Well, as I remember it, it was the idea that Khomeini was "OBJECTIVELY" (one of the most vile words in the Left lexicon) progressive because he was opposing US imperialism. That was the line of the Tudeh as well as the line of the Fedayeen Majority... However, there were a number of Iranian leftists that opposed that line. I was going to school in Paris right after the Iranian revolution and I recall the huge fights that would break out in the courtyard of the Cite Universitaire every Saturday between the Pro and Anti-Khomeini forces.
It is pathetic and, at the same time, hysterically drole to see that leftists in this country (and even some on this list) still feel like they have to support reactionary islamacists in order to take a stance against the US.
-Thomas
--- Dwayne Monroe <idoru345 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> [an intriguing overview and analysis of the Iranian
> left's situation - pre and post Islamic revolution.]
>
>
>
> <snip>
>
> Like so many other times in the history of the Cold
> War, Washington was willing to allow any type of
> regime to rule in its client states, no matter how
> reactionary. Iran was no exception. Unfortunately
> for
> the Iranian people, the anti-leftism of the United
> States helped create the vacuum that allowed
> Khomeini
> to take power. In addition, his superficial
> anti-imperialism and manipulation of Islamic
> religious
> beliefs blindsided many Iranian progressives into
> initially supporting him, only to regret that
> support
> later. According to another Iranian source, it was
> the
> naiveté of the Iranian left which prevented them
> from
> seeing Khomeini's ideology for what it was. In the
> optimism of the revolution, the left was all too
> quick
> to believe the ayatollah.
>
> <snip>
>
> full at
> http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs06132003.html
>
>
> DRM
>
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===== <<Be like me! The Primal Mother, eternally creative, eternally impelling into life,
eternally drawing satisfaction from the ceaseless flux of phenomena.>>
-Nietzsche, "The Birth of Tragedy"
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