AN AUGURY OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN STUDENT ...

epresented a wide variety of political groups. 98 Like the National Front, the ISAUS in 1960 was
a loose coalition of Iranians who professed liberal democratic beliefs and were against foreign
intervention of any kind in Iran. 99 American diplomats in Tehran believed that it was “surprising
and also refreshing to find that idealism and especially a belief in civil liberties and democratic
government are sincerely held by so many young people; but these beliefs are often coupled with
such violent attitudes toward the government and sometimes with such radical nationalism that
one may have doubts that these young people, if they were propelled into authority,…would act
responsibly in foreign affairs.” 100 Responsible behavior, according to Washington, meant not
having cordial relations with the Soviet Union, or taking a neutral stance in the Cold War.
On 6 July 1960, the National Security Council concluded a study that stressed the
negative implications for U.S. foreign policy if Iran adopted a neutral position in the Cold War or
looked to the USSR for assistance. 101
Positive non-alignment was exactly the stance that ISAUS
adopted in 1960. 102 The United States feared the influence of non-alignment on the people of the
developing world, but in the case of the ISAUS, Washington had to contend with a non-aligned
98 The most influential members of the National Front came from one of five political parties. These included the
Iran Party. It was a progressive nationalist party that was headed by Karim Sanjabi and Allahyar Saleh who were
anti-Soviet leftist intellectuals. Another main component of the National front was the Toilers’ Party, which was led
by Mozaffar Baqai and Khalel Maleki. This was also a leftist intellectual group, but there were a good deal of the
working class involved with this party. The rest of the working class who were loyal to the National Front were part
of the Iranian Workers Party. Another group that was led by Ayatollah Abul Qassem Kashani, was the Mojahadin-
I-Islam, which consisted of bazaar workers and the clergy. The last group that was involved with the National Front
was the Pan-Iranist Party, which was an extremely nationalistic group consisting mainly of outcast members of the
lower classes. All of this information can be found in “C.C. Finch Conversation with Dr. Sepahbodi,” DNSA, Iran
Revolution, 10 December 1951, Memorandum Tehran, IR00269. Also refer to Mark Gasiorowski, “The 1953 Coup
D’etat in Iran,” 262.
99 Bill, The Eagle and the Lion, 54; Matin-asgari, Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah, 39.
100 “The Iranian Intellectual Community,” DNSA, 21 December 1963.
101 National Security Report, “U.S. Policy Toward Iran,” 6 July 1960, FRUS, 1958-1960, Volume XII, Near East
Region; Iraq; Iran; Arabian Peninsula (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993), 681-8.
102 Donald N. Wilber, Contemporary Iran (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1963), 154; Positive alignment
was also referred to as nonalignment. The Nonaligned Movement was conceived at the Bandung Conference in
1955. Iranian leftists who did not adhere to Soviet-style Communism , such as Khalil Maleki, referred to themselves
as a “Third Force.” For more on Maleki see: Homa Katouzian, “The Strange Politics of Khalil Maleki,” in Stephanie
Cronin, ed., Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left (New York:
Routledge Curzon, 2004), 165-88.
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