The Cambridge history of socialism

Abstract

"During the reign of Kawād I (AD 498-531), king of Ērānšahr (Realm of the Iranians), a Zoroastrian priest by the name of Mazdak, son of Bāmdād, appears in some sources whose rulings about property and ownership have been deemed proto-socialist. According to sources in Middle Persian (henceforth: MP) of the late Sasanian Empire (AD 224-651), Mazdak promoted the sharing of women and property. The socialist message of Mazdak called for the creation of an egalitarian system of the distribution of wealth during a time of famine and political turmoil. The lower classes appear to have favored Mazdak's beliefs, when he claimed his rulings were based on his interpretation of the Zoroastrian holy text, the Avesta. The reason for Mazdak's ruling was to bring aid to the hungry and the naked, but more importantly, he wanted to make a substantial social and economic change in an otherwise stratified Iranian society.1 With Mazdak and the backing of the king, a social and economic revolution took place in the Sasanian Empire, which empowered the state at the cost of the nobility, and enabled the kings of Iran to rule for another two centuries"--