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On 2 March 1975,' Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran announced to a stunned nation the abolition of the multi-party system in Iran. Its replacement was a single-party, the Rastakhiz (Resurgent Party). During March 1975 and October 1978, efforts to organize the Rastakhiz Party were unsuccessful and led to the escalation of public animosities. On 1 October 1978, in the midst of an enormous political upheaval, the last Secretary General of the Party resigned and the Rastakhiz closed its doors. This decision, similar to others taken since the fall of Dr Musaddiq in 1953, had an aura of panic, the level of which increased after the national uprising of 1963 and soared following the oil price increases of 1973.
Over the 20 years since the Iranian revolution a number of memoirs have been written examining the politico-economic situation of the Pahlavi era. A large number of these memoirs were sponsored by the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The Center has implemented an Iranian Oral History Project, consisting of personal accounts of 131 individuals who according to the editor, 'a) played major roles in important political events and decisions from the 1920's to the 1970's, b) witnessed these events and decisions from close range'.2 Microfiche of most of these interviews is available at nine libraries around the world. Recently the Center has begun to publish a number of these interviews.
The political examination of the period inevitably gives rise to the question of how the Shah came up with the idea of a single party system. Responses do not shed light on who advised the Shah on various issues in general, on this policy in particular, and why the Shah accepted such obviously catastrophic advice. Abdolmajid Majidi, Minister of State and Director of the Plan and Budget Organization (1973-77) states: `the idea of the formation of the Rastakhiz Party. Where did such an idea suddenly come from? Who had suggested it? It is really a big question for me."3 This article intends to describe the circumstances under which the Shah was led to believe the single party system could save his failing hold over the nation. The author was present when the advice was originally presented to the Shah several months prior to...