TAHQIQAT-E TARIKH-E EJTEMAI (SOCIAL HISTORY STUDIES)
Year:2015 | Volume:4 | Issue:2|Papers Count:7

The Islamic revolution of Iran in 1357, due to its integrative nature, occurred as a result of interaction and cooperation among various communities and social classes. The labor class was one of these crowds involved in the Islamic revolution of Iran. The present paper aims at exploring the reasons for which the workers joined the Islamic revolution of Iran, despite all the economic bonuses and welfare given to them by the regime. The issue was studied through adopting a descriptive-analytic method and socio-cultural approach. The findings of the study revealed that culture and economy, as two complementary factors in the Islamic revolution, worked alongside each other and played determining roles in the formation of discontent among the workers, which ultimately led to their entrance to the Islamic revolution of Iran.

This issue was one of the most effective ways of transferring the European modernity and modernization to the mind, language and mentality of the Iranians, in a way that the social role of the new writings in transferring modern concepts to Iranians is undeniable. This modernism, which was the result of translation of European historical and academic sources, did not occur easily in Iran in comparison with other countries like Ottoman Empire and Egypt. It faced two main problems: on the one hand, the unintentional or compulsory integration with Iranian traditional and native ideological discourse led to misunderstanding of modern concepts. On the other hand, Iran was geographically far away from Europe, so it had to make connections with the civilized Europe through countries like Russia and Ottoman Empire. These linking countries hindered the direct relation of Iran with modernism. Given that, in different phases, the translation of original works to Persian happened less. In this paper, through adopting discourse analysis, we study the manifestation of modern texts in the Iranian society and the trend of confrontation and integration of Iranian traditional mindset with modern mindset in the translated works. Thus, in this research methodology and model of analysis, we do not focus on “translated works” but talk “about translation” and critique it.

In the Safavid era, Shah Abbas, due to some socio-political requirements, made changes to the structural and operational modes of a number of posts, including Divan Beigipost. The formation of Divan Beigi dated back to pre-Safavid era. As a result a number of changes, this post developed functionally and was transformed from a military system to a judicatoryone. It became in charge of settling complaints made by the public from the officials, supervising crimes and four-dimensional felonies, and legal and financial corruptions (like embezzlement and bribe). It was also responsible for establishing order in the society and pursuing satisfaction of the public. However, this post, despite playing an effective role in the society, faced turbulence after Shah Abbas, which eventually led to its functional waning. Given that, the present paper, through adopting a descriptive-analytic method and through using available documents, aims to study the reasons for the formation of Divan Beigipost in the judicial system of the Safavids, and attempts to answer these questions: What were the responsibilities of the Divan Beigi in the administrative and judicial structure of the Safavids? What events ultimately led to its positional and functional waning? The results of the study reveal that Divan Beigi, due to its extended duties, played a significant role in establishing social and legal security. However, after Shah Abbas, because of some reasons like the decline in the power of the Safavid kings, deviations from legal rules, dominance of Gorgianover Divan Beigi, and conflicts with clerical and governmental officials, it fell into a decline. As a result of this process, the social and legal structure of the Safavid dynasty weakened, and socio-political dissatisfaction of the public, particularly religious minorities, mounted.

In the power structure of Iran, during Qajar dynasty, the presence of a long series of princes facilitated the consolidated dominance of the dynasty, however, the mechanism of distribution of administrative posts impeded proper supervision over the manners of the governors. For instance, the performance of Sultan Hossein Mirza Jalal al-Duleh symbolized Qajar's rule in the provinces and its reflection is of great importance because of two reasons: as an approach to the problems of the subjugated groups of the society and as a social understanding of the power structure. Although constitutional movement was a threat for the king and his relatives, conflict in the benefits of Russia and England in form of arraying oppressors and freedom-seekers, lack of unanimity in the policies of constitutionalists, and instrumental employment in attacking the rival, created solid grounds for individuals like Jalal al-Duleh to take the most opportunity of this condition and try their chance in going along with this novel phenomenon. According to the findings of this research, the performance of Jalal al-Duleh as a symbol of power structure in provinces not only added to the vulnerability of the society, but also played a significant role in the formation of attitudes and expectations from parliamentary system. Given that, the present study, through adopting a descriptive-analytic method, investigated the available documents, data, and historical reports and attempted to answer these questions: What were the characteristics of social life of Fars and Yazd during the governance of Jalal al-Duleh? How did the performance of princes like Jalal al-Duleh affect the expectations of provinces from the novel phenomenon of constitution? To what extent were the interactions of constitutionalists with Zel al-Sultan and Jalal al-Duleh in accordance with the public’s attitudes towards parliamentary system?

The reasons for the state of underdevelopment in Iran have been the focus of attention by historians as well as social and political experts throughout the last decades. In particular, Qajar dynasty has been specifically emphasized due to its definite domain and temporal sensitivity. Regarding this, the present research makes an attempt to add to our knowledge some new useful information. The issues emphasized in this research include lack of essential security for capital agglomeration, Iranian attitudes being contrary to collective economic spirit, lack of scientific and technical preparations for managing factories, and shortage of linking roads as infrastructure of economic activities throughout this dynasty. Some of the above-mentioned issues have already been considered in the literature, however, in the present research such issues have been examined through reference to newspapers published during Qajar dynasty, particularly those published abroad which could have deeper scrutiny and freer language. Capital agglomeration and foundation of companies are the direct products of secure atmospheres for investment. Such a pre-requisite was not available during Qajar dynasty in Iran. Any type of accumulated capital was threatened by the Qajar rulers as well as bandits. On the other hand, company foundation internally had some other pre-requisites, including collective spirit, which was not adequately found among Iranians of that time framework. In case of any company formation or factory establishment, such companies or factories would face some problems which eventually caused their failure, problems originating in scientific and technical backwardness. Suppose that the companies and factories could pass this stage, and they succeeded in producing any products, there existed no convenient roads for distribution of such products and completing the production cycle. The result was that such internal problems as well as some other external issues (namely the existence of tough competition in the domain of foreign market) inhibited Iranians, during Qajar dynasty, from passing through industrial production stage from that of the traditional one.

The urban poor include various groups such as the hooligans, ignorant, urban hired agents, vendors, the unemployed, beggars, construction laborers, peddlers, and outskirts dwellers. With the beginning of the Constitutional Revolution, most of the urban poor, because of poverty and economic pressures, joined revolutionaries hoping to get rid of this condition. However, as a result of a number of problems such as increase in the price of goods and commodities, like bread, and insecurity in the society, they were disappointed infulfilling their dreams in the constitutional government. They were also under the influence of the clerics in Tehran. With the beginning of the controversies among the leaders of Constitutional movement, some groups joined the opponent group. There were hooligans and ignorant in both constitutionalist and monarchist campaigns. Given their social nature, they were at the service of the opposition groups and kept usurping people's property or killing them and creating chaos upon the court order. The hooligans of Sarpoulak neighborhood were fans of Constitution and the hooligans of Sangalaj, Hassan Abad, and Chaale Meidan neighborhoods were opponents of Constitution. The latter group kept harassing the constitutionalists in events like their seeking refuge at the shrine of Hazrat Abdul Aazim, Toopkhanne Square events and bombarding the parliament. They were less committed to moral and religious principles. Other urban poor, because of poverty and being influenced by the pros and cons of Constitution, went along with the hooligans and the ignorant. In this paper, we study the performance of the poor, the hooligans, and the ignorant of Tehran in the constitutional events. We also explore the reasons for which these groups were both proponents and opponents of the constitutionalists, and the role played by them in creating social unrest or defending Constitution. This will be done through a descriptive – analytic method. Finally, we will show the way the society elites hired the poor and the ignorant groups of the society in political events.

IsmailiNizari sect, led by Hassan Sabbah, is the founder of “assassination” in its classic sense since neither prior to the emergence of this sect nor in the Iranian historical milieu in the middle decades have we witnessed a movement utilizing terror simultaneously as a strategic and a defense mechanism, in a highly systematic way, to achieve its goals. The present study, using a qualitative approach and related historical documents, deals with assassination in Ismailia sect. It also adopts an inductive approach to analyze the effective factors in the function of this movement sociologically. In this study, causal and intervening conditions leading to formation of assassination phenomenon in Ismailia sect were identified. Causal factors include the idea of forming a true government by Hassan Sabah, his hostilities towards Nizam al-Mulk, and political conflicts in the Seljuk government. The intervening factors included alternative modern discourse, the crisis of legitimacy, mounting suppressions, and the decline of the Fatimid's government. The present paper is based on Smelser's theory of Quadruple Explanations, and focuses on the ways a collective behavior turns into a social movement, and the mechanism through which a value-based movement emerges. It also offers the idea that fuzzy distinction between the political and religious powers leads to the emergence of a social movement with religious literature, with an eye to finding the causal and intervening conditions that created the phenomenon of assassination in Ismaili sect. This article concludes that in the historical tug of war for power, the two factors (causal and intervening) led to the production and reproduction of terror in Ismaili sect.