Iran And The Iranian Revolution

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Whilst the discontent that the Iranian citizens felt for their government and their economic situation was a contributing factor in the outbreak of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, it was the growing Western influence in Islamic culture that was the main cause for the revolution. The Iranian/Islamic Revolution refers to the events involving the deposing of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and pro-American government, and the replacement with an anti-Western authoritarian theocracy under the leader of the revolution, the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution was mainly supported by various leftist Islamic organizations and Iranian student movements to firstly, protest against the increasing Westernization of Iran and secondly, it was in…show more content…
The Iranian government only received 25% of the profits (Zaya, n.d.). As oil is one of Iran’s biggest export this seizure of the oilfields was a topic of great consternation. The conditions for the Anglo-Persian Iranian workers were dismal as the account in “All the Shah 's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror” illustrates. American author, Stephan Kinzer writes, “Wages were 50 cents a day. There was no vacation pay, no sick leave, no disability compensation. The workers lived in a shanty town called Kaghazabad, or Paper City, without running water or electricity” (Kinzer, 2003). As this is a primary source, it can be assumed that this is an accurate account on the conditions for the workers. This mistreatment of the Iranians and their government was the beginning of the distrust and aversion to the West in Iran. In addition, this distrust of the West only intensified when Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran’s monarchical leader, introduced ”The White Revolution” which was inspired by Western ideals (Zaya, n.d.). Although the “White Revolution” funded the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, radically amplified the utilization of fertilizers, tractors and harvesters and, most vital of all, provided property to 1,638,000 peasant families, 96 percent of the lower-class were also left
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