Rahbar (newspaper)

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Rahbar
TypeDaily newspaper
PublisherTudeh Party of Iran
Editor-in-chiefIraj Eskandari
Founded1942
Political alignmentCommunism
LanguagePersian
Ceased publication1945
HeadquartersTehran
Sister newspapersZafer, Razm, Mardom, several local publications

Rahbar (Persian: رهبر, lit. 'Guide') was an Iranian Persian language daily newspaper, published from Tehran.[1][2] It was the central organ of the communist Tudeh Party of Iran.[3] The decision to launch Rahbar was taken at the First Party Conference held in October 1942, after that Abbas Iskandari, the editor of erstwhile central organ of the party Siasat, had been expelled from the party.[4][5] In the initial phase of Rahbar the Tudeh Party was not officially a communist party, and the editorial line of the newspaper was non-communist constitutionalism.[6] During the years of the Second World War, Rahbar (and other Tudeh organs) focused on anti-fascist and pro-peace agitation.[7]

Iraj Eskandari served as the editor-in-chief of Rahbar.[8] As with the other two key publications of the party (Mardom and Razm) it was edited by a member of the Tudeh parliamentary faction in the Majles.[9]

In June 1943 the trade union organization led by the Tudeh Party, the Central Council of Unions of Iran, decided to adopt Rahbar as their main organ, substituting the union publication Giti until the re-launching of a separate trade unionist newspaper. From June 21, 1943 onwards Rahbar carried a section titled "the party and the workers".[10]

When Rahbar celebrated its anniversary it sold 60,000 copies, almost reaching the levels of the main newspaper of the country, Ettela'at.[11]

In the oil-rich areas in southern Iran, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and local authorities enforced a ban on reading and distributing Rahbar.[12] Workers caught reading or selling the paper were usually dismissed from their employments.[12]

On 23 August 1945 Rahbar was shut down by the orders of a military commandant in Tehran.[13]

The publication of Rahbar (as well as the labour newspaper Zafer) was again suspended by the government on 8 December 1946, citing the attacks of the paper against the pro-American policies of the Iranian government. The ban was however lifted by the end of the month.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. [S.l.]: Princeton University Press, 1982. p. 299
  2. ^ Atabaki, Touraj, and Solmaz Rustamova-Towhidi. Baku Documents: Union Catalogue of Persian, Azerbaijani, Ottoman Turkish and Arabic Serials and Newspapers in the Libraries of the Republic of Azerbaijan. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1995. p. 241
  3. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. [S.l.]: Princeton University Press, 1982. p. 299
  4. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. [S.l.]: Princeton University Press, 1982. p. 285
  5. ^ History of the Tudeh Party of Iran
  6. ^ Atabaki, Touraj. Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000. p. 72
  7. ^ Gheissari, Ali. Iranian Intellectuals in the 20th Century. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1998. p. 65
  8. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica
  9. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. [S.l.]: Princeton University Press, 1982. p. 202
  10. ^ Ladjevardi, Habib. Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran. Contemporary issues in the Middle East. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1985. p. 34
  11. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. [S.l.]: Princeton University Press, 1982. p. 292
  12. ^ a b Ladjevardi, Habib. Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran. Contemporary issues in the Middle East. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1985. p. 123
  13. ^ Atabaki, Touraj. Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000. p. 84
  14. ^ Ladjevardi, Habib. Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran. Contemporary issues in the Middle East. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1985. p. 78
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