Political Modernity 71Atatürk, and aspired to similar reforms, including the secularisation of Iranian
society by curbing the powers and privileges of the clerics. Political modernity
and its particular forms of organisation and mobilisation came to Iran in those
years and what followed them, operating side by side with the ‘traditional’
forms of allegiance and action. Intense political struggles, with these different
forms, developed in the years during and following the Second World War
(Abrahamian 1982: 50–101). A consideration of this period is instructive for our
discussion of political modernity.
Abrahamian (1968: 201–7) has analysed the transformations in crowd behav-
iour from the events of the Constitutional Revolution to the political struggles
surrounding the Mossadegh government in the early 1950s. Modern political
organisation, both nationalist and socialist, developed and grew during the
1920s. In particular, the communist Tudeh Party became an important political
force, which played a crucial role in subsequent events. The leading sections of
the various parties, as could have been expected, consisted of educated middle-
class professionals, particularly students and teachers, but they also included
elements of the new working classes in the oil refi neries, railways and the few
modern factories, as well as some traditional artisans and bazaar workers. The
Tudeh Party became dominant in trade-union organisation and militancy. Until
Reza Shah’s removal in 1941, these activities proceeded clandestinely and were
subjected to violent repression. Reza Shah’s deposition by the Allies inaugu-
rated a more tolerant though by no means liberal regime, which allowed more
open political activity and organisation and during which fi rst the Tudeh Party
and then the National Front came to prominence. This episode ultimately cul-
minated in the premiership of Mossadegh, his nationalisation of Iranian oil and
his struggle against the monarchy and its allies. Mossadegh’s stormy rule was
ended in 1953 by a US-instigated military coup, which returned Mohammad
Reza Shah to absolute power and political repression.
The Tudeh Party and the trade unions associated with it assumed com-
manding positions in popular organisation and mobilisation. In 1945, the
Central Council of United Trade Unions had a total membership of 400,000
(Abrahamian 1968: 202). In addition to workers in modern industries, it
included the syndicates of teachers, lawyers, engineers and doctors. At one
public meeting in 1946, 15,000 attended. On May Day 1946, the union parade
in Abadan brought out 81,000 demonstrators. The union pursued militant
demands in the oil industry, and the company’s attempt to break a strike led to
violent riots in Abadan and Ahwaz (Abrahamian 1968: 203; 1982: 281–325).
Mossadegh came to national prominence as a nationalist leader in 1945,
and immediately attracted mass support, particularly from the bazaar and
students. The National Front, a coalition of nationalist parties, organised this
support, and the Tudeh Party joined in, though the alliance was often uneasy
because of serious differences within the Front over communism and the Soviet