Economic Slogans of the People (Expectations and Economic Demands of the People 1978-1979)

Economic Slogans of the People (Expectations and Economic Demands of the People 1978-1979)

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was a multidimensional movement that encompassed various expectations, demands, and motivations. The leadership of the revolution—namely the clergy—and its executive body—the masses—expressed their principles of expectations and demands at different stages through speeches, declarations, pamphlets, and other unofficial writings, as well as official publications, slogans, and numerous wall writings. Although a significant portion of these expectations were cultural demands, specifically related to Shia religious concepts, this does not imply that other expectations, such as political and economic inclinations, were not part of the people's demands. Among the ways to understand these demands is through the slogans and wall writings of the revolutionaries (between 1976 and 1977). While some statistics indicate that only 3 percent of the total slogans were economic slogans, it seems that, considering the "general atmosphere of the religious society in Iran" and reasons such as "conflict with leftist groups (who prioritized economic slogans)" and "the priority of cultural demands," economic issues received less attention. However, this limited quantity does not mean that economic demands constituted only 3 percent of the revolutionaries' requests. In fact, given the "economic stagnation and inflation in the years following 1975 and the existence of a wide class gap", addressing economic matters was among the revolutionaries' demands, but there were limitations in conveying them due to the aforementioned reasons. In other words, the low statistical representation of economic slogans cannot accurately reflect the economic demands of the people, and these demands can be better understood through existing statistics.

Shideh / M. Sadeghani