Kuchik Khan - Socialist Republic of Gilan

Socialist Republic of Gilan

Mirza Koochak Khan agreed to cooperate with the Soviet revolutionaries on some conditions including the announcement of the Socialist Republic of Gilan (also known as The Red Republic of the Jungle) under his leadership and lack of any direct intervention by the Soviets in the internal affairs of the republic. However, soon disagreements arose between Mirza and his group of advisors on one side and the Soviets and the Iranian Communist Party (evolved from the Baku based Edalat Party). Mirza's efforts to resolve the bloody disputes by sending a petition through a delegate of two of his men to Lenin did not result in a resolution. By 1921 and particularly after the agreement achieved between the Soviet Union and Britain the Soviets decided not to further support the Socialist Republic of Gilan and as a result the government forces led by colonel Reza Khan (the future Reza Shah) overrun the dispersed forces of the Jungle Republic. There is however, a different point of view that believes Mirza Kuchak Khan and his inner circles were not at the advantage to deal with and to accomplish major radical social changes such as abandoning feudalism in Gilan which would have served the republic tremendously paving the way for its final victory .

  • Comrade Saadollah Darvish is appointed as the Chair of the Revolutionary Council (Commissar) of the forces missioned to Mazandaran Province, to promote the Red Iranian Revoloution in that province. The letter is signed by Mirza Koochak Khan (his usual signature Koochek-e Jangali i.e., Koochek of the Jungle) and other members of the Revolutionary Council of The Republic of Iran, 1920. The tone and the terminology used in the letter shows the revolutionary fervor of the time and, contrary to the suggestion of conservatism on Mirza's side by some historians, his devotion to the ideas of socialism.

  • The wall newspaper Roosta (village) in Persian and Russian reads: "Red Iran, Rasht June 27, 1920, Long Live Mirza Koochek", in the honor of Mirza Koochek Khan and celebration of the newly announced Soviet Republic of Gilan.

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