[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[Khorshid]

"The 'White Revolution' was a hoax."

---Ayatullah Khomeini







Principles of the White Revolution:

The original six points:

1. Land reform (Detailed in the 1962 land reform law)

2. Nationalization of forests

3. Sale of state-owned enterprises to the public

4. Workers` profit-sharing in 20 percent of net corporate earnings

5. Voting and political rights for women

6. Formation of the Literacy Corps


Additional three points, 1964 - 1965:

7. Formation of the Health Corps

8. Formation of the Reconstruction and Development Corps

9. Establishment of Houses of Equity


Additional three points, 1967:

10. Program for nationalization of water resources

11. Program for urban and rural reconstruction

12. Administrative revolution (Modernization, decentralization)


Additional five points, 1975:

13. Employee and public ownership extension scheme ( Up to 99% in state-owned enterprises and 49% in private firms )

14. Price stabilization and campaign against profiteering

15. Free education and a daily free meal for all children from kindergarten to eight grade

16. Free nutrition for infants up to the age of two

17. Nation-wide social security (To be extended to rural population)

18. Fight against land & housing speculation

19. Fight against corruption




A Brief Overview:


If Iran wished to remain in the circle of dynamic, progressive and free nations of the world, it had to structure its future on a new order compatible with the vision and needs of the day. To accomplish that, it required a deep and fundamental revolution, which would put an end to injustice, tyranny, exploitation, and reactionary forces that impeded progress.

To realize these goals it was essential that:

* Land reforms should take place and the feudal landlord system abolished

* The relationship between workers and employers should be regulated

* The women should be treated as equals

* The scourge of illiteracy should be removed

* No one should die of disease nor live in misery

* Backwardness in the villages should be ended

* Undeveloped outer regions should be connected with the rest of the nation etc...

With these aims, in January 1963 Mohamad Reza Shah Pahlavi presented the first stage of the White Revolution to the Iranian people.

More then half the arable land of Iran belonged to private owners. These landowners rarely resided on their estates and had little interest in improving the agricultural and social conditions of the peasants who lived there. In 1963, a new law was passed by plebiscite (referendum) that limited private ownership of arable land. This was the first principle of His Imperial Majesty Aryamehr’s white revolution.

Agrarian reform was carried out in three stages:

1)

- No landowner could own more then one village

- Peasants who worked at the land had the right to buy the surplus with loans repayable over 15 years

- Landowners were paid in shares of state owned industries

2)
Landowners who did not personally cultivate their lands, had to rent them for 30 years or to sell them to those who did.

3)
Landowners who had rented out lands had to share the income with the former or sell him the area he cultivated.

To finance our land reforms, shares in government factories were sold.
When this reforms took place, the clergy (the “black reaction”) and the “communists” started to sabotage this program. The former because they wished the country to remain submerged in abject poverty and injustice, the later because their aim was the complete disintegration of the country. Widespread sabotage began, accompanied by murder and rioting. Large landowners of course financed these revolts.

Thanks to these reforms, 2.5 million peasant families became owners of the land on which they worked. Because of the white revolution, more then 9 million trees were replanted in 26 regions, creating 70 000 acres of " green belts " around cities and on the borders of the major highways. Numerous national parks were established and 98 000 acres of new forests and 25 000 acres of various types of vegetation and trees were planted to limit the advance of the desert.

In 1968, Iran focused its attention on the nationalization of our waters, both surface and subterranean. Iran has always lacked water, our water resources vary between 280 and 520 billion cubic meters- an average of 378 billion cubic meters. If that is not enough, 73% of our rainfall is absorbed by our irrigated land or is lost in lakes and seas. One hundred three billion cubic meters on the average is available in rivers and springs. This means that one dry year creates a dangerous water shortage and two years, a catastrophe.

From 1963 to 1977, production of electric energy increased from 2,3 billion to more than 20 billion KWH, the capacity of our electric plants from 850 MGW to more than 7 500. The final goal was the production of 25 000 MGW of atomic electrical energy.

A similar revolution was to occur in the commercial area. It began in 1963 when the fourth principle of the white revolution - Profit sharing for workers - was adopted. In this implementation, this law became one of the most progressive of its type in the world. Under its terms, employers were obliged to conclude collective agreements that provided:

1. Payment of bonuses based on higher productivity or reductions in operating costs

2. Payment to the workers of a part of the net profit.

A special bank geared to the needs of salaried workers made low interest loans of 4% a year - for home improvements and debt consolidation and close cooperation between labor and management was encouraged.
Three major principles governed our labor legislation:

1. Every Iranian has a right to employment.

2. The minimum wage for unskilled labor went up in direct proportion to the cost of living

3. Productivity schedules provided higher pay for higher individual output.

In August 1975, the Thirteenth principle of our revolution was enacted into law. All private units of production more than five years old were required to sell 49% of their shares to their own workers and employees. Also, newly constructed state-owned industries were to distribute 99% of their shares to the general public.

The peasant, being at once poor, ignorant and often illiterate, lived far from the towns where justice was administrated. Thus, he had little hope of obtaining justice that would be both equitable and inexpensive. The ordinary legal problems of the peasant concerned first of all his plot of land and then perhaps the few differences he might have with other farmers concerning the fields, water, animals or instruments used in his work. In order to settle this questions, the peasant had to file a complaint to a lawyer, and then to travel one or more times to the inferior court, the summoning procedure also required an appearance at the prefecture, a process of appeal, and a journey to Tehran where the court was located. Another problem was that the peasants were not in the habit of solving their differences by legal means. At times they even took to violence. So, if the peasants didn’t want to go to the law; instead, the law would go to the peasants, and to his village. A local villager could better understand and solve the problems of another villager.

The first "House of Equity" (A court of village justice were the judges were elected by the villagers every three years) was installed on an experimental basis in December 1963 in the village of Mehia near Isfahan. It was followed by a hundred others and institutionalized by the Ninth principle of the White Revolution, in October 1965. At the end of 1977, there were 10,358 houses serving 19,000 villages, with a total population of more then 10 million.

The house of equity settled in 1965, 18,000 cases to the satisfaction of the parties involved. The statistics, which stop at the end of 1977, indicate that 3 million cases had been resolved. If these cases had been adjudicated through the established judiciary, it would take years after years to settle them and more costly. In the view of numerous legal experts, the decisions of these common magistrates in the house of equity were always well reasoned, just and logical.

The Corps of Literacy, Health and Development, created by principles 6,7,8 and 11 of the White Revolution, played essential roles in the renovation of the villages, improvement of hygiene, and the instruction and intellectual development of the rural population. They were composed by of male conscripts and women volunteers. It was important for our nation to improve the nation’s infrastructure and increase the number of schools, libraries, hospitals, dispensaries, etc. The work of the three Corps was always in addition to these efforts.

The Development and Reconstruction Corps was initially responsible for identifying and helping resolve local problems. This required each member to ascertain the geographical, agricultural, economic, social and cultural conditions of the district. Under the direction of the conscript, a training course in modern agricultural techniques was given. The villagers would sow an experimental field of a thousand square meters with seeds provided by the ministry. On this land they would learn the best methods of cultivating, harvesting, irrigating and fertilizing the land, as well as combating pests. In experimental orchards they learned the correct methods for planting, grafting, pruning etc. They also learned to improve hygiene, ventilation and lighting in cowsheds and stables and how to vaccinate their animals.

Among the services rendered in rural areas were:

* The construction of roads and water supplies

* The creation of health service and medical assistance (where the health Corps was absent)

* The construction of public baths, schools and libraries

* The installation of electricity

* The establishment of postal, telegraph and telephone service

* The building of public quarters, cooperative stores, centers for professional education and even banks

The function of the Health Corps was to treat ailments, prevent or halt epidemics, and promote good hygienic conditions. In eight years, the number of people in rural areas who benefited from medical service, increased from one million to almost eight million. The success of this corps was so great that in 1974 the corps was made responsible for all medical and sanitary services in rural districts. In 1976 the health corps had 1 422 clinics and employed 1 240 doctors, with 400 laboratories and numerous dispensaries existing throughout the rural areas.

One of the greatest achievements of the health corps was a new confidence of the peasants in "official" medicine. Before, the rural populace had frequented "healers"; but by 1978 they would go directly to the health corps clinic. This was an outstanding accomplishment in a country where in earlier days, a doctor often had to give women patients an injection through a curtain under the surveillance of her father or husband.

Like the other two Corps, the Literacy Corps was to supplement the traditional efforts to the government. It did not replace them.

Before 1963 less than 24% of children between the ages 6 and 12 went to school in the provinces. The rest remained illiterate. In the cities, 74% attended school. In 1943, on national level, 85.1% of the Iranians were illiterate. The number of pupils in Literacy Corps schools increased by 692% in 15 years. During the first 5 years alone, 510 000 boys, 128 000 girls, 250 000 men and 12 000 women attended classes organized in the villages.

The L. Corps also built and repaired schools, mosques and public baths, dredged subterranean canals, planted trees, organized sports clubs, and installed leter boxes to enable regular mail delivery.

By 1978 more than 100,000 had served the L. Corps.

The three Corps were in effect the soldiers of the revolution - versatile, bold and courageous young men and women who never refused a new challenge.

For the Shah, the future of the Corps of Literacy and Health rested in telecommunications. Therefore, three satellites each with three television channels would be put into fixed orbit. Thus, a medical soldier or nurse confronted with a serious illness in a remote village could seek medical advice from the eminent specialist in Tehran or elsewhere. At the same time, a telecommunication program costing at least 30 billion dollars would have permitted any small Iranian village to communicate with the rest of the world.

Here you can see the sum total of our diverse efforts in education for the 15 year period 1963 - 1978:

Percentage Increase of Students

* Nursery - 1350 %
* Primary School - 506%
* Middle School - 263%
* Secondary School - 331%
* Technical and professional education - 1550%
* Schools of the Literacy Corps - 692%

The total number of Iranian students increased from 1.5 million in 1963 to more than 10 million in 1978.

Education Budget

* Third Development Plan ( 1963 - 1967 ) 45 billion Rials
* Firth Development Plan ( 1968 - 1972 ) 172 billion Rials
* Fifth Development Plan ( 1973 - 1977 ) 551 billion Rials
* Sixth Development Plan ( 1978 - 1982 ) 2500 - 2700 billion Rials

In 1978, 7.4 million Iranians were enrolled in our public schools. That year, we had 185,000 students of both sexes in our own universities. In addition, about 100,000 pursued college studies abroad, of which 50,000 were enrolled in the US colleges. We had established 18 universities and 137 colleges in Iran. The majority of our students received not only scholarship but pocket money as well.



For more information about the Health Corps, you can visit:

http://www.aryamehr.org/eng/aryamehr/es/thc/health.htm


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