Al-E Ahmed's Perception Of The Ills In Iranian Society

At their core, intellectuals in any given society are responsible for creating the doctrine for which will ultimately give way to a revolution. During the late Pahlavi era, roughly confined to the timeframe of the 1950’s to the late 1970’s, Iranian intellectuals used a plethora of mediums to voice their ills and discomforts with contemporary Iranian Society in an attempt to overthrow the Pahlavi regime. This essay will focus more broadly on Al-e Ahmad’s plight to voice his perception of the ills during contemporary Iranian Society since he is generally credited as being the leading figure in Iranian intelligentsia at the time. Moreover, this essay will explore which specific aspects created discomfort amongst the Iranian populace, both urban

From a secular point of view, the Pahlavi regime’s incessant abuse of power, overarching oppression, and limitations to basic human freedoms would have naturally fostered distaste amongst a certain group of the Iranian populace: broadly that of the educated, urban class. However, it is the imposition of Western ideals and alien values upon Iranian society as a whole which created even more disgust amongst the wider, general population. The Pahlavi regime might have perhaps been able to sustain the oppression of the Iranian people if his western backed policies were effective and popular with the Iranian people, but his failures with Iranian Oil and land reforms only exacerbated the situation. It was feared by many intellectuals that the growing westernisation of Iran, and more specifically Iran’s role with the west, would threaten the core traditional Iranian (and to some extent Islamic) values in society at that time. Hence, Al-e Ahmad, as the leading literary figure at that time, saw in Islam a medium through which to reunite an entire population, and as a force great enough to overthrow the Pahlavi regime; herein lies the core moral dilemma of many secular Iranian intellectuals at the

During the late 1940’s, as a member of the staunchly communist Tudeh Party, Al-e Ahmad voiced dissatisfaction for the Pahlavi regime through political avenues, doing so as the editor of the Tudeh’s party publishing arm. Finding the Tudeh Party too sympathetic towards Moscow, Ahmad defected and joined the Third Force Party in an attempt to further voice his opinions. However, with the eventual fall of of Mossadeq and the ensuing crackdowns upon political parties in Iran, Ahmad, and many other intellectuals of his time, ceased to voice their opinions through political parties, and instead turned to literary pursuits to make their views