Liberty and Licence in the Constitutional Revolution of Iran

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

Volumn 8, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 159-180

  Katouzian, Homa ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84855757807     PISSN: 13561863     EISSN: 14740591     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1356186300009962     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. See further, Homa Katouzian, “Problem of political development in Iran: democracy, dictatorship or arbitrary government?”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, XXII; Estebdad, Demokrasi Va Nehzat-e Melli (London and Tehran, 1993/1372), especially chapters one and five; “Arbitrary rule: a theory of state, politics and society in Iran”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, XXIV; “The aridisolatic society: a model of long term social and economic development in Iran”, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, July 1983; The Political Economy of Modem Iran (London and New York, 1981), especially chapters 2-5. For a detailed description of events in the specific case of the collapse of the Safavid state, see, Lawrence Lockhart, The Fall of the Safavid Dynasty and the Afghan Occupation of Persia (Cambridge, 1958); Nadir Shah (London, 1938).
2. The picture in question has been published in Denis Wright, The Persians amongst the English: Episodes in Anglo-Persian History (London, 1985
3. When he had decided to back down, he wrote in his first letter to Hajj Mirza Hasan Mojtahed-e Ashtiyani: “As for the tobacco question, no-one is infallible, and-among human beings-perfect knowledge belongs to the pure person of our prophet, peace be unto him. There are times when one takes a decision which he later regrets. Just on this tobacco business I had already thought of withdrawing the domestic monopoly… such that they would not be able to complain and ask for a large compensation and, at the same time, the people be rid of the European monopoly of internal trade which was truly harmful. We were about to take action when the edict (hokm) of Mirza-ye Shirazi… was published in Isfahan and gradually reached Tehran… Would it not have been better if you had petitioned us-either individually or collectively to withdraw the monopoly… without all the noise and the stopping (tark) of qalian”. See Nazem al-Islam-e Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iraniyan, ed., Sa'idi Sirjani, (Tehran, 1362 1983), pp. 22-39.
4. After Sepahsalar-e Qazvini submitted his draft constitution to the Shah for the creation of a responsible Council of Ministers, the Shah wrote beneath it: “Jenab-e Sadr-e A ‘zam: I very much approve of this account which you have written concerning the Council of Ministers. With God's blessings make the necessary arrangements and put it into action soon, since any delay would mean a loss to the state.” Quoted in Abdullah Mostawfi, Sharh-e Zendegani-ye Man, i, (Tehran, 1360/1981), p. 123. See also Mostashar al-Dawleh's death-bed letter to the heirdesignate, MozaSar al-Din Mirza, in Nazem al-Islam-e Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iraniyan, pp. 172-7. See further, Feraidun-e Adamiyat, Fekr-e Ejtema ‘i-ye Demokrasi dar Nehzat-e Mashmtiyat-e Iran (Tehran, 1354/1975).
5. See Abdolhosain Navai, ed., Sharh-e Hal-e Abbas Mirza Molk Ara (Tehran, 1361/1982), p. 175, emphasis added.
6. See Abdolhosain Navai, Iran vajahan, vol. 2, Tehran: 1369/1990.
7. See Kliaterat Taj al-Saltaneh, eds. Mansureh Ettehadiyeh and Sirus Sa'dvandiyan (Tehran, 1362/1983). She quotes her stepmother, Anis al-Dawleh (p. 60) that-shortly before his fateful visit to Hazrat-e Abdol ‘azim-the Shah had told her that, after the golden jubilee celebrations, “I would abolish the [land] tax, establish a consultative assembly, and call for elected deputies from the provinces. I don't think that my assassination would serve the ra'iyat's interest”. E'temad al-Saltaneh, who died before the Shah, thought that Amin-al Sultan was disloyal towards his master (see, Ruznameh-ye Khaterat-e E'temad al-Saltaneh, ed. [raj Afshar, Tehran, 1350/1971). The two men were great enemies to the extent that when the former died, Atabak and Hajj Amin al-Zarb were accused of having arranged his death by a Florentine technique. See, for example, Khan Malek-e Sasani, Siyasatgaran-e Dawreh-ye Qajar (Tehran, n.d., date of the preface, 1338/1959), and Abdolhosain Nava'i, Iran vajahan, ii, who go on to add that they then contacted Mirza Reza to prepare for the assassination of the Shah. The allegations cannot be taken seriously and are typical of Iranian conspiracy theories. See farther, Khaterat-e Siyasi-ye Mirza Ali Khan-e Amin al-Dawleh, ed. Hafez Farmanfarmanyan (Tehran, 1370/1991).
8. Two very good contemporary sources on the “Turks” are Khatemt-e Taj al-Saltaneh and Khaterat-e Ehtesham al-Saltaneh (S. M. Musavi, ed., Tehran, 1367/1988) although rarely does a contemporary source omit to mention them and their deeds.
9. After Amin al-Dawleh's death, Talebof wrote in a private letter: “God immerse him in his blessings. It is extremely sad that he is not alive now to end the problem of our lack of statesmanship. A long time would have to pass before anyone of his calibre could emerge…” See Yaghma, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 179.
10. Yaddasht-ha-ye Malek al-Movatrekhin va Met'at al-Vaqaye'-e Mozaffari, Abdolhosain Nava'i, ed. (Tehran, 1368/1989). See Mer'at, pp. 127-247. It is worth emphasizing that evidence of increasing disorder and chaos may be found in almost all contemporary sources and the sources written later by and with first-hand experience of the events. Indeed, in his voluminous memoirs Abdullah Mostawfi occasionally refers to the period between the turn of the twentieth century and the coup d'etat of 1921 as “the twenty-year chaos”. Here we shall cite the evidence from Malek al-Movarrekhin's two books because they have almost just come to light, they cover the years immediately before the onset of the revolution, and they have systematically recorded the events at the time of their happening. For corroborating evidence, see for example, Abdullah Mostawfi, Shah-e Zendegani-ye Man…, ii & iii (Tehran, 1360/1981); Yahya Dawlat-Abadi, Hayat-e Yahya, iii & iv (Tehran, 1372/1992); Hajj Mokhber al-Saltaneh, Khaterat va Khatarat (Tehran, 1363/1984); Khaterat-e Ehtesham al-Saltaneh.
11. See Yaddasht-ha, pp. 20-2.
12. See Khaterat-e Ehtesham al-Saltaneh, Nazem al-Islam-e Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye haniyan, and Ahmad Kasravi, Tarikh-e Mashruteh-ye Iran (Tehran, 1346/1967).
13. See, among other sources, Herbert Marcuse, Reason and Revolution, second edition (London, 1955). W. A. Kaufman, Hegel (New York, 1957); and From Shakespeare to Existentialism (New York, i960). David McLellan, Young Hegelians and Karl Marx (London, 1969). Bertrand Russell, Philosophy and Politics (Cambridge, 1947).
14. See, Homa Katouzian, Ideology and Method in Economics (London and New York, 1980), pp. 151-2.
15. See, for example, Friedrich Engels, Hen Eugen Diihring's Revolution in Science: Anti-Duhring, ed., C. P. Dutt (London, 1943); Dialectics of Nature (Moscow, 1964); Nikkoli Bukharin, Historical Materialism (New York, 1928); Joseph Stalin, Dialectical and Historical Materialism (London, 1941).
16. See, for example, Homa Katouzian, Ideology and Method in Economics. George Lichtheim, Marxism (London, 1962). John Plamenatz, German Marxism and Russian Communism (London, 1954). Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx (Oxford, third edition, 1963); David McLellan, Karl Marx (London, 1973).
17. The more important primary references are to be found in Marx's contributions to the American newspaper Daily Tribune in the 1850s, and his brief analytical classification of societies in the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy (1859). For detailed bibliographical references, see Perry Anderson, Lineages of the Absolutist State (London, 1974); and Karl Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism (New Haven, 1957).
18. See, Homa Katouzian, The Political Economy of Modem Iran, Chapter 2, text as well as the appendix.
19. See, The Political Economy of Modem Iran., tables 3.2 to 3.8. The structural change in favour of primary production and exports, and against manufacturing, may be seen particularly from table 3.7.
20. For the extent and effects of debasement, depreciation, inflation, etc., see, The Political Economy of Modem Iran., text as well as tables 3.2-3.5
21. a For a very recent study of the role of democrats, women, etc., Janet Afari, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution igo6-ign: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, andthe Origins of Feminism. (New York, 1996).
22. See, Ahmad Kasravi, Tarikh-e Mashruteh-ye Iran, pp. 415-23.
23. See, Nazem al-Islam-e Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Imniyan, pp. 241-3.
24. See their numerous statements, their correspondence with the ulema in Iran, and their aggressive and uncompromising letters to the Shah himself in Kasravi's Tarikh-e Mashruteh and Nazem al-Islam's Tarikh-e Bidari. Here is a small sample from the latter {Tarikh-e Bidari, ii, p. 214) quoted from a telegram by Tehrani, Khorasani, and Mazandarani to Behbahani, Tabataba'i and Afjeh'i: “N o w we openly declare [to all the armed forces] that following orders, and shooting at the people and the supporters of the Majlis is the same as taking orders from Yazid son of Mo ‘avia, and is a negation of Islam.”
25. See, See their numerous statements, their correspondence with the ulema in Iran, and their aggressive and uncompromising letters to the Shah himself in Kasravi's Tarikh-e Mashruteh and Nazem al-Islam's Tarikh-e Bidari., pp. 365-71.
26. See their numerous statements, their correspondence with the ulema in Iran, and their aggressive and uncompromising letters to the Shah himself in Kasravi's Tarikh-e Mashruteh and Nazem al-Islam's Tarikh-e Bidari…, pp. 365-7.
27. See their numerous statements, their correspondence with the ulema in Iran, and their aggressive and uncompromising letters to the Shah himself in Kasravi's Tarikh-e Mashruteh and Nazem al-Islam's Tarikh-e Bidari…, pp. 367-71.
28. For the full fatva, see Homa Katouzian, The Political Economy of Modem Iran, p. 64
29. See, for example, Ralph Korngold, Robespierre (London, 1937). Antonia Valentin, Mirabeau, Voice of The Revolution (London, 1948). Sir Llewelyn Woodward, French Revolutions (Oxford, 1965).
30. See, Hamid Algar, Mirza Malkam Khan, A Study in the History of Iranian Modernism (Berkeley, 1973). Many contemporary sources are-at times highly-uncomplimentary about Malkam Khan's ethics; see, for example, Khaterat-e Ehtesham al-Saltaneh. According to E'temad al-Saltaneh, Reuter had paid large bribes to Sepahsalar-e Qazvini and Malkam-among others-for obtaining the Reuter Concession. See, Javad Shaikholeslami, “Emtiyaz-e Este ‘mari-ye Reuter” in Qatl-e Atabak va Shanzdah Maqaleh-ye Tahqiqi-ye Digar (Tehran, 1367/1988).
31. See, for example, C. V. Wedgewood, The King's Peace, 1637-1641 (London, 1955); The King's War, 1641-1647 (London, 1958); The Trial of Charles I (London, 1964). Christopher Hill, The English Revolution (London, 1955); The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714 (London, 1988). 511 See, for example, the sources mentioned in note (55), above, as well as Leo Gershoy, The Era of the French Revolution (1780-170,0,) (Princeton, 1957); From Despotism to Revolution (New York, 1963).
32. The most famous of them are some of the leading social contract theorists such as John Locke and liberal economists such as Adam Smith, David Hume and the French Physiocrats.
33. See, in particular, his famous essay, On Liberty (London, 1938).
34. Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty (Oxford, 1959).
35. Harold Laski, A Grammar of Politics (London, 1963).
36. See, Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty.
37. See, Homa Katouzian, “Demokrasi, Diktatori va mas'uliyyat-e Mellat” in Estebdad, Demokrasi va Nehzat-e Melli.
38. See, Yahya Ariyanpur, Az Saba ta Nima, i (Tehran, 1351/1972), pp. 289-90.
39. Az Saba ta Nima., p. 290.
40. See, Homa Katouzian, Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran (London and New York, 1990); “Introduction” to Musaddiq's Memoirs, ed. Homa Katouzian (London, 1988); and The Political Economy of Modem Iran.
41. To this author's knowledge, the fact that the Shah was a maternal grandson of Amir Nezam-e Farahani (Amir Kabir) has been mentioned nowhere in the contemporary sources or in later historiography of the period. Kasravi (Tarikh-e Mashruteh) cites some evidence of the personal attacks on the Shah published in Sayyed Mohammad Reza Shirazi's newspaper Mosavat (a direct translation of the French Revolution slogan egalite), and says that when the Shah turned to the courts for protection, Sayyed refused to answer the summons of the court and published a special issue making fun of it. Kasravi the moralist has the better of Kasravi the revolutionary when he comments (pp. 593-5) that “if some in the ranks of the freedom party deserved to be killed this man was the first among them”. He does however mention that not even Sur Esrafil was immune from this kind of transgression. For obscene personal attacks on the Shah see also Abdullah Mostawfi, Sharh-e Zendegani-ye Man, ii, p. 258.
42. See Zendegi-ye Tufani-ye Taqizadeh, ed. Iraj Afshar (Tehran, 1368/1989). Taqizadeh probably did not know of the plan to assassinate Behbahani before the event, but it is not very likely that he regretted it when it happened. His own later development into a sophisticated modem politician earned him the suspicion and distrust of all the main parties, and that-as he had told Iraj Afshar in his old age-must have reminded him of his own radical idealism as a leader of the Constitutional Revolution.