ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the reasons for the emergence of the ulema, and within them Ayatollah Khomeini, as the leader of the Iranian revolution. Chapters 3 and 4 described the various opposition groups and the social classes respectively. It is now necessary to see what linkages developed between the revolutionaries on the one hand and the people on the other, and why one particular group of activists, the ulema, became the leaders of the revolutionary movement. To answer this question certain aspects of Iran’s social and economic development prior to the revolution need to be examined. They include the extent and the nature of anti-state antagonisms throughout society, the role and significance of Islam as a social force, the viability of the different channels of communication with which the revolutionaries called on their followers to revolt, and more importantly, the cultural communicability of their revolutionary propaganda in relation to the masses. It will be argued that the convergence of all such factors facilitated Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to the leadership of the revolution.
