Document Type : .

Author

• Mohsen Seraj

Assistant professor of History, Institute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution

Abstract

With the Pushed of Iran's Economy Around the World Capitalist System in The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century, Various Changes and Transformations Occurred in The It's Economy that One of the Most Important of them Was the Commercialization of a Major Part of Iran's Land Economy, which Significantly Changed the Mode and Relations of Land Production in Iran and Left Certain Social and Political Consequences. The Main Issue in this Study is to Investigate Why and How Iranian Agriculture is Commercialized Under the Influence of the Global Capitalist Economy and its Economic and Social Consequences. In this Article, with Applying Dependency Theory, shown that the Commercialization of Iranian Agriculture in the nineteenth century under Peripheral conditions of the global capitalist system, in Addition to Being Not a Development Process in Iran's Land Economy, but also No Result for Economic Growth and Benefits for Iranian Society. Iran’s Commercial Agriculture in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century did not Achieve any Long-Term Success in Balancing Iran's Foreign Trade and it Only Caused Many Problems in Providing the Essential Feed Needs of the Iranian People, Occurrence of Various Famines, High Cost of Public Victuals and the Imposition of Relentless Pressure and Starvation on the Majority of Iranian Society for Nearly a Century and one of the Main Causes of Population Loss was the Persistent Famines of the Second half of The Nineteenth Century and The Lack of Public Victuals.

Keywords

• World Capitalist System
• Dependency
• Commercialization of Agriculture
• Famine
• Inflation

Extended Abstract:

The world capital system, the commercialization of Iran’s agriculture and its economic and social consequences in the second half of the nineteenth century

With The Pushed of Iran's Economy Around The World Capitalist System periphery in the Second Half of The Nineteenth Century, Various Changes and Transformations Occurred in the It's Economy that One of The Most Important of which Was The Commercialization of a Major Part of Iran's agrarian Economy, which Significantly Changed the Mode and Relations of Land Production in Iran and Left Certain Social and Political Consequences. The Main Issue in this Study is to Investigate Why and How Iranian Agriculture is commercialized under the Influence of the Global Capitalist Economy and its Economic and Social Consequences. The purpose of writing this article is to acquaint those who are interested in contemporary history with the parts of the mechanism of the world capital system in plundering the production surplus value of the periphery countries and its destructive effects on these societies in the past two centuries. I have done a case study of these effects on the economic structure of Iran from the second half of the 19th century to the early years of the 20th century, especially in the field of agrarian economy. Of course, before this and apart from Noshirvani, who in his research only described the process of commercialization of Iran's agriculture in the middle of the 19th century, until now, various researchers have discussed the different aspects of the commercialization of Iran's agriculture and the Evolution of Iran's agrarian economy towards Providing the needs of world markets in the Qajar period Like BeheshtiSerasht and his colleagues who have described the impact of this event on the expansion of private property in Iran's agrarian economy Or Alizadeh Birjandi, who only explained the increase in the production of commercial products in accordance with the demand of the world market, such as opium, saffron, and silk, in the Qaenat County’s agrarian economy of Qajar era And MansourBakht, who with a more wide view and by presenting a description of the major commercial products of Iran's agrarian economy in these years, put forward the claim that the commercialization of Iran's agriculture was a smart event in response to the country's need to equalize the cost of its imports from western countries Which has been able to bring Iran's economy to the necessary dynamics for international exchanges. Shahram Gholami, in his article, has focused more on how and why cotton cultivation was commercialized in the period from the middle of Qajar to the end of the first Pahlavi regime. And Karami has devoted his article to the investigation of the consequences of commercialization of agriculture in the western provinces of Iran during the Pahlavi era. Seyf has discussed the commercialization of agriculture in Iran in two of his works. He emphasizes in his book and also in the introduction of the article he wrote emphasizing the commercialization of opium cultivation in the second half of the 19th century in Iran, emphasizes that the commercialization of Iran's agriculture in this era cannot be considered part of the development process of Iran's agrarian economy But he reduced the reason of this issue only to the Qajar's despotic, cruel and irrational rule and did not pay any attention to the special work of the world capitalist system in creating this situation And Floor has investigated this phenomenon in the first chapter of his book, while he does not make any introduction to the connection of this issue with the creation of various famines in Iran during the Nasseri era and the lack of Public victuals in the country. And even contrary to the hypothesis of this article, citing several reasons, he does not believe in reducing the purchasing power of the vast population of the Iran’s peasantry due to constant inflation and the increasing demand for essential items due to the commercialization constant inflation and the increasing demand for essential items due to of Iran's agriculture. But in this article, I have tried to find an answer for the commercialization of Iran's agrarian economy in the second half of the Qajar era and to examine its most important socio-economic and political consequences And also answer this basic question whether this phenomenon can be considered as an aspect of the growth and development of Iran's agrarian economy in this era or not?

My hypothesis in this research is in accordance with the findings of the dependency theory and is based on the fact that the world capital system is based on unequal trade and the transfer of surplus production value from the Peripheral areas to the industrial centers of this system, could not cause economic growth and development in any field in the Peripheral areas And this law is also true for the country of Iran and contrary to the opinion of some mentioned researchers, the commercialization of Iran's agriculture Under the peripheral conditions of the world capital system, could not cause growth and development in production relations, means of production, direct production forces and in general, development of agrarian Iran's economy. Accordingly, in this article, with the method of Content Analysis of reports and economic and social data, especially in Iran's foreign trade in the desired period of time, have reviewed historical sources and consular reports And finally, i have shown that contrary to the optimistic opinion of many researchers, the commercialization of Iranian agriculture in the 19th century Under the peripheral conditions of the world capital system, in addition to not being a development process in Iran's agrarian economy, also had no result in terms of economic growth. And Iranian society has not benefited from it. Iran's commercial agriculture in the second half of the 19th century did not achieve any long-term success in balancing Iran's foreign trade and only caused many problems in providing the essential needs of the Iranian people, occurrence of various famines, increase in the price of Public victuals, and the imposition of pressure and relentless hunger for the majority of Iranian society for nearly a century And one of the main factors was the loss of many people from the population of this country due to the continuous famines of the second half of the 19th century and the lack of Public victuals.

The most important finding of this research is perhaps showing a more scientific method in historical research, recognize and analyze the economic, political and social consequences of the relationship with the West world capital system for purposes such as sustainable development and achieving prosperity and progress in countries like Iran which they have been defined in the periphery of this world system for nearly two centuries. This research, as part of a case study, can show the inherent totality of the West world capital system and its mechanism And to put this basic question in front of the researchers of this country, which is in line with the needs of the day, that according to the fixed mechanism of the world system of capital and its historical experience in the peripheral countries, especially Iran, is it generally possible for sustainable development with the creation of Is maximum economic and political relations with the west under the conditions of development dependent on the western capitalist world system for peripheral countries such as Iran? And has the experience of this development dependent on the world capitalist economy centered on western industrialized countries in other economic fields of Iran in the past two centuries, also been similar to its agrarian economy or not?