Forty five years ago on this day, the Iranian revolution was declared victorious. Many of us just take this for granted: A revolution involving millions of people and a culmination of decades of opposition just “wins” on one day.
In some ways that’s quite correct. On February 11, 1979 after weeks of strikes that had shut down radio and television, sound and image returned and a voice rung out initially from the radio and then eventually from television announcing that it was the “voice of the revolution.” But in a true reflection of the nature of revolutions as messy events, there are competing narratives of who said what first. Was it the cleric Fazlollah Mahallati who made the official announcement by saying “this is the voice of the Islamic revolution” from a radio station somewhere in Tehran? Or was it someone else whose broadcast from the central radio station announced the revolution’s victory? “This is Tehran. The true voice of the Iranian nation. The voice of the revolution. Today with the virile efforts of the nation, the last fortresses of tyranny have fallen. One of these last [fortresses] was this radio. The real voice of tyranny. But the nation gave us strength and cleared our path so that as a small part of the grand body of the people, we could bring the true voice of the revolution to their ears.”
These official accounts, these institutionalized moments of victory, and even the common images of the revolution—of men, and women, frozen mid-chant with fists raised whose faces dissipate as the picture expands and becomes a sea of people flooding a square or the tree-lined streets of Tehran—miss a simple fact: the revolution was also an intensely personal event for everyone. And that personal experience of it often does not align with the collective narrative.
Over the years, as I interviewed Iranians who had taken part in the revolution in various ways, I always made a point of asking them: When did the revolution happen for them? When did they as an individual believe the revolution had been victorious? (You can read more about my interviews here.)
To mark the 45th anniversary of the revolution, I have translated a handful of my interviews to reflect the myriad of ways in which people experienced the revolution’s victory. It’s important to note none of them were “leaders” of the revolution as such. Most of them were high schoolers or college students at the time. Their political leanings range from leftist to Islamist. And currently, none of them are supporters of the Islamic Republic. Yet, as I hope their own words show, unlike the loudest parts of today’s narrative on the Iranian revolution and the Islamic Republic (in which everything is black or white/good or bad), they experienced 1979 as a complex and at times contradictory event, and carry that complexity in their memories to this day.
Female, High school student, provincial town of Qazvin
For you, when did the revolution happen?
22 Bahman (Feb 11). Of course from Feb 1st when Khomeini came back [to Iran] and spoke at Behesht Zahra [cemetery], the Pahlavis were done with. In those days my father was really controlling me so I don’t remember the details well. But on 22 Bahman, the Shah’s government no longer existed in Qazvin. Feb 1st and the Ashura demonstrations [Dec 11, 1978] were really memorable for me. There was a strange social atmosphere. People would help each other and would distribute fuel themselves. In Qazvin most homes did not have a heating system and people needed oil for heating. The distributors of oil were not working [tatil] so the kids [revolutionaries] would bring it door to door. Also in the surrounding villages, they would bake bread and send it to Qazvin. I remember they would bring bread with a pick up truck to our house. The bakers had also stopped working. Everyone would follow the news of gatherings and events in Tehran carefully.
Female, mid-twenties, Tehran
When did you know for sure that there’s been a revolution?
One day I went to the cardiology hospital near the TV station to take pictures of those injured in the protests. I also gave blood for the injured. Suddenly, I saw all the tanks that were in the area began to leave. That’s when I told myself: We won.
Where were you on 22 Bahman?
In the streets. During the revolutionary days we were genuinely happy. I was constantly in the streets and would only go home to sleep. I was mostly taking photos. I remember on 22 Bahman everyone was looting the army barracks and I was taking pictures.
Photo caption: Youth leaving one of Tehran’s arsenals. Anyone who shows they have done their military service gets a weapon and enthusiastically goes into the streets to defend their compatriots.
Male, Thirties, Qazvin
Do you remember 22 Bahman?
I was in the streets. A couple of days before it, I’d gone to a demonstration on Shahreza St. I had heard that there was a skirmish involving the air force and there was a call [to go join the people]. So we went with motorcycles and cars. I was part of all of those skirmishes. We took a lot of weapons [from the air force barracks] and gave them to the Cherik-ha ye Fadayi. The monarchists claimed that the revolutionaries were getting arms from Palestine and Libya which was a total lie. They supported the revolutionaries but the weapons came from disarming the barracks…the events of 22 Bahman were really not predictable
When did you tell yourself a revolution is happening?
When the demonstrations in Behesht Zahra returned to the city. I was then sure that the Shah would leave. The day Bakhtiar announced martial law and said there’s a curfew at 6 pm and people didn’t obey and Khomeini sent buses to take people [to the demonstrations.]
What did you do on 23 Bahman [the day after]?
Nothing special. At that point we were all worried about a coup and the return of Pahlavis. It was a situation where there was no government in charge. After I had gotten arrested for the 2nd time, my brother had bought a farm and sent me there so I wouldn’t get arrested a third time.
Male, Teenager, Tehran
When was the revolution for you?
It was when the army pulled out and there was no police force in the city. When the army announced its neutrality, it was clear that the previous government is no longer in charge. I landed in Tehran from [a European city] on Feb 10, one of the last flights that came to Iran. When I was picked up at the airport, people on the streets were armed. The day after, I went with [a friend] to walk in front of Tehran university and the guys [revolutionaries] were for no reason firing [their guns.] They’d say there are SAVAK agents here and we have to shoot. There will all kinds of people among them: guerrilla fighters, kids, youth. They would attack the barracks and collect documents. They’d take over SAVAK headquarters. The leftists and the Islamists got into a fight over the documents. A lot of the documents showing how the clerics worked with the Shah’s regime were never revealed. Everywhere in the streets, a kid holding a gun would ask “who are you?” They’d also keep an eye out for cars to confiscate.
Were you happy then?
Of course! I was a 17 year old boy whose family had been imprisoned for generations, had fought, and had had to go underground. We were happy that the dictatorial system was gone.
Female, High School Student, Fars Province
When did you tell yourself: it’s over, the Shah left and we’re victorious?
Exactly on January 16 when the Shah left. Iran truly exploded. My grandfather was the only person who bemoaned how quickly it all happened. He believed if it had taken a bit longer, the debates that happened after the revolution could have happened before it and the various groups would have had a more just share [of the revolutionary outcome.]
Where were you on 22 Bahman?
I was in Shiraz. All the governmental centers and schools were closed and everyone was joyfully in the streets. All the political kids had gone to SAVAK headquarters and had pulled out the files. They would set fire to government offices and throw files into the street. For us it was truly the day of republicanism and not Islamic Revolution. I even got married on 22 Bahman in 1360 [1982] in honor of that day. On 22 Bahman people would offer each other fruit and sweets in the streets. I remember people hugging each other [on the streets].
Male, Thirties, Tehran
When did you feel you had succeeded and years of struggle had come to fruition?
Months before the revolution. The best day was the day that I heard the Shah say on television, I have heard the sound of your revolution [November 1978]. All the people and shop owners had raised the volume on their radios and would make the victory sign for each other. That day was the day of people’s victory and the Shah’s loss. Otherwise on the day that the revolution was victorious, the leadership was entirely in the hands of the Islamists and before that we [members of a lefist group] had discussed that if they announce an Islamic Republic, we were going to oppose it. From 6 months before we had already reached the conclusion that while this isn’t our revolution, it was these Islamists who were going to create the conditions for a workers revolution.
Where were you on 22 Bahman?
From 19th of Bahman [Feb 8] we were busy disarming the barracks and arming our own people. As a result, on the day of the revolution, I was in one of the barracks. We would take as many guns as we could and hide them in homes. We had a ramshackle house in Rahahan square [in south Tehran] where we would hold our workers meetings there. To take the guns there…those days no cabs were running but it was a normal thing to see people walking around with weapons. In the barracks themselves, the soldiers would encourage us and the officers would shout “long live the people” so that they wouldn’t get beaten up. In those days you would never see an officer in their uniform on the streets.
Did you go to work the next day?
I think so. The revolution didn’t shut down the systems and organizations and ordinary life more or less continued. Our friends in the barracks would even tell us that the anti-espionage section of the army had returned to their offices. Even those in the lower ranks of SAVAK went back to work.
Female, Teenager, Tehran
Do you remember 22 Bahman?
No, I have no memory of what I was doing that day. But on January 16 when the Shah left I was really happy. It was my childhood dream. He was the symbol of violence and repression for me. But I didn’t like the pulling down of statues and the killing of SAVAK agents in the streets [afterwards].