Autocracy, modernization, and revolution in Russia and Iran

250 Pages·1993·14.135 MB·English

by  McDaniel, Tim

AUTOCRACY, MODERNIZATION, AND
REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA AND IRAN

AUTOCRACY, MODERNIZATION,
AND REVOLUTION IN
RUSSIA AND IRAN
Tim McDaniel
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1991 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalqging-in-Publication Data
McDaniel, Tim.
Autocracy, modernization, and revolution in Russia and Iran/
Tim McDaniel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-03147-9
ISBN 0-691-02482-0 (pbk.)
1. Soviet Union—History—Revolution, 1917-1921—Causes.
2. Iran—History—Revolution, 1979—Causes. 2. Soviet Union—
Social conditions—1801-1917. 4. Iran—Social conditions.
I. Title
DK265.M3743 1991
303.4'3'0947—dc20 90-20191 CIP
First Princeton Paperback printing, 1993
This book has been composed in Linotron Galliard
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
TO DEAR CHILDREN
OF FRIENDS AND RELATIVES,
IN ORDER OF AGE:
Misha, Jacob, Tim, and Ryan

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
A Contradictory Route to Industrial Society 3
One
Historical Legacies 14
Two
Autocracy in Russia and Iran 48
Three
Dimensions of Modernization 70
Four
Dilemmas of Autocratic Modernization 88
Five
The Cities in Revolution 111
Six
Autocracy, Landlords, and Peasants 149
Seven
Cultures of Rebellion 185
Conclusion
Structural Crisis and Revolutionary Dynamics 218
Select Bibliography 233
Index 237

Acknowledgments
I AM GRATEFUL for the help of many friends and colleagues who read this
book in manuscript form and made valuable suggestions for improve
ments. Above all, I want to acknowledge the encouragement of Andy
Scull, who at many points had more confidence in the outcome of this
project than I did, and whose comments were invaluable. A number of
other people read the manuscript carefully and offered much advice, saving
me from errors of fact and interpretation. In this regard I particularly want
to thank Ervand Abrahamian, Said Amir Arjomand, Victoria Bonnell,
Daniel Chirot, AIi Gheissari, Jack Goldstone, Michael Mann, and Jeff
Weintraub. I have discussed my ideas on these issues with Gershon Shafir
and Carlos Waisman, from whose knowledge and friendship I have bene
fited in innumerable ways. Nikki Keddie was kind enough to invite me to
a conference she organized at UCLA, at which I was able to discuss my
work with a number of Iranian specialists. I am grateful to her for the
invitation and encouragement. Pat Stewart and Barbara Stewart gave ad
vice on the preparation of the manuscript and facilitated its completion.
My editors at Princeton, Margaret Case and Gail Ullman, have done a
wonderful job with a manuscript that does not fit any easy classifications. I
am also grateful to Brian MacDonald, my copy editor, for a first-rate job
with the text. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the importance of some
thing less tangible, the atmosphere created by my colleagues at the De
partment of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego, who
have provided an unusually supportive environment for this kind of en
deavor.
A Note on the Transliteration
Readers will notice some inconsistencies in spelling of a number of Middle
Eastern words and names. The reason is the following: I adopted a single
transliteration for my own use, but when the name appeared in another
form in a text that I cited, I followed the latter. This explains, for example,
the usage of both Al-e Ahmad and Al-i Ahmad for the same man.