The Resource Mobilization Perspective is a particular approach in the Sociology of Social and Religious Movements, which focuses on the practicalities by which social and religious movements are organized and mobilize the resources they need to achieve their objectives. This approach is here applied to examining the short-lived Bábí movement and the early development of the Bahá’í movement which succeeded it. The talk deals mainly with questions of recruitment and organization, and is confined to developments in Iran and adjacent territories up to c. 1921.