Peasants Congress: the Government’s Effort to Legitimize the Land Reform of 1962

To investigate and explain the formation of the Peasant Congress in 1963 and its results.

Data presented and analyzed is based on documents and library sources.

The Peasant Congress was held in Tehran a year after the land reform. In order to achieve its political and economic goals, the government announced the emerge of the new class of "peasants" to be the backbone of the legitimacy of land reform.  The government had failed in its previous efforts to carry out land reform due to the opposition of the landlords and a minority of the urban middle class. This time, however, it could gain national approval of the plan also through a referendum.