The Iranian Revolution of 1978: The Islamic Fatherland

We will begin by recalling some of the major political events that took place prior to the insurgent Iranian Revolution of 1978. The popular government of the Iranian People in 1953 was led by a man named Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq. His administration’s policy was directed toward supporting the masses, or a “Populist“. However, the populist stance of the Iranian leader became increasingly unpopular in the eyes of Mossadeq’s opposition: the huge oil companies of the West. To upbraid the troublesome politician, a coup was organized to topple the Mossadeq government.

The United States supported the coup because a new leader would allow them greater voice in Iranian foreign policy and greater control of their vast oil assets under the jurisdiction of Iran. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, hereinafter referred to as “Shah” or “the Shah” was re-installed as this leader of “renewal”. The coup d’etat was spear-headed by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, hereinafter referred to as “CIA” or “the CIA” in conjunction with an angry Iranian mob (sound familiar?). The CIA paid commissions to the instigators of a riot in the streets of Tehran who used taunts, degrading the name of Mossadeq, and giving praises to the Shah. This mob was successful in capturing Dr. Mossadeq during the demonstration, a pre-requisite to the toppling of his democratically-elected Office and instrumental to the collapse of his Administration. The immediately ensuing result of the coup was the return of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi from his hiding place in Italy to the Imperial Throne of Iran.

The Problem’s Inception

The Mossedeq government gave people a sense of freedom and liberty that they had been denied for many years under previous leaders of Iran. The Mossedeq Administration was modeled after North American and West European (at the time) democratized nation-states. Citizens were allowed certain inalienable rights that allowed them to think and act on their own initiative and to speak out for what they believed in. These freedoms were upheld as rights protected the Iranian Constitution in force during his Administration which ended in 1953.

The Communist (Toudeh) Party

The numerous political parties which existed in Iran during Mossedeq’s rule were not interfered with or suppressed by his Administration. This laissez-faire attitude of democratic government created an “in” for the Communist Party, hereinafter referred to as the Toudeh Party, to gain a powerful foothold as members of the Constitutional Government of Iran. The CIA as one might expect, did not like Mossedeq’s lax attitude toward the Toudeh Party, as they grew emboldened to distribute pro-Soviet propaganda aimed primarily against the United States of America. The literature lambasted American foreign policy and the “imperialistic” motivation of its vital interests not only in the Middle East, but throughtout the Third World.

The Toudeh Party continued to gain popularity under Mossadeq until the United States took action to counteract their propaganda drive. The purpose for the Toudeh Party dissolution was two-fold: 1) to diminish Soviet influence in Iran and 2) once Soviet influence had waned, the United States would be able to regain access to Iranian oilfields without public unrest [the West was shut out of the Iranian oil industry at the time by the Mossadeq Administration].

Many Iranians were very sensitive to oil-interested politics in the early 1950’s. Between 1951 and 1953 for instance, oil production in Iran was at a standstill because the service contracts between Great Britain and Iran to extract and distribute the petroleum were seen by most Iranians as unconscionable. For instance, it was widely publicized that the British only paid royalties of 16% of the profits it made on Iranian Oil and that American interests were driving inflation higher.