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morismano t1_j1ngn40 wrote

Reply to comment by dr_set in What did the public actually want in the Iranian revolution of 1979? by ReecoElryk

Why did Iranians want to remove Shah? Iran was doing very well economically and was stable. So why did not people like him? And when they realized what kind of government Khomeini created, why did they not protest to remove him like they removed Shah?

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the_roguetrader t1_j1ni89e wrote

usually story - the Shah and his cronies lived a luxurious lifestyle while the majority of people were poor and the country run down.. plus the secret police, (the SAVAK ) were particularly brutal with thousands tortured / extrajudicially killed / disappeared during their time... if you look at pictures of anti-Shah protests from the late '70's there were MILLIONS of people on the streets - they really wanted him gone !

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morismano t1_j1nlvn8 wrote

My knowledge on this matter is based on Wikipedia. Even with his lavish life, Was not there economic growth and relative stability in the country during Shah’s rule?

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Nicktune1219 t1_j1nu0tp wrote

There was economic growth if you consider that he kept the country a feudal state until 1963 or so. As a result a majority of the population was terribly poor and illiterate.

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King--of--the--Juice t1_j1nn93j wrote

> Iran was doing very well economically

Well it wasn't. Inflation rate from 1964 to 1974 was on average %2.6. Then from 1974 to 1978 it reached %24.9, and the cost of living was doubled. There was just too much money pouring in Iran as a result of the 1973 oil shock and the economy overheated. More money more problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease

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Darkness1231 t1_j1o10ft wrote

Shah was corrupt, to a massive level. He did some good, some of which came back to bite him. He educated many. I don't have knowledge of the split between middle and lower classes educations. But, consider this, education involves many options of how to manage/govern a people/nation. What happened was more and more people were aware that the Shah was indeed on the bad side of history.

Existing order educates the masses. Masses realize exactly how bad their situation is. Masses rebel, establishing a new order. In Iran, the referendum allow the religious fanatics to outnumber the reasonable (to myself) middle, to lower upper classes. Bingo, theocracy. Middle class loses all the gains they had under the previous order.

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sourcreamus t1_j1nndrv wrote

Iran did well in the early 70s, but oil markets adjusted, while the government kept spending. The economy started doing poorly and the newly empowered middle class wanted political power.

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whynotzoidber t1_j1nmt7u wrote

the revolutionaries convinced people shah was compromised by uk/usa.

once they sized power with Khomeini return, Khomeini used the same trick to convince people that revolutionaries are against god and his new government.

Khomeini wasn't afraid to incite his followers to kill something which the shah didn't have it in him to kill his own people, as he had fled.

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morismano t1_j1nogk2 wrote

So people did protest Khomeini but he had them killed which Shah did not do?

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doc_1eye t1_j1o7gic wrote

No, the previous poster lives in a fantasy world. The Shah killed thousands of people. It's why people wanted to get rid of him in the first place. Khomeini managed to stay in power by being bad, but not quite as bad as the Shah

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