The Economic and Educational Policies of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the Experience of Apprenticeship in the Oil Industry during the Interwar Years (1921–1945)

Document Type : .

Authors

Assistant Professor of History, National Archive & Library of Iran

10.30465/ehs.2025.52785.2060
Abstract
This study examines the educational policies of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company during the interwar period (1921–1945). In these years, the growing need for skilled labor in the nascent oil industry, combined with pressure from the Iranian government to employ local workers, led the company to establish technical schools. Drawing on archival sources and historical documents, the study investigates the formation of this educational system, the company’s rationale for developing it, and its impact on the training of skilled Iranian labor. The findings indicate that while these schools contributed to workforce training in Iran, the company’s economic and political interests—particularly cost reduction and greater control over labor—played a decisive role in shaping these policies. The research also highlights how systematic discrimination between Iranian and foreign workers, poor working and living conditions, and the absence of meaningful career advancement opportunities for Iranians generated dissatisfaction among both workers and graduates of these schools. Ultimately, the study evaluates the short- and long-term consequences of these policies for the oil industry and Iranian society.

Keywords

Subjects

Abrahamian. Yervand (2010), History of Modern Iran, Ebrahim Fattahi. Tehran: Ney Publication. [In Persian] 
Alam. Mustafa (1998), Oil, Power, and Principles: The Nationalization of Iranian Oil and Its Consequences. Tehran: Chapakhsh Publications. [In Persian] 
Atabaki, Touraj (2013) ‘From ‘Amaleh (Labor) to Kargar (Worker): Recruitment, Work Discipline and Making of the Working Class in the Persian/Iranian Oil Industry’, International Labor and Working-Class History 84
Atabaki, Touraj(2024), “Abadan in Fire and Blood” The Role of the Crowd in the History of the Nationalization of the Iranian Oil Industry.(un published)
Bayat, Kaveh& Tafreshi, Majid (1991), Memories of a bygone era, Tehran: Ferdows Publications. [In Persian] 
Biglari, M. (2022). Making Oil Men: Expertise, Discipline and Subjectivity in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s Training Schemes. In N. Fuccaro, & M. Limbert (Eds.), Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil: Histories and Ethnographies of Black Gold (pp. 221-248). Edinburgh University Press.
Bipan Chandra [and others] (1989), India's struggle for independence, 1857-1947, New Delhi, India; New York, N.Y. : Penguin Books.
Cronin, Stephanie (2004), Reza Shah and the Formation of Modern Iran: State and Society in the Time of Reza Shah.Translator: Morteza Saqibfar. Tehrān: Jami Publications. [In Persian]
Elling, Rasmus (2015), ‘On Lines and Fences: Labour, Community and Violence in an Oil City’, in Urban Violence in the Middle East: Changing Cityscapes in the Transition from Empire to Nation State, ed. U. Freitag et al. (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015), 197–221.
Elling, Rasmus (2015),‘On Lines and Fences: Labour, Community and Violence in an Oil City’, in Urban Violence in the Middle East: Changing Cityscapes in the Transition from Empire to Nation State, ed. U. Freitag et al. (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015), 197–221;
Esmaeili, Mehdi (2019), "Tehran's Enduring Industrial Art Institute", Ganjineh Dar Alfonun Quarterly. v2, Issue 8, S 28, Pp65-84. [In Persian]
Fakhimi, Ghobad (2008), Thirty Years of Iranian Oil - From Nationalization to the Islamic Revolution Tehran: Mehrandish. [In Persian]
Fateh, Mustafa (1955), Fifty Years of Iranian Oil. Tehrān: Kavosh Publications. [In Persian]
Floor, Willem (1992), Labour Unions, Law, and Conditions in Iran (1900-1941). Translated by Abu alQāsem Serī .Tehrān: Tus. [In Persian]
Golestan, Ebrahim (2019), "In the Technical School of the Oil Company" (Nama Mardom Newspaper, April 16, 1947) Abadan Nameh, Spring 2019. No. 4. [In Persian]
Jalali, Nadereh(2001), British Policy in the Persian Gulf (Examination of Sheikh Khazal's Ghayla). Tehran: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Publications Office. [In Persian]
Markaz-e- Pazhooheshha-e Majles shoura-e Eslami, Ghanoon-e Eetaye emtiaz naft, Mosavabat-e Majles-e Shoura- 1933/05/28
Motaghedi, Robabeh(2019), Oil and Life. Ministry of Oil Publications, General Public Relations Department. [In Persian]
Mozakerat-e Majles Shoray-e Melli, Doure 1. No 78.
Richard Yann, Bernard Orchard, Jean-Pierre Digard, (1998), Iran in the 20th Century: A Study of the Political, Social, Economic, and... Translation by Abdolreza Hooshang Mahdavi. Tehran: Alborz Publishing Company.
Tarafi, Abbas (1996), Iranian Oil Industry Managers (Volume 3). Ahvaz: Mardomak Publications. [In Persian]
Torabi Farsani, Soheila (2010), Selected Documents of the Education System and the National Assembly (Third to Fifth Periods). Library, Museum and Documentation Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. [In Persian] 
Wilson, Arnold (1984), Wilson's Travelogue or the Political and Economic History of Southwest Iran. Translator Hossein Saadat Nouri. Tehran: Vahid. [In Persian]
Periodical
Mozakerat-e Majles Shoura-e Melli, Ones period, No1, 78.
Peykar. (1931). Year 1, No. 7, 10 Jun 1931.
Tajaddod. (1931 [1303 AH]). Year 1, No. 38, 11 September 1924.
Document Archives
Library, Museum and Documentation Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly:42-14847-00012. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 240004679. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 240014428. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 240015694. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 297030480. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 310038631. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive:293001424. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive: 297034982. [In Persian]
National Archives and Library of Iran – National Archive:240057773. [In Persian]
Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 28
December 2025
Pages 227-255

  • Receive Date 02 September 2025
  • Revise Date 03 October 2025
  • Accept Date 03 November 2025