Investigating the Importance of Bread Issue in Political and Social Changes of Isfahan City during the First Pahlavi Era (1304-1320 A.H)

In recent centuries, bread shortage, has always been considered as one of the crisis of contemporary history. The famine of bread and groceries was the result of different geographical and political issues, lack of rainfall, traditional agricultural method and the outbreak of two world wars in Iran. The famine confronted people and governments with the crisis of bread shortage which was the staple food of people. This study is to answer the following questions: How was the situation of bread in Isfahan city during the first Pahlavi era? What measures had been taken to solve the problem? How successful were the government measures in this regard? According to the findings of the research, some measures were taken during the first Pahlavi era to solve the problem, including: direct state intervention in buying wheat from the farmers and selling it to the bakers; designing regulations to lower and stabilize the price of bread; considering the health issues of bakers and bakeries; issuing business licenses for the bakeries by the municipalities. It seems that the government, despite the efforts, had not been able to terminate the bread problem in Isfahan city because the outbreak of World War II and the events of Shahrivar 1320 A.H showed that the deep-rooted problem of bread in Isfahan still remained. The research method in this article was library method, by comparing and analyzing resources especially the main resources. In this study, the collected data were organized and analyzed for conclusion.