Liberalism in Iran - Origins of Iranian Liberalism: 1900-1979

Origins of Iranian Liberalism: 1900-1979

The emergence of a Westernized liberal tradition in Iran is a relatively new phenomenon, formed against a backdrop of political transformation which included: the demise of the Qajar dynasty, the constitutional struggles of the 1920s, consolidation of the autocratic regime of Reza Shah, the postwar confrontation between Reza Shah’s son and the nationalist prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and the shah’s launching of the White Revolution in 1963. The distinct concepts and sensibilities constituting contemporary Iranian liberalism were largely formulated by intellectual-activists like Hasan Taqizadeh, Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh and Mohammad-Ali Foroughi a century ago. A politician and former Iranian Prime Minister, Foroughi's writings and translations during that period were mainly discussions of the basic norms of constitutionality and pillars of modern thought. In his book Huquq-e Asasi Ya'ni Adab-e Mashrutiyat, published in Tehran in 1907, he articulated, in an Iranian context, the liberal concept of separation of powers between the executive and judiciary, which remains a key concepts of Iranian liberalism.

During a political career that lasted over seventy years, the political views of Hasan Taqizadeh are not characterized by an ideological continuity, but by many breaks throughout his life. Most remember him as a secular “enlightened” politician, who advocated separation of state and religion and believed that, "outwardly and inwardly, in body and in spirit, Iran must become wholly Europeanized in every way if it were to progress.". Taqizadeh was raised in Tabriz, the capital of Azarbaijan province, which was the gateway for modern ideas from Russia and especially Western Europe. This led to him showing an early interest in enlightenment ideas and constitutionalism.

Convinced of the destructive consequences of Qajari despotism and corruption for Iran’s political and socio-economic development, Taqizadeh participated in the Constitutional Revolution (Mashruteh Revolution), which resulted in establishing the Majles. Under Taqizadeh’s guidance the first modern political party, Ferqeh-ye Demokrat-e Iran (Democratic Party of Iran), was founded in Iran in 1909. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Taqizadeh allied with Germany against Russia and Britain. In Berlin he established the Komiteh-ye Iran (Committee of Iran), and with other prominent Iranian intellectuals, published the influential periodical Kaveh (1916–1922), which was distributed in Europe and Iran. Kaveh was a political and literary journal which greatly contributed to creation of Iranian consciousness and national identity. This journal emphasized the need for national independence, and internal reforms, especially secular and educational ones.

For this pioneering generation of intellectuals, activists and politicians in the 1920s and 1930s, liberalism was understood as a technique of national progression, something to be activated as a universally executable program, irrespective of the local contours of Persian culture. They regarded liberalism as a system of protocols that, when enacted by policy-makers, ensured the creation of institutions that enshrined the rule of law, and generated a rationally organized and governed public life.