Shadows in the Garden: Women Agents Underground and Communist Activism in Mid-20th Century Iran

Abstract

This article traces the careers and fates of several Iranian female communists who were not professional intelligence agents but engaged in clandestine activities. They are presented primarily through their own writings – memoirs and letters – and documents preserved in Russian archives. Socialist ideas resonated strongly in early 20th century Iran, and the women examined here were driven by a zeal to improve the hard lot faced by many of their fellow Iranians. They hailed from diverse family backgrounds: Mariam Firuz’s roots lay in the aristocracy; Zuleykhah Asadi came from the working class; and Akhtar Kiānuri’s family had been prominent in the clergy. Their husbands or fathers were also communists and spent time in jail. All of the women traveled to the Soviet Union to study, drawn to the Communist University for Laborers of the East in Moscow, known by its acronym of KUTV and called a “Red Mecca” by some Iranian students. Upon returning to Iran, these women were forced to work underground as the communist party was banned in the country for much of the 20th century, with members and sympathizers harassed, arrested and accused of espionage. These women’s accounts were produced for different readers: some feel romanticized at times, while others are brutally honest. Their fates were also very different. The wave of revolution both raised individuals to new heights and tossed them to the shore as it churned onward. While Mariam Firuz became a living legend, Akhtar and others faded into obscurity, and Zuleykha and countless others were never known.