Iran and Revolutionary Bolsheviks at the End of the War

In previous sections, we examined the end of the war in Europe, peace treaties, the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, and the establishment of Turkey. From this section, we begin to analyze the impact of World War I on Iran. After the war ended, a conference was held in Paris for the affected countries to present their grievances; the same conference where France and Britain decided to demand significant reparations from Germany. At this conference, diplomats from 27 countries sought to defend their nations' rights, except for the Iranians, who were left waiting outside and were not allowed to attend the Paris conference. Majid Tafreshi, a historian based in London, describes this incident as a historical humiliation for Iranians. He states: 'When you examine the documents of this matter, especially the British documents, you feel a lump in your throat from the injustice done to Iran. The Iranian delegation led by Zokā al-Molk (Mohammad Ali Foroughi) went to Paris, but Britain and Russia did not allow the Iranian delegation to participate in the sessions. However, this is only one aspect of the issue; the powers that had conflicting interests with Iran did not allow their presence. Another aspect is that the then-government led by Vosough al-Dowleh did not support the Iranian delegation at all. Perhaps if Iran had managed to participate in the Paris peace conference, it could have regained some of its lost privileges.' The impact of the war on Iran has multiple layers and dimensions. One of the first effects was the profound changes in the northern neighbor; Tsarist Russia, which collapsed even before the war and a new, revolutionary political system emerged. In fact, before the fall of Tsar Nicholas II in Russia, this country was not only considered one of the important and influential players in Iranian politics, but decades of war, occupation, and territorial seizure from Iran, along with the increasing influence over the northern regions of the country, had made it, alongside Britain, the most significant global power for Iranians. Ali Granmaie, a professor of international relations and an expert on Russian history, refers to a quote from Tsar Nicholas II about Iran, which he made two years before his fall. He says: 'In 1915, during a meeting between Tsar Nicholas II and Sir George Buchanan, the British ambassador to Russia, the Tsar said, 'Some countries are unable to govern themselves, and others must govern those nations. One of those countries is Iran.' The Tsar specifically mentions Iran as a country whose people are not worthy of governing themselves. Such a monarchy, with the power of an adventurous empire in the north of the country, not only lost power during the war but was shot by radical revolutionaries in the summer of 1918. These revolutionaries viewed the world differently and had aspirations and ideals entirely different from the Tsar. They were communists and claimed to have revolted in pursuit of social justice for all humanity. When the Bolsheviks completely seized power, they not only adopted radical economic policies for workers and peasants in Russia but also had a completely revolutionary international policy, which was of key importance for Iran. These were the same Russians who, according to Ali Granmaie, used to have the final say in northern Iran: 'Until that time, the Russians determined the governors in northern Iran. They granted citizenship to Iranians who served the Russian government. For landowners who served Russia, Russian agents would go and collect their rents because no one read the Iranian government's line. They intervened in all details in northern Iran. At the end of the war, this government with such characteristics no longer existed. Instead, another government in Moscow came to power that stated it would no longer concern itself with the injustices the Tsarist government inflicted on neighboring countries, including Iran, and the treaties imposed on neighboring countries. The revolutionary government of Russia announced that it no longer recognized the treaties that had been forcibly signed by the Iranian government, including the Treaty of Turkmenchay (the largest and last treaty imposed on Iran after Golestan). However, there was no discussion over the territorial possessions of the Tsarist government, which it considered an inseparable part of Russia and the absolute property of the Russian state. For example, the limitations imposed on the Iranian government in the Caspian Sea were lifted, and Moscow announced that from now on, Iran could also use the Caspian Sea. Issues such as the port of Anzali being under Russian control, customs in northern Iran being under Russian control, and the Iranian army and Qajar forces being under Russian control were all removed. Besides these imposed treaties that were annulled by the communists, the political changes of the Russian Revolution had another impact on Iranian society on the brink of the 20th century: the inspiration of the Soviet government for the nascent left movement in Iran. In fact, as Roxane Farmanfarmaian, a Cambridge University professor, states, Iranian intellectuals and freedom-seekers had been influenced by the political changes in Russia long before the October Revolution, and this relationship dates back to the first revolution in Tsarist Russia in 1905. She says: 'I want to talk about the first revolution that occurred in Russia in 1905 because this event had a profound impact on the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, which occurred a year after the Russian Revolution in 1906. In fact, the idea that people should rise against the monarchy and seek a role in governance and political power came from Russia for some, and this idea connected the two countries.' In such an atmosphere, and with the historical relationship between the intellectuals of the two countries, especially through the cultural commonalities of Iranians with the inhabitants of the Caucasus region, which had been less than 100 years since their separation from Iran, the Bolshevik Revolution, which raised the banner of the unity of the world's workers, had a serious impact on a group of Iranian politicians and intellectuals; an impact whose repercussions lasted nearly a century and ultimately led to the establishment of one of the most organized parties of 20th-century Iran, known as the Tudeh Party. The Reaction from Tehran However, the new communist regime in Tsarist Russia, which was embroiled in a bloody civil war between the Red Army and the anti-communist White Army in the early years after World War I, faced contradictory reactions from Tehran at the beginning of its establishment. The Bolsheviks decided to engage with local dissident forces and establish a new government as a revolutionary government in northern Iran. While, immediately after the victory of the revolution, a group of representatives from past parliaments – in the absence of parliament – sent a letter to Moscow congratulating the victory of the revolution, when the ambassador of the new regime arrived in Tehran, there was no welcome or reception from the Iranian government, and a tragic fate awaited one of the envoys. Granmaie states: 'Because at the end of the war and after the defeat of Tsarist Russia and the return of Russian forces to their country, the British government, as the absolute power in Iran, was making decisions, and Vosough al-Dowleh had also become prime minister at the behest of Britain, when the representative of the revolutionary Russia arrived in Tehran, he was not allowed into the Russian embassy. Instead, the ambassador representing the Tsar in Tehran was recognized as the representative of Russia on the pretext that he took his orders from the exiled Russian government in Paris. The Russian government was very dissatisfied with this situation. They sent another representative, who unfortunately was handed over by the Iranian government to the White Russian officers, and they executed him at the Russian consulate in Gorgan, which soured the relations between the Iranian government and the new Bolshevik government of Russia.' Meanwhile, the Russian Civil War also affected northern Iran. In fact, the pursuit of revolution supporters and anti-communist forces brought both groups into Iran, and the Red Army, in pursuit of the fleeing Whites, entered Gilan. Granmaie describes the clashes between the Red Russians and the White Russians in northern Iran – mainly in Gilan – as follows: 'The Bolsheviks said that a general named Denikin had entered Iranian territory. He was one of the Tsarist generals who stood against the Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheviks claimed that this general, with the support of the British army, had set up his headquarters in northern Iran, and for this reason, they bombed the port of Anzali and then entered Iranian territory. At this point, they decided to engage with local dissident forces and establish a new government as a revolutionary government in northern Iran.' The connection between the Red Army and the Jungle Movement led by Mirza Kuchak Khan, which was an armed rebellion against the chaos caused by World War I, resulted in a broad coalition of the Jungle Movement, a group of communists, and a group of armed Kurds that briefly came to power in Gilan. (The next section of the First War, which will be the last part of the special series for the centenary of the beginning of World War I, will focus on the overall impacts of the war on the Qajar dynasty, British policies in the years following the war, the fate of the 1919 treaty, the rise of Reza Khan, and the end of the Qajar dynasty. The final episode of the First War program will be broadcast on Radio Farda on Monday, December 1st, at 8 PM Tehran time.)