POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF SECT AND SECTARIANISM IN IRANIAN POLITICS: 1960-1979, THE

Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 2006 by Dorraj, Manochehr

Second, under the influence of such events as the Chinese, Cuban, Algerian and Vietnamese revolutions as well as the Palestinian movement, Mojahedin and Fadayian abandoned the old "minimum program" of the National Front and Nehzat Azadi - its Islamic wing - to reform the regime and committed themselves to a total overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty.

Third, driven by their nationalist sentiment and influenced by the popularity of the Third World ideologies, the political sects of this period strongly identified with the national liberation movements in different parts of the Third World. For example, the repeated secret trips to Palestinian guerrilla camps by Mojahedin and Fadayian were not only designed to give them the necessary training but also a chance to express their solidarity with the movement.

Fourth, as a part of the politicized and committed intelligentsia, Mojahedin and Fadayian became proponents and advocates of populism in its Marxist and Islamic colorations. This is by far the most salient feature of the political sectarianism of the post-Mossadeq era.28

The Iranian populist sects depict the downtrodden as the new champions who will destroy the present order and usher in the reign of virtue and justice. Saeed Mohsen, one of the founding members of Mojahedin-e Khalq, in his trial defense explicates this point vividly:

Economically, we believe that the expansion of production Without mass mobilization is impossible. Unless people employ their own power and potential in the process of production, even mechanization of the system cannot Provide a solution to social needs. Therefore, Only the new Unitarian economics that is based On egalitarianism and conscious social reconstruction Can truly respond to the material and spiritual Needs of man. Only then can people consciously Create a new world that gratifies their most sublime Spiritual needs. The successful achievement of this goal requires the awakening and involvement Of the masses. Only a revolutionary society Can transcend us beyond the present moral decay and render the reign of virtuosity a reality.29

In a society in which man and his welfare has become a means rather than an end, in which the holiness of human existence has been replaced with reification and alienation, the stated goal of life is no longer union of man and God through spiritual enrichment (Kamal). The new preaching regards the ceaseless pursuit of material gains as the ultimate good and the most sublime value in life. On his path to this end, the individual will tag along whatever moral baggage that suits him/her; or justifies the journey. The remedy to this dilemma according to Saeede Mohsen must be sought in man's psyche. As he puts it:

First, one must change from within and feel responsible for the plight of his fellow man. Such internal transformation will arouse the individual to devote himself to serving the masses as God intended. By doing so, he would attach meaning to his life and liberate mankind from the spirit of selfishness and self-centrism that pervades in the present system. Only then will the slogan of 'one for all and all for one' become a reality.30