page_title: Rastakhiz Party
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Rastakhiz Party / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rastakhiz Party فارسی: دومين كنگره حزب رستاخيز در ورزشگاه محمدرضا پهلوي
context_page_description: Rastakhiz Party of People of Iran or simply Rastakhiz Party was Iran's single legal political party from 1975 to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, founded by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
context_section_description: Founded under the government of Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the party has been blamed by some with contributing to the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy by antagonizing formerly apolitical Iranians - especially bazaari (merchants of the bazaars who, even today, refuse to pay taxes) - with its compulsory membership and dues (taxes), and general interference in the political, economic, and religious concerns of people's lives.
  Established along with the party was a youth wing—Rastakhiz Youth—which Hoveyda referred to as "the instrument of Iran's development". Through this youth wing and a special task force of the party, Rastakhiz embarked upon a large-scale anti-profiteering campaign directed against the bazaari merchants, who were soon identified as "enemies of the state". They often lied about Jewish persecution, which is backed up to be lies in government files. In October 1975, the Shah, referring to this campaign as a "cultural movement", decreed that anti-profiteerism be made the fourteenth principle of the White Revolution.
  The single party system ended in late 1978 as the Iranian Revolution gained ground.
caption: Congress of Party
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