IRAN / Gears in Motion Towards the Iranian Revolution (original) (raw)

2022, The Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol: 6, No: 1, pp. 85 - 104

Abstract Modern Iran, once an important issue of rivalry between the Great Powers for influences, resources and trade routes, was formed through a sequence of small and larger revolutions. Its geopolitical position had raised the “Persian Question”, as Lord Curzon put it, with the Qājār Dynasty granting commercial and business privileges to England and Russia, as well as concessions of archeological excavations. The aim of the article is to follow the steps taken by the Iranian people against the colonial Powers' exploitation, towards the Revolution; merchants and clerics at first, who gradually transformed the bustling markets into a political arena at the turn of the nineteenth century that Persia's entry into the world economy made social inequalities more apparent. We will see facts that surround the era, such as the Constitutional Revolution, a parliamentary victory in the Middle East, as well as the coup d'état by Pahlavi and the establishment of his dynasty. As nationalism was an integral part of this dynasty, reflecting the political-military context in which it originated, Pahlavi Dynasty set the interpretations of antiquity at the heart of their paternalistic ideology, banks were erected in the place of amphitheaters where the holy martyrdom of Karbalā used to revive and the ritual Shiite world was silenced. Iran not only was becoming secular but violent as well, while the continuation of concessions and the opulence of state officials and western businessmen gave the people the sense that there is a perpetuation of colonialism. The last uprising will lead to the Iranian Revolution, which will call into question the role of the West. 1. Introduction This research was provoked by the desire to critically study the colonial activities embedded in the international system, as, a variety of circumstances in the era of Imperialism –combined to make the task of imperial preservation– created interventionist and expansionist practices in Persia (later Iran). Thus, as various factors made it ripe for revolution, we will introduce these factors by analyzing data gathered by primary and secondary sources; newspapers, narrations and books by notable historians and political scientists, and by focusing attention on the turbulent events across the nineteenth and twentieth century which “the West” seems to avoid or undervalue, such as: Τhe Great Powers’ imperialist rivalry and the territorial encroachment during the rule of the Qajars and the Pahlavis; the Shi'i popular processions that apart from religious expression were the way to connect the social classes and protect the stability of the communities; the poverty that the daily wages outline; the social basis of a series of upheavals, among them nationalist and constitutionalist movements; the people’s denouncing of the oil exploitation by foreigners and the political underdevelopment; the 1953 coup d'état by American and British intelligence forces that overthrew the popular leader Muḥammad Muşaddiq, restored the Shāh Pahlavi to power and destroyed political parties; the bloody repression by the Shāh who was expecting Iranians to adopt the Western principles or ways of life and his fail to obtain social base, up to the time the Iranians answered with the epoch-making Islamic Revolution. The data emphasize the role of clergy, which formed the first of a chain of events along with the bazaaris, the stronghold of the traditional middle class, as well as of the simple people ranging from the religious right to the secular left, all aligned to the revolution that shocked the world.