Atlas / Comparisons / Bolsheviks vs Khomeinism
Bolsheviks and Khomeinism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on AU, SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | RSDLP(b) | Velayat-e faqih | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −09 | −03 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −05 | +10 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +08 | +09 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | +08 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −07 | +09 | 16 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +10 | +07 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
RSDLP(b) · CU −05
Culturally radical in the first phase: the most permissive family and gender law then in existence anywhere.
- Documented act or statuteDivorce on demand, civil marriage and the legalisation of abortion were introduced between 1917 and 1920.
- Documented act or statuteThe criminalisation of homosexuality was removed with the tsarist code in 1922.
Velayat-e faqih · CU +10
At the ceiling: compulsory dress, gender segregation and clerical authority over personal law.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2022–23 protests followed a death in morality police custody and were met with mass arrests and executions.
RSDLP(b) · ID −07
Internationalist and class-based rather than national: membership was defined by relation to production, not descent.
- Programme textThe Comintern was founded in 1919 on the premise that the revolution was not national.
- Documented act or statuteCoded −7 rather than lower because 'former people' were disenfranchised by class origin in the 1918 constitution.
Velayat-e faqih · ID +09
Coded +9: full membership requires adherence to the official confession.
- Documented act or statuteNon-recognised religious minorities, notably Bahá'ís, are excluded from higher education and public employment.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Bolsheviks
1903–1924 · Russia
A disciplined vanguard party seizes power in the name of the working class and imposes socialism from above.
Khomeinism
1979– · Iran
Guardianship of the jurist: sovereignty belongs to God and is exercised by a supreme clerical authority over an elected government.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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