 The State and Revolution in Iran
Hossein Bashiriyeh
Croom Helm
The 1978 Islamic revolution in Iran has had wide-ranging consequences. This book analyses the distant and proximate causes of this revolution as well as the dynamics of power which it has set in motion since its victory. Using concepts and theories derived from contemporary political sociology the study seeks to explain the complex and far-reaching processes which produced the revolution, beginning in the late nineteenth century.
In explaining the more proximate causes of the revolution, the book analyses the nature of the old regime and its internal contradictions; the emergence of some fundamental conflicts of interest between the state and the upper class; the economic crisis of 1975-1978 which made possible a revolutionary mass immobilization; and the emergence of a new religious interpretation of political authority and the unusual spread of the ideology of political Islam among a segment of the modern intelligentsia.
The period following the fall of the monarchy has been studied in terms of the classical model of revolution, derived from the case of the French Revolution. In general, revolutions tend to divide and polarize society. Following the victory of the Islamic revolution, numerous divisions and conflicts arose — from urban and rural class conflicts to tribal and communal conflicts. These are studied in detail. This book is a political sociology of the dynamics of power in a changing society. It has a theoretical concern in that by analyzing the case under study it illuminates the principles underlying all revolutions. It makes an attempt to relate the diverse aspects of class, ideology and economic structure in order to provide an understanding of the political processes.
Contents
Preface
Introduction: Analytical Framework / 1
1. The Evolution of the State Structure / 7
2. The Old Regime: The Rule of the Monarchy / 29
3. The Rise of a Revolutionary Ideology: Resurgence of Islamic Nationalism / 53
4. The Crisis of the Economy and the Crisis of the Dictatorship / 84
5. The Coming of the Revolution / 111
6. Towards the Reconstitution of the State / 125
7. The Rule of the Fundamentalist Clergy / 166
Postscript: The Thermidor / 179
Conclusion / 184
Select Bibliography / 186
Index / 197
PREFACE
The present book is in the main an outgrowth of research originally carried out for my doctoral thesis in Iran in 1980. Apart from personal observations, contacts and travels, especially in the western provinces in connection with the question of the minorities, I conducted interviews with the Plan Organization and the Ministries of Commerce and Economy on government-business relations. The Statistical Centre and the Central Bank were helpful in providing government data and information and the Ministry of National Guidance allowed me to use its archives. For the newspapers and sources prior to the revolution, I used the Library of the Majles and the Central Library of Tehran University, as well as the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
I would like to express my thanks to Dr Barry Munslow of the University of Liverpool, Dr. David Pool of the University of Manchester, Mr. Hans Schadee, and Professor Nikki Keddie of the University of California for their intellectual support and incisive comments. Professor Keddie read the manuscript for the publishers and made helpful comments on the structure of the study, which were gratefully taken into consideration in the rewrite.
Finally, I owe a special debt to my sister, Moulood, for her assistance with the laborious job of going through piles of numerous newspapers published after the revolution.
Currency and Calendar
One pound sterling = 140 rials, approximately.
The Iranian year starts on 21 March (1 Farvardin) and ends on 20 March (30 Esfand).
To find the equivalent year on the Christian calendar, add 621 years to the Persian calendar.
Introduction: Analytical Framework
The revolution which broke out in Iran in 1978 and led to the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of an Islamic republic forms one of the major episodes of conflict in the political history of twentieth-century Iran. The focus of the present study is to explain the causes of that revolution and the phases which it has gone through, by putting emphasis on the social aspects of the conflict. In this endeavor the introductory Chapter 1 analyses the evolution of the state structure in Iran from the beginning of this century to the consolidation of the Shah’s regime in 1963. It thus puts the Islamic Revolution of 1978-9, in a longer historical context of political conflict arising from the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11. In Chapter 2 the nature of the royal regime obtaining before the revolution will be studied in terms of its foundations of power and stability in the 1963-78 period. Oil wealth, economic stabilization, cooperation between the state and the upper class, repression and US political support formed the bases of the Shah’s power. In turn, the crumbling of these foundations of power eventually led to the disintegration of his regime. In Chapters 3, 4 and 5 we will seek to explain the major causes of the revolution. To do this, we will use a concept that will bring together several factors which by themselves are insufficient to explain the revolution. They include the development of a revolutionary ideology portraying a better possible society in a decade or so before the revolution; the economic crisis of 1973-8 leading to the generation of economic discontent and grievances on a mass scale; the emergence of some fundamental conflicts of interest between the state and the upper bourgeoisie; the disintegration of the regime’s foreign support; the revolutionary mobilization of the masses by a network of mobilizing organizations; and the occurrence of a political alliance between diverse forces of opposition to the monarchy. Thus we will treat the revolution as a conjuncture taking into account the internal contradictions of the state such as its conflict with the upper class and the disintegration of the army, and the external revolutionary pressures brought to bear on the regime such as political mobilization and political alliances.
The significance of this concept of revolution as a primarily political event becomes evident when it is contrasted with modern anti-political theories of revolution which divert attention from the political …
Hossein Bashiriyeh
The State and Revolution in Iran
Croom Helm
Croom Helm
The State and Revolution in Iran
Hossein Bashiriyeh
The State and Revolution in Iran
1962-1982
Hossein Bashiriyeh
Croom Helm
London & Canberra
St. Martin's Press
New York
©1984 Hossein Bashiriyeh
Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT
Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd,
28 Kembla Street, Fyshwick,
ACT 2609, Australia
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bashiriyeh, Hossein
The state and revolution in Iran, 1962-1982
1. Iran, Politics and government
I. Title
955’.05 DS318
ISBN 0-7099-3214-6
All rights reserved. For information, write:
St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Printed in Great Britain
First published in the United States of America in 1984
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bashiriyeh, Hossein.
The state and revolution in Iran, 1962-1982.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Iran-Politics and government—1941-1979.
2. Iran-Politics and government-1979-
I. Title.
DS318.B337 1984 955’.053 83-19218
Jacket illustration is reproduced by courtesy of
the Middle Eastern Photographic Archive, London.
ISBN 0-312-75612-7
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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