From Persia to Iran ••• 239Reza's Reforms
Reza Shah was the regenerator of Persia, just as Kemal, whom he admired,
was the father of modern Turkey. The two leaders have often been com¬
pared, usually to Reza's disadvantage. But these nationalist reformers faced
different conditions. Kemal had won fame as a successful general within a
losing army, whereas Reza was known to just a few officers when he led the
1921 coup. Turkey was heir to more than a century of westernizing re¬
forms; it had a cadre of trained officials and officers to carry out Kemal's
programs. Persia had been cut off from the West, except for the dubious
blessing of bordering on Russia. Kemal expressed the disillusionment to¬
ward Islam felt by many Turks and equated westernization with "civiliza¬
tion." Few Turks cared about their own pre-Islamic heritage in the far-off
Asian steppes. Reza could make no such break with the Persian past. His
people remained loyal to Shi'i mujtahids and mollahs. Even when he could
fight this Muslim influence, Reza recognized that Persia's pre-Islamic her¬
itage was alive and meaningful to his subjects. This historic tie could pro¬
mote his reform program, too, as Sasanid monuments were spruced up,
Zoroastrianism won official toleration, and the Persian language was
purged of some of its Arabic words. But there was also a drastic break with
the past, as Reza decreed in 1935 that his country's name should be
changed from Persia to Iran (the land of the Aryans). The post office was
even instructed to return any letters addressed to the old name of the
country. These symbolic changes strengthened national pride and dis¬
tanced Iran from Islam and the Arab world.
One of Reza's ablest subordinates summarized his reforms under four
general headings: ( 1 ) liberation from foreign political and economic domi¬
nation, (2) establishment of internal security and centralized government,
(3) administrative reforms and economic progress, and (4) social reforms
and cultural progress. Let us examine each set of reforms in depth.
Liberation from foreign domination entailed more than ousting British
and Russian troops; it also meant replacing British with Iranian control
along the Persian Gulf coast, taking charge of banks, currency, telephones
and telegraphs, and gaining the right to try foreigners accused of crimes
and to fix and collect the customs duties on imports. Reza succeeded in im¬
plementing every reform until he tried to annul the Anglo-Persian (soon to
be renamed Anglo-Iranian) Oil Company's concession. Britain took the is¬
sue to the League of Nations, and finally the company agreed to pay higher
royalties to the Iranian government, which in turn extended its concession
by thirty years. Later on, many Iranians would accuse Reza of giving in to
British bribes.