Tudeh Party in Mazandaran (A Case Study on Tudeh Party Members’ Attack on Gendarmerie Station in Chalus in April 1946)

In September 1941 the Allied Forces entered Iranian territory from north and south. In the north the Soviet forces entered in three columns. The first column occupied Rezaa’iyyeh and Tabriz. The second column went toward Tehran after occupying several towns in Guilan and Mazandaran Provinces. And the third column entered Iran in Bandar Shah (Bandar Turkman) and after occupying Gorgan they continued marching to Semnan. The most important outcome the entrance of Red Army in Mazandaran was shaping soviet-oriented groups and parties. After the occupation of Iran in October 12th 1941 Tudeh Party was established. After the first Tudeh Party Conference in Tehran, the branches of this party expanded in northern towns. On October 9th 1942 Tehran Provincial Conference was held in Jamshid Keshavarz’es house (brother of Fereydoon Keshavarz). In the same year Tudeh Party could establish its provincial committees in 5 provinces (Azerbaijan, Khorassan, Guilan, and Isfahan) and they also could shape local committees in 19 other small towns. Tudeh Party had local organizations in towns of Zirab and Pol-e Sefid in Mazandaran. In 1942 Tudeh Party had about 300 members in Tehran and about the same figure in counties. In 1943 this figure was about 700 in Tehran and in northern provinces become more than 1500 members.