Islamic Revolution in the eyes of intellectuals (9)

Today, upon adoption of a comparative outlook, Iran’s Islamic Revolution has been analyzed in comparison to the two French and Russian revolutions, in the eyes of well-known Western thinkers and intellectuals.

One of the important and astounding events in Iran’s contemporary history, which played a major role in change of global political equations, was the phenomenon of Iran’s Islamic Revolution that took place in the second half of 20^th Century. The paramount importance of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in the world led political researchers, theorists and thinkers, political scientists, experts on social developments, cultures, religions, sociologists, and actors of the global political scenes to analyze and interpret this phenomenon and to study the factors behind emergence of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and its outcomes. Publication of hundreds of books and articles about Iran’s Islamic Revolution proves this fact. Meanwhile, on the auspicious occasion of 38^th anniversary of victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, we present a number of examples of views of Western thinkers about Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Some of the Western researchers, who have studied the phenomenon of revolution,  have realized that there are similarities between Russian, French, and English revolutions, which in turn has led to emergence of a school of thought, referred to as the Natural History of Revolution. The authors who believe in this school of thought opine that the revolutions have more or less covered a similar trend, which has led to a natural and inevitable outcome. Among the important authors of this school of thought, one can refer to Crene Brinton

However, the Islamic Revolution dismissed as baseless the theories presented within the framework of this school of thought. Although in some cases, Iran’s Islamic Revolution maintains similarities to other revolutions; the political and social conditions of these revolutions show major differences. One of the main differences of Iran’s Islamic Revolution with the major and well-known revolutions, such as French and Russian Revolutions, is the huge and massive participation of people of Iran, from all walks of life, in Islamic Revolution, in rural and urban regions, both. Meanwhile, only a handful of aristocrats took part in the French Revolution, which was also mainly limited to Paris geographical region. Also, in the Russian Revolution, a limited number of factory workers and soldiers actively took part in the revolution, with revolutionary activities solely emerging in the geographical regions of Saint Petersburg and Moscow. However, in Iran’s Islamic Revolution, people from all walks of life, including workers, employees, academics, traders, and clerics, across the country, participated in revolutionary activities. On this basis, it can be said that one of the main features of Iran’s Islamic Revolution was the huge participation of people in it. The retired professor of Islamic Studies and Farsi Language of the University of California, Berkeley, Hamid Algar, notes that one of the distinguishing features of Iran’s Islamic Revolution was the wide-scale participation of masses of people in it. This is while in the French, Russian, and Chinese Revolutions, the revolution has always been coupled with civil war.

The acclaimed political analyst and international relations and Middle East researcher, Fred Halliday, notes that Iran’s Islamic Revolution was the hugest revolution in regard to presence of masses of people, from all walks of life, in the revolution.

A well-known American author and theorist notes: “Iran’s Islamic Revolution is surely a social revolution. However, the process of the Islamic Revolution and especially the developments that led to Shah’s ouster rejected the reasons which Western thinkers had presented in their comparative studies of French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions. Iran’s Islamic Revolution hugely changed the cultural, social, and economic foundations in Iran, and is certainly one of the major social and historical revolutions in the world.”

MR/ME