XXXVI. KHOSROV-MIRZA One day in February 1829, the whole of Tiflis was struck by the terrible news that the Russian mission had been exterminated in Tehran. The impression was all the stronger because no one expected such a catastrophe, since relations between Persia and Russia were, apparently, the most

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Mirza Fatali Akhundov

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Mirza Taghi Khan's rise to power in Iran

iran afghanistan modernization

Ever since the European countries did in the XVII - XVIII centuries. formational breakthrough in their development and the countries of the East more and more began to lag behind them in terms of their economic development, the problems of modernization for Iran turned out to be closely connected with the assimilation of the experience of European countries, the gradual inclusion of Iran in the world capitalist economy.

The Iranian experience of economic modernization turned out to be one of the most unique in the East, having absorbed both the "white" and "Islamic" revolutions. It is impossible not to see in this the influence of a long-term historical development economic system capable of as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century. to ensure an active balance in trade with European countries in finished products, the impact on the initial stages of the penetration of capitalism into Iran of its various variants - English and Russian.

The process of economic modernization, which includes the improvement of not only productive forces, but also production relations, turned out to be the most difficult in relation to the latter, which turned out to be a more stable component of the traditional Iranian economy, closely related to the religious, cultural and everyday characteristics of Iranian society. And although the realization of the economic superiority of European countries quite clearly occurred already in early XIX century, the problem of modernization through the use of European forms of organization of the economic order was resolved in the process of a fierce socio-political and ideological struggle between supporters of almost unconditional imitation of Western patterns of social organization and equally fierce defenders of national traditions, up to the implementation of the ideas of autarkism. The most striking reflection of the contact in the middle of the XIX century. Iranian socio-political system, which in its development has reached enough high level, and the formational system of the West was gaining momentum in the Babid uprisings and reforms of Tagi Khan. Despite the defeat of the movement, one of its main consequences was that it generated an awareness of the need for institutions of personal integrity and private property. According to some Iranian scholars, the Babid movement had a significant impact on Iran's perception of the need to join the European type of development. A particularly important milestone in economic history Iran was played by the reforms of Tagi Khan, who, having become the first minister of Nasser al-Din Shah in 1848, was able to leave an unforgettable mark on the history and memory of the people during the three years of his reform activity. He begins to carry out reforms under the undoubted influence of the Turkish reforms of the Tanzimat, in turn caused by the need to adapt Eastern society to European influences. This was an attempt to accelerate the economic development of Iran by introducing capitalist forms of entrepreneurship, using the technical achievements of European countries in public and private enterprises, and at the same time creating a system for protecting national forms of industry and trade, which, according to the reformer, had not yet exhausted their potential for development. or assimilation of Western experience. The fall of Mirza Tagi Khan, which actually meant a refusal to further deepen reforms, was due to many reasons, including the intervention of rival powers in Iran, and most importantly, the unpreparedness of Iranian society to perceive them. The Iranian system more and more began to reveal its inability to accelerate development on an independent basis, and the development of elements of a new formational order became extremely protracted. Already at the end of the nineteenth century. the painful national feeling of backwardness and the need to use Western principles of economic development found a compromise in recognizing only the technical and financial superiority of the West, without questioning the priority of Iranian cultural and, most importantly, religious values, which was clearly manifested in the views of Malcolm Khan. In modern Iran, such an idea of ​​modernization as borrowing only the technical achievements of the West is reflected in the concepts of the ideologists of the Islamic regime.

The process of modernization itself was not gradual, but spasmodic. And this can serve as confirmation that the process itself and the level of development depended mainly on the volume of the introduced elements of the new world order, as well as on the structure of these elements, some of which could immediately take root on Iranian soil and give results, while others could not.

In the conditions of the remaining state sovereignty, the policy of the central government played an important role. With the establishment of the new Pahlavi dynasty in the 1920s, there was a leap in the process of modernization of the country, the main components of which were nationalism and state capitalism.

Already the first years of the reign of Reza Shah made a stunning impression on contemporaries, mainly because of the mass nature and speed of introducing elements of European civilization and capitalist forms of management into Iranian society. Having suppressed the separatist movements by force and having achieved the concentration of strong state power in their hands. Reza Shah creates a modern economic and social infrastructure, turning Special attention on the expansion of secular education, the introduction of European norms of behavior and life, introduces the norms of bourgeois law, which prepared the abolition in 1928 of the capitulation regime, which legally confirmed an equal approach to the concept of law, freedom of the individual and property in Iran and in European countries. An attempt was made to make a breakthrough in the process of modernization, which required a comprehensive borrowing of new forms of organization of the economy and society. It was necessary to increase the productive forces and change the mentality of society so that it could perceive and use these productive forces. A distinctive feature of this period of modernization, oriented towards the introduction of Western experience, was the limitation of ties with the world economy to trade only. Following the principles of nationalism, the government of Reza Shah refused to attract foreign loans, and the conditions put forward by Iran for the use of foreign investments actually blocked their way into the country. Of course, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company continued to operate, but the evolution of its capital and its structure had practically no effect on the formation modern forms entrepreneurship, since the development of the oil industry in Iran was of such an enclave nature that even near the oil fields there were no accompanying national industries. Nevertheless, the influence of AINC on the development of the country, including the modernization processes, was great, since the technical and organizational re-equipment of the army was carried out through concession payments, and work was partially financed to complete the construction of the Trans-Iranian railway. In addition, thousands of Iranian workers, engineers and employees worked at the AINC enterprises, acquiring the worldview of workers in a capitalist way. organized forms production.