On Tuesday, American Greatness posted an article about the odd alliance between the Islamists and Communists (the red-green alliance). We are seeing that alliance in action in America right now with the Democrat Socialists of America and some of their Islamist candidates. But the Islamists and the Democrats actually have little in common in their overall philosophies. The Democrats support gay rights, the Islamists kill homosexuals by throwing them off rooftops or hanging them from cranes. The Democrats encourage women’s rights, the Islamists deny even basic rights to women. Their common goal is to overthrow the system in place. But what happens after they overthrow the existing system?
The article reports:
If political alliances were based primarily on shared values, these two movements should be enemies, not allies.
History tells us otherwise.
Iran in 1978 offers perhaps the clearest example. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi saw an extraordinary coalition forming against his government. He described it as an alliance of “black reaction and red terror”—black representing the Shia clerical forces, red the communists and revolutionary left.
The CIA dismissed the possibility.
Then came 1979. The Shah fell, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran, and the Islamic Revolution seized power. Iran’s communist Tudeh Party embraced the revolution and supported Khomeini.
What happened next matters even more.
Once secure in power, Khomeini turned against his former allies. In 1983, the regime launched a sweeping crackdown on the Tudeh Party. Its leaders were arrested; members and sympathizers were imprisoned, executed, or driven into exile. A party that had helped welcome the revolution was ultimately destroyed by it.
The article notes:
The left believed Khomeini and the clerics were merely one component of a broad revolutionary coalition and that, after the Shah’s fall, competing factions could continue struggling over the revolution’s direction. Khomeini’s followers, meanwhile, could use the left’s organizational networks, intellectual influence, and street power.
Each side thought it was using the other.
Then the common enemy disappeared. What remained was a power struggle, won by the faction that was more ruthless, better organized, and less constrained by liberal rules.
That is the recurring logic of revolutionary coalitions. Fundamental contradictions can be postponed while a common enemy remains. Once that enemy disappears, yesterday’s allies begin reaching for their knives.
Which is why a recently recirculated video of American left-wing streamer Hasan Piker deserves attention. Piker talks about bringing a Chinese-style Cultural Revolution into the Democratic Party, subjecting establishment Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to “struggle sessions,” and even putting political opponents in prison.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. It is a picture of what could happen in America.
For great insight into life in Iran before, during, and after the revolution in 1979, I recommend the book A TIME TO BETRAY by Reza Kahlili. He supported the revolution, joined the Revolutionary Guard, and eventually went to work for the CIA.