1. Early Life and Background
Haydar Khan Amo-oghli's early life was shaped by his family's background and his education in the Russian Empire, which exposed him to early socialist ideas and laid the groundwork for his revolutionary career.
1.1. Birth and Family
Haydar Khan was born on December 20, 1880, as the second son to a family with six sons and five daughters. His father was a practicing physician, and his mother was the daughter of a landowner. While some sources identify his birthplace as Urmia in Iran's Azerbaijan province, others suggest he was born in Russian Armenia. Regardless of his exact birthplace, his family, the Tariverdievs, later resettled in Alexandropol (modern-day Gyumri) in Russian Armenia when he was six years old. He later received the nickname "Amo-oghli" from workers in Baku.
1.2. Education and Early Activities
Haydar Khan began his education in Alexandropol, continuing his studies in higher institutions in Yerevan and then Tbilisi. In 1899, he graduated from the Tiflis Higher Technical School with a degree in electrical engineering. He claimed to have been politically active from the age of 12. In 1898, while still a student in Tbilisi, he became involved with a group of socialists and was introduced to the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), reportedly joining the party that year. However, some historians suggest that his claim of joining the RSDLP in 1898, the party's founding year, might have been an exaggeration to inflate his historical importance, as it was unusually early compared to other Muslim activists. Around 1900, he worked as an electrical engineer, mechanic, and boring engineer in Baku. By 1901, he had formally become a member of the Baku branch of the RSDLP.
2. Activities in Iran
Haydar Khan's return to Iran marked the beginning of his intense and often radical involvement in the country's turbulent political landscape, playing a decisive role in the Persian Constitutional Revolution through violent and strategic actions.
2.1. Arrival in Iran and Initial Activities
In October 1903, Haydar Khan arrived in Tehran, a city on the cusp of revolutionary change. Prior to this, he had spent 15 months in Mashhad. He initially worked for the Haj Amin Al-zarb electrical plant as an engineer and also for railway, insurance, and transport companies. As a young man, he was initially inexperienced in Iranian society and culture and unfamiliar with the Persian language, but he was driven by a strong sense of mission and a belief in his exceptional love for Iran and its people. In his memoirs, he recounted an incident in Khorasan where he humiliated an official, stating his purpose was to demonstrate to the uneducated people that officials were ordinary human beings. He also became involved in the establishment of local branches of the illegal social-democratic organization Himmat and the Iranian Social Democratic Party, acting under the directives of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
2.2. Activities during the Constitutional Revolution
Upon the death of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar and the ascension of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, Haydar Khan's role in Iranian politics became more significant and radical. Although he may have overstated his involvement in early revolutionary acts, such as sending the first group to take refuge at the British Embassy, his influence grew substantially.
On the day the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907 was signed, dividing Iran into spheres of influence, the powerful Iranian premier, Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan, was assassinated in front of the Majles. Haydar Khan later admitted to masterminding this assassination, a claim corroborated by Hassan Taqizadeh, though Taqizadeh denied the existence of a "Terror Committee." Amin al-Soltan had been working to reconcile the Shah and Parliament; his death shattered the parliamentary coalition he had built and deepened the Shah's suspicion of Parliament, leading to heightened conflict.
Haydar Khan also targeted other political elites who sought to mediate between the Shah and the Constitutionalists, including Mirza Ahmad Khan Ala-al-Dawla and the Khedmat Society, which comprised old regime members with constitutionalist sympathies. His most audacious act of political terrorism occurred on February 28, 1908, when a bomb was thrown at the Shah's motorcade. Known by then as "Bombist" for his terrorist activities, Haydar Khan was arrested for the plot but swiftly released due to the intervention of his Social Democrat comrades in Parliament. This act of violence directly preceded the Shah's closing of Parliament, escalating the conflict into a civil war, which culminated in the dethroning of Mohammad Ali Shah in 1909, a landmark event in the Middle East.
During this period of conflict, Haydar Khan temporarily fled to the Caucasus, where he assisted in procuring men and materials for the revolutionaries before returning to fight alongside them. After the Shah's dethronement, he joined the radical Democratic Party and was instrumental in organizing the assassination of Ayatollah Mirza Sayyed Abdullah Behbahani in January 1910, who led the conservative wing of the Constitutionalists. Later, under the government of Mirza Hasan Khan Mostawfi-al-Mamalek, Haydar Khan supported the Democrats and governmental forces in attacks against Sattar Khan and Baqer Khan's groups, as well as the Mojahed, who were veterans of the Constitutional Revolution providing military support to the Conservatives. Allying with Yeprem Khan, the Armenian head of the police force, Haydar Khan successfully disarmed these factions, an action that indirectly led to Sattar Khan's death from an injury sustained during the operation.
2.3. Post-Revolution Activities and Exile
By March 1911, Haydar Khan was compelled to leave Iran. The Conservative forces had regrouped, and the Russians, having invaded and occupied Iranian Azerbaijan, were unwilling to tolerate a revolutionary presence on their border. He then traveled to Europe. Though documentation from this period is scarce, some sources suggest a meeting with Vladimir Lenin in Prague in 1912 at the 6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In October 1915, he joined the "Iran Committee," a Democratic Party exile leadership group established in Berlin with support from the German Imperial Foreign Office, led by Seyyed Hasan Taqizadeh.
As World War I intensified, Haydar Khan was tasked by the Iran Committee with forming a pro-Central Powers volunteer army in Iran. In December, he traveled to Baghdad and met with Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, the commander of the joint German-Ottoman forces. However, his lack of military acumen and his refusal to accept existing command structures, coupled with Iran's Central Powers aligning more with the Ottoman Empire than Germany, led to his exclusion from the Iran Committee. He returned to Berlin in October 1916. In May 1917, he departed for Denmark, then traveled through Scandinavia before entering the Russian Soviet Republic.
3. Activities in Russia and Post-WWI
Following his exile, Haydar Khan continued his revolutionary activities in Russia, becoming deeply involved in the post-October Revolution political landscape, though often embroiled in internal disputes within the burgeoning Iranian Communist movement.
3.1. Political Activities in Russia
Between December 1917 and late 1919, Haydar Khan primarily resided in Petrograd and Moscow. During this period, he participated in the International Propaganda Department of the Central Muslim People's Commissariat within the People's Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs and the Central Bureau of Muslim Communist Organizations. He also held a key position in organizations providing aid to lower-class Iranian expatriates living in Moscow.
The 1917 Russian Revolution presented a new opportunity for Haydar Khan. In 1921, he participated as a prominent leader of the Iranian delegation at the Congress of the Peoples of the East in Baku.
3.2. Conflicts within the Iranian Communist Party
In February 1920, with a recommendation from Leon Trotsky, Haydar Khan was dispatched to Tashkent in the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with the aim of organizing Iranian expatriate forces for an anti-British struggle. However, he soon found himself in fierce conflict with the local executive committee. Haydar Khan insisted on being the sole military leader, stating his desire to be "like Comrade Trotsky in Russia, but in Persia." He went further by criticizing Avetis Sultan-Zade, an influential Iranian Bolshevik, for his Armenian background. This led to his exclusion from the executive committee. As a result, he did not attend the founding congress of the Communist Party of Persia (ICP) held by Sultan-Zade in Bandar-e Anzali in June 1920, choosing instead to remain in Ashgabat until September.
4. Gilan Republic and Later Years
Haydar Khan's later years were dominated by his involvement in the Gilan Republic, an attempt to establish a revolutionary government in northern Iran, a period marked by both strategic leadership and intense political infighting that ultimately led to his demise.
4.1. Role in the Gilan Republic
In September 1920, Haydar Khan was selected as a delegate to the Congress of the Peoples of the East in Baku. There, he raised concerns about the volatile situation in the Gilan Republic, the revolutionary government established in northern Iran, and criticized Sultan-Zade and the ICP Central Committee for the ongoing turmoil. Haydar Khan and his supporters demanded the resignation of Sultan-Zade's faction and their replacement by his own group. The intense dispute between the two factions was ultimately resolved by Joseph Stalin, who, through a resolution by the Bolshevik Central Committee's Caucasus Bureau on November 11, decided to establish a new ICP Central Committee with Haydar Khan as its secretary.
As the new leader of the Iranian Communist Party, Haydar Khan issued a new thesis on January 26, 1921. This thesis marked a significant shift, withdrawing the previous line of immediate communist revolution and adopting a strategy of collaboration between the proletariat and the middle bourgeoisie. He then focused on uniting the fragmented revolutionary forces within the Gilan Republic, specifically aiming to bring together the right-wing faction of Mirza Kuchik Khan and the left-wing faction of Ehsanollah Khan Dustdar. By May, he successfully mediated their disputes and reunified the revolutionary government in Gilan.
4.2. Arrest and Death
Despite his efforts in Gilan, the Comintern leadership did not trust Haydar Khan and instead supported Sultan-Zade, who had been removed from the ICP Central Committee. Mikhail Pavlovich, a Comintern propagandist, even suggested that "Haydar Khan's group should act openly without masks and not wear communist summer shirts," indicating deep suspicion. The Comintern Executive Committee summoned Haydar Khan to Moscow, but he refused the order. Furthermore, Haydar Khan disregarded the Soviet-Iran Friendship Treaty of 1921, which aimed to normalize relations between the Soviet Union and the Tehran government, and secretly began moving forces into Gilan to fight the central government.
Haydar Khan's defiance led to a loss of support from the Soviet Azerbaijani leadership and the party's Caucasus Bureau. On May 24, the Azerbaijan Communist Party Central Committee resolved to revoke his party membership card. On June 4, the Caucasus Bureau decided to dissolve the Iranian Communist Party Central Committee, but Haydar Khan again refused to comply, evading arrest warrants and escaping to Mirza Kuchik Khan's camp by the end of the month. However, by this point, even Kuchik Khan had abandoned Haydar Khan, who had lost all organizational backing. On September 29, Haydar Khan was arrested during a coup orchestrated by Kuchik Khan's faction. He was killed on October 15, 1921, near Fumen in the Gilan region. Accounts vary regarding whether Mirza Kuchik Khan was aware of the killing. Following his death, his body was extensively embalmed and reportedly smuggled out of the country to France.
5. Thought and Ideology
Haydar Khan's political philosophy was a blend of socialist, communist, and nationalist ideas, reflecting the complex revolutionary environment of early 20th-century Iran. Despite his association with Bolsheviks, Iranian researchers often portray him as a devout Muslim and a committed nationalist who actively participated in the Constitutional Revolution. Indeed, during Bolshevik conferences, his nationalistic speeches sometimes met with ridicule and boos. His revolutionary theory was, at times, described as rudimentary, based on a form of Islamic socialism rooted in Sharia. Nevertheless, he firmly believed that a national revolution would ultimately transform into a social revolution, indicating a progressive, albeit perhaps loosely defined, ideological framework that sought to integrate national liberation with social transformation.
6. Evaluation and Legacy
Haydar Khan Amo-oghli's life and actions have been subject to varied interpretations by historians and political analysts, reflecting different national and ideological perspectives.
6.1. Diverse Historical Interpretations
The scarcity of definitive historical documents has led to starkly contrasting evaluations of Haydar Khan. Iranian scholars tend to portray him as a pious Muslim and an ardent nationalist who actively contributed to the Constitutional Revolution. This perspective highlights his commitment to Iranian self-determination and his religious background.
In stark contrast, Soviet Union researchers and, subsequently, the Tudeh Party of Iran, retrospectively elevated Haydar Khan to the status of a "true Bolshevik." Despite his actual adherence to social-democratic principles throughout the Constitutional Revolution and his later conflicts with the left-wing elements within the Iranian Communist Party (such as Avetis Sultan-Zade), Soviet historiography largely ignored these nuances. After the key figures of the Gilan Revolution had passed away or were purged, Haydar Khan was mythologized as a pioneering figure among Iranian Bolsheviks, a narrative that served to legitimize the Soviet influence and communist movements in the region.
6.2. Impact on Posterity
Haydar Khan's activities had a lasting impact on Iranian politics and communist movements, particularly in Soviet historiography. Immediately following his death, the government of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic began providing a pension to his family. In 1968, the Soviet federal government further elevated his status, honoring him with a position equivalent to the "26 Baku Commissars" who were killed by anti-revolutionary forces, solidifying his place in Soviet revolutionary pantheon. This post-mortem veneration cemented his image as a revolutionary hero, ensuring his memory endured, albeit within a carefully constructed narrative that suited Soviet ideological aims.