Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎229r] (458/669)

mm
X.iic.iri£ for 0ur^eX7 0 f'
i p ^ fu
after
ail
*1
. J.
c trig
;ies
in
A/llT?
yj* -
/1 J'.<
.d Baru-
>rse
to
iyr :
;.rh
.in
g !
agai
nst
/u.:
j i rt,
rd
mill-*
y re
C U j*
■i T 1 r
■*. '/J
01
Irigl /
cor in
. Uj'>
and
arr
f
the
Isfa
Uc.. I t
j> -p /
'i h
‘4
■ “/■
com*'’
on h
• r +•
1 ■'
he ;
.d
■merle '
re a
n (I
o am?
• 4 '
o in**'
’ pie
tif
pla<
.. .< 4.
J. V
-.
ey mjcl
■ ion
to
the
, “1
,11
ed !Oan *»e.
-3 —
. i it:can»ot b© said to spring from any real
tut; from the belated oonviotion that we
to win the war* The judicial authoritie
jird have, however, been singularly t.
adequately persons committing offence
tary property, %KK and the late milil
Ali.Gudarz made no real effort to round
Afibesmen who murdered H*M,Vice-0«nrml
^ani«ne over two years ago* Co-operation
in Lurietan aver thefts of telephone wire
sulators has sometimes been confined tf?
elegantly phrased declarations of devotion
5# The landowwlisg,merchant, and official are
mortally, afraid of the Rupsians and leok upon "i" r-m theit’only
hope against Communism. This, t# my mlnd/give^ v.r a bole
over the Persian ruling classes, though not as great a
might at- first sight appear, for the Persian, loves tb
hie cake and eat it, and is perfectly unable to see any
illogicality in being unpleasant to us and at ie same t
appealing to us to save him from what is really netting btt
the result of hie own greed, incompetence, selfishness anri
callous disregard for those less well off than himself* I
have heard several intelligent and educated Persian.- nay fiat,
while it used always to be practically axiomatic that Persia
could never Ago communist”, this is so no l#nger. Great --or—
cern has been expressed over the ultimate fate of -userbaiyae.
or.;?
... y,
'-i& V
which many Persians I have talked to think in last
;o Peril a
and
CO
nstr'uctto;
cund
to
create a
Hie
r I can
‘TaTIa-
late
pi
ans for
si or;
or
the
ome cf
th
e labour
All i
ed
troops
and will declare itself an independent socialist state* In
Dorud and Ahwan there has been a certain amount of activity
by the Tudeh and Kargaran parties, and in Burujiro the Parian
officials have looked with a favourable eye on the lihan
party, sponsored locally by a Lur chief (chiefly ie his <'M.
interests) and has a fair following in bur is tan and Bum jilt,
•e a bulwark against the dreaded Tudeh, behind, whoso oveiy
activity the timid Persian sees the horrid shadow of the
feU 8 *lan bear. I have, however, heard and seen nothing to
j*how that Sussian consular officials are actively supporting
Wither the Tudeh or the Kargaran parties. The economic sit
uation, which has made the rich richer and. the poor poorer,
together with new ideas and fresh currents of thought re~
. leaped throughout the world by the war, have in my opinlor
more to do with communist sympathies among the low-r cla^
of the population than 'MX any Sups ian propaganda • It is tr^ie,
of course, that the work and wages given by the Allied f >renr?
to large numbers of the poorest classes of the population u.s
raised their standard of life. These people, howuver, are
but a small proportion of the population. liven for tier, tie
necessities of life, other than the flour, tea and sugar uio-
▼tded as rations, have grown scarce and expensive. The
gradual closing down of Allied military work and
and the consequent discharge of labour are
serious unemployment problem in Khuzistan.
Director of Finance is endeavouring to for
coping with this, and it is hoped that evnansior;
activit ies of the oil company may absorb
discharged. • Even so the final departure a:
likely to cause an unemployment crisis with vhich the Persian
administration will have difficulty in dealing , -yru robbery
tod violence may well result. Among the Bakhtinri [ noticed
a general tendency to blame the rise in the cost of living #n
tha presence of British troops in the country. Our iioericah
allies, however, seem now to be sharing a little of the British
lead of blame for everything that is awry in Persia, for in
Ualayer recently I heard that the shortage of •' t*o * war
attributed by the local peasantry to the fact In. fc the /-jaericunp.
ware taking it off in irrigation channels to their v>. country.
4# Most influential Persians, both official .r
etfleial have shown themselves personally friendly am 1
/to form
: un
ready