Survey of Carrying out Land Reform in Iran

Land reforms should be seen as one of the most significant events in Iranian contemporary history. The importance of land reform was so that many internal or external researchers during or after ending that period studied it. However, there is less research that has addressed the survey of land reform before it began. In other words, most of the research about the land reform in Iran was done after the start of this program. On this basis, this study aimed at analyzing the papers published in Etelaat Newspaper from November 1959 to March 1960 entitled “What is your idea about threatening of ownership?”. For this purpose, 19 published articles by five important groups were studied, including University professors, government managers, members of parliament, former directors of government and members of parliament, and clergymen. The results showed that there was not full agreement on the land reform among persons of the each of five groups studied. Some of the most important reasons for agreement to the land reform were as follows: Expansion of social justice, Shah was pioneer in dividing his lands in Iran, more motivation of farmers for more production. Besides, some of the most important causes for opposition to the land reform included: Reduction of agricultural production due to lack of technical and financial support of farmers by landlords, contradiction of land dividing with religious laws, and destruction of Qanats. Although, the land reform was the will of the ruling government, the clear opposition of some of the studied people clearly indicated that there was a ground for expressing opposition to the will of the government, a subject that gradually disappeared over the next two decades.