'It does not compare to the bright dialectical materialism propounded by Marx, Engels, and Lenin': Revolutionary refractions and Marxist critique of Freudianism in pre-revolutionary Iran.

This article examines the critical reception of Freudian psychoanalysis in pre-revolutionary Iran through the lens of the Tudeh Party, Iran's prominent communist party, focusing on the 1960s translation of Calvin S. Hall's *A Primer of Freudian Psychology* by Hushang Tizabi, a Tudeh-affiliated translator. Tizabi's polemical preface replaces the original introductory chapter, framing Freud's theories as incompatible with Marxist dialectical materialism and reflecting Soviet-style critiques that labeled psychoanalysis a bourgeois science. The study highlights how translation in Iran's humanities and social sciences often involved ideological "rewritings" that adapted Western concepts to local political and cultural contexts, illustrating the complex interplay between imported intellectual discourses and indigenous sociopolitical conditions. This case exemplifies how translation paratexts can transform ostensibly neutral texts into vehicles for political critique within restrictive environments.