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Title: Hamid Shawkat collection
Date (inclusive): 1952-2001
Collection Number: 2002C11
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Persian
Physical Description:
38 manuscript boxes
(15.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: This collection is comprised of newsletters, newspapers, journals, pamphlets, booklets, reports, and other writings issued
by the Confederation of Iranian Students National Union (CISNU) and other Iranian student groups in Europe and abroad. These
materials relate to political conditions and civil liberties in Iran, focusing primarily on the campaign for the rights of
political prisoners; political opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy; the spread of Marxist-Leninist thought in Iran and among
Iranian students abroad; the aftermath of the coup d'état against Mohammed Mosaddeq.
source:
Shawkat, Ḥamīd
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2002.
[Identification of item], Hamid Shawkat collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Hamid Shawkat was born in Tehran, Iran in 1949. At the age of 20, Shawkat moved to the United States and became involved in
the student activist movement, which was united in opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy and the actions of its secret police,
the SAVAK. He returned to Iran in 1978, amidst the turbulence of the Iranian Revolution. Soon after his return, Shawkat helped
create the National Democratic Front of Iran and worked as an editor for the group?s central publication, Azadi. In addition
to the National Democratic Front, several other groups, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, National Republicans
of Iran, and the Left United Council for Democracy and Independence, joined the struggle for democracy in Iran. Since his
time as a student activist, Shawkat has written heavily on the topic of Marxist theory and the rise and fall of the Iranian
student movement, as embodied by the Confederation of Iranian Students, National Union.
Source: Hamid Shokat (2010). http://www.shokat.com/english.html.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection is comprised of newsletters, newspapers, journals, pamphlets, booklets, reports, and other writings issued
by the Confederation of Iranian Students National Union (CISNU) and other Iranian student groups in Europe and abroad. The
materials relate to political conditions and civil liberties in Iran, focusing primarily on the campaign for the rights of
political prisoners; political opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy; the spread of Marxist-Leninist thought in Iran and among
Iranian students abroad; and the aftermath of the coup d'état against Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953.
Hamid Shawkat (or Hamid Shokat, as his name appears in published works) collected materials issued by CISNU and dozens of
other Iranian student groups in Europe and the United States. Although primarily comprised of circulated newsletters, bulletins,
and memoranda, the CISNU issuances provide insight into how Iranian students abroad were able to communicate, organize and,
consequentially, create a united ideological front for defending the political and human rights of Iranian citizens.
Largely operating out of West Germany, between the 1960s to late 1970s, CISNU and its many chapters played a role in the proliferation
of propaganda and demonstrations denouncing Reza Shah Pahlavi and his secret police, the SAVAK, for their violent suppression
of political activists. To illustrate this violence, a number of articles and news bulletins included in the collection discuss
the murder of German student Benno Ohnesorg in a 1967 protest organized by CISNU.
Although CISNU lost much of its student membership in the early 1980s, other revolutionary and student groups, including the
National Front of Iran, Tudeh Party, Association of Iranian Writers in Exile, and People's Fedaii Guerillas of Iran continued
to operate abroad, spreading awareness of their respective political views throughout Europe, Iran, and the surrounding Middle
East.
Aside from publishing serial newsletters and circulating memoranda, Iranian Marxist, Communist, and Socialist parties, such
as the United Communist Fighters, Party of Labour of Iran, and the People's Mujaheddin, distributed Farsi translations of
notable works by Lenin, Lunacharsky, and Guevara. In addition to these works, 8 complete publications of writer and activist
Mostafa Sho'aiyan are included in the collection.
The collection is organized into 7 series: CISNU Administrative Materials, CISNU Issuances, German CISNU Administrative Materials
and Issuances, Other Revolutionary Groups' Issuances, Printed Materials, Clippings, and Miscellany.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Iran -- Politics and government -- 1941-1979
Iran -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997
Communism -- Iran
Civil rights -- Iran
Iranians -- Europe
Iranian students
Shawkat, Ḥamīd
Kunfidirāsyūn-i Jahānī-i Muḥaṣṣalīn va Dānishjūyān-i Īrānī (Ittiḥādīyah-i Millī)