Evening star., 1941-09-17
Exit Rezu Shah

Reza Shah has abdicated. The
official reason is ell health" The
real reason is Anglo-Russian pres
sure. This obstinate, hot-tempered,
autocratic personality, still two
fisted fighter despite his advancing
years, was too much of an obstacle
to Anglo-RusSian policy, which vi
tally needed control over his country.
Therefore he had to go. In last
effort to save the dynasty he himself
had founded, Reza Shah abdicated
in favor of his eldest son, Crown
Prince Shapur Mohammed Reza.
Yet, with British and Russian troops
marching on Teheran, the capital,
and the provinces in rebellious tur-
moil, it is hard to say what may
happen.
One thing seems certain: Iran Is
presumably destined for period Of
internal confusion and weakness,
tempered by Anglo-Russian military
occupation. In the East, power Is
always highly personal. Reza was
one of those traditional strong men
whom the Orient produces from time
to time in periods of seemingly hope
less decadence. Starting life as an
almost illiterate professional soldier,
he cut his way to power In the an
archie conditions which beset Iran,
then known as Persia, after the Great
War. In 1925 he headed a revolu-
tionary movement which ousted the
degenerate Kajar dynasty and
placed himself on the throne. From
then on, Reza Shah threw his
abounding energy into the task Of
Transforming his backward, Oriental
land into a modern nation state
along Western lines. In this he fol-
lowed his strenuous contemporary,
Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, in neigh
boring Turkey. The two leaders were
of the same pattern and held each
other in high esteem.
Reform in the Orient, even when
aiming at Western goals, should not
be judged by Western standards of
conduct. The charges levelled at
Reza by British and Russian radio
commentators in the recent propa-
ganda campaign to undermine his
authority at home are substantially
true. He was an autocrat, ruling
with a heavy hand. He broke the
power of great land owners, robber
tribes and luxurious churchmen by
ruthless violence and cruelty. He
monopolized the wealth of the coun-
try, building up an enormous per-
sonal fortune. The common people
were heavily taxed and conscripted
for the army and forced labor. Yet,
with all his faults, the self-made
Shah seems to have been basically
patriot. His personal rake-off was
small In comparison to the sums
expended by the treasury in whole
sale modernization program ranging
from railroads and highways to fac
tories, schools and medical clinics,
all directed by competent Western
advisers and technicianS. In short,
under Reza Shah, Iran was getting
something for its money; whereas
under the preceding Kajar regime, it
all went for graft and the country
sank ever lower in corruption and
impotence.
The new Shah is a young man,
tWenty-one years old, educated in
European style and married to the
sister of Egypt's equally youthful
monarch. Experience has shown
that both his youth and his Western
training may handicap the new ruler
in his task of governing country
which needs an iron hand. All the
are raising their heads. The noun
tain tribes are on the war path; the
Moslem priests and land owners are
haranguing the ignorant peasantry,
and semi-anarchy may be in the
ofing. British and Russian troops
can restore superficial order, but
they probably cannot stay the re-
lapse from a WeSternized regime
recently and superfcially imposed
upon country still basically ORR
entail in character.
Should Iran thus relapse into
anarchic disorder, it will newt
ably produce serious repercussions
throughout the Near and Middle
East. And they may work harm to
every one there, British and Russians
included.