Constitutionalization attempts in Iran

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution was a short-lived push for democratic rule in the form of a constitutional monarchy within a highly elitist yet decentralized society under the Qajars. The mounting disgust amidst the clergy, bazaaris, farmers, intellectuals, and other segments of the populace with respect to the Shah, policies during the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century illustrates a classic example of an environment ripe for protest, as a wide array of people in society felt an increasing need to express their grievances with an oppressive and largely autocratic government.

Foundation and causes

While no concrete date has been agreed upon with respect to the origins of the Constitutional Revolution itself, the seeds for revolution were sown with increasing foreign influence within the country (namely British and Russian influence) during the 19th century. Various concessions granted to foreign powers by the Shah(s) ranging from capitulations to the Reuters Concession of 1872 created contempt and distrust amidst the clergy, bazaaris and merchants amongst others, but none proved more inflammatory than the Tobacco Règie of 1890, in which the Shah granted Britain a monopoly over the production, sale, and export of all Iranian tobacco.

Despite initially being kept secret, the agreement for the Tobacco Règie was eventually leaked and criticized through a series of articles published in late 1890 by a Persian newspaper in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement sparked unprecedented protest due to tobacco being a widely grown product within Iran that provided the livelihood for many landholders, shopkeepers, and exporters. Moreover, the clergy viewed it as fundamentally violating Islamic law as Iranian consumers and merchants were being implicitly coerced into buying and selling tobacco from and to the monopoly. The clergy's loathing of the Règie led to a coalition of massive protests led by the ulama (clergy) in the form of a tobacco boycott as well as street demonstrations. The government reacted by shooting into a non-violent crowd, resulting in even greater protests and culminating in the concession eventually being cancelled in 1892. The fiasco left more than a bad taste in the mouths of the citizenry; the Tobacco Règie resulted in several deaths as well as a debt of 500,000 pounds to the British.