خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [ظ‎‎١‎٩] (٢٤٨/٣٨)

28. He was succeeded by Seyyid Muhsin Sadr (Sadr ul Ashraf) who was
chosen as Prime Minister by the Majlis with sixty votes, and was charged on the
6th June, by the Shah with the formation of a Government. Sadr was, however,
like his predecessor, soon in difficulties with the Deputies over the selection of his
ministers, particularly the Minister of the Interior, who is able to exert great
influence in the elections. Nevertheless, on the 12th June, he presented his
Cabinet, composed as follows, to the Shah :— ^
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior : Seyyid Muhsin badr (Sadi
ul Ashraf).
Finance: Mahmud Bader.
Justice: Amanullah Ardalan.
Industry and Mines : Abbas Quli Gulshayan.
Health : Dr. Sa’ed Malek (Lughman ul Mulk).
Posts and Telegraphs : Ahmad Itebar.
War : Ibrahim Zand.
Foreign Affairs : Anushirvan Sipahbudi.
Agriculture : Dr. Nakhai.
Education : Ghulam Hussein Rahnema.
Minister without Portfolio : Mustafa Adi (Mansur es Sultaneh).
Minister without Portfolio : Hussein Ali Kemal Hedayat (Nasr ul Mulk).
All the new ministers had previously held Cabinet rank, and five of them, the
Ministers of War, Foreign Affairs and Education, and the two Ministers without
Portfolio were in previous Cabinet.
29. The eight Tudeh Deputies immediately declared themselves opposed to
Sadr. Some thirty others also went into Opposition. They were mostly
Deputies from the North, who though at heart anti-Tudeh, vote with them from
fear. Dr. Musaddiq and his personal following were also among Sadr’s most
bitter opponents. All the Opposition Deputies announced their intention of
obstructing the Government by all means in their power. The Shah was also said
to be against Sadr, and it was probably due to His Majesty’s influence that two
members of the Cabinet, Itebar and Ardalan resigned within a few days.
Ardalan was subsequently replaced as Minister of Justice by Ali Kemal Hedayat,
one of the Ministers without Portfolio. The Shah’s opposition was believed to be
due mainly to his annoyance with the Majlis for rejecting Hakimi’s Cabinet,
which included some ministers of His Majesty’s choice.
30. All the newspapers under Russian influence immediately opened a
vigorous campaign against the new Prime Minister, raking up the history of
nearly forty years ago to accuse him of persecuting “ the freedom-lovers during
the dawn of the Persian Constitution,” and declaring that he had always been a
hardened reactionary. Although representatives of the pro-Government majority
and of the Opposition met frequently during the next two weeks to try and find
some way out of the crisis, they were unable to come to any agreement, and the
minority maintained its attitude of obstruction. Whenever Sadr attempted to
present his Cabinet to the Majlis the minority refused to attend, with the result
that there was never the quorum required for a vote to be taken. On the 28th June
prolonged discussions took place between the two opposing groups in the Majlis.
The minority proposed that Sadr should resign, in which case they would be
prepared to co-operate with the majority in the choice of a new Prime Minister
and Cabinet. But the majority refused; and the deadlock continued. In an
attempt to put an end to the crisis the Shah received representatives of the
majority and of the minority, and urged them to do their utmost to find a solution
without delay. But no solution was found and Sadr had not received a vote of
confidence by the end of June.
31. There was a good deal of activity among the various political parties
and the labour movements during the period under review. The order forbidding
political demonstrations in Tehran was suspended for the 1st May in order to
allow the (Soviet sponsored) Tudeh party to hold a procession in honour of the
Red army. Some 5,000 people, mostly Armenians, Turks from Azerbaijan and
refugees from the Caucasus took part in the demonstration, which was perfectly
orderly. Similar May-Day demonstrations were held in all the main towns in
Northern Persia and in Kermanshah and Hamadan. In Meshed the celebrations
lasted for two days, and mounted Russian officers and about eighty soldiers with
tommy-guns were on duty in the streets to protect the Tudeh party members. On
the 18th May the Adalat party, which advocates a policy of reform by persuasion,
and which is opposed to the Tudeh because of its Russian connexion, staged a