می بخور، منبر بسوزان - مردم آزاری نکن

Confused or cluless?

Divaneh jan, overwhelming majority of Left in Iran didn't have a
clue what they were dealing with, so much illusions, to put it mildly.

However
the Left amongst women, national minorities and religious minorities
could not afford to have any illusions about mullahs. Since day one, and
even before day one, these three groups had major problems and
confrontations with IR.

Does anybody here think that any Left in
Iran or the world, could have existed and survived if it wasn't for the
permanent, cyclical dysfunctionality of Capitalism. Of course now they
call it Late Capitalism, or Cognitive Capitalism,...but it's still the same cyclically disfunctiional system, and let's pray that Euro doesn't collapse, after the Greek debt default!

RG: Lets hope that the lessons of the past are learned and applied to todays problems.Ditto.

The confused left

Thanks for bringing this issue up Shazde. I was just a teenager when the revolution happened. The leftist that I knew then were University students who all had developed a taste for Western classical music and we used to look at them as enlightened people. Then I remember listening to the hot discussions on the street that was the norm those days. I used to found all their discussions and examples that they brought from Russian history very alien. When they engaged in discussions with Islamists, I found both parties equally dogmatic.

Those days are gone but it is surprising that some still believe that Iran's challenges today are the same as four decades ago and that we have to found our salvation in a solution from a century ago. A solution whose futility has already been proven by others.

MG: Good notes on old and new left.

I agree with your points on midle class roots of some of the grievences of the old left. But the intellectual left in societies like Iran where unlike the western europe working classes are in general deprived of higher education, tend to come from middle classes and they do carry the middle class bagages with them. Shahram, ashraf or I dare say lenin himself no exception.

With great respect as I know you were there as you seem to be a few years older than me, but I never ever blame Iran's left for the defeat of revolution, as almost everyone seems to be doing here. The old left were very young as you know. mostly in their twenties. They were sure about what they wanted and  were very determined. They did a lot in a  few years and made lots of mistakes in the process. But the only way not to make mistakes is not to do anything. The revolution was not a "proletariat revolution", was not led by the proletariat or it's party. It's outcome at best  would have been the replacement of Pahlavis dictatorship with a western style liberal democracy, where the working classes and their political parties would have had a chance to grow, organise and reap the benefits. But that was not to be as the fascism took over in the form of VF.

Lets hope that the lessons of the past are learned and applied to todays problems.

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Shazde geraami

Thanks for the kind words. "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," is an old saying, as you know. "Reality is in the head of the beholder," I often have observed. It is not too far fetched for two people looking at the same presentation and coming out with two vastly different perception and narrative. People in the broad spectrum conveniently classified as "left" have a fairly similar mental software and templates they use to opine on matters. The same is true about people on the right or any othe human grouping.

The challenge to us all is to free ourselves from the confines and colorings of our cognitive mindset and deal with facts as they are rather than the way we are automatically biased to see and handle them. This is a huge challenge that we don't always even attempt to meet. It is much easier to run everything through the well-honed and comfortable channels of the mind than to examine things with complete absence of prejudice. Hence, frequently we adjust the facts or even ignore them altogether to maintain our in-place ideas than to do the difficult and possibly hugely disruptive task of re-shaping our mental template and reprogramming it to conform with the new and compeling information.

It is no exaggeration to claim that the human mind is the most baffling entity. It is a treasure, yet it is also a highly fallible source. The mind, the CEO of the person, can become delusional and out of touch with reason to various degrees. An smart CEO needs to keep abreast with facts and keep the distorting influences of feelings out of decision making in running the firm -- the person. Many of our leftist friends are understandably unhappy with the way things are. The suffering of the poor, the lavish lifestyle of the wealthy that they see is the result of exploitation, and much more. These feelings and other concerns drive them toward seeking a societal system that effectively addresses inequality.

Capitalism as presently constituted is far from perfect, to be sure. Yet, orders such as communism, socialism, and classlessism that have been tried in the laboratory of real life have been found to be wanting. Yet, it is good to keep on searching, debating, and testing possibilities. It is only through this diligent search that we can eventually devise a more just and viable system.

ای عرش کبریایی چیه پس تو سرت؟ کی با ما راه میایی جون مادرت؟

مش قاسم عزیز: سیگار، چایی و جبر جغرافیایی

آن سه بلای تاریخی‌، منو بیچاره کرده بود - تا ۲۳ سال پیش که در رفتم.

Dear SAM: Can't wait to

Dear SAM: Can't wait to read it...

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Vildemose dear: let me write on that subject in a separate blog

I have written a piece, inspired by a lady friend, titled: "why women have sex". Will try to blog it tomorrow.

جبر تاریخی؟ یا بیشتر "جبر جغرافیایی"

میرزا جان زندگی ما که تمامش در "جبر جغرافیایی" گذشت.

استاد "دیوید هاروی" بحث های جالبی در مورد جغرافیای سرمایه داری دارد ، که
آن بحث  و مقالی جدی است، شاید در فرصتهای آتی ، شاید هم نه. //www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH05Hjhw1S8

مش قاسم

پس شما توی اتاق عمل هم مرام اشتراکی داشتین!

Dear SAM: Wow, how do you

Dear SAM: Wow, how do you know women so well in regards to pity-sex? Most Iranian men do not realize that whatsoever because of their huge ego.

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

بهرام عزیز

Many thanks for your very thoughtful comment.

I appreciate your deep knowledge of human psychology, which is so much lacking among many of our intellectuals, especially on the left side of the aisle.

Understanding mankind's psychology is key to the understanding of our whole history. Instead, our Communists have always treated "history" as the key subject, as though it has an independent existance.

Your encouragement that we should keep on telling it the way it is, despite the lack of understanding and acknowledgement by others, is very heart warming.

However, I pity our poeple, with so many "intellectuals" who have gone and will go to grave, without understanding the first thing about the core realities of life.

Let's blame our religious-mindedness.

...

Personal disclaimer: I have never followed any female companion into a shopping mall. They were all my age actually, mostly nurses. The type Framarz could relate to. Marxists don't screw, they do it with Class.

Framarz, could you imagine being sandwiched by two frustrated nurses, half-drunk after their ER shift?

Faramarz jan: there are many ways to screw a pussy cat

I loved your observation about the inherent capitalist nature of our ladies ... can't argue with the mall-mentality.

On the leftist's success with the blondes ... my theory is that most blondes routinely provide pity-sex to the clumsiest guys they meet ... a lot like their weakness for stray dogs and injured animals.

آن سبو بشکست و آن پیمانه ریخت

To me, one of the more amusing aspects of the Marxist/Communist Iranian men is their dealings with women.

Women being the acquirer/gatherer type, as evident by their daily presence at the malls and their attraction to glamour, glitter and glitz are by nature capitalists and free enterprise followers. So when a Marxist/Communist comes face-to-face with a decent looking babe, there is definitely tension and conflict! And generally, in order to attract the woman, the ideology takes a back seat to the need. But down the road the Marxist tries to convert the subject by the careful use of books, theories and formulas, which generally does not work.

A blonde girlfriend of one of my leftist friends once made a very eloquent observation. “Why is he trying to screw my brain when he can have the rest of me without any arguments?”

Thank you Shazde.

Dear SAM

  Excellent blog. Many thanks for taking time and sharing your thoughts. Please don’t be dismayed by your friends’ refusal to budge from their belief positions. It is said that we are our ideas and beliefs. And once beliefs are formed, changing them is very difficult. None the less, beliefs are amenable to change, albeit with great difficulty. And the older the person, the less likely that he would be persuaded to change what he has put together and guarded over a lifetime.But, please don’t give up. Even those who adamantly refuse to listen and change on the spot, go away affected by what they have heard and over time may come around. If not completely, partially anyway.Look at my avatar. The half white half black dog. A picture that supports your thesis. We are neither angels nor devils. We are born with a genetic endowment that is a mix of the two. Depending on which half of our disposition is nurtured, as time goes on we become more and more angelic or satanic, broadly speaking. You say 50/50. Yeah, it could cover a much wider range. Some may be closer to 100 percent of either. Becoming 100 percent “evil” is a lot easier, while attaining 100 percent “angelic” is nearly impossible. Hitler, Stalin, Khomeini are just three of the extremely demonic, while Mother Teresa, for example, comes close to the highly angelic. Our great Zoroaster taught us about our dual nature in the metaphor of Ahriman and Ahuramazda. We, individually, have a large say in choosing side, in the sense of evolving as good, relatively speaking, or as bad. My advice. Don’t be disappointed in your friends not changing on the spot. I am sure that they could see the overwhelming evidence in support of your position and they might come around. Keep in mind that more often than not, a huge ego goes with seeing oneself as “intellectual.” And the ego does all it can not to be bruised. Conceding that you are right, or at least have much on your side, is like intellectual surrender. It delivers a serious blow the person’s well-encrusted system of belief and self-image.Yet, keep writing and teaching us. The young, the hope of the future are much more likely to be influenced. Any many visit this site and can be influenced by facts and reasons when cogently presented. That’s our best hope. People who have done a great deal of soul searching and learning sharing their knowledge and take with the rest of us.Again, excellent blog and many thanks. 

Old Left and the New Left. Anything Left?

RG, I actually have a very low opinion of Shahram, not only for his undemocratic conduct, but also the way he carried and expressed himself. You could hear an exchange he had with Ahmad Ashraf (on that same site). And when Ashraf asks him a question about the issue of internal debate and how to resolve the differences, all you hear is this uncouth laughter, telling you more than volumes about the character you're dealing with. There was a great discussion about those taped exchanges between Ashraf and Shahram on Roshangary, and one of the readers pointed out how they both effectively represented the interests of the middle class, a middle class felt threatened by big money and big industry. That's pretty much the old Left. Undemocratic and violent. As a friendly reminder, you can't be in favour of executions and capital punishment and still call your self democratic.

The New left is the generation we've seen since 1999, and we still see them every year on 16th of Azar, March 8th, May First,...Mohamad Maljo is perhaps the brightest in Economics, but there any many others like him.

Mirza jan, as a friendly historical note, mujahedin's decision to initiate their 'armed phase' more than anything else is responsible for triggering IR's bloody crack down in 1981. And this was a trap that Beheshti had mentioned more than once in his talks. Talking about how he favoured an all out armed confrontaion with mujahedin, and Rajavi was so obssesed with killing Beheshti he just walked into it, effectively dragging and drowning everyone else in it as well.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1eJmfwcxy4

حسین روحانی و تقی‌ شهرام در خدمت آیت‌الله خمینی در نجف

Of course it is not nice to talk behind the dead, especially on Fridays ... however, to understand the pre-revolution mentality, it is important to recall that Hossein agha and aa Taghi actually went to Iraq where Khomeini was in exile, to talk him into further supporting the Mojahedin (prior to the marxist faction coming out of it).

At the time, although Rohani and Shahram had both moved away from Islam as a pillar of the Mojahedin ideology, they still didn't disclose that fact to Khomeini. Instead they had 3 or 4 days of discussions and disclosures with the ayatollah in Najaf, in order to convince him of the Mojahedin's Islamic values!

After those days of intense discourse, Khomeini decided that the Mojahedin group was not Islamic; and discontinued any cooperation with and financial assistance to them (previously provided through Rafsanjani). That break-up ultimately lead to the great fight and divide between Khomeini and Mojahedin, after the revolution.

Funny, sad and surreal how the two "Mojahedin" members who had actually already converted to Communism (but only after revolution openly renamed themselves Paykar); effectively created the animosity between Khomeini and the Islamic faction of Mojahedin (later MEK).

Perhaps thousands of lives could be saved and the course of Iranian history would be altered, if those two commies hadn't gone to Najaf, in order to play Khomeini.

M.G. Since you mentioned Peykar

I wonder, if you have had a chance to read the notes of Taghi Shram from Islamic Regime's prison before his execution. I remember reading about the way he escaped out of SAVAK's jail, with his jailer..Amazing guy, eh? Sadly they dont make them like this anymore... 

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

OY jaan, you don't have a clue what your talking about. PAYKAR

never, ever supported IR and were most brutally suppressed because of their uncompromising positions.

Mirza jaan its fine and dandy to mention "Free Enterprise" when Multi-National monopolies are chocking the life out of earth and her people.

Co-operatives are also another form of Free Enterprises. Not all corporations need to be for profit. There are many examples of successful non-profit cooperatives.

A healthy national economy would be compromised of a combination of: Private, State and Co-operative sectors. Such an amalgamation could establish balance amongst the three sectors. 

به سوی جنبش جنبش ها

Dear SAM

Daneshjoo

 Yes, unfortunately we learn these realities when we are
older, of course if we have been interested to learn more.  This is why I think education is the key. When
Iran is free,  education system has a
huge role to play.

"...(ex Tudeh, Fadaei, Maoist and Paykar).." 4 groups of losers

who said Lab Baik to Khomeini. And got decimated by the same very evil!

دانشجو جان

And furthermore, we can't have freedom without "free enterprise", because a people economically bound by the state, can never be free ... they will be slaves to the state's powerful monopoly, and to the opportunists who inevitably trive to climb to the top of any such single and unchallenged pyramid.

Dear SAM thank you for sharing

Daneshjoo

I agree with you that people should not allow any single
party, ideology, or leader to take over the power.  Education is the key.

There were extensive documentation of those islanders

and because they didn't accumulate anything, they had no theft, violence, rape,... Malinosfky/Malinosky?

Karl and Fred went through several phases. Communist Manifesto is a copy of the French socialists lit, see the Norton edition.

There are traces and elements of teleology in Marx's writings.

His critique of capitalism remains valid. Now even more than before, since currently the nature and ecology are not immune from the destruction brought on by short-term  profit seeking. I was trying to find this piece from Tehran, can't find it right now, maybe tomorrow, maybe not.

لحاف ملا نصرالدین

Ghasem jan,

You can have you blanket, and eat it too :-)

Marx was full of it ... talking not of the "possibility", but the "historical destiny" of Communism.

For every 1 seemingly peaceful Pacific Islander, I can show you 100 cannibals.

...

That kids mustach reminded me of this movie. It's so hilarious.

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Revol...

Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham) spent his last night in the arms of the Australian Joan (Judy Davis). The story describes how their "love-child" brought Australia to the brink of civil war.

Mirza jaan, close but no cigar!

And it's not my pacifier either, it's my security blanket. Before you
tell me I don't need a security blanket, just imagine for a moment, that
myth of
"the Master Narrative?" That alone will give you all the intellectual
assuredness and security you might need!

But kidding aside, you come very close to some of the most pertinent points, but still no cigar, in the short order:

- Karl's mention of an inherent possibility in human disposition towards goodness and virtue, a possibility, not an absolute.

- It is not called a primitive 'utopia,' it's called , correctly so
"Primitive Communism", which basically is a description of societies
without the accumulation process.  Some of which existed at least up to 20th century
in the Pacifics.

- Heaven and Hell are both on this earth. It's all about the balance of
forces and class capacities. The class with a higher capacity is able to
maintain the balance of forces in its favour.

- In the case of single party 'socialist' model, we would remiss not
recalling how  communists destroyed Communism. Much like how capitalists
are destroying Capitalism.

And leave my security blanket alone, please.