The Loneliest Revolution: A Memoir of Solidarity and Struggle in Iran

* Recounts the political contests between Islamists, leftists, and others culminating in one of the twentieth century’s most surprising revolutions * Combines the sensitivity of a memoir with the expertise of a scholarly study to explore lesser-known figures and events in the Iranian revolution’s history * Shifts the center of Iran’s revolutionary history away from its capital to its provinces in an attempt to show how the global and local interacted at multiple levels In October 1978, a day that started like any other for Ali Mirsepassi – full of anti-Shah protests – ended in near death. He was stabbed and dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Tehran for having spoken against Khomeini. In this book, Mirsepassi digs up this and other painful memories to ask: How did the Iranian revolutionary movement come to this? How did a people united in solidarity and struggle end up so divided? In this first-hand account, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his insights as a sociologist of Iran with his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran. Attentive to the everyday struggles Iranians faced as they searched for ways to learn about and make history despite state surveillance and censorship, The Loneliest Revolution revisits questions of leftist failure and Islamist victory and ultimately asks us all to probe the memories, personal and collective, that we leave unspoken. Contents 7 List of Figures 8 Acknowledgments 10 Note on References 12 Note on Transliteration 13 Introduction: A Fall Day in 1978 15 1 Dorud and Nahavand, 1956–1966 41 2 Golpayegan, 1966–1970 88 3 Tehran University, 1970–1974 151 4 Zahra’s Paradise, 1977–1978 193 5 Our Dreams On Trial, 1979 239 Conclusion: East Coast, U.S., 1980–2021 261 Bibliography 278 Index 287