The History of Opium in Modern Iran, 1850-1955
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 The Most Sovereign of Masters: The History of Opium in Modern Iran, 1850-1955 Ram Baruch Regavim University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Asian History Commons, Economic History Commons, and the Islamic World and Near East History Commons Recommended Citation Regavim, Ram Baruch, "The Most Sovereign of Masters: The History of Opium in Modern Iran, 1850-1955" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 687. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/687 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/687 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Most Sovereign of Masters: The History of Opium in Modern Iran, 1850-1955 Abstract This study surveys a century of commercial opium production in Iran, from 1850 to 1955. From an insignificant contributor to the global opium market, Iran became within a few decades an important exporter, turning to the market between 5-10% of the entire global production of opium. Opium-poppy cultivation and opium production formed part of a larger process of transition within the agricultural sector to cash-crop production. Under the growing pressure of increasing imports of European manufactured goods and the collapse of the local manual industries, the production of cash-crops, and particularly opium, was intended to balance Iran's trade deficit. The combination of timely political changes in China, technological improvements in steamboat navigation and a high-quality product, enabled the successful integration of Iranian opium within the global opium market. This success stands in contrast to the usual negative evaluation of Iran's social and economic reforms during the later 19th- century. Parallel to the rise of opium production, opium consumption -- particularly opium smoking -- became very popular in Iran. The extent of this phenomenon caused concern among the country's political and cultural leadership, but the proponents of the anti-opium cause in Iran were never zealots, nor did they wield the sort of political power that matched the influence of anti-opium organizations in the US, Europe and China. Iran was early to join the diplomatic efforts to end the opium trade in the 20th century, but it did so mostly in order to reject or postpone resolutions that would harm the Government's substantial opium revenues. In the end, the economic compensation that came with the larger share in the oil revenues, which Iran negotiated in 1954, and not internal political pressure by anti-opium groups, enabled Iran to forego its opium trade altogether. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet Keywords China, Consumption, India, Iran, Opium, Trade Subject Categories Asian History | Economic History | Islamic World and Near East History This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/687 THE MOST SOVEREIGN OF MASTERS: THE HISTORY OF OPIUM IN MODERN IRAN, 1850-1955 Ram Baruch Regavim A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Supervisor of Dissertation ____________________ Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet Robert I. Williams Term Professor of History Graduate Group Chairperson ______________________ Eve Troutt-Powell Associate Professor of History Dissertation Committee Firoozeh Ksahani-Sabet Professor of History Robert Vitalis Professor of Political Science Rudolph Matthee Professor of History THE MOST SOVEREIGN OF MASTERS: THE HISTORY OF OPIUM IN MODERN IRAN, 1850-1955 COPYRIGHT 2012 Ram Baruch Regavim iii To Jade for her love, support and comfort. You make me complete. Judge me not harshly, O thou who hast never known sickness -- ay, and for a while partial blindness -- in a strange land, if in my pain and my wakefulness I at length yielded to the voice of the tempter, and fled for refuge to that most potent, most sovereign, most seductive, and most enthralling of masters, opium. E. G. Browne, A Year Amongst the Persians, p. 476 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT Over the years of writing this dissertation I received support, encouragement and advice from more people than I can remember. Prof. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet has been a supportive advisor through all those years. She gave me the initial idea for this dissertation, encouraged me through trials and tribulations and helped me overcome the hardships of transforming an idea into a dissertation. I would like to thank my dissertation committee of Prof. Robert Vitalis, who taught me the mysteries of the academic world and kept me searching for a heart of gold, and Prof. Rudi Matthee, who inspired me with his writings and encouraged me with his comments and guidance. I would like to thank David Courtwright for his wise remarks and advice while I was still making my first steps in the world of drug history. Amar Farooqui patiently helped me navigate my way through the National Archives of India and offered priceless advice and guidance. Gad Gilbar encouraged me to look at Iran’s economic history as part of larger developments that went way beyond its borders. David Menashri has been my mentor and teacher from the very beginning and my personal marja-i taqlid. I thank Igal Halfin, Meir Litvak, David Yerushalmi, Israel Gershoni and Ben Nathans, who showed me what academic passion is all about. I would like to thank the staff of the US National Archives for putting the extra effort of searching the location of the RG170 files, and the staff of the UK National Archives and the National Archives of India for their assistance. I also would like to thank the staff of the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania for doing so much to help me even when I was thousands of miles away. v Many friends and colleagues helped me over the years, too many to name each one. I thank them all for listening, for arguing, for patiently enduring my endless lectures and unprovoked rant about drugs, for challenging my arguments, for offering me new perspectives, for sharing their experiences, for directing me to sources, for giving me food and a place to sleep, for lending me a hand in the pitfalls of despair and sharing with me moments of joy, and for simply being great friends. I could not have done that without you. During my years of research for the writing of this dissertation I received the generous financial support of the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship and the Vartan Gregorian Graduate Fellowship. My research in India was funded by the Faye Rattner Dissertation Research Fellowship. I am grateful for this support. Finally, to Jade, to Shvo, Libby and Mishaella, to my parents and all my family. You are always in my thoughts. vi ABSTRACT THE MOST SOVEREIGN OF MASTERS: THE HISTORY OF OPIUM IN MODERN IRAN, 1850-1955 Ram Baruch Regavim Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet. This study surveys a century of commercial opium production in Iran, from 1850 to 1955. From an insignificant contributor to the global opium market, Iran became within a few decades an important exporter, turning to the market between 5-10% of the entire global production of opium. Opium-poppy cultivation and opium production formed part of a larger process of transition within the agricultural sector to cash-crop production. Under the growing pressure of increasing imports of European manufactured goods and the collapse of the local manual industries, the production of cash-crops, and particularly opium, was intended to balance Iran’s trade deficit. The combination of timely political changes in China, technological improvements in steamboat navigation and a high-quality product, enabled the successful integration of Iranian opium within the global opium market. This success stands in contrast to the usual negative evaluation of Iran’s social and economic reforms during the later 19th-century. Parallel to the rise of opium production, opium consumption -- particularly opium smoking -- became very popular in Iran. The extent of this phenomenon caused concern among the country’s political and cultural leadership, but the proponents of the anti- opium cause in Iran were never zealots, nor did they wield the sort of political power that matched the influence of anti-opium organizations in the US, Europe and China. Iran was early to join the diplomatic efforts to end the opium trade in the 20th century, but it did so mostly in order to reject or postpone resolutions that would harm the Government’s substantial opium revenues. In the end, the economic compensation that came with the larger share in the oil revenues, which Iran negotiated in 1954, and not internal political pressure by anti-opium groups, enabled Iran to forego its opium trade altogether. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ viii INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................