Sayyed Ja'far Pishevari ( fa, سید جعفر پیشه‌وری; 26 ( Azerbaijani: سید جعفر پیشهوری ) August, 1892 – 11 June, 1947) was an

Iranian Azerbaijani Iranian Azerbaijanis (; az, ایران آذربایجانلیلاری, italics=no ), also known as Iranian Azeris, Iranian Turks, Persian Turks or Persian Azerbaijanis, are Iranians of Azerbaijani ethnicity who may speak the Azerbaijani lang ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician who most-notably founded and led the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, the founding and ruling party of the

Azerbaijan People's Government The Azerbaijan People's Government ( az, آذربایجان میللی حکومتی - Azərbaycan Milli Hökuməti; fa, حکومت خودمختار آذربایجان) was a short-lived unrecognized secessionist state in northern Iran from Nov ...

Life

He was born in Khalkhal in

Ardabil Ardabil (, fa, اردبیل, Ardabīl or ''Ardebīl'') is a city in northwestern Iran, and the capital of Ardabil Province. As of the 2022 census, Ardabil's population was 588,000. The dominant majority in the city are ethnic Iranian Azerbaija ...

province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He had lived in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

in the early 20th century and was introduced to

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

during this period. He was a member of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...

. He was a founding member of the

Communist Party of Iran The Communist Party of Iran (CPI; fa, حزب کمونیست ایران) is an Iranian communist party founded on 2 September 1983. It has an armed wing and its membership is predominantly Kurdish. The CPI is active throughout the industriali ...

(not to be confused with the

Tudeh Party The Tudeh Party of Iran ( fa-at, حزب تودۀ ایران, Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Īrān, lit=Party of the Masses of Iran) is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in i ...

), established in 1920, in

Rasht Rasht ( fa, رشت, Rašt ; glk, Rəšt, script=Latn; also romanized as Resht and Rast, and often spelt ''Recht'' in French and older German manuscripts) is the capital city of Gilan Province, Iran. Also known as the "City of Rain" (, ''Ŝahre B ...

. He became a journalist and communist activist in the 1920s. In 1921, Pishevari served the Soviets as minister of the interior in the

Persian Socialist Soviet Republic The Persian Socialist Soviet Republic ( fa, ), also known as the Soviet Republic of Iran or Socialist Soviet Republic of Gilan, was a short-lived unrecognized state, a Soviet republic in the Iranian province of Gilan that lasted from June 1920 ...

. He was arrested and imprisoned during nine years in the late 1930s and early 1940s by the government of

Reza Shah Pahlavi , , spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort)Turan AmirsoleimaniEsmat Dowlatshahi , issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess ShamsMohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza Prin ...

for his

ideas and activities. He was released from prison after

Reza Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi ( fa, رضا شاه پهلوی; ; originally Reza Khan (); 15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer, politician (who served as Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran), ...

was deposed by the Allies in 1941. Pishevari was the

Tudeh Party of Iran The Tudeh Party of Iran ( fa-at, حزب تودۀ ایران, Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Īrān, lit=Party of the Masses of Iran) is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in i ...

candidate for the Majlis and was elected, but was denied entry by the rest of deputies. Of the 100 votes cast, his credentials were rejected 47–50. He then established the Azerbaijani Democratic Party with manifest material and organizational support from the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Political career

The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

founded the communist

in November 1945 during their occupation of Northern Iran, making Pishevari its leader. It seems however that the strong man of this government was Mohammed Biriya, Minister of Propaganda and head of secret police trained by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. His government's actions, including organizing and arming local militias, disarming of regular Iranian military and police forces, setting up an independent judiciary based on the Soviet legal system, nationalising banks, levying taxes, land reform without ratification of the Majlis, using Azerbaijani as the official language and banning the usage of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and setting up an alternative curriculum and educational system, were viewed with deep suspicion by the central government and other Iranians. Following an agreement reached between the governments of Iran and the USSR under intense American pressure, who viewed Pishevari's government as a not-too-subtle scheme by the USSR to partition Iran, the Soviets removed their protection. Iranian

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, kept away from the provinces of Azerbaijan and

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...

by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

presence since 1942, entered these provinces in November 1946. Pishevari's self-proclaimed government collapsed quickly, as many of the people welcomed the central government's troops. By December 1946, both Azerbaijan and Kurdistan were evacuated by the Soviet forces and the Iranian government re-established control over the USSR-occupied territories. It appeared as if Pishevari's government was becoming very unpopular, especially in larger cities where the merchants feared

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. After the collapse of this short-lived republic, he fled to

Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...

and died in a car crash in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

in 1947. Some historians speculate that he was killed by the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

. To date, their claim has not been verified. His legacy is a matter of heated debate today. While many Iranians consider him as either a Soviet stooge or a traitor, he is considered a national hero for Azeri nationalists or a socialist revolutionary by the Iranian Left. It is now beyond doubt that he had the support of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

and the USSR in setting up his government. There is also no doubt that USSR indeed wanted to annex several provinces in northern Iran. Available sources show that Soviet territorial aspirations included provinces of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Gilan, Mazandaran, and

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

. What Pishevari intended to achieve and his role in the Soviet plans is a matter of debate though. Some scholars on the Left argue that he never intended to partition Iran and what he wanted was a gradual transformation of the whole country to a communist state. Those on the Right argue that the proclamations and directives issued by his person and his government leave no doubt that he intended to join his republic to the Azerbaijan SSR, and thus the Soviet Union.

References

External links

1945-46 Iranian Crisis
Cold War International History Project, Retrieved 2008-05-22
photograph
Retrieved 2008-05-22 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pishevari, Jafar People from Khalkhal, Iran 1890s births 1947 deaths Road incident deaths in Azerbaijan Road incident deaths in the Soviet Union Azerbaijani Democratic Party politicians Communist rulers Azerbaijani communists Soviet Azerbaijani people Iranian emigrants to the Soviet Union Azerbaijani people of Iranian descent Iranian revolutionaries Iranian communists Burials at Alley of Honor People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Iranian elected officials who did not take office Tudeh Party of Iran politicians Azerbaijani independence activists Foreign Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Communist Party of Persia politicians Separatists