Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎202r] (406/1237)

5»_ Soviet, wifru r al Activities . Russian courses for ad Its have begun
a the Russian school. The lessons are arr nged at an hour in the evening
to suit officials,shopkeepers and professional people. Students attend
two or uhree evenings a week and pa/ a fee of SO rials per month. The
classes appear to be well attended. The instruction is in Turk!.
^ a new Soviet propaganda Shop (distinct from the Russian bookshop)
ho been opened with a frontage on the main street. The shop’s main
purpose is to oroadcast the wireless news a-d to exhibit photographs,
waile providing facilities for reading Russian papers. There is at
present on show a photographic diaplap divided into six sections devoted
to aspects of Russian political,cultural and military life,with captions
in Russian and Turki. The reading material provided includes copies of
n 'The Communist"Krokodil and the local Turki newspaper "Vatan Yolinda rt .
6* Tuaeh Rarty Activit ies. There seems to have been no very vigorous
attempt xo stir up opposition to the manifesto published by Seyyid Zia
ud Jin on the subject of M. Rt«vtaradze ’a criticisms of the recently
passed oil concession law. it was advertized that a puolic meeting would
be held oy the ireedom Rront to protest against this manifesto on
January oth. nut not more than a hundred people assembled,and as the
flurries of snow settled down into a steady fall these soon drifted away
and the meeting died after about ten minutes of the usual oratory.
mohammed bir^a,the leader of the workers’ Union,and All Amir
Khizi,the leader of the Tudeh narty in Tabriz,nave go^e to Tehran,to
consult,as it is thought,with Trade Union and Tudeh leaders there both
on the reorganization of the Azeroaijan Union (Shurai kuttahidei
lyalati Azeroaijan) and on the line to be pursued in the campaign
for the establishment of a Provincial Committee. Little is heard of this
campaign at the moment,out it is generally fal$ that the agitation will
take a new lease of life when Birya and Khizi return. The Governor
General has taken a step which he hopes,without much confidence,will
have an effect on the provincial committee question: he called Ali
Shahbistury and a few other prominent members of the Tudeh Party to
the Governorate and read them a little lecture,pointing out that though
the election of a provincial committee might be according to the
Gonstitution,it would only be legal if it were elected with the approval
of the Central Government,and urged them to seek permission from Tehran
before taking an u action here. He also enlisted the support of Satvat
as Galtaneh,a man of old and noble family who enjoys much personal
influence nd prestige in the city,and asked him to give the Tudeh
leaders friendly advice in the same sense. Such advice,however,is not
likely to carry the slightest weight with the Tudeh leaders; if they do
decide to drop the campaign,it will be for other reasons* To judge from
the remarks of one informant in close touch with the Tudeh Party,there
is no intention of dropping the matter at the moment. It is even being
said that if no favourable reply is received from Tehran,the Tudeh
Party will agitate for the separation of Azerbaijan from Iran. Azerbaijan
they claim can grow all its own food; they would throw out all the
Tehran officials,and then see "who would suffer most,we,or Tehran”.
The Tudeh paper ’’Kharvar-i-Aov* reports a meeting held by the
Freedom Front at uiiauduab on December 20th., 1S44. The speeches followed
familiar lines,demanding the election of Provincial Committees,the
prosecution of Sa’id,the abolition of the A*I.C.G. concession *in
order to balance Iran’s foreign policy”,and the trial of those^respon-
siole for the murder of workers in Tabriz. A telegram embodying
resolutions on these points was sent to the Shah,the majlis and the
Tehran press*
7. nab nr Situation and Union Activities . On December 29th.,1944,Ahmed
Isfahsni,of the jorkers 1 Union,and Ali Shahbistary of the Tudeh Party
cullea on the Director of Posts and Telegraphs in Tabriz and demanded
the increasing of the postmen’s wages under threat of a strike. The
Director replied that he had no authority to increase wages. Four
postmen thereupon wrote a letter,not to the Workers* Union,but to
the Tudeh Party, sett ing forth their grievances, a,id sent a copy to the
Governor General. The Governor General replied,to the Director of
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