نشریه اسناد بهارستان
شماره 3 (پیاپی -3، پاییز 1390)

One of the key events taking place during the sixth Majlis was the uprising of seniorclerics (ulamas) of Isfahan led by Haj Aqa Nourollah Seqat al-Islam Isfahani against theCompulsory Military Conscription Law of 1925 which led to the migration of clerics toQom. The uprising which came after a series of fruitless negotiations between Mokhberal-Saltaneh Hedayat and Teimourtash on the one hand and immigrant clerics led by HajAqa Nourollah on the other hand was put down after some initial victories. The mainquestion is what stance the Majlis took up towards the uprising. This paper attempts toclarify the six Majlis and its members’ stance towards the event.

The 1921 coup introduced some persons and figures into the Iranian political arena for whom there had never been such an opportunity. Among the different figures were some who could quickly climb the world of politics, some who passed the path with difficulty and some who were omitted in a short while. Irrespective of this major trend in finding new roles, the shifts in the political stance and actions of the above individuals are also worth noting, which brings about different and at times contradictory opinions in their character analysis. One of the said figures is Ali Dashti, who is well-known as a political activist during the first and the second Pahlavi administrations. Similar to many other journalists, he experienced prison and restricted freedom due to his unfavorable political opinions towards the government. His sincere criticisms and compassionate advices to Sardar Sepah was an encouragement and a cause of his approach to Reza Shah, and soon he, along with a few others, formed a group of followers of Sardar Sepah the main goal of whom were to defend Reza Shah and his plans. As a member of the National Consultative Assembly, Dashti was an active politician in a number of legislative periods in the Pahlavi dynasty, while he was also an outcast for some time. The whole political thoughts and actions of Dashti demonstrate a dual political character during the 6th to 13th Assemblies. This article aims to investigate his thoughts and actions in the first Pahlavi National Consultative Assembly. The major questions posed in this article are:1- What were Dashti’s political stance and actions before and after Reza Shah’s administration?2- What is the political character implicated by Dashti’s activities in the course of the different Assemblies during the first Pahlavi dynasty?3- How can we provide analysis and justification for the differing political thoughts and actions of Dashti in the first Pahlavi administration?

Anti-Reza Shah figures were not allowed to nominate in the sixth National Consultative Assembly elections. The police, as the governmental security organization, was responsible for sending to the Assembly the individuals previously appointed by Reza Shah and other authorities. Yet, Sayyed Hasan Modarres and Mohammad Mosaddeq succeeded in winning the elections and entering the Sixth Assembly as minority representatives. The specific duty of the police in time of elections during the first Pahlavi administration was to create a uniform Assembly which can legalize the Shah’s commands. Thus, one can evaluate the election mechanisms in the first place and go on to analyze the impact of the sixth National Assembly over the succeeding Assemblies. Although Reza Shah apparently preserved the seeming legality of the Constitutional movement and the Assembly, in practice he established a modern monarchy by formation of rubber-stamped assemblies and deformation of the legislative and democratic nature of this institution; the result is known in recent literature as modern day absolute monarchy. The Sixth Assembly opposition had managed to enter the Assembly as a result of the change in Tehran Supervisory Association. Even though it was a minority group, its opposition criticisms were unbearable for Reza Shah, which disappointed every hope to enter the successive Assemblies. This article is intended to review the Sixth parliamentary elections as the last election of its type, and go through some instances of the representatives’ acts and functions, to evaluate the impact of such election processes over the successive Assemblies.

Following the Constitutional Revolution of Iran in 1926, the plan on building railroad was proposed by many progressive forces and individuals as a social requirement for progress and development, among whom was Morteza Qoli Khān Hedāyat Sani’ al- Dowleh, a notable and influential figure who was the Minister of Public Benefits in Nāser al-Molk cabinet (1907). To enforce his plan on building railroad in Iran, he sent it to the Assembly as the Minister of Finance in Nezām al-Saltaneh cabinet. The plan stipulated that two million Tomāns be added to the customs duty for sugar and tea, and 30 or 35 million Tomāns loan be obtained, in cooperation with the Assembly, to prepare the railroad equipment and devices. Although the plan was welcomed by the Assembly, it was not realized due to the objection and non-cooperation of Russia and Britain. The sugar and cubic-sugar taxation plan aimed at providing the allocations for building railroad was realized in time of Reza Shah following the efforts made by Mokhber al- Saltaneh, mostly because it was contemporaneous with the 1917 Revolution of Russia, and abrogation of Turkmanchai Treaty, which in view of Mokhber al-Saltaneh was the root cause of Sani’ al-Dowleh’s failure in realization of his plan. As a result, with no such obstacle, the plan was offered during the tenure of Mokhber al-Saltaneh, Sani’ al- Dowleh’s brother, in the Ministry of Public Benefits. In May 30, 1925 the Law on Sugar, Cubic-Sugar, and Tea Monopoly was ratified, following which the Bill on Building Nationwide Railroad was approved in February 23, 1926. In 1927, the project started and in 1938 the Iranian National Railroad was inaugurated. This article is an effort to investigate the approval processes of the afore-cited plan in the National Consultative Assembly during the first Pahlavi administration, with a view to the underlying backgrounds for the establishment of a nationwide railroad in Iran.

To date, little has been done to study Iran’s oil-related events and concessions on the basis of first-hand sources, including Majlis minutes and documents. More than two decades after the signing of D’Arcy oil concession, the Iranian government laid the oil concession revocation proposal before the Majlis, which was unanimously approved on 1 December 1932. Consequently, London and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, enraged by this action, took their case against Iran to The Hague. After days of lengthy negotiations, a new treaty – called 1933 Oil Treaty – was signed between Iran and Anglo-Persian Oil Company on 29 April 1933. However, different speeches regarding the benefits and detriments of the metamorphosized-D’Arcy concession were made in the ninth Majlis; an action which unveils the awareness developed among Iranian representatives of international oil issues. This paper attempts to shed some light on Majlis’s approach and reactions to the 1933 Oil Treaty.

Following Reza Shah’s rise to power in 1925, the idea of building a modern army rose to the top of the agenda. As part of the modernization campaign, the soldiers were given uniforms, the army was organized into six divisions, and a military academy was established. Meanwhile, the monarch began to cherish the idea of making military conscription compulsory. Conscription was the essential element for safeguarding Iranian plans, particularly those of Reza Shah, and one can say the creation of a strong national army was the backbone of the government. Compulsory Military Conscription Law enabled the shah to pursue his aim of building a fully-mobilized army of 100,000 men. As the Majlis was the second entity after the throne to observe and enact laws, Reza Shah submitted the compulsory military conscription law to the fifth Majlis which passed it on 6 June 1925. The law was first met with some criticisms and oppositions: although, it finally came into force. The present article reviews the passage of Compulsory Military Conscription Bill in the Majlis.

Five issues are addressed in this article: in the amendment process section, the third amendment of Iranian Constitution of 1906 is presented; in the amendment content section, the political and legal motivations behind it are uncovered; in the amendment methods section, the methods and types of constitutional reform are investigated according to legal and hyper-legal mechanisms; and two separate sections are dedicated to contrasting dictatorial monarchy with absolute monarchy and reigning methods of Mohammad Ali Shah with Ahmad Shah’s. The Constitutional Revolution of Iran triumphed amidst calls for constitution. However, its unexpected fall created a new climate of opinion that favored “a centralized dictatorial monarchy” as the healing remedy for chaos and internal conflicts. Still, the word constitution had acquired such a high status that it could neither be ignored nor disrespected. On the one hand, chaos and conflict had led people to assume that a central authority could bring order back to the conflict-stricken country. On the other hand, the constitution as a powerful legal document could bar the illegal rise of an order-imposer to power. Finally, it was concluded that a legal form should serve a dictatorial figure in order to maintain both law and order in Iran. Therefore, the fifth Majlis served the role of a legal catalyst for the realization of a hyper-legal objective; a function unprecedented in the short history of Iranian legislation.

After the fall of Iran’s Constitutional Movement due to its forces’ clashing attitudes towards the movement’s contradictory objectives (democracy and concentration of power sources), the discourse of absolute modernism or dictatorial modernization managed to establish its identity on elements like chauvinism, pseudo-modernism, secularism, and nationalism and become hegemonic thanks to the willpower support it received from external sources. A feint understanding of modernity and a false veneer of modernization were the most important impacts this discourse had on Iran. The chaos following the Constitutional Revolution and the interference of foreign forces set the scene for the massive victory of positivist aspects of modernism over its liberalist ones. Iran’s dual encounter with modernism – in which both holistic and positivist thinking coexisted – was replaced with the domination of positivist mentality over society, culture, and government and prohibited the development of civil society. In Hobbs’s words, Reza Shah’s Iran witnessed the creation of Leviathan government and security in which all democratic bodies and symbols such as the Majlis were weakened and turned into the shah’s pawn. The author of this paper attempts to study the motivations and consequences of this development.

The collection of Iranian national jewels – called imperial jewels in Reza Shah era – is one of the world’s richest historical collections of jewels accumulated over centuries. Information on this collection became more accurate in Safavid Iran. Later in Qajar era, and in particular Muzzafar al-Din Shah’s, it took on a new shape. After the successful Constitutional Revolution of Iran, the rule was entrusted to the king and imperial jewels were declared national under the constitution. Therefore, one of the sources of power was transferred to the Iranian nation and members of the Majlis used it from time to time to exercise pressure on the government and the court. New laws on keeping and monitoring the invaluable collection were, thus, enacted by the legislature. However, this monitoring role weakened and strengthened with the ebbs and flows of Majlis’s power in Reza Shah era. After the monarch’s exile in September 1941, the publication of critical articles over the shrinking imperial jewel trove caused the members of the Majlis to resume their monitoring role. By tapping the available literature, the author of the present article studies the monitoring role of the Majlis on Iranian imperial jewels in Reza Shah era. The needed data are gathered using both quantitative and qualitative methods and the conclusion is drawn from the findings of the study.

Shahid (martyr) Sayyed Hasan Modarres was one of the most prominent representatives of the National Consultative Assembly (parliament) in the course of different years and assemblies after the Constitutional Revolution, and his name is intertwined with the concept of Assembly during the said period. While he was a nominee of the seventh parliamentary elections, he was not allowed to enter the Assembly; he was even expelled to Khwaf following an attack on October 8, 1928 to his home and his night detention. Hence, the fourth stage of his life, i.e. years of exile and prison, started, which lasted for nine years and a month and 24 days, until he was finally killed on November 1, 1937. There had been no reliable documents and therefore no reliable information on his days of exile, until a series of his instructions and notes named “The Treasury of Khwaf” was found and later published. This Treasury could partly shed light on the first two years and seven months of the life of Modarres in exile, yet the remaining two-third part of his exile was still unknown. Once some letters communicated between Modarres and his two sons, Sayyed Esma’il and Sayyed Abdul-Baqi were found, another significant part of his life was discovered. The present article seeks to shed light on a further aspect of Modarres’ life during exile and prison in Khwaf, based on the letters discovered.

Reza Shah’s period was heavily indebted to the Constitutional Revolution for its social and economic developments as well as its political unity and power. The priority, however, was placed in this period over cultural and economic renovation, power enforcement, and political participation. On this basis, fruitful debates were raised on the national educational system and its organization, which had received initial reinforcement in the Constitutional Period. Efforts were made in this period included among which were the establishment of the Supreme Council of Education in 1921, the Academy of Persian Language and Literature in 1935, the University of Tehran, as the first university founded following the establishment of Dār al-Funoun, and resuming the efforts to send university students to study overseas. The present article aims to investigate the progressive development in the rules and regulations, from the organization processes of governmental and national schools to the establishment of the nation-wide universities.

Reza Shah’s reign was contemporaneous with new chapters in the political history of Iran’s Consultative Assembly, with all its peculiar ups and downs, and his absolute domination over the election processes of the members of the Assembly. In spite of the above fact, even in this period the Assembly served as the symbol of legislation and the legal Iranian institution for this purpose which played its role in the political life of the nation and in foreign relations. Germany was among the states which played an influential role in the Iranian foreign relations policies. Over the said period, Germany was a state establishment of a relation with which was an increasing demand for the Iranian public. Meanwhile, the political and economic relations of Iran, which had previously started for years, was expanding, a fact which highlighted the role and significance of the Assembly in further development of foreign relations with this country. This article reviews the stances of the Assembly and its members, especially in the codification of laws and regulations with respect to Iran’s relation with Germany and concerning its nationals, as well as the grounds and consequences in this respect. It shows that with the increased monarchy of the Shah and his influence over the members of the Consultative Assembly, the Assembly could not act as an efficient legislative institution.

The relation between urban and rural areas is an undeniable fact all through the history of Iran. While cities have been formed from villages, they have never replaced them, which made them enjoy their permanent benefit. Cities and villages together underwent development satisfying the needs of one another. Thus, whenever these two major social entities are developed collectively, development and progress have been achieved in Iran and the Iranian civilization. However, whenever attention to one causes an ignorance or negligence towards the other, this has been the beginning of a long term process of decadence in the Iranian civilization and the Iranian society. While going through the parliamentary negotiations and the measures taken during Reza Shah’s administration, this article seeks to study the changes in the status of cities and villages and the reduction of links between these two social entities.

The present article is based upon a number of documents on the Armenian elections over the first Pahlavi administration, and the processes and developments in this respect. As the mentioned documents were few in quantity and were only concerned with the Armenian elections in Azerbaijan and certain National Consultative Assemblies, over the period under study, there was the need for the researcher to seek recourse to other historical sources to be able to discuss different aspects of the elections. With due consideration of word limits herein, which did not permit inclusion of the original documents in the present article, and to prevent any circumlocutions, under certain conditions a part of the original documents have been reviewed and historical analysis conducted. The aim is not to review biography of the individuals, but a familiarity with the social, cultural and political position of the said people within the Persian Armenian society of those days. For the purpose of enlightenment, on details of the elections and votes taken, certain representative credentials are also taken into account.

The Iranian historical and cultural heritage has always attracted Europeans, either through their excessive appeal and greed, or through their desire to learn and adore such works. Under the first Pahlavi administration (1925–1941) which started by the Constitutional Assembly upon Reza Shah’s approval in 1925, a new chapter opened in the Iranian history and culture. During the said period, the focus on cultural and historical heritage was manifested in a new form. To keep the distance from the Qajar tribal type of society and ruling, and under the pretext of establishing a common national identity, Reza Shah and his associates diverted attention to the ancient civilization of Iran and highlighted the Aryan Race through the Iranian cultural and historical heritage. In this line, the National Consultative Assembly followed Reza Shah’s goals and strategies. This article is an effort to investigate the performance of the National Consultative Assembly, during the first Pahlavi administration, and the conformity of its measures with Reza Shah’s approach to the cultural and historical heritage of Iran.

The Constitutional Revolution brought parliamentarism to Iran which helped the Revolutionary leaders and elite to establish a house of justice, as the main goal of the revolutionaries, through the establishment of the legislative institution of the Consultative Assembly. While the underlying foundations of the ministries, organizations and institutions were prepared in conformity with a modern system and with specialized functions such as those of the judiciary, the police, the afore-mentioned demands were still in place. Given the above, we will examine the issue under the following questions:1- As part of the Iranian public, how did the Qom population regard the Assembly during the reign Reza Shah?2- What were the requirements and demands of the Qom public from the National Consultative Assembly?3- As a sample of the Iranian population, what social, administrative and political perspectives and requirements did the Qom public society demanded from the Assembly in that period?Assumptions: 1,2- As a result of the direct link between the public demand from the Assembly, questions 1 and 2 are answered under one general hypothesis. The public demands andperspectives of the Qom population may fall under the following categories:a) Legal and judicial demands, which indicated public expectations from the Assembly as the institution in charge of administration of justice in society; the Assembly was regarded also as an institution with judicial functions;b) Financial and tax-related demands, which indicated the public expectations from the Assembly as an institution in charge of the taxation affairs; Assembly as an institution with functions of the Ministry of Finance;c) Demands for law enforcement and criticism of violations of the law; this indicated the public demand from the Assembly as a law enforcement institution in cities and villages. The public regarded Assembly as an institution with functions of municipality and police; d) Demands for criticism of the local authorities performance (e.g. criticizing the lieutenant governors, the liege lords, influential figures, heads or officers in municipalities, post offices and other governmental administrators; this indicated the public expectation of the Assembly to act as an institution in charge of the battle against the inefficiency and corruption of the governmental officers and their appointments and removals. This also indicated that the Assembly should act as an institution with functions of the Ministry of the Interior.3- The public demands and perspectives of the Qom population are indicative of a number of social and political issues and realities in the then days of Qom:a) Relative unawareness of the public on their legal rights;b) Relative unawareness of the public on the functions and duties of the local and governmental organizations;c) Evasion of the bodies and organizations in charge from law enforcement;d) Weakness and/or insufficiency in law or law enforcement as a result of the weak central government supervision and inspection; e) Undue influence by the authorities, lieutenant governors, liege lords, and influential figures in cities and villages, and the prevailing atmosphere of relations instead of regulations and rent-seeking in governmental organizations.

Established in 1925, the Pahlavi dynasty should be considered the foundation stone ofIranian modern absolute monarchy. This new type of government was the result ofconditions which called for modernization of Iran. Social modernization was a part ofReza’s modernization campaign which was somehow intertwined with identity-buildingand nation-building. In fact, identity-building gave birth to a new type of social identity inReza Shah era. The Majlis proposed and passed bills changing traditional structure of theIranian society and radically redefined Iranian identity in order to cement themodernizing government’s social programs. This paper studies the measures taken by theMajlis in this direction, including the passage of Personal Status Registration Act,Citizenship Act, Academy of Persian Language and Literature Charter, Organization forthe Cultivation of Ideas (Sazman-e Parvaresh-e Afkar) Charter, Persian Culture andLanguage Charter, and Iranian National Anthem.

With Reza Shah’s consolidation of power, the Majlis and other democratic entities gradually lost their legal status and real functions and became Reza Shah’s tools of dictatorship consolidation. Governmental interference in elections and admission of favored individuals into the Majlis turned the legislative body into a rubber stamp for government’s bills. Therefore, it became depleted of independent and freethinking representatives and opposition fractions. Despite all the arrangements made by the government to control the Majlis, weak voices of opposition were sometimes heard in the legislature so that two representatives of opposition found way into the seventh Majlis and some unfavorable activities were done against Shah’s will in the later years of his rule. As the last resort, the government removed their parliamentary immunity and took the tough line against the dissident members of the Majlis. This was repeated over and over during Reza Shah’s monarchy. This paper attempts to provide the reader with the reasons, manifestations, and results of the critical issue of parliamentary immunity removal.

With Reza Shah’s rise to power, critically-minded press was reduced to silence, and protesting newspapers were suffocated by press censorship. This press campaign was initiated by Reza as minister of war and later completed by Reza as shah of Iran. As a consequence, pre-revolution dictatorship once again reared its ugly head and no newspaper dared to publish materials considered unfavorable by the government. Reza Shah’s sensitivity towards newspaper contents grew to the extent that he delegated the responsibility for press monitoring to the police. It is, thus, believed that the study of press laws, Majlis’s enactments, and negotiations of its members would shed some light on press-gagging in Reza Shah’s Iran. The present article is an attempt to analyze press bills passed by the fifth Majlis using its minutes and available documents.

During the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, two opposing currents of thought were at work in the Majlis: Western secular belief system and Islamic religious belief system. As a result, distrust was prevalent among the members of the Majlis; conflict was common among the members of majority and minority parties; and a climate of commotion hindered the progress of affairs especially those of the fourth Majlis. The fifth Majlis was opened by Reza Khan Sardar Sepah as prime minister on 5 Rajab 1324. He contacted different individuals and groups and tried successfully to find support among the representatives. Enjoying foreign support, Reza Khan later paved the ground for the Qajar’s fall and transfer of royal authority to the Pahlavi Dynasty. As the shah of Iran, he managed to legitimize later governments and perpetuate the Majlis and elections. From the sixth Majlis up to the thirteenth Majlis, the shah determined the outcome of elections and the lineup of the Majlis. All representatives received votes of confidence and maintained their parliamentary tenure as long as they maintained Reza Shah’s confidence. However, the invasion of the Allied powers Britain and the Soviet Union to Iran brought an end to Reza Shah’s monarchy in September 1941. The thirteenth Majlis was inaugurated by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi on 13 November 1941. Thanks to new king’s lucky stars, the occupation of the country took place at a time when his father had made all the arrangements for the election of the thirteenth Majlis and the legislature was ready to compromise with him.

Mohammad-Taqi Bahār (1884, Mashhad), is a renowned poet and scholar, who was also a politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature. Once he graduated in literature and the Arabic language, he devoted himself to Imam Reza Holy Shrine, joined the constitutionalists, and became a well-known constitutionalist poet. He was elected in the Third and Fourth National Consultative Assemblies as representative of Dargaz, Kalat, Sarakhs and Bojnourd. In the Fifth Assembly, which was one of the most significant and sensitive Assemblies, he entered the legislative institution as the representative of Torshiz. To begin with, he was in line with Sardār Sepah, for his establishment of security and a powerful central government. Gradually, however, when he began to understand Reza Shah’s intentions to seize the power, he changed his opinion, and resumed his close cooperation with Sayyed Hasan Modarres, who was heading the minority opposition in the Fifth Assembly as was the case in the Fourth. He was among the representatives who against republicanism and assignment of all the authorities to Reza Shah. Also, Bahār did not approve of the change in dynasty and removal of the Qajar kings. This article aims to investigate representation of Bahār in the Fifth National Consultative Assembly, and delve into his opinions on the major events in the then days of Iran.