<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Based on many original documents, this book surveys Iranian political history from 1941 through 1957, focusing on the Tudeh Party: the only substantial left-wing organization in Iran during this period. Topics include the party's relationship with the labor movement in Iran; its place in the mass movement demanding the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; its attitudes towards the country's various governments; its relationship with the Soviet Union; and, in particular, its dealing with Moscow's attempt to establish a pro-Soviet autonomous government in Iranian Azerbaijan in 1945. As it discusses the various blunders and failures made by the party over the years, this history considers how close the Tudeh Party came to being destroyed following the muses on the Anglo-American <I>coup d'état</I> against Mosaddeq's government in 1953.</P>