Labor Movements in Mashad and Oral History Researches

The reviewing of Mashad's contemporary history and studying of the role of different groups and unions represent the political activities of the society's middle layers after Shahrivar 1320 (September 1941). Following the interviews conducted with Mashad's labor community in the recent two years, I faced the issues showing that the Mashad's labor society in 1320s (1940s) was political. Mashad had two big factories almost since the middle years of Reza Khan's reign.

The two factories are considered among the first ones in eastern Iran. Abkouh Sugar Factory was launched into operation in 1315 S.H. (1936). It was Iran's fourth biggest factory at that time. The existence of such factory in Khorasan Province has played a major role in the industry of the province. Some 500 workers had been working in the factory. The other one is the Khosravi Spinning & Textile Factory of Khorasan which is the first and biggest spinning factory in eastern Iran. Some 1000 workers had also been working there.

I have reviewed the participation of workers in the political developments in 1320s S.H. (1950s) while conducting oral history research about labor society.

Among the interviews I conducted, I tried to interview the labor representatives in different periods in details in order to find out the roots of the influence of Tudeh Party between the workers and its effects on their life and thinking, to find the roots of the workers' problems and analyze the working conditions in 1320s S.H. (1950s) by registering the conditions dominated the labor society before the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

The reason for highlighting the 1320s S.H. (1950s) is due to the then Tudeh Party's influence in these factories.

Almost more than 60 percent of the workers were the supporters of Tudeh Party. The party's influence and power was so much that sometimes led to temporary closure of the factories.
In the interviews I conducted with the supporters and the members of the labor branch of Tudeh Party, here I mention a few main points:
1- Most supporters of Tudeh Party were among the staff and workers who worked at the middle levels.
2- Most workers considered as compulsory membership in Tudeh Party and most of them said that pressure on them was the main reason for their membership.
3- Low-literacy, political ignorance, and enjoyment of Tudeh Party from political freedom had caused the party to strengthen in Mashad.
4- The grave situation of labor society, low salary, and lack of amenities was said to be the main reasons for the joining of workers to Tudeh Party.
5- Widespread propaganda and attractive promises regarding the workers' welfare caused a large number of them to join it.

The Tudeh Party prompted a public movement across Mashad and the Rasti daily as the official organ of the party was trying to dominate the situation to some extent by spreading the party's news and activities in the city. The narrations collected about the period of the party members in Mashad are considered as a new chapter in oral history researches. Although a number of individuals have rejected their membership in Tudeh Party in the interviews, their viewpoints and mentality had no contradiction with the party's ideology. The head of the branch of Tudeh Party's Labor Union in Mashad was among the ones I interviewed him for some seven hours. He disclosed many secrets of the party among the workers, causing the writer to follow the issue more seriously. 

The activities of the Tudeh Party were entirely suppressed after 1332 S.H. (1953) by the military forces that went to the factories and detained the party's activists. Following the pressures, a number of the party members immigrated to former Soviet Union. When I studied the biography of an Iranian leading athlete and wrestler, I found out that he had been working in the spinning factory and with the then government's clampdown; he escaped to former Soviet Union and lived there for years.

In general, it should be said that the role of economic institutions in suppressing the labor members of Tudeh Party is of great of importance. The heads of the two factories created a situation in the factories with the coordination of the army that even years later if there was a talk about Tudeh Party, the workers would feel fear.

Gholam Reza Azari Khakestar
Translated by: Mohammad Baqer Khoshnevisan