IRAN: A REVOLUTION IN TURMOIL

IRANA Revolution in Turmoil

Edited by

Haleh Afshar

MMACMILLAN

© Haleh Afshar 1985

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmissionof this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copiedor transmitted save with written permission or in accordancewith the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended) .

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation tothis publication may be liable to criminal prosecution andcivil claims for damages.

First published 1985

Published byTHE MACMILLAN PRESS LTDHoundmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XSand LondonCompanies and representativesthroughout the world

Filmset by Latimer Trend & Company Ltd, Plymouth

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataIran .I. Iran-History-20th CenturyI. Afshar, Haleh955'.05 DS298

ISBN 978-1-349-17966-4 (eBook)ISBN 978-0-333-36947-0DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17966-4

Contents

List of TablesAcknowledgementsNotes on the ContributorsGlossaryAbbreviations Used

Introduction

viiviii

ixXl

xv

PART I DUALISTIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

I .Economic Development and Revolutionary Upheavals inIran 15M. H. Pesaran

2 The Impact of the Urban Income Per Capita on AgriculturalOutput: A Case Study of pre-I 975 Iran 51Kamran Afshar

3 An Assessment ofAgricultural Development Policies in Iran 58Haleh Afshar

4 Tribes and State in Iran: From Pahlavi to Islamic Republic 80G. Reza Fazel

5 Iran's Petroleum Policy: How Does the Oil Industry Func-tion in Revolutionary Iran? 99Fereidun Fesharaki

PART II POLITICS OF DISSENT AND THE ARMEDFORCES

6 The Crowd in Iranian Politics, 1905-53Ervand Abrahamian

v

121

VI Contents

7 The Guerrilla Movement in Iran, 1963-77 149Ervand Abrahamian

8 The Army 175Haleh Afshar

PART III THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

9 The Nature of the Islamic Revolution 201Morteza Motahari

10 The Iranian Theocracy 220Haleh Afshar

Epilogue 244

Index 254

List of Tables

1.1 Annual percentage changes in value added of key sectors ofIranian economy based on 1959 prices 21

1.2 Percentage share of the oil and gas sector in governmentrevenues, foreign exchange receipts and gross domesticproduct during five-year plans 24

1.3 Average annual real rate of growth of major sectors ofIranian economy during the five-year plans 25

1.4 Average annual rate of growth of real gross domestic fixedcapital formation, by types of capital goods 25

1.5 Commodity composition of Iran's imports classified bytheir use 26

1.6 Some indicators of price inflation in the Iranian economyduring the five-year plans 26

1.7 Iran's population by urban and rural areas 301.8 Quarterly movements in output and employment of large

manufacturing establishments 413.1 GNP in billions of rials 653.2 Plan organisations' disbursements 663.3 Production and trade of some staple and cash crops 675.1 Foreign oil companies in Iran 1055.2 Iran's planned investment in the petroleum sector 1105.3 Iran's investments in the oil industry III5.4 Iran's production, exports and oil revenues in the 1980s 1157.1 Dead guerrillas 1547.2 Occupation of guerrillas who died 154

vii

Acknowledgements

My thanks to each of the contributors for making this book possible.They and many others have helped and encouraged me with thisproject. In particular I would like to thank Maurice Dodson withoutwhose constant help, support and encouragement this book wouldnever have been completed, and Marlyn Ellison for typing so many ofthe chapters to such a tight schedule.

H.A.

viii

Notes on the Contributors

Ervand Abrahamian teaches modem history at Baruch College in theCity University of New York and is the author of Iran between TwoRevolutions.

Haleh Afshar is a lecturer in Developmental Studies at the University ofBradford. Before the revolution she worked as a civil servant at theMinistry of Cooperative and Rural Development and was an economiccorrespondent for the daily paper Kayhan International.

Kamran Afshar graduated from Shiraz University , Iran, and continuedhis education at Oxford and at Florida State University. He is currentlyAssistant Professor of Economics and Business at Moravian College,USA.

Reza Fazel received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Californiaat Berkeley in 1971. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Anthro­pology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Dr Fazel hasdone extensive research on tribal populations inhabiting the Zagrosmountains and the Persian Gulf regions of Iran.

Fereidun Fesharaki is Co-ordinator of the OPEC Downstream Projectat the East-West Center . He was born in Iran in 1947 and received hisM.A. and Ph.D . in Economics from Sussex and Surrey Universitiesrespectively. Formerly, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Center forMiddle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, a Professor at theNational University of Iran, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for theInternational Political and Economic Studies in Tehran. During1977-8, Dr Fesharaki served as the Energy Adviser to the PrimeMinister of Iran. Currently, he is consultant to a number of MiddleEast governments, Asian governments and major oil companies .

Mohamad Hashem Pesaran was a Director of the Department ofEconomic Research of the Central Bank of Iran before the revolution,and is currently a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

ix

x Notes on the Contributors

AyatoUah Morteza Motahari was a well-known teacher first in Qumand from 1954 at the Faculty of Theology at Tehran University. Hewas involved with such societies as the anjumanhayeh Eslami, 'IslamicAssociations' which included students, engineers, doctors, merchants,and formed the nucleus of the movement which was to become,eventually, the revolution . He was also a founder-member of theHoseinieh Ershad, which played a central role in the religious life of thecapital over the four years until its closure by the authorities in 1973(ithas now reopened). At the same time he maintained his contact withmore traditional religious activities, teaching first in the MadraseyehMarvi in Tehran and later in Qum, and preaching in mosques and otherreligious centres in Tehran and elsewhere in the country. Through hislectures and writings - both books and articles - he became a well­known and much-respected figure throughout Iran, but it was mainlyamong the students and teachers of the schools and universities that hewas most influential, setting an example and inspiring them as acommitted and socially-aware Muslim with a traditional educationwho could make an intelligent, appropriate and exciting response tomodem secularising tendencies. His wide knowledge and scholarship,which combined a profound understanding of Islam with certainelements of the Western tradition, is reflected in the range of his works ,which cover law, philosophy, theology, history and literature. (For acomplete list of published and unpublished works, by AyatollahMotahari, see Abd Al Karim Surush (ed.) Yadnamehyeh Ostadeh ShidMorteza Motahari, Tehran, 1981,pp. 436-556.) He was also one of thefew high-ranking ulama who maintained links with Ayatollah Kho­meini during the sixteen or so years in which the movement which ledto the revolution was in progress, and he was actively engaged in all thestages through which this movement went. His life came to an abruptand untimely end when he was fatally shot in the head coming out of ameeting of the Revolutionary Council, of which he had been appointedthe first head by Ayatollah Khomeini, on the evening of 1 May 1979.

In a sense, Morteza Motahari can be regarded as the Islamicrevolution's first ideologist, for not only had practically all the leadingfigures in the revolution, from both a traditional and a universitybackground, been his pupils, but also his lectures and writings camesecond only to those of Ayatollah Khomeini himself in forming thefoundation for post-revolutionary ideological trends.

Glossary

Ah/ a/-Bayta/ amreh beh maruf va

nahi a/ monkerA/eyeh Sa/am

Amir a/-MumininAnjumanhayeh Es/amiAyandeganAyatollah

Azadibantu

bastbazaar

bonehchaqou-keshan

dasteh-yeh azadiDonyaete/aatfaqih/foqaha

FedayangavbandanHadithHambastegiharamHazrathejabHejriHezb AllahHosseinieh

Household of the Prophet'bidding to good and forbidding evil'

May peace be upon him (usually in refer­ence to a saint)Commander of the FaithfulIslamic AssociationsfuturesLeading religious figure, selected by otherAyatollahsfreedomSouth African system of segregation ofblack and whitessanctuarymarket-place and general trading orfinancial forumsmall share cropping co-operative unitsDown town muscle men, usually armedwith knives (chaquo)ritual funeral processionthe worldinformationwise divine/s, learned in religious matters/leading religious figuresMarxist guerrilla groupshare-cropping oxen-ownersbody of traditions relating to MohamadUnityIslamically impuresaintwomen's Islamic veilIslamic calendarGod's partyreligious centre

xi

xii

Ithn'ashairijahadeh danishgahi

jahadi sazandegijahadjezyeh

joftJonbeshkadkhodaKayhanKarKhavarej

Khannamehkhoms

khoshneshin (an)khounashamkomitehjangallutis

maddrassahfmaddaressMaj/ismaktabimaktabiMardomemarjaMarjayeh taq/id

mohandesinMojahedinmostahedmullaNabardeh Khalqnassaq

paksazi

Glossary

'Twelver' Shiism branch of Islamcommittee of cultural revolution inuniversitiesvillage reconstruction forceholy warsmall per capita religious tax paid by non­muslims to a religious leaderpair of oxenthe movementvillage headmanthe worldlabourfollowers of Ali who deserted him duringthe battle of Karbalaan account of activities of chieftainsa 20 per cent religious tax on surplusmoney paid by Shiia believers to thereligious leader of their choicelandless labourer(s)bloodsuckerrevolutionary committeeforestDowntown muscle men with achauvinistic code of honourIslamic teaching institutionParliamentorthodoxclergy-controlled schoolspeopleSourcea religious leader chosen by believers as 'asource of imitation' wisest and ultimateauthority for interpreting Koranic lawsengineersone of the major guerrilla groupsreligious leadermuslim clergymanPeople's Strugglecustomary form of allocating land amongshare cropperscleaning-up process

Glossary xiii

pasdaranPaykarpishmarganqanatQiyameh Kargarresaleyeh amaliyehrialrozeh khani

SadatSepah PasdaranSetareh SorkhshahanshahiShahidshahrakShariashoraShorahayeh Charikishorayeh fatwasofreh hazrat-eh abbas

takiehataziyehtohidtohidiulama (plural of alem)zakat

revolutionary guardsbattleKurdish guerrilla fightersunderground aqueductworkers' uprisingmanuals on religious obligationsunit of currency in Iranreligious shiia morning sessions, recitingthe heroic deeds of Ali and his disciplesDescendants of the Prophetthe revolutionary guardsRed Starroyal (from shah)martyrsmall townIslamic lawsadministrative consultative unitFreedom Fighters' Rural Councilscommittee of foqahafemale religious thanksgiving ceremonyfor fulfilment of a vowmystery play theatrespassion playdivine unityunitarymen of religiona property tax

Abbreviations Used

bnmAIOCARM ISH

CENTOCCUTUCFPCORCCfdEGOCOERAR

GENMISH

HMHOPECOIMINICOINPECOIPACIRPIROSLAPCOLAREXLDCMAAGNGLNIGCNIOCOPEC

OSCOPLO

billion 100000000 (American)millionAnglo Iranian Oil CompanyAmerican Military Mission to the IranianImperial ArmyCentral Treaty OrganisationCentral Council of United Trade UnionsCompagnie Francoise de PetrolesCentral Organisation of Rural Co-operativescubic feet per dayEuropean Group of Oil CompaniesEntreprise de Recherches et d'ActivitesPetrolieresAmerican Military Mission to the IranianImperial GendarmeriHis MajestyHormuz Petroleum CompanyIran Marine International Oil CompanyIran Nippon Petroleum CompanyIran Pan American Oil CompanyIslamic Republican PartyIran Oil Services Company (now renamed Kala)Lavan Petroleum CompanyLar Exploration Companyless-developed countryMilitary Assistance Advisory Groupnatural gas liquidNational Iranian Gas CompanyNational Iranian Oil CompanyOrganisation of Petroleum ExportingCompaniesOil Services Company of IranPalestinian Liberation Army

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xvi

SAVAKSAVAMASIRIP

Abbreviations Used

Sazemaneh Etalaat va Amniateh KeshvarSazemaneh Etelaat va Amniateh MihanSociete Irano-Iraliene des Petroles