A Rebel's Journey: Mostafa Sho'aiyan and Revolutionary Theory in Iran

(Hardback)

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Following the 1953 coup that toppled the democratically elected government of Mossadeq and restored the rule of the Shah in Iran, Mostafa Shoaiyan became a key figure on the countrys militant left. From a life underground he contributed significantly to the study of Iranian history and politics, and developed a unique theory of revolution. A Rebels Journey provides fascinating insights into the life and work of this singular theoretician. Peyman Vahabzadeh sets Shoaiyans thought in the context of his time and place, and explores how his revolutionary theory might contribute to todays expanding movements for social justice and liberation.

Reviews

Through a comprehensive study and analysis of Shoaiyans writings, Vahabzadeh seeks to revive his work, not merely by demonstrating his contributions to Iranian revolutionaries but by demonstrating his value as an international thinker with continued relevance. Vahabzadeh accomplishes this by engaging with Shoaiyans revolutionary theories specifically his concepts of enlighteners, frontal politics, and rebellious thought to suggest how they could be used by todays Left in launching resistance against the capitalist world system.

* Middle East Journal *

An original intellectual, aprolific writer, a poet, a Marxist theorist, a revolutionary leader, a critical thinker, a visionary of a future that never was what strange interpreter of dreams hasPeyman Vahabzadeh unearthed from the forgotten layers of a peoples history. We once thoughtMostafa Shoaiyan was a mirage in this utterly brilliant work of revolutionary love youll learn he was for real.

-- Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
This is an elegant and original account of the life, times, and intellectual and theoretical contributions of the Iranian revolutionary Mostafa Shoaiyan. Itis, in particular, atimely work, emphasising Shoaiyans continuing relevance in an era of savage, globalised capitalism. -- Stephanie Cronin, Elah Omidyar Mir-Djalali Research Fellow, University of Oxford

An elegiac meditation on one of the most sophisticated revolutionary political theorists of modern Iran. Meticulously researched, A Rebels Journey resituates Shoaiyans long-neglected oeuvre at the center of the Iranian intellectual history and the history of anti-colonial liberation struggles of the Global South.

-- Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

Deeply informed and passionately engaged, this is an exceptional work of scholarship, reconstructing the life and thought of pre-revolutionary Irans most exceptional figure on the left Vahabzadeh has done a wonderful job of intellectual restoration and remembering, while showing an intriguing path forward to the revolutionaries of our time.

-- Afshin Matin-Asgari, Professor of Middle East History, California State University, Los Angeles

An outstanding interpretive and critical overview of the vast body of Mostafa Shoaiyans writings. Peyman Vahabzadeh masterfully reveals Shoaiyans cosmopolitan and frontal theory of rebellion, and his singular and uncanonical leftism.

-- Mojtaba Mahdavi, Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta

Author Bio

Peyman Vahabzadeh is Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria, where his research focuses on the power of collective action and social movements. He is the author of Violence and Nonviolence and editor of Iran's Struggles for Social Justice, among other works in English and Persian. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.