By Lewis Loflin
In 1979, I was in Berlin when the Mullahs seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. I knew of the communists working with them, betting they could grab power in the chaos. The Islamist takeover wouldn’t have succeeded without that leftist alliance—groups that today, in the West, join Progressives to enable Islamic extremism. Their shared aim: dismantle Western culture entirely. In Iran, the Mullahs turned on their leftist allies, forging an oppressive theocracy that Western Progressives still hesitate to condemn.
This pattern persists: Leftism sees political Islam as a tool to erode private property, individualism, and merit—pursuing socialism at any cost—while Islamists exploit leftist chaos to expand their influence. Leftism amplifies Islamism’s threat; without it, Islamism falters, yet the Left leans on Islam’s disruptive force.
This alliance has deep roots. Stephen Schwartz, in “The Left and Islam Apologetics” (First Things, February 11, 2015), points to Karl Marx. During the 1853 Crimean War, Marx backed the Ottoman Empire—then accused of atrocities against Christians and non-Turkish Muslims—over Western powers:
It is not to be denied that Turkey, the weak state, has shown more true courage… than either of her powerful allies [Britain and France]… If there be a general war, it will not be the fault of Turkey, but next to Russia, of France and England.
Marx praised Omer Pasha Latas, a brutal Ottoman figure, setting a precedent: defend Muslim autocrats, blame the West.
Vladimir Lenin echoed this, enthused by the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, Persia’s 1906 revolution, and the 1908 Young Turk movement. He wrote:
In Persia, Russian counter-revolution played… a decisive role, while in Turkey the revolution was at once confronted with a counter-revolutionary coalition… All these fine words [of European sympathy] are typical of the base bourgeois hypocrisy of Europe’s reactionary governments.
Muslims as victims, the West as culprit—modernization efforts dismissed as false.
After 1917, Bolsheviks granted Muslims under Russian rule special status. The 1920 Baku Congress saw Muslim delegates, with Russian backing, urge war on the West. Karl Radek declared:
We appeal… to the warlike feelings which once inspired the peoples of the East… Long live the Red East, which together with the workers of Europe will create a new civilization under Communism!
Schwartz notes anti-imperialism naturally binds Leftism to radical Islam, both posing as colonial victims. Yet alliances fracture: Iran’s leftists learned this the hard way.
Today’s alliance reflects this history, amplified by a university-bred, gnostic Progressivism. As I argue in Oikophobia: Why Progressives Reject Our Traditions, the Left adopts a secular faith—degrees as revelation, the state as god—decoding hidden Western guilt. Islamism fits as a victim of imperialism, a partner against tradition.
The paradox stands out: LGBT activists march with Islamists—“Trans people for Palestine”—despite Hamas’s hostility. This gnostic conviction deems the West’s flaws paramount, blinding Progressives to allies’ threats, trusting the state to resolve the tension.
In Berlin, I saw the Iranian Revolution unfold—communists allied with Mullahs, expecting to seize power. How did that work out? The Tudeh Party and other leftists helped topple the Shah in 1979, only to face Khomeini’s wrath. By 1982, the Tudeh was banned, its leaders executed or jailed—over 5,000 dissidents killed in the decade’s purges. A theocracy rose, medieval in scope, proving Islamists exploit leftist support, then discard it.
Leftists see Islamism as a weapon against merit and property—socialism’s foes. Islamists see leftist disruption as opportunity. In Europe, open-border policies swelled Muslim populations—15% of France by 2020—fueling incidents like the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack (12 dead). In the U.S., post-2020 unrest saw leftist rhetoric shield Islamist gains. Progressives deflect blame, echoing Marx, while Islamists bide time.
Schwartz suggests the Left betrays Enlightenment values—free speech, secularism—by shielding Islamism. Yet its anti-Western zeal, from Marx to Lenin, predates such ideals. Today’s Critical Theory, with its gnostic decoding of power, casts Islamists as co-victims in a struggle against the West.
The Left needs Islamism’s energy; Islamism needs leftist leverage. Without apologetics, Islamism’s reach shrinks—no mass migration, no “Trans for Palestine.” But the Left risks Iran’s fate: allies today, purged tomorrow.
From Marx’s Ottoman praise to Iran’s revolution I witnessed in Berlin, Leftism and Islamism unite against the West—property, individualism, merit. The Left’s gnostic faith, born in universities, sees hidden truths in Western sin, aligning with Islamism’s fury. Both exploit each other, but Iran warns of instability. This alliance reveals their stakes—and the West’s challenge.
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Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article, and Stephen Schwartz for his original insights. The final edits and perspective are my own.
