generals Name Tenure Ref Fereydoun Mahdavi 1975–1976 [11] Mohammad Reza Ameli Tehrani 1976–1977 Dariush Homayoon 1977–1978 Javad Saeed 1978 [10]

See also

• List of largest political parties

References

1. John H. Lorentz (2010). "Rastakhiz Party". The A to Z of Iran. The A to Z Guide Series. 209. Scarecrow Press. pp. 266–268. ISBN 1461731917.
2. Parviz Daneshvar (2016). Revolution in Iran. Springer. p. 73. ISBN 1349140627.
3. Daryaee, Touraj (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford Handbooks in History. Oxford University Press. p. 361. ISBN 0199732159.
4. Gholam Reza Afkhami (2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. pp. 434–444. ISBN 978-0-520-25328-5. The conception of the party, a hybrid of the Italian and Spanish schools of fascism, met with widespread opposition and was withdrawn once the queen sided with its opponents. But then fascism yielded to communism. The organization became principle democratic centralism, though the term was not mentioned.
5. Yom, Sean (2015). From Resilience to Revolution: How Foreign Interventions Destabilize the Middle East. Columbia University Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 9780231540278.
6. Abrahamian, Ervand (1999). Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran. University of California Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780520216235.
7. Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0521528917.
8. Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. pp. 442–446. ISBN 0-691-10134-5.
9. Middle Eastern Studies, 38 (1), 1 January 2002, pp. 131 - 168
10. Elizabeth Collard (1979), "Iran", MEED, Economic East Economic Digest Ltd, 23: 17
11. Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. 1. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. pp. 205–212. ISBN 978-0815609070.

• Amini, P., "A Single Party State in Iran, 1975-78]: The Rastakhiz Party - the Final Attempt by the Shah to Consolidate his Political Base," Middle Eastern Studies, 38 (1) January 2002, pp. 131 - 168.