The National Democratic Front ( fa, جبهه دموکراتیک ملی, Jebha-ye demokrātīk-e mellī) was a liberal political party founded during the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
of 1979 that overthrew Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
, and was banned within a short time by the Islamic government. It was founded by , a grandson of celebrated Iranian nationalist
Mohammad Mosaddegh
Mohammad Mosaddegh ( fa, محمد مصدق, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of ...
and a "lawyer who had been active in human rights causes" before the downfall of the shah and the son of the fourth prime minister and the jurist
Ahmad Matin-Daftari
Ahmad Matin-Daftari, also known as ''Mo'in al-Dowleh'', ( fa, احمد متین دفتری; 23 January 1897 – 26 June 1971) was an Iranian politician. He served as the former Prime Minister of Pahlavi Iran from 1939 until 1940.
Biography
Ahmad ...
. Though it was short-lived, the party has been described as one of "the three major movements of the political center" in Iran at that time, and its ouster was one of the first indications that the Islamist revolutionaries in control of the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
would not tolerate
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
political forces.
Overview
Matin-Daftari's party was launched in early March 1979 at a meeting attended by around one million people. This was "at a time when all shades of secular opinion outside the guerrilla movements were beginning to sense the direction of Khomeini's political strategy" and opposed the domination of the revolution by Islamist theocratics such as ran the
Islamic Republic Party
The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; fa, حزب جمهوری اسلامی, Ḥezb-e Jomhūrī-e Eslāmī, also translated Islamic Republic Party) formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini establish theocracy in Iran. ...
. It was a "broad coalition" aimed at groups and individuals who disapproved both of the
National Front's closeness to
Mehdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ay ...
's
Provisional Revolutionary Government, and of leftist groups—such as 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 ...
—who refused to criticize Khomeini out of anti-imperialist solidarity.
[Moin, ''Khomeini'', (2001), p.218] It hoped to "draw on the Mosaddegh heritage to reestablish a coalition of the middle classes and the intelligentsia". Matin-Daftari had been a member of the
National Front- the other major Iranian liberal, secular party of the time—and his new party was somewhat more leftist than the NF.
The NDF "emphasized political freedoms, guarantees for individual rights, access for all political groups to the broadcast media, the curbing of the
Revolutionary Guards
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
,
revolutionary courts, and revolutionary committees. Its economic programs favored "the mass of the people", and it supported a "decentralized system of administration based on popularly elected local councils."
Along with the Fadayan and some Kurdish groups the NDP boycotted the March 30, 31, 1979 referendum on making Iran an Islamic Republic (the Referendum of 12 Farvardin). In the debate over Iran's new revolutionary constitution it supported a parliamentary democracy with equal rights for women, adoption of the universal declaration of human rights and limited presidential powers. "Expressing concern over the freedom of elections and government control over the broadcast media," along with the National Front they announced they would boycott the election for the
1st Assembly of Experts, which wrote the new constitution.
It drew large crowds at its demonstrations but these were "ferociously attacked by gangs of
Hezbollahi thugs."
On 12 August 1979 it scheduled a mass demonstration to protest the closure of newspapers such as ''
Ayandegan''. The demonstration was attacked and hundreds are injured by rocks, clubs, chains and iron bars wielded by Hezbollah "toughs".
[Moin, ''Khomeini'', (2001), p.219–20] Before the end of the month the newspapers the party had tried to protect were banned, Ayandegan was seized and converted into a pro-Islamist newspaper, ''Sobh-e Azadegan''. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Hedayat Matin-Daftari,
"ostensibly for disrupting public order." After this the party went underground. In 1981 it joined the
National Council of Resistance of Iran
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI; fa, شورای ملی مقاومت ایران, Šurā-ye melli-e moqāvemat-e Īrān) is an Iranian political organization based in France and Albania. The organization is a political coalition ...
, a group founded by
Bani Sadr
Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr ( fa, سید ابوالحسن بنیصدر; 22 March 1933 – 9 October 2021) was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution aboli ...
and the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
(MEK) to fight the Islamist regime in Iran, but withdrew sometime later in protest against the MEK's "violent pro-Iraq activities in the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
".
[Keddie, ''Modern Iran'', (2006), p.253)]
See also
*
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
*
Organizations of the Iranian Revolution
Many organizations, parties and guerrilla groups were involved in the Iranian Revolution. Some were part of Ayatollah Khomeini's network and supported the theocratic Islamic Republic movement, while others did not and were suppressed when Khomeini ...
*
The history of the parliament in Iran The history of the parliament in Iran refers to the history of this legislative body in Iran, which has gone through various stages. This legislative body has been changing and expanding from a ''25-member House of Expediency'' to the present day, w ...
*
Board of Directors of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
This is an article introducing the board of directors of the Iranian parliament and legislative system of the Islamic Republic of Iran called the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
The Board of Directors of the Islamic Consultative Assembly is elect ...
*
Women in the Islamic Consultative Assembly
In the total 11 terms of the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Islamic Consultative Assembly), 78 women have won 111 seats in various terms. Some of these women were subsequently disqualified by the Guardian Council, some failed to win ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Democratic Front
1979 establishments in Iran
1981 disestablishments in Iran
Defunct liberal political parties
Defunct political parties of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Liberal parties in Iran
Political history of Iran
Political parties disestablished in 1981
Political parties established in 1979
Political parties of the Iranian Revolution
Secularism in Iran