QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, you mentioned that Iran is the merger of Marxism and Islam. I imagine you additionally mentioned that the Shah didn’t notice that sending the youth to high school within the UK and the US was a mistake, and that they returned to Iran, indoctrinated with Marxism. Was this the backdrop to Demise to America?
Frank
REPLY: Completely. The Shah made the error of sending individuals to review within the West through the late ’70s when universities have been taken over by the LEFT and indoctrinated college students into this harmful concept that has been behind the one most devastating upheaval in human historical past. No different concept has precipitated a lot demise because the LEFTISTS.
This merger of Marxism and Islam was distinctive to Iran. It concerned revolutionary Shia clerics adopting Marxist language, leftist intellectuals reinterpreting Islam, and a tactical alliance towards a typical enemy. This collaboration was a key issue within the revolution’s success, although it proved to be short-lived. It has typically been ignored and simply seen as an Islamic Revolution, which is NOT appropriate. That is a part of the issue in negotiating with Iran at the moment. If we DO NOT perceive that it is a merger of Islam reinterpreted by Marxists, good luck in making an attempt to barter.
The frequent language of Anti-Imperialism and Social Justice was merged. The principle bridge between these two seemingly opposed worldviews was their shared dedication to anti-imperialism and social justice. For a lot of in Iran, the Shah’s regime was offered as an emblem of Western imperialism and gross financial inequality. That’s the place Marxism got here in, the place everybody ought to have the identical. Marxism offered a pointy critique of capitalism and imperialism, whereas a newly radicalized model of Shi’a Islam, typically referred to as “Liberation Theology,” framed the battle towards the Shah as a battle for the oppressed (mostaz’afin). This overlap in objectives created the preliminary frequent floor for an alliance.
Ali Shariati was the Mental Architect. He’s considered probably the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the twentieth century. He has been known as the “ideologue of the Islamic Revolution,” and was crucial determine in forging this ideological mix of Marxism & Islam. Ali Shariati, after all, was a French-educated sociologist who was transformed to Communism by Marx himself. Shariati was not a Marxist per se, however he was deeply influenced by Marxist ideas of sophistication battle, which he artfully built-in into his reinterpretation of Shi’ism. He argued that the unique, revolutionary Shi’ism was a faith of the oppressed, which he referred to as “Purple Shi’ism,” in distinction to the passive, established “Safavid Shi’ism” of the spiritual institution. By presenting Islam as a contemporary, revolutionary ideology, he provided a robust native various to Marxism, making the anti-Shah motion each religiously genuine and socially radical.
Past Shariati’s mental synthesis, the revolution towards the Shah was pushed by a free however efficient alliance of comfort between varied political teams. The Clergy & Khomeini: Though Ayatollah Khomeini was deeply anti-communist, he and his clerical followers have been expert politicians. They adopted widespread Marxist slogans like “financial equality” and “battle towards imperialism” to faucet into widespread anti-Shah sentiment, efficiently channeling this power into their very own imaginative and prescient of an Islamic state.
Islamic-Marxist Guerrillas (MEK) grew to become essentially the most literal fusion of the 2 ideologies that occurred throughout the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). Based in 1965, the MEK explicitly described its ideology as a “mixture of Islam and Marxism.” The group argued {that a} “true Muslim” was naturally aligned with socialist and anti-imperialist objectives. They fought alongside Khomeini’s forces through the revolution however have been purged quickly after.
Secular Marxists (Tudeh Get together), was Iran’s largest communist get together, and was initially cautious of Khomeini’s spiritual motion. Nevertheless, their fervent anti-Shah place ultimately led them to help the revolutionary coalition, hoping to affect its end result from inside.
The alliance was purely pragmatic. As soon as the Shah was overthrown in 1979, the basic incompatibility between Marxism (which is atheist) and an Islamic state (which is theocratic) grew to become instantly clear. Khomeini’s regime shortly moved to get rid of its leftist allies in what has been referred to as a “counter-revolutionary” purge. Marxist and Islamic-Marxist teams, together with the Tudeh get together and the MEK, have been ruthlessly suppressed, with 1000’s of members executed or compelled into exile.
It grew to become a Revolutionary Synthesis, moderately than a merger of Marxism and Islamic fundamentalism, which was a revolutionary synthesis, not a everlasting fusion. For a short interval, their shared opposition to the Shah united them in a robust coalition to attain the revolution. Nevertheless, their basic variations proved irreconcilable, resulting in a violent and decisive break within the revolution’s aftermath.
Faith apart, what I discover curious is that Marxism is expressly forbidden within the Ten Commandments, confirming that this has been an inherent downside inside human civilization for 1000’s of years. Simply counting Russia and China, the demise toll because of Marxism and the LEFT is estimated at Deaths beneath regimes that recognized with Marxism–Leninism (e.g., the Soviet Union beneath Joseph Stalin, China beneath Mao Zedong, Cambodia beneath Pol Pot, and so on.) is estimated between 50 and 90 million deaths, and that’s simply China and Russia. It has been the deadliest concept ever promoted by formal training.
Some argue that Sparta didn’t wage warfare towards Athens due to communism vs. capitalism. They fought for energy, worry, and safety—as Thucydides documented—throughout the very completely different political and financial realities of the fifth century BC. Nevertheless, the economics tells a distinct story. Sparta was a communist state. It by no means issued cash to discourage particular person wealth.
Sparta by no means issued cash. All that they had have been iron “oboloi”, which have been meant to be impractical to forestall the buildup of wealth. Sparta didn’t problem coinage for hundreds of years as a result of a deliberate set of ideological legal guidelines, referred to as the Lycurgan Reforms, designed to create a wonderfully disciplined, militaristic, and egalitarian society. The state actively used its financial system to implement these values.
In response to historic historians like Plutarch, the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus banned the usage of gold and silver cash, changing them with heavy, cumbersome iron bars to stifle corruption, greed, and the pursuit of luxurious.
The Spartan forex, referred to as Pelanor (additionally known as ‘obeloi’ or spits), was intentionally made impractical. A single piece weighed round 1.5 kilos (0.68 kg) however had little or no worth, so even a small sum would require a cart to maneuver.
The iron was intentionally made brittle by quenching it in vinegar whereas red-hot, rendering it ineffective for making instruments or weapons. This ensured the forex had no goal apart from commerce. This was an early communist state with “Anti-Cash” by design.
This cumbersome system suppressed international affect, decreased theft (due to the issue of concealing the massive bars), and curbed corruption by making bribery almost not possible. Extra importantly, it discouraged the buildup of personal wealth and helped implement the “equal” way of life of the Spartiate citizen class, which was important for army self-discipline.
Whereas the iron forex labored for inside commerce amongst residents, Sparta was not a closed economic system. The Perioikoi (a subordinate class of free inhabitants) managed commerce and used international forex, and the Spartan state itself famously used Persian gold cash to construct its navy and in the end defeat Athens within the Peloponnesian Warfare.
Whereas Athens was the facility that defeated the Persians and rose to type its personal empire, certainly, Sparta was jealous of that energy. However on the root was additionally this distinction in social concept. Athens was capitalist and free, with artwork, expression, and philosophy. These have been traits that have been at odds with the philosophy of Sparta.
The lesson right here is that when coping with Iran, we should perceive that on the very fundamental core, they continue to be anti-capitalist/imperialist. That is how they see the USA and Israel. There’s a fundamental basic distinction in philosophy, and till we cease judging Iran by what we’d do, we are going to by no means perceive the adversary.
You may by no means obtain social justice the place everybody earns the identical, nonetheless have private liberty and freedom even to talk, and financial effectivity all concurrently. It has NEVER labored from historic occasions to China and Russia, and it’s suppressing Europe into an financial despair. It tore Iran aside on the seams. This Marxist interpretation of Islam destroyed Iran, which ranks within the prime three power reserves on the earth for oil and gasoline, although it’s undeniably a worldwide power superpower.
The Islamic Revolution was liable for finishing and solidifying the nationalization of Iran’s power sector. The important thing to understanding this lies within the early Fifties. In 1951, the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, nationalized Iran’s British-controlled oil business. Nevertheless, this daring transfer led to a CIA and MI6-backed coup in 1953, which ousted Mossadegh and reinstated the Shah. After the coup, management of Iran’s oil business successfully returned to Western corporations
