Rastakhiz Party

Party of Resurrection
of the Iranian Nation

حزب رستاخیز ملت ایران
Party of Resurrection; of the Iranian Nation حزب رستاخیز ملت ایران
	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; 50 years ago
Dissolved	1 November 1978; 46 years ago
Merger of	Iranians' Party; New Iran Party; People's Party
Worker wing	Worker House
Membership	5,000,000 (1976 est.)
Ideology	Monarchism; Populism; Iranian nationalism; Secularism; Democratic centralism; Fascism (early, theoretical); Anti-communism; Factions:; Progressivism; Conservative liberalism; (Asadollah Alam)
Political position	Big tent; (with centre-right to right-wing factions)
	Politics of Iran; Political parties; Elections;

The Party of Resurrection of the Iranian Nation (Persian: حزب رستاخیز ملت ایران), or simply the Rastakhiz Party (Persian: حزب رستاخیز, romanized: Hezb-e Rastāxiz, lit. 'Resurgence/Resurrection Party'),^[8] was Iran's sole legal political party from 2 March 1975 until 1 November 1978, founded by Mohammad Reza Shah.^[2]

History

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 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". 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.^[10]

Electoral history

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

Leadership

Secretaries-General
Name	Tenure	Ref
Amir-Abbas Hoveyda	1975–1976
Jamshid Amouzegar	1976–1977
Mohammad Baheri	1977–1978
Jamshid Amouzegar	1978	^[11]
Javad Saeed	1978	^[11]

Deputy Secretaries-General
Name	Tenure	Ref
Fereydoun Mahdavi	1975–1976	^[12]
Mohammad Reza Ameli Tehrani	1976–1977
Dariush Homayoon	1977–1978
Javad Saeed	1978	^[11]

References

Notes

^ John H. Lorentz (2010). "Rastakhiz Party". The A to Z of Iran. The A to Z Guide Series. Vol. 209. Scarecrow Press. pp. 266–268. ISBN 978-1461731917.
^ ^a ^b ^c John H. Lorentz (2010). "Rastakhiz Party". The A to Z of Iran. The A to Z Guide Series. Vol. 209. Scarecrow Press. pp. 266–268. ISBN 978-1461731917.
^ ^a ^b Parviz Daneshvar (2016). Revolution in Iran. Springer. p. 73. ISBN 978-1349140626.
^ Daryaee, Touraj (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford Handbooks in History. Oxford University Press. p. 361. ISBN 978-0199732159.
^ Abrahamian, Ervand (1999). Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran. University of California Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780520216235.
^ Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0521528917.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. pp. 442–446. ISBN 0-691-10134-5.
^ Yom, Sean (2015). From Resilience to Revolution: How Foreign Interventions Destabilize the Middle East. Columbia University Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 9780231540278.
^ Middle Eastern Studies, 38 (1), 1 January 2002, pp. 131–168
^ ^a ^b ^c Elizabeth Collard (1979), "Iran", MEED, 23, Economic East Economic Digest Ltd: 17
^ Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941–1979. Vol. 1. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. pp. 205–212. ISBN 978-0815609070.

Bibliography

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.

Further reading

Shakibi, Zhand (2018). "The Rastakhiz Party and Pahlavism: the beginnings of state anti-Westernism in Iran". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 45 (2): 251–268. doi:10.1080/13530194.2016.1246242. S2CID 151598124.
Shakibi, Zhand (2020). Pahlavi Iran and the Politics of Occidentalism: The Shah and the Rastakhiz Party. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-7883-1736-8.