Nimrod Zagagi (PhD)

The oil city of Abadan in Southwestern Iran was founded by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to house its staff and operations. Soon after its foundation, the city became a hub for migrant laborers from all over the country. The city’s hinterland, however, was dominated by indigenous Arab tribes. This paper will examine the tensions between Abadan, and the Arab tribes during the first half of the 20th century. These tensions, were not only caused as a result of local ethnic and cultural rivalry, but were also the result of the interplay between the tribes, the Oil Company and the Iranian Central government.

The history of the oil industry’s labor movement during the 1940s has often focused on the Tudeh’s ability to act overtly and rally the masses of workers. Thus, more often than not, the importance of union underground activity and the role played by the masses of ordinary oil workers during times of political and military repression, is overlooked. This article examines how the particular setting of the oil town of Abadan influenced motivations of oil workers and the dynamics between them and the Tudeh. As the article aims to show, these elements were an essential part in the ability of the labor movement in Abadan to remain viable and reemerge in force in the early 1950s as part of the oil nationalization movement.

On the eve of July 14, 1946, an unprecedented violent outburst erupted in the oil city of Abadan in southwestern Iran between local Arab tribesmen, members of the recently founded “Arab Tribal Union,” and members of the formidable Tudeh-affiliated union, the Council of Federated Trade Unions of Iranian Workers and Toilers. Although seemingly the result of recent happenings, this incident was, in fact, the culmination of several processes which had originated at the turn of the twentieth century in Iran and particularly in Abadan. What were the causes of tension and rivalry between these two unions? Why were Arab tribesmen, the majority of whom lived in Abadan’s hinterland, organized in a trade union? How did Arab sheikhs come to be union leaders? What were the relations between the city and its hinterland and what influences did the oil industry and the Iranian authorities have on the urban and tribal communities? These are the main questions this article tries to address.

ABSTRACT On the eve of July 14, 1946, an unprecedented violent outburst erupted in the oil city of Abadan in southwestern Iran between local Arab tribesmen, members of the recently founded “Arab Tribal Union,” and members of the formidable Tudeh-affiliated union, the Council of Federated Trade Unions of Iranian Workers and Toilers. Although seemingly the result of recent happenings, this incident was, in fact, the culmination of several processes which had originated at the turn of the twentieth century in Iran and particularly in Abadan. What were the causes of tension and rivalry between these two unions? Why were Arab tribesmen, the majority of whom lived in Abadan’s hinterland, organized in a trade union? How did Arab sheikhs come to be union leaders? What were the relations between the city and its hinterland and what influences did the oil industry and the Iranian authorities have on the urban and tribal communities? These are the main questions this article tries to address.

The history of the oil industry’s labor movement during the 1940s has often focused on the Tudeh’s ability to act overtly and rally the masses of workers. Thus, more often than not, the importance of union underground activity and the role played by the masses of ordinary oil workers during times of political and military repression, is overlooked. This article examines how the particular setting of the oil town of Abadan influenced motivations of oil workers and the dynamics between them and the Tudeh. As the article aims to show, these elements were an essential part in the ability of the labor movement in Abadan to remain viable and reemerge in force in the early 1950s as part of the oil nationalization movement.