Factionalism and political discourse in the Islamic Republic of Iran:The Case of the Hujjatiyeh Society

The revolutionary Islamic government of Iran is dominated by clerical forces organised for the most part in the Islamic Republic Party. After defeating and banishing its secular opponents, notably the first President of the Republic, Bani-Sadr, the clerical party and regime developed factional struggles within their ranks. The issue of these struggles is what we consider to be the central dilemma of the revolutionary regime: the radical, populist slogans and policies of the revolution vs. routinised government maintaining order and protecting property. Khomeini's doctrine of Wilayat-i-Faqih which required the politicisation of religion and the sacralisation of politics has become closely associated with revolutionary populism. The radical forces, self proclaimed Maktabis, have insistently defended the original principles and policies of the revolution in the name of Khomeini and his ‘Imam line’ against the forces which they claimed to be infiltrating the regime to subvert the revolution and restore capitalist-imperialist control. The Maktabis with the vocal support of the Tudeh (communist) party, identified subversive forces with the Hujjatiyeh, a shadowy society, apparently with close connections to the clerical establishment

We examine the attacks upon and the defences of the ‘Hujjatiyeh’ to distinguish the styles, discourses and directions of factional struggles in relation to the central conflict between populism and order