Dehqanan's (Peasants) Involvement in Tabriz Resistance Movement (The Minor Dictatorship Era)

Tabriz Resistance Movement took revolt, uprising place in order to revive the Constitutionalism in Iran. The mujāhids (‘militants’) led by Sattār Khān and Bāqer Khān embarked on defending Constitutionalism. Being informed of the shelling of Majles (‘the assembly’) in Tehran, the opponents of Constitutionalism in Tabriz sought to wipe out the signs of Constitutionalism there and to gain domination over the city. The militants’ social basis was the city’s oppressed poor people. From the beginning the villagers were subject to the atrocities of the opponents of Constitutionalism. Landlords established links with Sattār Khān, and thus groups of rural militants were formed. The landlords provided the city’s subsistence, besides resistance and struggle. The landlords’ efforts in assisting urban militants provided the pretext for the extensive enmity and hostility of the heads of anti-constitutional forces against them. During the whole period of Tabriz Resistance Movement, Azerbaijan’s villages suffered a lot of afflictions and hardships. Thus, Tabriz Resistance Movement during the Minor Dictatorship Era should not be studied merely as an urban phenomenon. The present paper intends to study the landlords’ position and role in the continuation of the resistance against the Minor Dictatorship.