Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎487r] (976/1237)

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About fcbe middle of February the townamen of Rezaieh
nearly got out of hand. The government officials threatened a •
general strpce and Colonel J&ahin, Commanding the i ersi&n troops,
had to promise to go to Tabriz to plead for cheaper bread before
he could calm the populate. All urban populations are similarly
agltst ed on account cf high prices.
n • RUBSO-riiRS IaK I PITS. I asked my Russian colleague what
■^e thought of the recent speech making in Tabriz. I told him
thpt it seemed to me curious thd these men now so outspoken
against the fascists had remained silent last summer when every
body expected the Germans to be in Tabriz by ueptembei at. the
latest, and I suggested that fair-weather friends who only
offered a tank when the Red Army was sweeping ahead were of
little real value to anyone. Mr. Kuznetsov was quite firmly
of the opposite opinion, he thought it y/as a good thing that
there should be this public denunciation of fascists and I
sensed more satisfaction in his manner than in his actual words.
The Armenian Patriarch had, he said, called on all Armenians to
contribute to the support of the Red Army, hence the campaign
to collect money for a tank. It seemed clear from Mr. KuznetzovH
words and manner that this local movement has Russian approbation,
probably Russian encouragement, and it is interesting that the
recent speeches have all linked high prices and wheat hoarding
with fascism and the fifith column, the impliCEition being that
the Russians stand for low prices; but they can’t make any
success of such pro agenda here where everybody knows that the
Russians are buying quantities of all sorts of foodstuifs at
high prices. If, on the strength of recent speeches, !ir. Kuznet
zov reports that public opinion is veering strongly in favour
of Russia, he is confusing activity with efficacy , a mistake
which our own propagandists so often sake.
Apart from Mr. Kuznetzov’s statement to Mr. Vivian
that he had instructions not to bring pressure to bear on any
Persian official, I have the impression that my Soviet colleague
is cultivating the Governor General raUher assiduously and that
as against the two of them Mr. Vivian has little ehanee of
making his policy prevail. If the Russians are hostile wo Mr.
Vivian as an American they could ask for nothing better then
tie present bad relations between him and the Governor Gene-al.
As spring approaches the probability that there will
be raids bj/ Kurds on both sides of the Turkish frontier approa
ches. I have reported to H.M. Legation my impression that there
is little chance of Improving security on the frontier zone in
time co forestall such raids, but the Governor General seems to
be making some effort bo find a solution. His main difficulty
arises from the Russian refusal to allow Tehran to supply
weapons. He has invited Russian Consular officers from RezaieH
/and