Iran: Tudeh or Iranian Communist Party poster 'Workers of the World Unite', c. 1979

The Hezb-e Tudeh Iran or 'Party of the Masses of Iran' is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mohsen Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddeq's campaign to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and his term as prime minister. The crackdown that followed the 1953 coup against Mosaddeq is said to have 'destroyed' the party, although it still continued to operate clandestinely. The party still exists, but is much weaker as a result of the banning of the party and mass arrests by the Islamic Republic in 1982 and the executions of political prisoners in 1988.