How Anarchists Saw the Iranian Revolution (part 1)

From Anarchistories by Tom Goyens

Eight weeks into Trump’s war with Iran, the origins of the Islamic Republic are worth revisiting. The regime now confronting Washington was born in the upheaval of 1979, when the Shah’s pro-Western monarchy collapsed and Ayatollah Khomeini seized the revolutionary moment. But the Iranian Revolution was no unified uprising. The anti-Shah movement brought together a volatile mix of factions: secular nationalists, pro-Soviet Communists, Marxist guerrillas, religious left-wing militants, and Islamic fundamentalists. By 1980, Khomeini had outmaneuvered his rivals and consolidated a regime that has endured ever since.

The Life and Ideas of Johann Most (with Tom Goyens)

From The Final Straw Radio

An interview with Tom Goyens, professor of history at Salisbury University and author of Johann Most: Life of a Radical, out last year from University of Illinois Press speaking about the life and times of the atheist and propagandist (notably through his journal, Freiheit) and his development from social democrat parliamentarian to socialist revolutionary to anarchist. For the chat we talk about Mosts’s life, development and legacy, from the mid-1800’s in Bavaria up to his death in 1906.

The Anarchist Blind Spot

From Anarchistories by Tom Goyens

The transformative “new social history” that emerged in the 1960s was a boon to the historical profession, especially for labor and immigrant history—two pillars essential to understanding anarchism in America. Yet, despite its potential, anarchism remained a marginal topic in the history writing of the 1960s and 1970s. The reasons for this neglect are as complex as the movement itself, shaped by ideological biases, linguistic barriers, and internal dynamics among anarchists.

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