The role of silk merchants and Silk cocoon breeders of Guilan in the social and political developments of the Constitutional Revolution

Document Type : .

Authors

1 PhD candidate in History,Scinece and Research Barnch, Islamic Azad Universiy

2 Associate Professor Department of History and Archaeology, Scinece and Research Barnch, Islamic Azad Universiy

3 Assistant Professor Department of History and Archaeology, Scinece and Research Barnch, Islamic Azad Universiy

10.30465/ehs.2025.51681.2039
Abstract
Guilan silk played an important role in the economic market of northern Iran during the Qajar era. As a result, a large part of the people of Guilan, including the producers and merchants of this product, were associated with the silk economy. However, the government's economic policies, both domestically and internationally, did not provide for the interests of the silk industry. Therefore, the opposition to the economic policies of the central government by the silk producers and merchants, along with the beginning of the constitutional era, became an excuse for these groups to participate in the political and social events of the constitutional era. The present article seeks to ask what was the role of the silk merchants and silk manufacturers of Guilan in the social and political developments of the Constitutional Revolution? The research findings show that the interests of silk producers and merchants, combined with increasing pressure from the government and local governments, led to an alliance between them and the peasants and constitutional mujahideen to participate in the constitutional movement. The present research is conducted using a historical method and an analytical approach, using library and documentary data.

Keywords

Subjects

Documents
A) Library, Museum, and Documentation Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (KAMAM)
Report on the Formation of the Anzali Merchants Association" (1324 AH), Number: 13.
Report from Guilan" (25 Safar 1325 AH), Number: 68.
Critique of Amin-al-Zarb on Landholding" (22 Dhul-Qada 1324 AH), Number: 24
B) National Library and Archives of Iran (SACMA)
Telegrams of Mohammad Vali Khan Tonekaboni, Mohtasham-ol-Saltaneh, Hesam-ol-Molk, and the governors and nobles of the provinces to Mostofi-ol-Mamalek, Source ID: 9220/210, Document Number: 5172271.
Report on the Actions of the Peasants of Guilan against the Provincial Assembly," National Provincial Assembly of Guilan, Year 1, Number 1, (22 Rajab 1325 AH).
C) Documentation and History Center of Foreign Affairs Diplomacy (STADOKH)
Document 18-29-1317 AH: "Document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Representative in Guilan, 22 Safar 1317 AH."
Document 18-29-1317 AH: "Concerning the Document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Montazem-al-Molk, Representative in Guilan, 4 Dhul-Qada 1317 AH."
D) Newspapers
Provincial Assembly of Guilan (1325 AH), Number 1.
Iran Now (1328 AH, Tuesday, 27 Jumada al-Thani), "Women Workers in the Lascaridis Company," Year 1, Number 241.
Iran Now (1328 AH, Saturday, 1 Rajab), "Petition from the People to the National Assembly for Determining the Boundaries for Complaints Against Foreign Companies' Violations," Year 1, Number 244.
Habl al-Matin (1326 AH), Number 230.
Khayr al-Kalam (1328 AH, Saturday, 1 Rajab), "Complaint by Lascaridis Against the Police and Merchants for Interference in Company Affairs," Year 2, Number 47.
Khayr al-Kalam (1328 AH), "Interrogation News from Lascaridis and Ottoman Consulate."
Sahel Najat (1328 AH), Tuesday, 5 Dhul-Qada al-Haram, "Trial of Lascaridis and His Revenge Against the Peasants of Gabina Village," Year 1, Number 12.
Sobh Sadiq (20 Jumada al-Awwal 1325 AH), "Report from the Sericulturists of Rasht," Year 1, Number 71.
Nasim Shomal (14 Jumada al-Awwal 1326 AH), "Letters of Behbahani and Safa'ali (Zahir al-Dawlah)," Year 1, Number 21.
Journal of Agriculture and Commerce (1298 AH), Year 2, Number 1, Dr. Moein's Collection, Guilan Studies Research Institute, University of Guilan.
E) Books
Adamiyat, Fereydoun (1340 AH), "The Thought of Freedom and the Introduction to the Constitutional Movement," Tehran: Sokhan.
Afari, Janet (1385 AH), "The Iranian Constitutional Revolution," Translated by Reza Rezaei, Tehran: Biston.
Ashraf, Ahmad (1352 AH), "Economic and Social Characteristics of Agricultural Exploitation Systems in Iran," Tehran: Center for Education in Regional Planning.
Afshar, Iraj (1359 AH), "Newly Found Papers on the Constitutional Revolution and the Role of Taghizadeh," Tehran: Javidan.
Amiri, Ali (1394 AH), "Letters of Lascaridis to Mirza Qasem Shoa' al-Tajir Lahiijani," Rasht: Farhang Ilia.
Ansari-Renani, Qasem & Qanbar-Ali Kermani (1380 AH), "Trade in the Qajar Period," Tehran: Allameh Tabatabai University.
Ibrahim Beyk (1385 AH), "Travelogue of Astrabad, Mazandaran, Guilan, and Astrabad," Edited by Masoud Golzari, Tehran: Foundation for Iranian Culture.
Bashiri, Ahmad (1362 AH); Quoted from Spring Rice to Gray (1907), "Blue Book" (Secret Reports from the British Foreign Office on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution), Tehran: Now Publishing.
Bashiri, Ahmad (1363 AH), "Orange Book" (Political Reports from the Russian Foreign Ministry on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution), "Zill al-Sultan and Mohammad Ali Shah Confronted," Tehran: Now Publishing.
Parto, Afshin (1391 AH), "Guilan and the Jungle Uprising," Rasht: Farhang Ilia.
Pollack, Jacob Edward (1361 AH), "Pollack's Travelogue," Translated by Kikavous Jehandari, Tehran: Khwarazmi Publishing.
Terabi-Farsani, Soheila (1384 AH), "Merchants, Constitutionalism, and the Modern State," Tehran: History of Iran.
Kharabi, Farooq (1386 AH), "The Associations of the Constitutional Era," Tehran: Institute for Research and Development of Humanities.
Khodzako, Alexander (1354 AH), "The Land of Guilan," Translated by Sirous Sahami, First Edition, Tehran: Payam Publishing.
Dolat-Abadi, Yahya (1362 AH), "Hayat Yahya," Fourth Edition, Tehran: Ferdous and Attar.
Rabino, H. L. (1352 AH), "The Constitutional Movement of Guilan (From Rabino's Notes, Including the Events of Mashhad in 1330 AH)," Edited by Mohammad Roshan, Rasht: Ta'ati.
Ravasani, Shapur (1368 AH), "The Movement of Mirza Koochak Khan Jungle and the First Soviet Republic in Iran," Bi-ja: Sham.
Seif, Ahmad (1380 AH), "The Economy of Iran in the 19th Century," Tehran: Cheshmeh.
Soodagar, Mohammadreza (n.d.), "The Growth of Capitalist Relations in Iran (Transitional Stage)," Tehran: Pazand.
Issavi, Charles (1362 AH), "The Economic History of Iran, Qajar Period," Translated by Yaqoub Azhand, Tehran: Gostareh.
Fakhrayi, Ibrahim (1371 AH), "Guilan in the Constitutional Movement," Tehran: Islamic Revolution.
Foran, John (1389 AH), "The Fragile Resistance; History of Social Transformations in Iran from 1500 AD," Translated by Ahmad Tadin, Tehran: Rasa.
Kasravi, Ahmad (1370 AH), "History of the Iranian Constitutional Movement," Tehran: Amir Kabir.
Keshavarz, Karim (1347 AH), "Guilan," Tehran: Franklin Publishing.
Gilak, Mohammad Ali (1371 AH), "History of the Jungle Revolution," Rasht: Gilakan Publishing.
Laffon, F., H. L. Rabino (1372 AH), "Silk Sericulture Industry in Iran," Translated by Khamami Zadeh.
Naeimi Akbar, Anushirvan (1393 AH), "A New Look at the Constitutional Movement in Guilan," Edited and Annotated by Fereydoun Nozad, Attention: Mohammadreza Tavassoli, Rasht: Zeytoon.
Nozad, Fereydoun & Ali Amiri (1391 AH), "Letters from Guilan: Miscellaneous Correspondences from the Collection of Alexander Hochko, Russian Consul in Guilan in the 1830s," Rasht: Farhang Ilia.
Majdal-Islam Kermani, Ahmad (1356 AH), "History of the Decline of the Parliament," Isfahan: Isfahan University.
Al-Husseini, Mahmoud (1325 AH), "Booklet for Settling Accounts," Rasht: Arova-ol-Wathiqa Press. (Available in the Guilan Studies Research Institute Library, Dr. Mohammad Moein's Collection)
Mar'ashi, Seyed Zahir al-Din (1364 AH), "History of Guilan and Deylaman," Edited by Mohammad Setoudeh, Tehran: Ettelaat.
Homayoun Katouzian, Mohammad Ali (1368 AH), "The Political Economy of Iran from the Constitutional Revolution to the End of the Pahlavi Dynasty," Volume 1, Translated by Mohammadreza Nafisi and Kambiz Aziz, Tehran: Markaz.
Yazdani, Sohrab (1401 AH), "Peasants and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution," Tehran: Mahi.
Youssefdahi, Hooman (1387 AH), "Guilan's Associations in the Constitutional Era," Encyclopedia of Guilan Culture and Civilization, Number 22, Rasht: Farhang Ilia.
Vosoughi, Mansour (1369 AH), "Rural Sociology," Tehran: Kayhan.
Ministry of Agriculture (1367 AH), "Silk Sericulture Development Fund and Industries in Iran, Opportunities for Development of Sericulture and Silk Industries in the Country," Deputy of Production Units and Industrial Plant Affairs.
Yavari, Ahmadreza (1359 AH), "Understanding Traditional Agriculture in Iran," Tehran: Ketab Publishing.
F) Articles
Ismaili Sangari, Mohammad-Hossein (1399 AH), "Political-Social Movements of Guilan
Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 28
December 2025
Pages 69-103

  • Receive Date 18 April 2025
  • Revise Date 15 June 2025
  • Accept Date 10 August 2025