Recent comments in /f/history

International_Bet_91 t1_j1owmb3 wrote

Reply to comment by ReecoElryk in What did the public actually want in the Iranian revolution of 1979? by ReecoElryk

I think it's also important to note that young, educated, Iranian communists -- living in exile in Europe because of the Shah's hatred of communists -- were the ones who popularized Khomeini's words by recording them in Europe and smuggling them into Iran. Pamphlets were not enough, the rural population was largely illiterate, and since mosques were monitored by the Shah's secret police, the tapes were key.

The communists saw Khomeini and his followers as useful idiots: they intended to use Khomeini's religious rhetoric to whip the masses into an anti-monarchist frenzy, and once the Shah was gone, the communists thought they could take over power.

As we know know, the communists underestimated the Mullahs' power and brutality: once the Shah was gone, the Islamists turned on the communists.

There have been some heart-breaking expressions of remorse from these communists in recent years The Cassette Tapes that caused the Iranian Revolution.

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Peter_deT t1_j1oico6 wrote

Reply to What did the public actually want in the Iranian revolution of 1979? by ReecoElryk

They overwhelmingly wanted the shah gone. What came after was not agreed.

I lived in Iran (teaching ) in 78, had Iranian friends and have tried to follow things since. Iran as a whole has several splits - it's basically all Shi'a, which is a fairly flexible branch of Islam (you choose your ayatollah and follow his teachings, but can switch - and it acknowledges the need to interpret the Koran and hadith in the light of modernity). But the urban middle and upper classes are all closely connected and look back to the pre-Islamic Persian past as much as to Shi'ism (if you are named Darioush or Kyroush then you're 'Persian', Hassan and Ali and Reza are Shi'a names).

The urban poor and rural people were offended by the Shah's corruption and over-riding traditional norms, and disturbed by his Westernisation. The middle and upper classes were outraged by the corruption and the abuses of the secret police, and also offended by the vulgar side of westernisation. They united against the shah after a couple of incidents. The established opposition politicians (people like Bazargan) were rejected when it became clear they were fence-sitters.

After the shah fled, it became a struggle between Khomeini (whose political theories were and are controversial), as the leader of the poor and the committed Shi'a - who wanted a Shi'a republic - and the middle classes who wanted something more like the Mossadegh period. Khomeini won. The new constitution was approved by referendum, with a high turn-out, despite calls from some opposition for a boycott (the margin is exaggerated, but it was widely endorsed). The Iraqi attack consolidated the regime.

Since then Iran has evolved from a petro-state to a mid-sized industrial power. Sanctions have spurred this - and also cemented a sense of grievance. Middle class protests break out every few years, and the politics continue to swing within a limited range.

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