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Essay on Industrialization In Today's Tehran
There is no doubt concerning the importance of industrialization in Iran. There is also no doubt that Iran is far behind in industry and technology as compared with developed nations, although the question of how far behind it is remains subject to discussion.
Some think that Iran started the path to industrialization so late that the gap between it and advanced nations cannot be filled easily.
They also believe that the required thinking for development is not yet read in Iran. On the other hand, some believe that although Iran started the industrialization process late, major opportunities are available and the gap can rapidly be made up.
The industrialization of Iran began early in the Pahlavi era, when Reza Shah set up a number of light industries producing consumer goods.
Textiles, silk, processed foods, particularly sugar, tea and tobacco, cement, and building materials were Iran's earliest industrial products. There were more ambitious plans. Our country was actually manufacturing light aircraft and Reza Shah had ordered an integrated steel mill when Iran became engulfed against its will in World War II.
Industrialization came to a complete halt, and production at existing factories was seriously impaired by the lack of spare parts and imported raw materials. By the end of World War II, industry in Iran was in a state of total stagnation, and one of the principal objects of the First Plan (1948-55) was to get the factories, which were then almost exclusively State-owned, back into production. But for political and economic reasons it was not until the late 1950's that large-scale industrial investments could be resumed.
The real breakthrough occurred in the immediate aftermath of 1963.
Two of the six points of a new programme of the Shah and the government were concerned with industry: The sale of Government factories....
