Islamic Republican Party

The Islamic Republican Party (حزب جمهوری اسلامی or IRP) was a political party in Iran, formed in mid-1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini establish theocracy in Iran. It was disbanded in 1987 after its objectives had been achieved.

Founders and characteristics

The party was formed by Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Mohammad Beheshti, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Khamenei, and Abdolkarim Mousavi-Ardabili, ayatollahs close to Khomeini in order to mobilize popular support for the Islamic Republic.

The party has been said to be distinguished by "its strong clerical component, its loyalty to Khomeini, its strong animosity to the liberal political movements, and its tendency to support the revolutionary organizations," such as the "komiteh." Policies it supported included the state takeover of large capital enterprises, the establishment of an Islamic cultural and university system, and programs to assist the poor. [Bakhash, "Reign of the Ayatollahs", (1984), p.67 ]

These revolutionary ayatollahs originally used the party to form a monopoly over the post revolutionary theocratic Iranian state.

In its struggle with civilian opponents the party made use of its ties to the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, "who were popularly known as the "chomaqdars" or "club wielders", for the clubs they used to break up rival political gatherings." [Bakhash, "Reign of the Ayatollahs", (1984), p.67 ]

Causes of its dissolution

In the late 1980s, factionalism in the IRP intensifified, the major issues being the Iran-Iraq War, whether to open up to foreign countries or remain isolated, and economic policies. Because all rival parties had been banned, the party "did almost nothing and had little incentive to." [Keddie, Nikkie, "Modern Iran", 2003, p.259-60]

According to Ahmad Mneisi in his article "The Powershift within Iran's Rightwing",

"While unanimous on the idea of a theological state and united under the umbrella of one party, the Islamic Republican Party (IRP), [the religious right] differed on a number of issues, such as the extent to which religion is to take hold of political life (the Velayet-e Faqih debate).

This difference in opinion led to the polarization of two wings within the IRP, one (right wing) calling for the pursuit of a pragmatic policy aimed to consolidate the achievements of the revolution, the other (left wing) focusing on exporting the revolution and calling for the state's monopoly over the economy. The divisions between the two wings led to the IRP dissolution in 1987, although under the charismatic rule of Ayatollah Khomeini, the frictions between the two wings remained low-key.

The leftist camp was made up of the Militant Clerics League (Rouhanioun), as well as the Revolution's Mujahidin. The right wing camp was made up of the Militant Clerics Association (Rouhaniat), the League of the Teachers of the Qom Seminaries, and the Islamic Coalition Association. The differentiation that took place on the political scene led to the emergence of a rightwing current with an open-minded outlook, as opposed to the close-mindedness of the conventional right wing. The open-minded current found its voice in the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) associated with former President Hashemi-Rafsanjani. The latter group embraced the openness characterizing Iranian domestic and foreign policy during Rasanjani's time. This was the first division that took place in the ranks of the Iranian right." [Mneisi, Ahmad. "The Powershift within Iran's right wing" http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/EGYP1.HTM, 2004.]

References

Further reading

*Cleveland, William L. "A History of the Modern Middle East 2nd edition" Oxford: Westview Press, 2000.
*Hafte tir bombing: The explosion that killed 73 high-profile IRP members.

External links

* [http://www.country-studies.com/iran/islamic-republican-party.html Islamic Republican Party]