Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T09:30:37.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anatomy of an Iranian Political Crowd: The Tehran Bread Riot of December 1942

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Stephen L. McFarland
Stephen L. McFarland
Affiliation:
Department of HistoryAuburn University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the morning of December 8, 1942, a large group of university students paraded through the streets of Tehran to the parliament building on Baharistan Square to demand higher bread rations and prompt action on critical problems by an incompetent government and an inactive parliament. Spectators and organized groups from South Tehran added their numbers to the already large crowd. Police forces withdrew from the square and the demonstration became a riot. The crowd occupied the parliament building and moved toward the commercial district, smashing windows and signs and looting stores along the way. On the morning of December 9, students again instigated a march to the parliament building, but this time army troops firing machine guns met and dispersed them. Although city shops were closed on December 9, some reopened on December 10, and all reopened on December 11; normality had returned. The bread riot claimed over 20 people killed, 700 wounded, 150 arrested, and 150 stores sacked and burned.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 1985 , pp. 51 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Official government casualty estimates have been used in this case because they are the only published figures available. Allied intelligence reports duplicated these figures, though the reports did question their accuracy. Official government counts, however, are notoriously underestimated. The use of machine guns against massed urban mobs, especially given the condition of wartime Iran's medical services, makes these statistics questionable at best.Google Scholar

2 For example, see Kirmani, Husayn, Az Shahrivar-e 1320 ta Faji'eh-ye Azerbaijan va Zanjan, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1946/1947, 1950/1951), 2:301–56;Google ScholarPopov, M. V., ‘Nachalo Agressii SShA v lrane v Gody Vtoroi Mirovoi Voiny,’ Voprosy lstorii, no. 11 (11 1949), p. 39;Google ScholarLenczowski, George, Russia and the West in Iran, 1918–1948 (New York, 1949), pp. 195–96;Google ScholarKeddie, Nikki R., Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran (New York, 1981), p. 115;Google ScholarAvery, Peter, Modern Iran (New York, 1965), p. 365;Google ScholarRubin, Barry, The Great Powers in the Middle East 1941–1947: The Road to Cold War (London, 1980), p. 84;Google ScholarTimes (London), December, 1942, p. 3;Google ScholarMillspaugh, Arthur C., Americans in Persia (Washington, 1946), p. 45;Google Scholar Minister to Tehran Louis Dreyfus to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, December 8, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1981, Decimal File, Department of State, National Archives (hereafter DSNA);Google Scholar and Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, 1982), p. 183. Unfortunately, the Iranian press was unable to report the riot. On December 8, 1942, the government of Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam closed Tehran's vituperative press. Newspapers did not reappear for two months, by which time new and more pressing issues were at hand. Also the Iranian parliament had passed a new press law that for a time intimidated press coverage of controversial subjects.Google Scholar See Elwell-Sutton, L. P., “The Iranian Press, 1941–1947,” Iran 6 (1968), 66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 On the Middle Eastern crowd, see Abrahamian, E., “The Crowd in Iranian Politics 1905–1953,” Past and Present, 41 (12 1968), 184–210;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Shoshan, Boaz, “Grain Riots and the ‘Moral Economy’: Cairo, 1350–1517,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 10 (Winter 1980), 459–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On European crowds, see Rudé, George, The Crowd in History; A Study in Popular Disturbances in France and England. 1730–1848 (New York, 1964);Google ScholarThompson, E. P., “The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century,” Past and Present 50 (02 1971), 76–136;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Kettering, Sharon, Judicial Politics and Urban Revolt in Seventeenth- Century France: The Parlement of Aix, 1629–1659 (Princeton, 1978).Google ScholarOn hunger riots, see Booth, Alan, “Food Riots in the North-West of England 1790–1801,” Past and Present 77 (11 1977), 84–107;CrossRefGoogle ScholarWilliams, Dale Edward, “Were ‘Hunger’ Rioters Really Hungry? Some Demographic Evidence,” Past and Present 71 (05 1976), 70–75;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Woodham-Smith, Cecil, The Great Hunger; Ireland 1845–1849 (New York, 1962).Google Scholar On the theoretical aspects of riots, see Firestone, Joseph M., “On the Underlying Causes of Urban Riots,” General Systems 19 (1974), 117–33;Google ScholarGurr, Ted Robert, Why Men Rebel (Princeton, 1970);Google ScholarMasotti, Louis H. and Bowen, Don R., eds., Riots and Rebellion: Civil Violence in the Urban Community (Beverly Hills, 1968);Google Scholar and Paynton, Clifford T. and Blackey, Robert. eds., Why Revolution? Theories and Analyses (Cambridge, 1971).Google Scholar

4 Dreyfus to Hull, May 9, 1943, RG59, 891.6222/14, DSNA;Google Scholar and Kirk, George, “The Middle East in the War,” in Toynbee, Arnold, gen. ed., Survey of International Affairs 1939–1946 (London, 1953), p. 468.Google Scholar

5 U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1941, 3 (Washington, 1959), 463–64 (hereafter FRUS, followed by appropriate year);Google ScholarLenczowski, Russia and the West, pp. 195, 198–99;Google ScholarLloyd, Edward Mayow Hastings, Food and Inflation in the Middle East, 1940–1945 (Stanford, 1956), p. 159;Google Scholar Chargé in Iran Cornelius Engert to Hull, March, 1940, RG59 891.5011/8, DSNA;Google Scholar and Engert to Hull, April 1, 1940, RG59, 891.5011/9, DSNA.Google Scholar

6 Ittila'at (Tehran), Shahrivar 19, 1320, p. 1;Google ScholarIbid, Esfand 9, 1320, p. 1; and FRUS, 1942, 4:128–33, 140–41.Google Scholar

7 Lloyd, Food and Inflation, p. 356. Sweetened tea and wheat in the form of bread were the main sources of calories and nutrients in wartime Iran.Google Scholar

8 Ittila'at, Esfand 28, 1320, pp. 1, 3;Google ScholarIbid., Bahman 30, 1320, p. 1; Ibid., Azar 26, 1320, p. 1; Lloyd, Food and Inflation, p. 159;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:122–23, 142–43.Google Scholar

9 A piece of Iranian bread is a large slab of unleavened bread baked in an oblong shape approximately 9–12 inches wide by 2–3 feet long by ½ inch thick.Google Scholar

10 Bank Markazi Iran Bulletin 1 (May–June 1962), 82; undated memorandum, RG59, 891.5017/16, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull. October 1, 1941, RG59, 891.5017/15, DSNA;Google Scholar and Lloyd, Food and Inflation, p. 159.Google Scholar

11 Ittila'at, Bahman 4, 1320, p. 1;Google ScholarBahman 16, 1320, p. 1;Google ScholarFarvardin 21, 1321, p. 1;Google ScholarFarvardin 24, 1321, p. 1;Google Scholar and Farvardin 25, 1321, p. 1. Over 85% of the parliament were landlords or merchants.Google Scholar See Abrahamian, Ervand, “Factionalism in Iran: Political Groups in the 14th Parliament (1944–46),” Middle Eastern Studies 14 (01 1978), 32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 FRUS, 1942, 4:336.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., 4:151.

14 Qavam had been responsible for bringing the second (1922–1927) and third (1942–1945) American financial advisory missions to Iran. For the opposition of Mossadeq, see Kay-Ustavan, Husayn, Siyasai-e Movazaneh-ye Manfi dar Majles-e Chahardahom, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1949–1950), 1:90–91.Google Scholar

15 Dreyfus to Hull, August 9, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1902, DSNA;Google ScholarNew York Times, August 4, 1942, p. 36;Google ScholarAbrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, p. 181;Google ScholarFatemi, Nasrollah S., Oil Diplomacy: Powderkeg in Iran (New York, 1954), p. 208; and Enclosure in Bullard to Baxter, May 7, 1945, FO371, 45432,Google Scholar in Greaves, Rose L., “1942–1976: The Reign of Mohammad Riza Shah,” in Amirsadeghi, Hossein and Ferrier, R. W., eds., Twentieth-Century Iran (New York, 1977), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

16 Ittila'at, Bahman 3, 1320, p. 1;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:301.Google Scholar

17 FRUS, 1942, 4:152, 155–57.Google Scholar

18 Ibid.

19 The Iranian government was reacting against the “midnight disappearances” that characterized Reza Shah's reign and therefore demanded proof of wrongdoing before agreeing to arrest suspects. See FRUS, 1942, 4:339.Google Scholar

20 FRUS, 1942, 4:151, 341;Google Scholar and Dreyfus to Hull, August 9, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1901, DSNA.Google Scholar

21 FRUS, 1942, 4:160–61;Google ScholarIttila⊃at, Mehr 30, 1321, p. 1;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:166–67, 179.Google Scholar

22 FRUS, 1942, 4:180–81, 176.Google Scholar

23 Ibid., 4:195–96; Dreyfus to Hull, November 18, 1942. RG5, 891.00/1970. DSNA;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:202–3, 206. The United States also threatened to withhold food shipments to Iran to force action on wheat hoarding and action to break Iranian diplomatic relations with the Japanese. See FRUS, 1942, 4:330.Google Scholar

24 Ittila'at, Ordibehesht 9, 1321, p. 1;Google ScholarKay-Ustavan, Siyast-e Movazaneh-ye Manfi, 1:91;Google ScholarKirmani, , Az Shahrivar-e 1320, 2:9, 40–41, 286;Google ScholarLloyd, Food and Inflation, pp. 164, 241–42;Google ScholarMillspaugh, Americans in Persia, pp. 108–9;Google Scholar and Ittila'at, Mehr 26, 1321, p. 1.Google Scholar

25 FRUS, 1942, 4:165–66.Google Scholar

26 Ibid., 4:160–61, 165–66, 155–57, 218; and Lloyd, Food and Inflation, pp. 163–64.Google Scholar

27 Dreyfus to Hull, November 4, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1936, DSNA; Foreign Office, Consular Report, “Tabriz Diary No. 6,” November 1942, F.O. 371, E80/80/34, piece number 35092, Foreign Office Correspondence, 1943, Public Record Office, London (hereafter PRO); “Meshed Political Diary No. 24,” November 1942, F.O. 371, E7/7/34, piece number 35061, 1943, PRO; “Ahwaz Consulate Diary,” November 1942, F.O. 371, E79/79/34, piece number 35090, 1943, PRO; FRUS, 1942, 4:195–96, 207–8;Google Scholar and Dreyfus to Hull, December 14, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1941, DSNA.Google Scholar

28 FRUS, 1942, 4:206.Google Scholar

29 Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza, Mission for My Country (London, 1960), p. 76;Google ScholarFRUS, 1942, 4:195–96;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, November 18, 1942, RG59, 891.00/ 1970, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, December 8, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1981, DSNA;Google Scholar and Avery, Modern Iran, p. 366.Google Scholar

30 Baharistan or Parliament Square is a large open area immediately before the parliament building at the intersection of three major streets: Ibn Sina, Shah Abad, and Modarris. It was therefore ideal as an assembly point for the protestors and rioters.Google Scholar

31 Dreyfus to Hull, December 8, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1958, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, December 12, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1965, DSNA;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:207–8.Google Scholar

32 The shah promoted Colonel Arfa to general immediately after the riot. For an eyewitness account of the mob's actions in the parliament building, see Kirmani, , Az Shahrivar-e 1320, 2:349–56.Google Scholar

33 For a list of those involved in the conspiracy, see FRUS, 1942, 4:219–20.Google Scholar

34 A Free Polish army was established in Iran beginning in 1941 from among Polish soldiers and refugees captured by the Soviets in 1939.Google Scholar

35 For the events of December 8 and 9, 1942, see Dreyfus to Hull, December 9, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1963, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, December 9, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1962, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, December 8, 1942, RG59, 891.00/1961, DSNA;Google Scholar“The Recent Disorders in Tehran,” February 3, 1943, RG226, 28127, Numerical Files, Office of Strategic Services, National Archives (hereafter OSSNA);Google ScholarKirmani, , Az Shahrivar-e 1320, 2:301–29;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:207–22.Google Scholar

36 Four hundred grams of unleavened bread contains about 1,100 calories, just above what was considered the starvation level in World War II.Google Scholar

37 “The Recent Disorders in Teheran”; Lloyd, Food and Inflation, pp. 240, 164–65;Google ScholarFRUS, 1943, 4:603, 606–8, 610–15, 623, 576; untitled report, October 13, 1944, RG226, L4946I, OSSNA; and untitled report, November 7, 1944, RG226, L49151, OSSNA.Google Scholar

38 New York Times, February 7, 1943, p. 5;Google ScholarIbid., February 15, 1943, p. 5; Ibid., February 23, 1943, p. 6; Dreyfus to Hull, February 15, 1943, RG59, 891.00/1993, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, January 20, 1943, RG59, 891.00/1983, DSNA;Google ScholarDreyfus to Hull, January 29, 1943, RG59, 891.00/1990, DSNA;Google ScholarFRUS, 1942, 4:221–22; and “The Recent Disorders in Teheran.” The Tudeh party played no visible role in the December bread riot.Google Scholar

39 FRUS, 1943, 4:355–59, 331–36;Google Scholar and FRUS, 1942, 4:214–17.Google ScholarOn the attempt to attract a greater American involvement, see McFarland, Stephen L., “A Peripheral View of the Origins of the Cold War: The Crises in Iran, 1941–1947,” Diplomatic History 4 (Fall 1980), 333–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40 In 1946 Qavam again used the Tehran crowd to close parliament and as an excuse to suppress the press and arrest political opponents during the crisis over the refusal of the Soviet Union to withdraw its forces from Iran. See untitled report, March 29, 1946, RG226, XL50148, OSSNA.Google Scholar

41 The riot mainly took place outside the bazaar in the new commercial areas along Tehran's major thoroughfares created by Reza Shah and opposed by the bazaar merchants. See Avery, Modern Iran, pp. 359–60;Google Scholar and Bonine, Michael E., “Shops and Shopkeepers: Dynamics of an Iranian Provincial Bazaar,” in Bonine, Michael E. and Keddie, Nikki R., eds., Modern Iran: The Dialectics of Continuity and Change (Albany, 1981), pp. 233–58.Google Scholar

42 Times (London), December 12, 1942, p. 3;Google Scholar and Popov, “Nachalo Agressii SShA,” pp. 39, 41.Google Scholar

43 Although the disturbances connected with the Tobacco Rebellion in 1890–1892 were based on religious scruples against an infidel handling an item of daily and intimate use, in 1942 Iranians showed no apparent compunction in consuming bread made from wheat grown by infidels and baked and distributed under the direction of infidels.Google Scholar

44 See Kettering, Judicial Politics, p. 4. Kettering has examined the role of the political elite in seventeenth-century urban riots of Aix-en-Provence, France.Google Scholar