SUMKA
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SUMKA
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| Leader | Davud Monshizadeh |
| Spokesperson | Shapour Zandnia |
| Founded | December 6, 1941 (unofficially) October 13, 1952 (officially) |
| Headquarters | Chalus (northern Iran), Tehran |
| Ideology | National Socialism Anti-Arabism Anti-Islam Anti-Semitism Anti-Communism Anti-Capitalism Persian nationalism |
SUMKA was an Iranian neo-Nazi group[citation needed] that is otherwise known as Hezb-e Sosialist-e Melli-ye Kargaran-e Iran or the Iran National-Socialist Workers Party. They are a nationalist group aiming to glorify the Aryan history of Iran.
Foundation[edit]
The group was formed in 1952 by Davud Monshizadeh, a professor at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, who served with the SS and had been injured fighting in Berlin. Before this the name had been used informally to refer to those in Iran who supported and helped to fund Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. Monshizadeh would go on to serve as a Professor of Persian Studies at Alexandria University and Uppsala University.[1] Despite building up a minor support base in Iranian universities, the party did not last long.[2] It has been claimed that the party enjoyed funding directly from Reza Pahlavi and some Georgian-Iranians for a time.[3] The official logo is the Simorq flag. The emblem is the Simorq bird which was taken from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) at the centre.
Development[edit]
The group briefly attracted the support of young nationalists in Iran, with Daryoush Homayoun, who would later rise to prominence, an early member.[3] Monshizadeh was known as something of a Hitler worshipper and was fond of many of the ways of the Nazi Party, such as their militarism and salute, as well as attempting to approximate Hitler's physical appearance.[3] On this basis the group adopted the swastika and black shirt as part of their uniforms.[3][4]
They were firmly opposed to the rule of Mohammed Mossadegh during their brief period of influence and the group worked alongside Fazlollah Zahedi in his opposition to Mossadegh. Indeed, in 1953 they were part of a large crowd of Zahedi supporters who marched to the palace of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi demanding the ousting of Mossadegh.[5] The party would become associated with street violence against the supporters of Mossadegh and the Tudeh Party.[6]
The SUMKA party wanted to extinguish Islamic influence because it was as they stated "the root of Iranian problems and the cause for the weakness of Iranians". They believed that Islam and Judaism were the two main enemies of the Aryan nations because of their negative Semitic influence and parasitic presence. They took the view that an Aryan nation just can rise when it's freed from it and goes back to its Aryan roots - social, cultural and ethnic. The SUMKA members looked at Jews, Muslims and especially Arabs as weak, corrupt, vile and inferior beings that were blocks in the way of the prosperity of the Aryans.
The party leader Monshizadeh regarded Ortega's and Hitler's works as inspirations. He translated a number of Ortega's works into Persian and intended for these works to serve as the founding principles of the SUMKA party. Primarily SUMKA opposed the Monarchy but later on they opposed all political activities that were not national socialistic, especially the Islamic party[clarification needed] with whom they even had street fights.
SUMKA had managed to gather a good number of members, sympathizers and support base amongst the university students, labourers, technocrats and other workers.
The party was opposed to Mossadeq's social democratic government (1950 - 1953) and propagated a strong national socialist ideology. SUMKA was the Extreme Right Wing, Iranian Ultra Nationalist Party of Iran. On many occasions they went head to head with leftists specifically with the communist party (Hezbe Tudeh). Back then, the majority of youth in Universities and High Schools were extremely political and they were either:
These three were the top three political parties of Iran. And then there were a minority of political activists whom were pro various Nationalist, Republican and Monarchist movements and parties of Iran.
Today[edit]
Today there are different NS-subgroups who are mostly active in Europe or Australia since the Islamic republic of Iran executes any person undertaking national socialist activities. Although it remains to be seen how far this revival extended beyond the internet, the ideology is still the same as the original SUMKA party advocated it. These groups are not connected to the minor Pan-Iranists. They declare the Pan-Iranist movement as their political enemies since they want to extend Iran's borders to include non-Aryan land. A new concept which was brought into the party by Shirin Arvani in 2013 is the caste system.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Leonard Binder, Iran: Political Development in a Changing Society, University of California Press, 1962, p. 217
- ^ 'Iranian National Socialist Movement (A History)'
- ^ a b c d Hussein Fardust, The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein, p. 62
- ^ Homa Katouzian, Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran, I.B. Tauris, 1990, p. 89
- ^ Mark J. Gasiorowski, 'The 1953 Coup D'etat in Iran', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3. (Aug., 1987), p. 270
- ^ 'Is the blood of grapes, not of you (the people)'
