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The Development of Social Insurance in Iran: Technical-Financial Conditions and Political Rationales, 1941–1960

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Cyrus Schayegh
Cyrus Schayegh*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Archaeology, American University of Beirut,Lebanon
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Abstract

This text brings the case of Iranian social insurance (SI) to bear on the processes shaping Iranian politics from 1941 to 1960. It holds that the political needs of upper class rule (1941–51) and of the early autocratic regime (1953–1960) helped to shape SI's nature, extent, and limits. A key objective was to propagandistically use a minimal version of SI to try undermining communist and workers' trade unionist agitation. Iranian SI had two rationales. Although a few workers demanded SI measures during the Constitutional Revolution, the first SI program (1922, 1931, 1933) covered government employees, i.e. was a function of state-building. This paper focuses on a second program, targeting non-government workers. Starting in 1936 (1943, 1949), it was meant to tackle the social and political challenges posed by a nascent industrial working class. However, throughout the 1940s, workers' SI laws remained a dead letter, and the first integrated SI bureaucracy (1953), although ensuring 180,000 people, was in reality quite inefficient.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 539 - 568
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2006

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References

1 Paléologos, Report, 1955, chapter 14, archives of the International Labour Office, Geneva [hereafter: ILO], Technical Assistance Program [hereafter: TAP] 0–48–4–1.

2 Together with documents found in the Iranian National Archives (Sāzmān-e Asnād-e Melli), Tehran, ILO documents—comprising internal interim and final reports and correspondence between the ILO's Geneva headquarters, Istanbul regional office, and Tehran mission, as well as correspondence with and reports to Iranian authorities—are the main primary source for this text. Relying on the records of an international agency such as the ILO to map out the evolution of a third party's state bureaucracy carries its risks, but presents distinct advantages too. Here, the latter are quite elementary: the ILO records are broadly what is accessible in terms of administrative primary sources documenting Iranian SI from 1953 onwards. Furthermore, the ILO's Iranian missions were long-term undertakings; the experts were openly critical, but developed their critique in the framework of close collaboration with their Iranian counterparts from the OAST and through regular visits to the provinces, rather than from behind the closed doors of an air-conditioned Tehran office; finally, the ILO had no open political axe to grind. Taken together, these qualities translate into a high level of organizational and personal knowledge of Iranian SI. However, ILO experts sometimes accentuated the OAST's deficiencies upon their arrival, yet highlighted accomplishments towards their departure. Moreover, the ILO's underlying non- (if not anti-) communist attitude, while evidently a must for working with a pro-Western regime like the shah's, was also reflected in the limits of the possibly ‘thinkable’ in the field of SI.

3 Nasr, Vali, “Politics within the Late Pahlavi State: The Ministry of Economy and Industrial policy, 1963–1969,” IJMES 32 (2000): 97–122Google Scholar; see older, general articles, like Khosrow Fatemi, “Leadership by Distrust: The Shah's Modus Operandi,” Middle East Journal 36 no.1 (1982): 48–61.

4 Halliday, Fred, Iran: Dictatorship and Development (London, 1979), 193Google Scholar.

5 As the 1960s progressed, autocratic rule was increasingly buttressed by oil revenues that were strategically (also through SI), yet unequally, distributed as rents, creating a society of dependents and dealing a fatal blow to effective economic performance; see Najmabadi, Afsaneh, “Depoliticisation of a Rentier State. The Case of Pahlavi Iran,” in Beblawi, Hazem and Luciani, Giacomo, eds., The Rentier State (London, 1987), 210–227Google Scholar.

6 Cronin, Stephanie, ed., Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left (London, 2004)Google Scholar, especially the “Introduction,” 1–15; Behrooz, Maziar, Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran (London, 1999)Google Scholar.

7 In Tehran, the first (German-imported 300 kW) power plant outside the shah's main residence was reportedly established in 1908 by the merchant Hajj Hossain Amin al-Zarb; see Willem Floor and Bernard Hourcade, “Barq. I. in Iran,” Encyclopaedia Iranica 3:815; and “L'éclairage électrique en Iran,” Bulletin de la Banque Mellié Iran, année 7 N°41 (Novembre 1939): 535f. Either Amin al-Zarb's plant was in fact constructed earlier or it was not the first one in Tehran.

8 Chaqueri, Cosroe, The Russo-Caucasian Origins of the Iranian Left.: Social Democracy in Modern Iran (Richmond, 2001), 90Google Scholar. The internal quote is taken from the issue dated 7 August 1907 of the India-based Iranian paper Habl-ol-Matin. It also noted that “the strikers named the individuals who had suffered permanent injuries at work;” see Chaqueri, Origins, 281, f.n. 85. For tramway workers' strike, see Chaqueri, Cosroe, The Russo-Caucasian Origins of the Iranian Left. Social Democracy in Modern Iran (Richmond, 2001), 90Google Scholar.

9 Willem Floor, Labour Unions, Law, and Conditions in Iran (1900–1941), University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Occasional Papers Series N°26, 1985; c.f. Abrahamian, Ervand, “The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Labour Movement in Iran, 1941–1953,” in Bonine, Michael E. and Keddie, Nikki R., eds., Modern Iran (Albany, 1981), 212–214Google Scholar.

10 Cronin, Introduction, 1.

11 Chaqueri, Origins, 95.

12 For example, in 1935, the ILO stated that “Le bureau n'a réçu aucun renseignement au sujet des mésures prises ou envisagés à l'égard [des] conventions [de 1919 et 1920] et il ignore si elles ont été soumises aux autorités compétentes;” Bureau international de travail, ‘Situation de l'Iran à l'égard des conventions internationales du travail’, (1 Décembre 1935): 18, “Tarh-e pishnehādi-ye edāreh-ye beinolmellali-ye kār,” 17–20, file n° 290006651, Sāzmān-e Asnād-e Melli (Iranian National Archives), Tehran [hereafter: SAM].

13 A number of leftist organs and newspapers were founded in the late 1910s and early 1920s, publishing articles on workers' welfare. Edited by the Azeri Mir-Ja‘far Pishevari, Horriyat was the party organ of the 'Edālat committee, which was founded in 1916 and fours years later became the Iranian communist party. Founded in 1918 and, upon its closure in 1922, succeeded by Kār, the newspaper Haqiqat was a Tehran-based trade union newspaper associated with the communist party and edited by Pishevari. Founded 1922 in Tehran and edited by Assadollah Abdollah-zad, Āsiā-ye Markazi was an independent, pro-socialist newspaper close to the Ettehādiyehhā-ye kārgarān-e Irān. A last example is Setāreh-ye Sorkh. Founded in the late 1910s, it was a progressive newspaper that became increasingly communist since 1920 and was financially supported by the Soviet Embassy.

14 Floor, Labour Unions, 85f.

15 Savory, Roger, “Social Development in Iran during the Pahlavi Era,” in Lenczowski, George, ed., Iran Under the Pahlavis (Stanford, 1978), 94Google Scholar.

16 Nahid E‘tesadpur and Fahimeh Rajabirad, Ta'min-e ejtemā'i dar Irān second edition (Tehran, 1996), 22. For a history of the state pension fund, see also Ministry of Finance, report dated 14.10.1333s (January 1955), in “Tashkilāt-e edāreh-ye bāzneshastegi-ye keshvar,” file n° 240026675, SAM.

17 Muhammad ‘Ali Akbari, Barresi-ye barnāmeh-rizi-ye dawlati dar hawzeh-ye ta'min-e ejtemā'i-ye Irān. Jeld-e avval (1385s–1320s) (Tehran, 2002), 172f.

18 Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, 1982), 136fGoogle Scholar.

19 ILO, Correspondence [hereafter: C] 48–2–3(a), Mai 1950, 17f. ILO C files do not include document names, but only dates and file numbers, 48 standing for Iran. I cite them not in the order of the ILO TAP files (document first), but starting with the C 48 file number.

20 E‘tesadpur and Rajabirad, Ta'min-e ejtemā'i, 23f.

21 Pakbaz, Khosrow, Ta'min-e ejtemā'i. Be-enzemām-e barresi-ye kāmel-e bimehhā-ye ejtemā'i-ye Irān (Tehran, 1970), 303f.Google Scholar; Floor, Labour Unions, 93f.

22 “Reglèment des fabriques et des établissements industrielles. Décret du Conseil des Ministres, approuvé le 19 Mordad 1315 (10 Août 1936),” Bulletin de la Banque Mellie Iran 18 (Décembre 1937): 45–47; Ladjevardi, Habib, Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran (Syracuse, 1985), 24Google Scholar.

23 Razavi, Hossein and Vakil, Firouz, The Political Environment of Economic Planning in Iran, 1971–1983: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic (Boulder, 1984), 20Google Scholar; c.f. Towfigh, Ebrahim, Modernisierung und postkoloniale Herrschaft in Iran. Versuch über den Staat (Frankfurt a.M., 2000), 140fGoogle Scholar.

24 Floor, Labour Unions, 95.

25 For example, in 1939, officials of the Ministry of Industry of the second and the seventh province, insisted and actually threatened the owner of an electricity company to accept the services of one Dr. Sazesh to be responsible for the workers' health; see “Gozāresh rāje‘be-vaz'iyat-e behdāsht-e kārgarān-e kārkhāneh-ye Risandegi,” p. 1, 9.5.1318s (1939), file n° 291001744, SAM. For earlier dispatches of physicians, see “Vaz'iyat-e behdāshti-ye kārkhānejāt va e'zām-e pezeshk va nezāmnāmeh-ye kārkhānejāt va mo'assessāt-e san'ati,” 1310s (1931/32), file n° 291003284, SAM.

26 See “Gozāresh-e chegunegi-ye fout-e kārgarān va pardākht-e khesārat va hoquq beh- varās, (va) nezāmnāmeh-ye estekhdām dar sherkat-e sahāmi-ye naft-e Englis va Irān,” 1312s (1933/34), file n° 240002359, SAM. For correspondence between the APOC and the IIC regarding the payment of indemnities, see “Mokātebāt-e sherkat-e naft-e Irān va Englis bā sherkat-e sahāmi-ye bimeh-ye Irān dar khosus-e pardākht-e haqq-e bimeh-ye mostakhdemin, Tehrān, Abādān, Bushehr, … 1327–1328s,” (1948–49), file n° 240007284, SAM.

27 International Labour Office, Labour Conditions in the Oil Industry in Iran. Report of a Mission of the International Labour Office (January–February 1950) (Geneva and Lausanne, 1950), 25f.

28 Modernist critics included one Dr. Hashtrudi, who argued that “[T]oday … it is incumbent that factories, mines, commercial associations, and offices obey sanitary viewpoints in their own organizational branches and in the construction of (their) edifices;” see Dr. Hashtrudi, “Kār va khastegi. Cheh bāyad kard tā dirtar khasteh beshavim,” Ettelā'āt (20 November 1936). For the term 'industrial hygiene’, see “Hefz al-sehheh yā tandorosti” Ettelā‘āt (5 November 1935); Dr. Farhi, “Ahamiyat-e behdāsht,” Ettelā'āt (30 November 1937); and the title 'hygiène industrielle’ of the third section of the Factory Act.

29 For a summary of the 1939 IIC insurance contracts, see ILO, C 48–2–3(a), Mai 1950, 20. For a report of a (Soviet-Iranian) company that did insure its employees, see “Tarh-e moqarrarāt-e sanduq-e mostamari va e‘ānāt-e kārkonān-e kompāni-ye Shilāt-e Irān va Shourawi,” 1f., 1314s (1935/36), file n° 240020293, SAM.

30 Pakbaz, Ta'min-e ejtemā'i, 307f.; for entrepreneurs claiming ignorance of the bill even twenty years later, see Frédy Bémont, L'Iran devant le progress (Paris, 1962), 166.

31 Muhammad ‘Ali Akbari, Barrasi-ye barnāmeh-rizi-ye dawlati dar hawzeh-ye ta'min-e ejtemā'i-ye Irān. Jeld-e dovvom (1320s–1357s) (Tehran, 2002), 262; Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 24f.

32 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 214, quoting: British Consul in Tabriz, “The Economic Situation in Azerbaijan,” British Foreign Office [hereafter: FO] 371/Persia 1937 / 34–20830.

33 Towfigh, Modernisierung, 116, 143.

34 Fakhreddin Azimi, Iran. The Crisis of Democracy (London, 1989), 133.

35 Azimi, Iran, 215f.

36 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 213f. He also notes the rise of the number of modern industrial plants from ca. 20 (1925) to 346 (1941).

37 Beinin, Joel, Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge, 2001), 122–130CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 For war-related employment, see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 55; for the post-war rise of unemployment, see ILO, C 48–2–1, Mars 1950, §71; ILO, C 48–2–2, Avril 1950, §71; ILO, C 48–2–5, Juillet 1950, §71; ILO, C 48–2–6, Août 1950, 5; ILO, C 48–2–9, Novembre 1950, §71.

39 ILO, C 48–2–13a, Mai 1952, 1, and ILO, C 48–2–15, Juillet 1952, 2. For living costs and prices, see ILO, C 48–2–31, Novembre 1953, 34, with comparative data dating back to the 1930s. Living conditions deteriorated further in the early 1950s due to the economic crisis caused by the rift with AIOC, but were precarious throughout the period; see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 37; Azimi, Iran, 215, citing a 1949 FO report.

40 ILO, C 48–2–1, Mars 1950, §46.

41 ILO, C 48–2–2, Avril 1950, 18.

42 Afshin Matin-asgari, “From Social Democracy to Social Democracy. The Twentieth Century Odyssey of the Iranian Left,” in Stephanie Cronin, ed., Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran. New Perspectives on the Iranian Left (London, 2004), 41. For Iranian documentation of Tudeh involvement in strikes and demonstrations, see “Gozāreshhā-ye ruzāneh-ye shahrbāni-ye Esfahān be-ostandāri-ye ānjā (qatl – dozdi –e'terāzāt-e kārgarān – tazāhorā-ye hezb-e Tudeh …),” 1324s (1945/46), file n° 291003447, SAM; “E'tesāb-e kārgarān-e vābesteh be-hezb-e Tudeh be-e'llat-e kami hoquq,” Tehran, 1324s (1945/46), file n° 293002107, SAM. For examples of other strikes and labor actions, see “E'tesāb-e kārgarān dar Bandar 'Abbās dar e'terāz be-'adam-e pardākht-e dastmozd,” (1944/45), file n° 293002034, SAM; “Vaz'iyat-e nā-monāseb-e kārkhānejāt-e Esfahān va ta'dil-e hoquq-e kārgarān ve e'tesāb-e ānhā be-'elat-e bohrān-e eqtesādi,” 1328s (1949/50), file n° 291003656, SAM; “E'tesāb-e kārgarān dar Hamadān dar e'terāz be-kami dastmozd va 'adam-e ejrā-ye qānun-e kār,” 1331s (1952/53), file n° 293002016, SAM.

43 For the evolution of strike patterns and trade unions in the 1940s, see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 28–94; for the Tudeh, see Abrahamian, Iran, 281–325; for a new synthesis, see Matin-asgari, “Social Democracy,” 41–43 and the detailed bibliography, 54–64.

44 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 216; Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 46.

45 ILO, C 48–2–13a, Mai 1952, 2. For the ILO's anti-communist orientation, see Abrahamian, Strengths, 217. For Naficy's anti-communist orientation, 1955 CV, and pro-Shah attitude, see ILO, C 48–2–12, Juillet 1951, §66; ILO, C 48–2–14, Juin 1952, 3; and ILO, C 48–2–51, Juillet 1955, 33.

46 Azimi, Iran, 83f. SI legislation confirms this picture: the years 1941/42, 1942/43, and 1948/49 are on record with the lowest number of social security (ca. 90 percent SI) laws and executive decrees between 1941 and 1979; see Akbari, Barresi, II:143, 147.

47 Akbari, Barresi, II:277. I gratefully acknowledge the help of Afarin Tavakoli who drew my attention to the Azerbaijani SI law.

48 Cronin, “Introduction,” 1; c.f. Behrooz, Rebels, ix; Matin-asgari, “Social Democracy,” 37–39.

49 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 37f. The 8 December food riot mentioned was in fact instigated by the court and condemned by the Tudeh and other circles; see Azimi, Iran, 72–77, where he also explains how the Majles' clan politics aborted the planned Labor Ministry. Pakbaz, Ta'min, 311, also argues that the ILO had advised the Iranian cabinet on the formation of a Ministry of Labor.

50 ILO, C 48–2–3, Mai 1950, 23.

51 For the Persian original of the 1943 law, see Eqtesād-e ejtemā'i (Tehran, 1950/51) 330f. For the French translation of the law's articles concerning SI, see ILO, C 48–2–2, Avril 1950, 14 and 15–17. For the 1944 and 1947 regulations, see ILO, C 48–2–2, Avril 1950, 14 and 15–17, and ILO, C 48–2–3, (Mai 1950): 21f.

52 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 41, 52–55; c.f. the critical note regarding the 1943 law's implementation by Pakbaz, Ta'min, 312. For the CUC's demand for SI, see Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 215.

53 Pakbaz, Ta'min, 311, 315. Akbari, Barresi, I:168f., explains that the first official cooperation between the ILO and Iran, in the field of industrial management, dated back to 1932. The ILO could also issue condemnations, as it did during a conference in Paris, in autumn 1945, a year after the government had begun to take its gloves off in dealing with the left. Tehran sent a mock delegation to France; the CUC protested and was heard: despite the imprisonment of several key activists, Iraj Eskandari managed to join the conference that ended up criticizing Iran for its behavior; see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 55.

54 Pakbaz, Ta'min, 315–317; ILO, C 48–2–3, Mai 1950, 23.

55 In 1950, the Ministry of Education concluded a health insurance scheme with the IIC on behalf of its own employees. Fees amounted to three percent of salaries, one-third to be paid by the employee, two-thirds by the state. The IIC covered treatment in specific hospitals and paid eighty to ninety percent of most drugs prescribed; see Pakbaz, Ta'min, 317–319.

56 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 57–64, 67; Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 217f.

57 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 218.

58 For the genesis of the Ministry of Labor and its main tasks, see Akbari, Barresi, II:53; Pakbaz, Ta'min, 315; ILO, C 48–2–1, Mars 1950, 15f.

59 ILO, C 48–2–1, Mars 1950, §56.

60 Binder, Leonard, Iran. Political Development in a Changing Society (Berkeley, 1962), 188fCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 For the foreign press, see e.g., a report, filed from Iran by the British member of parliament Philips Price and printed in the Manchester Guardian on 7, 9, and 16 October 1950, as discussed in Innenpolitische Angelegenheiten, Bonn, (8 November 1950): B11, Bd.112, 010, Politisches Archiv des auswärtigen Amtes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland [hereafter: PA].

62 Akbari, Barresi, II:18f.

63 ILO, C 48–2–13(a), Mai 1952, 2.

64 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 220; c.f. ILO, C 48–2–13(a), (Mai 1952): 2.

65 Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 220.

66 “Major industrial strikes” developed as follows: 3 (1941); 37 (1942); 28 (1943); 57 (1944); 44 (1945); 183 (1946); 8 (1947); 5 (1948); 4 (1949); 5 (1950); 42 (1951); 55 (1952); 71 (first 8 months of 1953); see Abrahamian, “Strengths,” 221.

67 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 189ff.

68 Abrahamian, Iran, 274.

69 Abrahamian, Iran, 273.

70 For the merger of the Sanduq-e ta‘āvon va ehtiyāt and the Bongāh-e refāh-e ejtemā'i (charged, by the 1946 bill, to run a Sanduq-e ta'āvoni-ye markaz-e kārgarān) that ushered in the 1949 fund, and for the genesis of the 1953 OAST, see Akbari, Barresi, II:57–60.

71 ILO, C 48–2–2, Avril 1950, §85. For the order that all matters related to workers’ insurance and health are to be managed by the STBK, see Ministry of Finance, Edāreh-ye Koll, 15.11.1329s (February 1951), 77997, in “Asāsnāmeh-ye sanduq-e ta‘āvon va bimeh-ye kārgarān,” file n° 270000183, SAM. For the STBK's statutes, see ILO, C 48–2–12, Juillet 1951, 21–27. For progress by the STBK, see Letter, Abel to de Baer, Téhéran, (27 Octobre 1952), ILO, TAP 0–48–4. For problems, see Letter, Sanduq-e ta'āvon va bimeh-ye kārgarān to Dr. Sayyāh, 15.11. 1329s (February 1951), n° 1394, in “Asās-nāmeh-ye sanduq-e ta'āvon va bimeh-ye kārgarān,” file n° 270000183, SAM.

72 For a French translation of the 1953 law, see ILO, C 48–2–21, Janvier 1953, 11–38.

73 Ansari, Ali M., “The Myth of the White Revolution: Mohammad Reza Shah, ‘Modernization’ and the Consolidation of Power,” Middle Eastern Studies 37 no. 3 (2001):2fCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

74 Towfigh, Modernisierung, 140, 148. For the post-coup government and the shah's approach to labor, see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 193–209.

75 Gesandtschaft der BRD, Teheran, 554–00 Nr. 1180/53l, Teheran, den 5 November 1953, betr.: Sozialpolitik der Regierung Zahedi, 6240, Av, Neues Amt, PA.

76 Gesandtschaft der BRD Teheran. 554–00 Nr. 662/54, Teheran, den 26 Januar 1954. betr.: Sozialversicherungswesen in Iran, 6240, Av, Neues Amt, PA.

77 ILO, C 48–2–34, Février 1954, 29.

78 ILO, C 48–2–42a, Octobre 1954, 87.

79 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 194.

80 ILO, C 48–2–42a, Octobre 1954, 87; ILO, C 48–2–47a, Mars 1955, 5ff., ILO, C 48–2–49a, Mai 1955, 14.

81 Gesandtschaft der BRD Teheran, Po1 708–81.05 Nr. 2342/58, betr.: Dritte Pressekonferenz des Schahs, Teheran, den 30 Oktober 1958, 3013, Av, Neues Amt, PA.

82 ILO, C 48–2–64(A), Auguste 1956, 51; c.f. ILO, C 48–2–49a, (Mai 1955): 9; ILO, C 48–2–50(a), (Juin 1955): 31; ILO, C 48–2–63a, Juillet 1956, 13; ILO, C 48–2–78a, Novembre 1957, 2–8 (regarding the resumed strikes in the NIOC).

83 ILO, C 48–2–75c, Auguste 1957, 44. For the strikers' SI demands, see ILO, C 48–2–77a, Octobre 1957, 44.

84 For the continuous significance of leftist challenges for the state's interest in SI, see Akbari, Barresi, II:277.

85 ILO, C 48–2–63a, Juillet 1956, 13; ILO, C 48–2–72a, Mai 1957, 31.

86 Speech of MP Djahanchahi, reprinted in ILO, C 48–2–71(a), Avril 1957, 28–30; ILO, C 48–2–31, Novembre 195, §57; ILO, C 48–2–97a, Juillet 1959, 30f. For housing, see ILO, C 48–2–86a, Juillet 1958, 12ff.

87 ILO, C 48–2–68a, (Décembre 1956): 25; ILO, C 48–2–110a, (Auguste 1960): 18. For minimum wage, see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 205.

88 Binder, Iran, 194; Ladjevardi, Labour Unions, 213f.

89 ILO, C 48–2–47a, Mars 1955, 5ff.

90 ILO, C 48–2–68a, Décembre 1956, 27.

91 ILO, C 48–2–70a, Février 1957, 3f.

92 ILO, C 48–2–75C, August 1957, 39f.

93 ILO, C 48–2–75C, August 1957, 34, 36, quote from Farmān, 2 August 1957.

94 ILO, C 48–2–77a, Octobre 1957, 44.

95 ILO, C 48–2–76a, Septembre 1957, 4.

96 Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 195, quoting a 1955 U.S. report.

97 See e.g. Ministry of Finance, Budget Office, 15.8.1338s (November 1959), n° 14324, “Lāiheh-ye qānun-e ta'sis-e sāzmān-e ta'min-e ejtemāi,” file n° 240026540, SAM; and Ministry of Finance, Budget Office, 2.7.1338s (illegible, September 1959?), “Lāiheh-ye qānun-e ta'sis-e sāzmān-e ta'min-e ejtemā'i”, file n° 240026540, SAM.

98 Letter, Abel to Zelenka, Téhéran, 10 Octobre 1953, ILO, TAP 0–48–4; Letter, Abel to Zelenka, Téhéran, 15 Octobre 1953, ILO, TAP 0–48–4.

99 Letter, Paléologos to Zelenka, 19 Septembre 1963, ILO, TAP 0–48–4-3; Letter, Paléologos to Zelenka, 6 Octobre 1963, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–3.

100 Edāreh-ye koll-e motāle‘āt va barrisihā of the OAST, “Gozāresh-e eqdāmat va fa‘āliyathā-ye shish-māheh-ye dovvom-e sāl-e 1339s,” (1961): 1–29, general organizational critique pp. 1–4, file n° 297016680, SAM.

101 Letter, Arsalan Mahzad, head of the Edāreh-ye Bāzneshastegi (State Retirement Office), to Faruhar, Minister of Finance, 21.5.1335s (August 1956), n° 174/2, in “Tashkilāt-e edāreh-ye bāzneshategi-ye keshvar,” file n° 240026675, SAM; see also Letter, Mahzad to Dr. Amini, Minister of Finance, 19.11.1332s (February 1954), n° 2731/2, in “Tashkilāt-e edāreh-ye bāzneshategi-ye keshvar,” file n° 240026675, SAM; Letter, Mahzad to Foruhar, Minister of Finance, 18.9.1335s (December 1956), n° 4975/2, in “Tashkilāt-e edāreh-ye bāzneshastegi-ye keshvar,” file n° 240026675, SAM.

102 Reza Sheikholeslami, A., “Administration. ii. The Pahlavi Period (1921–1979),” in Yarshater, Ehsan, ed., Enyclopaedia Iranica vol.1, (London, 1985), 468Google Scholar.

103 Letter, Abel to Zelenka, Téhéran, 29 Juin 1953, 2, ILO, TAP 0–48–4.

104 Jean Paléologos, Rapport No.1, Téhéran, 3 Novembre 1954, 1–12, ILO TAP 0–48–4–1, quotes on pages 7, 10, 4, 10; c.f. Letter, Zelenka to Paléologos, Genève, 27 Novembre 1954, 3, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

105 Jean Paléologos, Rapport No.2, Téhéran, 5 Décembre 1954, 6, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; c.f. Letter, Thullen to Paléologos, Geneva, 14 April 1955, p. 2, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

106 Letter, Zelenka to Paléologos, Genève, 27 Novembre 1954, ILO, TAP 0-48-4-1, quotes on pages 1 and 3.

107 Harris, Franklin S., “The Beginnings of Point IV Work in Iran,” Middle East Journal 7 no. 2 (1953): 222–228Google Scholar. For a critique of the American policy, and of development in general, see Escobar, Arturo, Encountering Development. The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995)Google Scholar; Rist, Gilbert, The History of Development from Western Origins to Global Faith revised ed., (London, 2002), 69–79Google Scholar; Gendzier, Irene L., Managing Political Change. Social Scientists and the Third World (Boulder, 1985), 22–48Google Scholar.

108 Letter, Abel to Cassan, Téheran, 7 Juin 1954, 1, ILO, TAP 0–48–4.

109 Letter, Abel to Cassan, Téheran, 7 Juin 1954, 1, ILO, TAP 0–48–4, c.f. ILO, C 48–2–44a, Décembre 1954, 29; Letter, Paléologos to Zelenka, Téhéran, 6 Janvier 1955, 3f., ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1. For the continuation of the Point IV work, see ILO, C 48–2–47a, Mars 1955, 7; ILO, C 48–2–48a, Avril 1955, 14.

110 For the U.S. Labor Development Division, see Ladjevardi, Labor Unions, 210f.

111 Harris, “Beginnings,” (The title of a published work? Correct documentation style?) 222.

112 Towfigh, Modernisierung, 140.

113 Letter, Paléologos to Thullen, Téhéran, 7 Mars 1955, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; c.f. Letter, Paléologos to Zelenka, Téhéran, 15 Décembre 1954, 2 and 7, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Paléologos, Rapport No. 4 sur l'avencement des travaux, Téhéran, 7 Février 1955, 1 and 4, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Paléologos, Rapport N°6 sur l'avancement des travaux, Téhéran, 1 Mai 1955, 5, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1. For the problem of the control of the regional branches, see also Edāreh-ye koll-e motāle‘āt va barrisihā (of the Sāzmān-e bimehhā-ye ejtemā'i-ye kārgarān), “Gozāresh-e eqdāmat va fa'āliyathā-ye shesh-māheh-ye dovvom-e sāl-e 1339s,” (1961), 2, file n° 297016680, SAM.

114 Paléologos, Rapport N°6 sur l'avancement des travaux, Téhéran, 1 Mai 1955, pp. 2–5, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

115 Paléologos, Rapport N°7 sur l'avancement des travaux, Téhéran, 1 Juillet 1955, 6f., ILO, TAP 0–48–10–21.

116 Pavard, Premier rapport mensuel, Téhéran, 16 Novembre 1958, 2f., ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2.

117 Pavard, Quatrième rapport d'activité, Téhéran, 16 Mai 1959, p. 3, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2; c.f. Letter, Pavard to Zelenka, Téhéran, 21 Décembre 1958, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2, including the ‘Note sur la formation technique du personnel comptable de l'OAST’.

118 Pavard, Note sur l'office régional de Téhéran, Janvier 1959, 9, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2.

119 ILO, C 48–2–42a, Octobre 1954, p. 87; ILO, C 48–2–81a, Février 1958, 48.

120 Pavard, Deuxième rapport d'activité, Téhéran, 21 Janvier 1959, 2, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2; c.f. Pavard, Note sur l'office régional de Téhéran, Janvier 1959, 9, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2.

121 Pavard, Note sur une visite aux succursales du Mazanderan, Téhéran, 20 Janvier 1959, 1and 5, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2.

122 ILO, Rapport au gouvernement de l'Iran sur l'organisation comptable et financière des assurances sociales, Genève, 1959, 22f., copy in ILO, TAP 0–48–4–2.

123 Paléologos, Rapport No. 2 sur l'avencement des travaux, Téhéran, 5 Décembre 1954, 7, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Letter, Zelenka to Paléologos, Geneva, 23 December 1954, 3, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Letter, Thullen to Paléologos, Geneva, 14 April 1955, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Letter, Paléologos to Nassr, Téhéran, 5 Mai 1955, 2, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

124 Only the “landed element” in the eighteenth and nineteenth Majles (1953–56, 1956–60) held fifty respectively fifty-one percent of all seats; see Abrahamian, Iran, 421.

125 Paléologos, Conclusions, suggestions et recommendations, p. 2, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; c.f. Paléologos, Rapport No. 7, Téhéran, 1 Juillet 1955, p. 1, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Letter, Paléologos to Zelenka, Téhéran, 6 Janvier 1955, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1; Paléologos, Rapport No.3, Téhéran, 7 Janvier 1955, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

126 Letter, Paléologos to Minister of Labor Nassr, Téhéran, 5 Mai 1955, p. 6, ILO, TAP 0–48–4–1.

127 For the law, see Akbari, Barresi, II:73f.

128 Towfigh, Modernisierung, 148.

129 Razavi and Vakil, Political Environment, 20–25; Bostock, Frances and Jones, Geoffrey, Planning and Power in Iran: Ebtehaj and Economic Development under the Shah (London, 1989)Google Scholar; Baldwin, George B., Planning and Development in Iran (Baltimore, 1967)Google Scholar.