AN AUGURY OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN STUDENT ...

quarterly publication of the ISAUS, was entitled “Solidarity with American Students in Their
Struggle Against Racial Discrimination.” 305 There was a cross-current of influences between
American and Western European students and foreign students. While many Western students
adopted Maoism in the late 1960s, many Iranian youths also favored the Chinese variant of
Communism. 306 Throughout the latter half of the 1960s, the majority of the members of the
ISAUS were self-proclaimed Maoists. 307
However, there were particularities to the grievances of each movement. The
revolutionary momentum of Iranian students from 1966 to 1969 was aided by three factors. The
most important was the failure of the shah’s reforms, especially the White Revolution.
According to the ISAUS, the land reform initiative resulted in increased exploitation of the
peasants and further control and centralization of the agricultural economy. The students also
believed that the Literacy Corps was more a mechanism for surveillance of the countryside than
an educational tool. 308 A second factor was the rise of anti-imperialist and anti-reactionary
forces throughout the world during the late 1960s. The ISAUS, which had been protesting
throughout the decade, became an integral part of this movement. Not only did ISAUS call for
the end of American imperialism in Iran, but in 1966, the group’s congress passed a resolution
that called for the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam. 309 A third factor was the
growth of revolutionary underground organizations. 310 These three issues made Iranian students
305 Matin-asgari, Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah, 91, and f.n. 69, p. 202.
306 Letter from Thomas L. Hughes at INR to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, “Chinese and Soviet Factions in Iran’s
Communist Party.” 8 November 1967, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files,
1967-1969, Box 2217, POL 12 (Iran 1/1/67), RG 59, NA.
307 Matin-asgari, Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah, 98.
308 CISNU, Iranian Peoples’ Movement, 1953-1973, Iran Report, no. 2, June 1974, 15-6.
309 CISNU, Iranian Peoples’ Movement, 1953-1973, Iran Report, no. 2, June 1974, 16-7; Matin-asgari, Iranian
Student Opposition to the Shah, 98.
310 CISNU, Iranian Peoples’ Movement, 1953-1973, Iran Report, no. 2, June 1974, 17-8.
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