I'm a very far-left leaning individual (at various times described as Communist, Anarchist, Anarcho-Communist, "whatever-the-hell-I-feel-like-there-are-no-labels", etc), so I find myself very intrigued by the historical development of "Socialism".
I encountered Mazdakism a while back and find myself really curious about it. Reading the Wikipedia page was interesting, but leaves me wanting to know much more (given that the coverage is brief; what more can one expect from the wikipedia). I understand, however, that Mazdakism was, and perhaps still is, a persecuted religion for a very long time. My question is two-fold:
Have there been any new developments or finds concerning it? If not, are there any recommended books about it and the time period surrounding Kavadh I? Or perhaps the twilight of the Sassanid Empire in general?
What do you guys think is the likelihood that the Mazdaki text, the Desnad, will ever be found intact? In regards to the previous question, has it already? How much exists from cobbled-together sources? Was the Desnad treated like normal heretical writings and burned where encountered; or did a good deal of such writings (let's take Manichaenism as an example) manage to survive thanks to the fairly rapid collapse of Zoroastrian power in the 7th century? I understand that Islam treated Zoroastrians variously as "People of the Book"; did they discriminate between 'standard' Zoroastrianism and heretical sects?
That's all I can think to ask right now. If I can actually generate any responses, I may ask more about Zoroastrian history in general. I understand that Mazdakism was held to inspire a later "Khurramite" movement, which I also know nothing about!
In case anyone's interested, I actually learned about it from playing the game "Crusader Kings 2"; if you choose to play as the tiny, obscure, doomed Zoroastrian Satrapy of Merv (House of Karen, Vandad I - who curiously doesn't seem to actually exist at this time. It should be Quhyar, and it's dubious that even he would still live, or Bukhara would remain independent, by 867). Since your religious authority is by default very low, provinces readily embrace heretical teachings; particularly Mazdakism. I used to purge it, but now I encourage it!
I will not be able to give you in-depth answers to your questions, but these elements may help you:
As for the new developments on this topic, Patricia Crone (a specialist of early Islam) recently (2012) published a book called The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran. Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism. I have not read it (yet), and as Crone's books usually are, it is probably not bedside reading, but I do know that the gist of her argument is that Islamic Iranian “heresies” are inspired by “popular” Zoroastrianism; she makes special mention of the famous accusation of wife sharing, common to Islamic heterodoxies and mazdakism, and tries to explain how this development fits in Zoroastrian theology, and how it shows the vitality of the Iranian faith.
Instinctively I would tend to say “extremely unlikely.” Generally speaking, it is quite rare to rediscover texts, except in areas whose climate allow for the conversation of papyri (i.e. mostly Egypt), though there are rare and coveted windfalls. But the textual transmission for the Sassanian Empire is particularly and sadly poor. With regard to written evidence, we only have a late and precious re-writing of a native historical tradition, a few texts, and seals. For the worthy rival of the Late Roman Empire, this is particularly disappointing. However, my instinctive appreciation is qualified by the fact that, according to the wikipedia page (and its source), the existence of a corpus of Mazdakite texts is documented relatively late. If we consider the fact that archæology in Iran is not easy for political reasons, and that this late date may give a small chance of survival in a private collection, I would maybe say “very unlikely.”