The White Revolution under Muhammad Reza Shah, the establishment of the Literacy Corps in Pahlavi Iran (1963-79) and the spread of Persian language.

In this paper, the author explores the use of literacy in Persian in the 1960s and 1970s as a tool to unite Iran. At that time, the country was divided along several lines such as ethnicity, linguistic and religious diversity. Through the so-called White Revolution, in 1963 Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979) attempted the transformation of Iran by the introduction of a secular educational system inspired by a European model. Part of this secular educational system involved the use of the so-called Literacy Corps, meaning the use of military men in order to educate villagers in the most remote part of the country. At that time, the Literacy Corps was considered the most economical way to improve literacy and a means of enlisting urban youth to work in villages. However, as already explained in Sabahi’s monograph The Literacy Corps in Pahlavi Iran (1963-1979). Political, Social and Literary Implications (Sapiens, Lugano, 2002), the Literacy Corps had an impact not only on the literacy level of rural Iranians and on the spread of Persian as a common language, but also on the corpsmen’s own perception of the regime. In fact, while employed in the villages, some of the educated Literacy Corps urban youth studied revolutionary literature, and gradually developed their own political views. The author’s findings in primary sources show the Literacy Corps fostered the growth of political ideas which went against the regime and eventually exploded in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Considering David Menashri’s monograph Education and the Making of Modern Iran (Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1992) and further literature on education at the time of the Pahlavi dynasty, the author offers the reading new documents found in NARA archives in Maryland, in the Public Record Office in London, as well as in Tehran.