Nakhshab: The Political Life of a 'God-Worshipping Socialist'

Forty years ago (September 9, 1976), Dr. Mohammad Nakhshab, a prominent figure among God-Worshipping Socialists, passed away. He was a political activist supporting the nationalization of the oil industry and the government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, and was an active participant in the National Resistance Movement following the coup of August 19, 1953. Nakhshab was one of the main founders of the 'God-Worshipping Socialists Movement' and later established the 'People's Freedom Organization of Iran'. Nakhshab's life was intertwined with both thought and politics; he engaged in theorizing and intellectual work in the realm of combining freedom, equality, and ethics, while also advocating for national sovereignty and alleviating the suffering of Iranians worn down by poverty. This document seeks to revisit and elucidate the second aspect of Nakhshab's life (his political life). The Emergence of the God-Worshipping Socialists Nakhshab (born 1923) was born and raised in southern Tehran, where he pursued political activism with a group of like-minded Dar ul-Funun students concerned about improving the conditions of their suffering compatriots. The youth, influenced by the political atmosphere after September 1941, organized group activities and systematic work. Nakhshab attended Tehran University and began studying law, where he became acquainted with a group of fellow students in Islamic associations. Jalal al-Din Ashtiani, a technical student, was a notable ally. Two aligned circles (Dar ul-Funun students and Tehran University students) with similar positions and perspectives merged; there were also many like-minded youths among them. Social justice, equality, freedom, and the rule of law, along with religious reformism and nationalism, were concepts that united the sympathizers. The group engaged in clandestine membership recruitment while simultaneously working systematically. Mountain climbing, adherence to ethical values, avoidance of lies and hypocrisy, holding congregational prayers, and abstaining from alcohol and tobacco were practices that were both pursued and promoted. Thus, in the mid-1940s, the God-Worshipping Socialists Movement was born; a gathering that increasingly exhibited order and cohesion. The Birth of the People's Freedom Organization of Iran In the second half of the 1940s, the God-Worshipping Socialists split into two major groups due to disagreements over organizational strategy. Nakhshab and his allies emphasized public party work and active participation in social-political developments (especially during the national movement and alongside Dr. Mossadegh); however, Ashtiani and his companions prioritized intellectual, cultural, and educational work. In addition to Nakhshab, a significant portion of the God-Worshipping Socialists (including Hossein Razi, Mo'in al-Din Marjaei, Abolfazl Mortazi Langarudi, Ali Akbar Nooshin, Ali Shariati, Abolqasem Shakibnia, and Reza Kashafi) turned to political-organizational activities. In 1950, they briefly joined the 'Iran Party' (which included figures such as Karim Sanjabi, Allahyar Saleh, Zirakzadeh, Kazem Hosseini, and Shapur Bakhtiar) that had similar national and socialist approaches. However, organizational disagreements and misunderstandings hindered the continuation of cooperation between the two political factions. Nakhshab and his young, active allies separated from the Iran Party. In a statement that began with 'In the name of God', they described their 'thought' as 'salvational and socialist', and their activities as aimed at the 'final victory of the national movement and anti-colonial struggles'. Nakhshab's political project continued under a new organization, the 'People's Freedom Organization of Iran'. The organization later began extensive membership recruitment under the name 'Iran People's Party', relying on enthusiastic young forces in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Bandar Anzali, Kermanshah, Qazvin, and several other cities. Ali Shariati, Kazem Sami, and Habibollah Peyman were notable figures from the People's Freedom Organization of Iran — from Mashhad and Shiraz. The party published the 'People of Iran' newspaper as its organ — relying on financial support from members — a publication with radical positions in support of the national movement and Dr. Mossadegh. For instance, in one of the editorials of 'People of Iran' in spring 1953, Nakhshab, referencing Mossadegh's statement that 'the Shah must reign and not govern', wrote: 'Now the nation wants to concentrate this system of oppression and injustice within its legal limits and prevent encroachment on its rights.' Nakhshab and his allies, who had once been in contact with Ayatollah Kashani, sided with the national Prime Minister as tensions grew between the famous cleric and Dr. Mossadegh, and they severely criticized Kashani, Maki, and Baghai. The output of 'The People's Path' in the days leading up to August 28, 1953, was republican, and Nakhshab's positions were almost thematically similar to those of Seyyed Hossein Fatemi, the Foreign Minister of Dr. Mossadegh's national government. After the coup of August 28, 1953, the office of the Iran People's Party became the target of violence and looting. Nakhshab, alongside a group of allies from the national movement (including Ayatollah Seyyed Reza Zanjani, Abbas Radnia, Nasser Sadr al-Hefazi, Daryush Forouhar, and Mehdi Bazargan), became active in a protest organization called the 'National Resistance Movement'. In the autumn of the coup, the organization of the resistance was compromised; Nakhshab and several other activists were arrested. After several months in prison, he once again joined forces loyal to the national movement to fight against the oppression and the coup regime. A second arrest and imprisonment occurred for him in 1955, along with many others (including Mohammad Taghi Shariati and his son Ali in Mashhad). After enduring several years of restrictions, pressures, violence, and imprisonment, Nakhshab went to the United States in 1958 with a UN scholarship and the assistance of Manouchehr Goudarzi, a senior manager at the Planning Organization — with whom Nakhshab collaborated. Nakhshab became a founding and influential member of the National Front in America; a group that included Ali Shayegan, Mostafa Chamran, and Ibrahim Yazdi — who also had a history of collaboration with the God-Worshipping Socialists. Nakhshab also took significant steps towards uniting Muslims in America and was in contact and collaboration with Musa Sadr, the leader of Shia Muslims in Lebanon. Continuation of the Identity of God-Worshipping Socialists Under the shadow of despotism after the 1953 coup, the Iran People's Party, alongside other national organizations in Iran, sought to continue the 'National Front of Iran' despite all difficulties. In Nakhshab's absence as an immigrant, the main burden of work fell on Razi. Later, Sami and Peyman, two young and prominent members of the party's central council, formed 'JAMA' (the People's Liberation Movement of Iran) with a radical and violent approach in the early 1960s. JAMA became a target for SAVAK repression, and its founders were imprisoned. On the eve of the revolution, Sami organized the 'Revolutionary Movement of the Muslim People of Iran'; an organization that System al-Din Ghahari and Mahmoud Nakhoorouh were considered prominent and continuing figures of after Sami's assassination in 1989. Peyman also at that time endeavored to establish the 'Movement of Fighting Muslims'; an organization that openly continued Nakhshab's path and perspective in the two areas of religious reformism and social democracy. Peyman can be regarded as the most prominent representative and intellectual-political figure remaining from the ideas of the God-Worshipping Socialists. Ali Shariati, the most renowned companion of the God-Worshipping Socialists, spoke and wrote about the triangle of 'wealth, power, and deception' and 'freedom, equality, and mysticism' in hundreds of hours of lectures and thousands of pages of writings during the second half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s. Shariati and his father (Mohammad Taghi Shariati), Taher Ahmadzadeh, Mehdi Momken, Mahmoud Delasayi, Ali Akbar Sarjami, and Mohammad Reza Hakimi were famous sympathizers of the God-Worshipping Socialists in Mashhad and members of the Islamic Truth Publication Center. On September 9, 1976, Nakhshab passed away at the age of 53 in New York. At the time of his death, Iran was considered an 'island of stability', and there were no signs of the Islamic Revolution. However, Shariati's works were being reproduced in unprecedented circulation, and Peyman, Sami, and many other God-Worshipping Socialists were active under the shadow of repression and despotism. Forty years after Nakhshab's death, religious despotism, class divides, social inequalities, and the suppression of freedom of expression, belief, political parties, and the press in Iran continue to make Nakhshab's political efforts and fundamental positions thought-provoking and noteworthy.