Page 78 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

66 Records of Bahrain

The rudeh Party frora^ts Vine opt ion some time during
the period mid 1942 to early.';19,43 has; been Russian-inspired
and more or less Russian-dir.eeted;'and. Russian'-aided. its
doctrines however are only very loosely communistic, a"com-
munism" tempered to Persian .conditions. It advocates the
democratic reform of the Persian constitution and champions
the lot of the Persian worker.. Its'doc trines, in fact are
■>
more socialistic than communistic, In tills however it is
following the usual communist tactics of using parliamentary
methods "while the proletariat is preparing itself for the
scxislict crisis".
It early made for itself allios among the politicians
of the Persian capital, capitalists who found it impossible
to run their businesses without its co-opearation, disaffected
Army Officers, "Princes" of the pre-Pahlcvl dynasty, and, in some
districts, even landowners. Many of these persons were at-
tracted to the Party by a "nationalism" that meant, in effect,
an opposition to all British and American interests in Persia,
especially the A.T.O.C. and theAmerican advisers in the various
departments of the Persian Government.
The main sphere of the Party's activities however is
J among the trade unions and industrial workers of Persia.
In their organisation and indoctrination It has met with
marked success. Aftur the occupacion of Azerbaijan by the
Persian Army and the suppression of the Abadan riots the
Persian Government made a determined effort to crush the
fudeh Party anl to break its hold over Persian workers. The
Party has suffer*? 1 many prestige defeats but it Is by no means
d cad.
The Tuddh Party is still very much iis the nature of
a "Trial horse" for the Russians. Its members are a very
mixed lot and the Russians have not hesitated on occasion
to withdraw their support from the Party, force it to
come to terms with the Persian Government, and condemn its
activities. The degree of Russian support has depended
apparently on the plan chosen for execution. In the
Abadan riots the rudeh Party leader received very full
instructions from his Russian contacts - his captured
correspondence Included a voluminous mass of papers and
letters in Russian - and the Russian Consular representatives
on the spot continually hampered the efforts of the Persian
Government and A.I.O.C. officials to take action against
the rioters. In Azerbaijan the Tudeh Party formed only
one element in the Azerbaijan Deraoknat Party sponsored by
the Russians (not to be confused with the Iran Democrat
Party founded by the former Persian Prime MinisterV.Qavam as
Sultaneh) and" composed of Tudeh Parby^officials, ‘Persian \
Army deserters, and persons unwilling "'to return to Persian
Government misrule. The Russians havealso, where they
"^thought; A ..1.