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Ja'far Pishevari
President of Azerbaijan People's Government
In office 2 November 1945 – 15 November 1946
Member-elect of the Parliament of Iran
In office Admission refused on 13 July 1944
Constituency	Tabriz
Interior Minister of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic
In office 1921
Personal details
Born	Jafar Javadzadeh (1892-08-26)August 26, 1892 Zaviyeh-ye Sadat, Khalkhal, Sublime State of Persia
Died	June 11, 1947(1947-06-11) (aged 54) Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Cause of death	Car crash
Citizenship	Iran Soviet Union
Political party	Azerbaijani Democratic Party
Other political affiliations	Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Communist Party (1920–1921)

Sayyed Ja'far Pishevari (Persian: سید جعفر پیشه‌وری; Azerbaijani: سید جعفر پیشهوری; Russian: Сеид Джафар Пишевари; 26 August 1892 – 11 June 1947) was an Iranian Azerbaijani communist politician who most-notably founded and led the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, the founding and ruling party of the Azerbaijan People's Government.

Life

He was born in Khalkhal in Ardabil province, Iran. He had lived in the Caucasus in the early 20th century and was introduced to Marxism during this period. He was a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.

He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Iran (not to be confused with the Tudeh Party), established in 1920, in Rasht. He became a journalist and communist activist in the 1920s.

In 1921, Pishevari served the Soviets as minister of the interior in the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic.

He was arrested and imprisoned during nine years in the late 1930s and early 1940s by the government of Reza Shah Pahlavi for his communist ideas and activities. He was released from prison after Reza Shah was deposed by the Allies in 1941. Pishevari was the Tudeh Party of Iran candidate for the Majlis and was elected, but was denied entry by the rest of deputies. Of the 100 votes cast, his credentials were rejected 47–50.

He then established the Azerbaijani Democratic Party with manifest material and organizational support from the USSR.

Political career

The Soviet Union founded the communist Azerbaijan People's Government in November 1945 during their occupation of Northern Iran, making Pishevari its leader. It seems however that the strong man of this government was Mohammed Biriya, Minister of Propaganda and head of secret police trained by the NKVD. His government's actions, including organizing and arming local militias, disarming of regular Iranian military and police forces, setting up an independent judiciary based on the Soviet legal system, nationalising banks, levying taxes, land reform without ratification of the Majlis, using Azerbaijani as the official language and banning the usage of Persian, and setting up an alternative curriculum and educational system, were viewed with deep suspicion by the central government and other Iranians.

Following an agreement reached between the governments of Iran and the USSR under intense American pressure, who viewed Pishevari's government as a not-too-subtle scheme by the USSR to partition Iran, the Soviets removed their protection. Iranian armed forces, kept away from the provinces of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan by the Red Army presence since 1942, entered these provinces in November 1946. Pishevari's self-proclaimed government collapsed quickly, as many of the people welcomed the central government's troops. By December 1946, both Azerbaijan and Kurdistan were evacuated by the Soviet forces and the Iranian government re-established control over the USSR-occupied territories. It appeared as if Pishevari's government was becoming very unpopular, especially in larger cities where the merchants feared communism.

After the collapse of this short-lived republic, he fled to Azerbaijan SSR and died in a car crash in Baku in 1947.

Legacy

His legacy is a matter of heated debate today. While many Iranians consider him as either a Soviet stooge or a traitor, he is considered a national hero for Azeri nationalists or a socialist revolutionary by the Iranian Left. It is now beyond doubt that he had the support of Joseph Stalin and the USSR in setting up his government. There is also no doubt that USSR indeed wanted to annex several provinces in northern Iran.

Available sources show that Soviet territorial aspirations included provinces of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Khorasan. What Pishevari intended to achieve and his role in the Soviet plans is a matter of debate though. Some scholars on the Left argue that he never intended to partition Iran and what he wanted was a gradual transformation of the whole country to a communist state. Those on the Right argue that the proclamations and directives issued by his person and his government leave no doubt that he intended to join his republic to the Azerbaijan SSR, and thus the Soviet Union.

References

1. Ghods, M. Reza (1990). "The Iranian Communist Movement under Reza Shah". Middle Eastern Studies. 26 (4). Taylor & Francis: 506–513. doi:10.1080/00263209008700833. JSTOR 4283395.(subscription required)
2. Lucas, William O. (1946), East of the Iron Curtain, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, p. 263
3. Iran in the 21st Century: Politics, Economics & Conflict, page 51, Homa Katouzian, Hossein Shahidi, Routledge
4. ^ Sebestyen, Victor (2014). 1946. The Making of the Modern World. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230758001.
5. R. Crosby Kemper III, ed. (1996), Winston Churchill: Resolution, Defiance, Magnanimity, Good Will, University of Missouri Press, p. 22, ISBN 9780826210364
6. Ladjevardi, Habib (1985). Labor unions and autocracy in Iran. Syracuse University Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-8156-2343-4.
7. Atabaki, Touraj (2000). Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran. I.B.Tauris. p. 74. ISBN 9781860645549.
8. "CWIHP Virtual Archive : Collection : 1945-46 Iranian Crisis". Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.

External links

• 1945-46 Iranian Crisis Cold War International History Project, Retrieved 2008-05-22
• photograph, Retrieved 2008-05-22

v t e Cabinet of Ja'far Pishevari (1945–1946)

Azerbaijan People's Government Prime Minister Ja'far Pishevari Minister of Interior Salamullah Javid Minister of War Ja'far Kavian Minister of Agriculture javid mehtash Minister of Culture Mohammad Biriya Minister of Health Hassan Urangi Minister of Finance Gholamreza Elhami Minister of Justice Yusuf Azima Minister of Road, Post and Telegraph Rabi-ollah Kabiri Minister of Trade and Economy Reza Rasouli Chairman of Supreme Court Zeynalabedin Qiyami Procurator-General Fereydun Ebrahimi First Deputy Prime Minister Nosrat-ollah Jahanshahlou Commander of National Army Ghulam Yahya Daneshian Chairman of National Assembly Morteza Shabestari Director-General Ardeshir Ovanessian

v t e Communism in Azerbaijan
Political parties and organizations	Historical Adalat Social-Democratic Party Azerbaijani Democratic Party Azerbaijan Communist Party (1920) Muslim Social Democratic "Hummet" Party Present-day Azerbaijan Communist Party New Generation Communist Party of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan United Communist Party
Statesmen and revolutionaries	Nariman Narimanov Meshadi Azizbekov Abbasgulu bey Shadlinski Gazanfar Musabekov Ja'far Pishevari Ruhulla Akhundov Sultan Majid Afandiyev Ayna Sultanova Samad aga Agamalioglu Hamid Sultanov Khanlar Safaraliyev Mammad Mammadyarov Mir Bashir Gasimov Aliheydar Garayev Mirza Davud Huseynov Mir Jafar Baghirov Chingiz Ildyrym Bunyad Sardarov Dadash Bunyadzade Habib Jabiyev Ali Bayramov Mir Hasan Movsumov Mir Hasan Vazirov Veli Akhundov Abdurrahman Vazirov
History and main subjects	26 Baku Commissars Mughan Soviet Republic Azerbaijan People's Government Battle of Baku Sovietization Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic XI Red Army Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia Treaty of Kars TSFSR Anthem of ASSR Flag of ASSR Azerbaijan during World War II Black January
Press	Hummat Takamul Davat Yoldash Bakinskiy Rabochiy Gudok Bakinskiy Proletariy Bauer und Arbeiter Lenins Weg Pravda
Literary figures	Mammed Said Ordubadi Samad Vurgun Mikayil Mushfig Isa Huseynov Mirza Ibrahimov Suleyman Rustam Mehdi Huseyn Mammad Rahim Mirvarid Dilbazi Rasul Rza Mir Jalal Pashayev Ferman Kerimzade
Cinema	Impact of the 26 Baku Commissars The Last Pass Wait for the Sign from the Sea Inside the Fire Yeddi Ogul Isterem Morning Stars Don't Go Away One Day, Midnight...

• People from Khalkhal, Iran
• 1890s births
• 1947 deaths
• Road incident deaths in Azerbaijan
• Road incident deaths in the Soviet Union
• Azerbaijani Democratic Party politicians
• Azerbaijani communists
• Soviet Azerbaijani people
• Iranian emigrants to the Soviet Union
• Azerbaijani people of Iranian descent
• Iranian revolutionaries
• Iranian communists
• Burials at Alley of Honor
• People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union
• Iranian elected officials who did not take office
• Tudeh Party of Iran politicians
• Azerbaijani independence activists
• Foreign Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
• Communist Party of Persia politicians
• Separatists