An Investigation of the Consequences of the Iranian Land Reform: a Case Study of Maragheh County

 The Iranian Land Reform was among the most important programs that were operationalized during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah and left deep impacts on land ownership, class structure, social mobility, and the composition of the ruling parties. In fact, the land reform had social and political goals and its major consequence was the elimination of owners’ political and social influences. The starting point of the program was Maragheh, and the county was acknowledged as the pioneer in this movement. On social dimension, the land reform brought about growth and development for farmers and workers. Findings and results reveal that on political dimension, the land reform weakened owners’ power and at the same, enhanced the influence of the central government and its concentration of power in villages. In its pioneer county, the land reform caused the migration of villagers to the town and a significant number of neighborhoods, such as Mikail Abad, Eshrat Abad, Yousef Abad, and Hashem Abad, were formed in rural areas, which brought about unfavorable social, economic, political, and cultural consequences and created a number of fake jobs in Maragheh. It also resulted in the removal of workforce and losing job opportunities in rural areas that did nothing but destroying agriculture. In the current study, the descriptive-analytical methodology has been applied and the events have been analyzed through applying historical documents, political elites’ memoirs, and interviews with eyewitnesses.