Democratic Socialism and Iranian Khalil Maleki

On the eve of the centenary of the October Revolution in Russia, Homayoun Katouzian, a historian and professor of political economy, has submitted a book in English titled "Khalil Maleki: The Human Face of Iranian Socialism" to the publisher. Khalil Maleki was one of the 53 famous prisoners during the reign of Reza Shah and the leader of the splitters from the Tudeh Party in 1947. In this way, Maleki began a path that led him to become a prominent figure among Iranian socialists who criticized the Third International and the dominance of the Soviet Union over leftist parties worldwide. Maleki's critique of communism and state-centered socialism, as well as the centralized parties of the Eastern Bloc, dates back even before Marshal Tito's (former leader of Yugoslavia) break with the Soviet Union, and his defense of "democratic socialism" against "the dictatorship of the proletariat" was a rare and novel stance among contemporary Soviet critics. Khalil Maleki, the leader of the "Third Force," was a supporter of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran from 1950 to 1953. Thus, Khalil Maleki can be considered a symbol of leftist democratic theorizing in Iran, which, instead of following the Soviet Union and later other countries (such as China, Cuba, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Albania, etc.), sought to establish an Iranian understanding of socialism while emphasizing the pursuit of the interests of the impoverished and the working class who rely solely on their labor, while also defending individual freedoms alongside social justice. Nearly four years after splitting from the Tudeh Party, Khalil Maleki joined forces with Mozaffar Baqai, an influential political leader of the "National Front," supporting Mohammad Mossadegh at that time and becoming a prominent intellectual and media figure of this political organization. Following Mossadegh's resignation and the uprising of July 30, 1952, Baqai's opposition to Mossadegh began. Maleki and nearly all party members supported Mossadegh, splitting and founding the "Party of the Toilers of the Nation of Iran (Third Force)," which became known as the "Third Force." The "Third Force" remained part of the first "National Front" organizations until the end. After the coup of August 19, 1953, and the ousting of Mohammad Mossadegh from the premiership due to a politically-military action supported by the US and Britain, the activities of the "Third Force," like other parties of the so-called "Nationalists," were banned, and Khalil Maleki was arrested and imprisoned. In 1960, with a relative opening of the political space in Iran, Khalil Maleki and his companions founded the "Society of Socialist National Movement of Iran," and their activities continued until their arrest in the first half of the 1960s. Khalil Maleki, Mir Hossein Sarshar, Reza Shayan, and Ali Jan Shansi, leaders of this political organization, were sentenced to imprisonment. Maleki, who suffered from illness in the last years of his life, was released from prison in spring 1966 and passed away on July 13, 1969, at the age of 68 during surgery. The University of Manchester in England hosted a two-day conference in July 2016 titled "Internal Discussions of Iranian Socialism, Ideological Historiography, and Action from the Democratic Party to the People's Fedayeen." Organized by Siavash Ranjbar Daimi, a history professor at the University of Manchester, and Eskandar Sadeghi Boroujerdi, a distinguished post-doctoral researcher at the British Academy at the same university, the conference featured 11 speakers in four bilingual sessions in Persian and English. The sidelines of this two-day conference provided an opportunity for interviews and hosting two debates. Homayoun Katouzian (professor of history and literature of Iran at Oxford University and author of the introduction and compiler of "Political Memoirs of Khalil Maleki" and "Letters of Khalil Maleki") presented a talk in English titled "The Sins of Khalil Maleki" at this conference. The following is a conversation with Homayoun Katouzian about his talk at the Manchester conference in July 2016.