⬛️ Mostafa_Aleahmad
Dancing with the Devil
A Reflection on the Crisis of the Left in Iran

Mostafa Aleahmad, Instagram
February 6, 2026

When the left prefers dance with the devil than with freedom.

Part of the tragedies of today's Iran can be considered the result of the actions of generations that continue to live an ideological life.

..the paradox: Leftists who love Fidel and Che Guevara and a peaceful life do not go to communist countries for fear of totalitarian tyranny, do not stand in line in front of the Russian and Cuban embassies, but choose the prosperity of capitalism, the security of the free market, and freedom of speech of the West, and live in the West or in countries with Western models.

The dominance of ideology of any kind puts man on the path of prejudice and false consciousness. One of the forms of this ideological life in Iran is a type of leftism centered on the idea of state domination.



In a historical period, the left movement in Europe and many countries was an intellectual gesture. The left summarizes all human problems in capitalism, but the idea that the left itself began in the name of justice and freedom, when it actually took power in some countries, especially in the East, accepted the "state" domination, the same state that in the classical Marxist tradition was not considered the end of the governmental model, but rather a transitional stage.. However, the ideology of the left in the East became so hostile to the West that the "state" became an eternal, sacred, and totalitarian pillar in the Leninist and Stalinist tradition..

But here is the paradox: Leftists who love Fidel and Che Guevara and a peaceful life do not go to communist countries for fear of totalitarian tyranny, do not stand in line in front of the Russian and Cuban embassies, but choose the prosperity of capitalism, the security of the free market, and freedom of speech of the West, and live in the West or in countries with Western models.

Yet, due to the same blind jealousy, they hate the West. The Iranian left's relationship with the West is a love-hate relationship. While it wants Western freedom, it calls it arrogance and colonialism, but it ignores the colonialism of China and Russia, which impoverished and destroyed their satellite countries, tortured and killed millions of people in death camps. 

This level of leftism game eventually fell in love with governments that are apparently enemies of America and the West, but in reality, all their actions end up benefiting the West and capitalism. The authoritarian regime is willing to pay tribute to all the great and small powers in the East and the West, but deprives its own people of prosperity and civil liberties. Some of the same revolutionary forces that in the past mobilized their supporters with anti-imperialist slogans are today either shareholders in companies and banks affiliated with the government or, in the cultural model, columnists in newspapers and media outlets that feed on the network of state rents while at the same time posing as opposition. 

This “intra-structural opposition” can be considered having its root in the art of survival under corrupt systems, a reformist gesture that earns its bread from government rent-seeking, buys acceptance abroad, and simultaneously appears in the role of opposition and victim, and finally votes in a government referendum to reserve its seat in a new guise.

Yes, today’s disaster is not just the product of repression, it is the product of this dual cooperation and coexistence of elites and intellectuals with the power of evil.

When elites and intellectuals, instead of standing up to dogmatism, reactionary thinking and evil, make deals with the forces of darkness and ignorance simply through hostility to the West, they give it such power that now it is no longer easy to escape this vicious circle, especially when the left prefers to dance with the devil than with freedom.