CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

On the Iranian Revolution

A demonstration in Iran against the Shah, 1978 at College Bridge, Tehran. Wikimedia Commons. GFDL

When trying to figure out what’s going on in the Middle East in general and the war in Iran in particular, I have relied quite a lot upon the works of Mouin Rabbani and Trita Parsi, both of whom have done an exemplary job of explaining ongoing events to wide audiences. I’d encourage anyone who wants to improve their understanding of what’s happening to check out these scholars’ interviews and essays. There are also excellent books one ought to read on the subject, not least of which is Nikki Keddie’s Modern Iran, which, when it comes to the Iranian Revolution, allows us to think historically and analytically about what’s often presented as a riddle.

Before 1979, revolutions — whether in 1776, 1789, 1798, the 1820s, 1848, 1905, 1917, 1949, or 1959 — were broadly speaking politically liberal or left. The 1979 Iranian Revolution, however, was the first modern political revolution that was expressly Islamist. Indeed, this type of revolution was so new that both the USA and the USSR were caught off guard by it and initially confused by what it implied.

Why, then, was there a religious revolution in Iran? Every right-minded person who’s discussed the ongoing war has noted that in 1953 the democratically elected secular prime minister Mossadeq was overthrown by the United States and Britain and replaced by the dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the so-called playboy prince. Yet while the 1953 coup helps explain the enduring mistrust many Iranians have of the US, it in itself does not explain the revolution that occurred 26 years later. It’s therefore also critical, following Keddie, to think about the contingencies contained in the timeline I would like to provide you. Doing so will allow us to answer our riddle, or perhaps think about whether it’s really a riddle at all:

Following the 1953 coup, the Shah disbands Mossadeq’s National Front and the communist Tudeh, and in 1957 the Shah further consolidates power by establishing, with Israeli and US assistance, the SAVAK, which spies on, imprisons, tortures, and executes opponents of the regime. In 1960, JFK is elected US president and encourages allies including Iran to institute reforms in order to keep revolution and socialism at bay.  In 1962, the Shah institutes the White Revolution, leading to disastrous land reforms and the increased secularization of society, including bringing state education to the countryside and granting women the vote. The ulama is livid with the reforms. Among other complaints, the religious class is upset that the Shah’s promotion of secular education causes job losses among religious teachers. As in many other cases, the........

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