Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Iranian Revolutionary Community in Syria and Lebanon in the 1970s.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comprehensive sociodemographic analysis of the local community of Iranian Islamists acting in Syria and Lebanon in the decade preceding the Islamic revolution of 1978-79. Thus far, history of everyday life and the multitudinous activities of the Iranian Islamic opposition in Syria and Lebanon in the 1970s has never become the principal subject of a historic research and has barely received attention from Western specialists in the history of the Islamic Revolution and modern Middle Eastern history, as well as from Iranian historians, scholars and researchers working in the field of the modern history of Iran. However, for a more comprehensive understanding of the Islamic Revolution, revolutionary processes and their logical premises and outcomes, it is highly necessary to carefully consider the sociodemographic characteristics of the active representatives of the Iranian opposition movement in the pre-revolutionary period namely in the 1970s. Throughout the comparative historical analysis of the reliable memories of longtime supporters of the Iranian Islamic movement acting in Syria and Lebanon, the fundamental sociodemographic characteristics of the active members of Iranian revolutionary movement abroad (e.g. gender, age, birthplace and place of living, educational and religious background, social marital status, etc.) are thoroughly highlighted, properly described and analyzed and their sociodemographic portrait is carefully created. The received sociohistorical data may properly serve as a valuable source on the social history of the Iranian society in the pre-revolutionary period, as well as on the complex history of Iranian revolutionary movement and the modern history of the Middle East region.