The Women and Revolution Iran Set — D. L. Reissner (Ed.)

Women and Revolution Nos. 18 & 19 — Iran, Revolution, and Women’s Resistance
Edited by D. L. Reissner
Spartacist Publishing Company · New York · 1979
Two Original First-Printing Issues
Curated Publication-Event Collection

The Collection:
A two-issue curated collection preserving Women and Revolution’s contemporaneous coverage of the Iranian Revolution during its first year. No. 18, Spring 1979 documents the first major demonstrations by Iranian women against compulsory veiling and warns that the overthrow of the Shah could produce a new form of authoritarian rule. No. 19, Fall 1979, designated a “Special Issue on Iran,” returns months later as clerical authority consolidated. Together, the issues preserve the movement from early resistance and uncertainty to sustained opposition.

Included Issues:

• Women and Revolution — No. 18 · Spring 1979
  Centered on “Iranian Women Face Islamic Reaction,” documenting the March 1979 demonstrations against compulsory veiling and the emerging rollback of women’s rights. Additional contents address communist textile organizing, the Spartacist Party’s 1978 campaign, and the labor film Norma Rae. Original printed self-wrappers with 50¢ cover price.

• Women and Revolution — No. 19 · Fall 1979
  Designated “Special Issue on Iran.” Principal contents include “Down With Islamic Reaction! For Workers Revolution in Iran!,” “No to the Veil!,” and “Fatima Khalil Tour: The Truth About Iran,” combining political analysis, photographs, and firsthand testimony concerning women, workers, political repression, and the Iranian left. Original printed self-wrappers with 50¢ cover price.

Condition:
Very Good+ overall. Both issues retain their original printed self-wrappers and 50¢ cover prices, with light age toning, minor handling wear, and slight corner softening. No. 19 bears a small penciled notation near the upper-right corner of the front wrapper. Both remain firmly bound with clean interiors and no significant tears, chips, staining, detached leaves, or institutional markings observed.

Story Of The Collection

In Spring 1979, Women and Revolution warned that Iran’s revolution might replace one authoritarian order with another. By Fall, it believed that transformation was already underway.

Only weeks after the Shah’s overthrow, Iranian women demonstrated against compulsory veiling and the erosion of their rights. No. 18 reported that resistance while the revolution’s direction remained uncertain, treating the conflict over women’s freedom as an early test of what the new political order would become.

Six months later, No. 19 returned to an Iran in which clerical authority was rapidly consolidating. The magazine now attacked not only the emerging Islamic Republic, but sections of the international left that had supported Khomeini primarily because he opposed the Shah and Western influence.

No. 18 preserved the warning. No. 19 preserved what happened when the warning became reality.

Why It’s In The Collection

The Women and Revolution Iran Set belongs in Consigned to Darkness because opposition to authoritarianism loses its meaning when repression is excused because it comes from the “right” side of a revolution.

These openly Marxist publications opposed the Shah while refusing to accept that anti-imperialism justified compulsory religious conformity, political repression, or restrictions on women’s freedom. More importantly, they made that argument while events were still unfolding.

Preserved together, the two original issues form a contemporaneous documentary sequence: women resisting what the revolution might become in Spring 1979, followed by dissenters confronting what it was becoming by Fall.

Between these two issues, warning became witness.

Collection Categories: Women’s History & Feminism · Witness Literature · Human Rights · Political Dissent · Political Movements · Anti-Authoritarianism · Anti-Totalitarianism · Religious Conscience · Labor & Economic Justice · Free Expression · Publication-Event Object

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Authentication Evidence

• The collection comprises two original 1979 issues of Women and Revolution: No. 18, Spring 1979, and No. 19, Fall 1979.

• Both retain their original printed self-wrappers and 50¢ cover prices.

• Both identify the publication as the Journal of the Women’s Commission of the Spartacist League; internal mastheads use the fuller designation Journal of the Spartacist League Central Committee Commission for Work Among Women.

• Mastheads identify D. L. Reissner as editor and Spartacist Publishing Company, New York, as publisher.

• No. 18 carries the Spring 1979 designation and contains “Iranian Women Face Islamic Reaction,” corresponding to its cover headline and documented contents.

• No. 19 carries the Fall 1979 designation, is designated “Special Issue on Iran,” and contains “No to the Veil!” and “Fatima Khalil Tour: The Truth About Iran.”

• Wrapper designs, running headers, mastheads, typography, paper stock, issue dates, publisher information, and contents correspond with independently archived copies of both issues.

• No evidence of facsimile production, replacement wrappers, altered publication information, or later reissue is observed.

• Both magazines are authenticated as original First Edition · First Printing issues.

• The two-issue collection is curatorially assembled; no claim is made that Nos. 18 and 19 were originally issued or marketed together.