Mutual Antagonism Society
Dec. 11, 1951 — Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate
Dec. 11, 1951 — Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate
| The Mossadegh Project | February 28, 2021 |
An editorial on Iran in The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate newspaper of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Newcastle is the site of the world’s largest port for the export of coal.
• Australian media archive
Persian Dilemma
With the Abadan refinery at a standstill and no way of turning into much-needed revenue the production in the tanks, Dr. Mossadeq could hardly fail to be attracted by the compromise in the proposal that the World Bank should become the operating authority of the nationalised Persian oil industry. That would enable the political victory over the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to be turned at last to economic account. But the desire to accept this new way of escape is subject to the sanction of the nationalist and Communist elements whose violence and emotional excitement have played so important a part in the campaign to dispossess the British. Dr. Mossadeq and the Communists are mutually antagonistic. The emergence of the banned Communist Tudeh Party in support of the frenzy of anti-British feeling that was whipped up was a calculated risk. The results of the risk are now on Dr. Mossadeq’s hands.To a greater extent than at any other stage of the nationalisation campaign, the question for Dr. Mossadeq is whether compromise will be acceptable to the irresponsible and dangerous pressure groups he helped to build. From the start the dispute with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was as much concerned with the unresolved frustrations in Persian society as with the question of economic exploitation of the oil. If it had been simply a matter of economics, the issues would almost certainly have been resolved long ago on the basis of the early offer of recognition of nationalisation and equal sharing of profits. There is no reason to doubt Dr. Mossadeq’s personal willingness to compromise. He spent 41 days in the United States seeking a way out of his difficulties. But the Communists are not perturbed by the prospect of economic collapse in Persia. Nor do they want the “reformist” Mossadeq to become entrenched in public esteem. The Prime Minister can expect nothing but opposition from them for any solution that would diminish the chance of revolution.
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Related links:
Initiative Now With Persia | Newcastle Morning Herald, Oct. 12, 1951
Persian Oil Suggestion | The Advocate, November 23, 1951
Time To Draw A Line | The Mercury, September 28, 1951
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
