Purity and Refinement
ByL, G. LOON IT is always a little unfair to make literal translations into English from the formal phraseology of the East. However, " The Commission of Purification and Refinement " is at once an exact and a significant translation of the title which was given last year to a body of men called together by the Shah's Government for the purpose of investigating and reporting on the morals of the Persian Civil Service. The words " purity " and " refinement " have in Persia a double meaning, or, rather, they commonly appear in two widely differing contexts: in the language, that is to say, of metaphysics, and, equally, in the language of oil. The Commission, drilling beneath the surface of public life, eventually struck some- thing in the nature of a gusher.
When originally the Commission was set up by special Act of Parliament, and full powers were voted for it in its arduous labours, it was widely assumed that its creation was little more than another flourish of the conductor's baton aimed at diminishing the chorus of groans which has always been the national accompaniment to the theme of government in Persia. The gesture, at any rate, seemed to be carefully hedged with conditions which robbed it of any effective threat. There are more than 150,000 civil servants in Persia, and the Commission of seven men was given only a year in which to complete its task. It was, however, essential that the commissioners themselves should be men of integrity, and it was here that the Persian Government made a miscalculation. It was apparently forgotten that a small group of honest men can in certain circumstances be as full of guile and resource as politicians. More important, the Persian Government failed to take into account the strain of puritanical righteousness which is far from being unknown in Persian public life, and which was, of course, given ample scope to show itself in the newly constituted body.
The Commission of Purity and Refinement was required to make a comprehensive list of Persia's civil servants and to divide them into three categories: The first category was to be the Pure, or those whose records placed them above suspicion ; the second was that of the Unnecessaries, or civil servants who, although honest, were enjoying sinecures or were otherwise surplus to establishment ; the third was the category of the dishonest, or " Loss-bringers " as they were politely referred to in the Commission's charter.
From the first the members of the Commission must have known that one of two courses was expected of them. They could either prolong their investigation and, at the end of their year, claim that more time was required to allow them to form any fair judgement. Or they could nominate a few minor " loss-bringers "—a postal official here and a tax-gatherer there—pointing out that the time factor prevented a more extensive exposure. Either of these courses would have been acceptable. It now seems that from the outset the Commission rejected both of them. Its members, moreover, suc- ceeded to an astonishing degree in keeping their intentions secret ; all that was known publicly was that they were examining the personal dossiers of various members of the administration, and that such a large number of these files had been removed to the place where the Commission held its meetings that it was impossible to say what particular departments or individuals were the object of their scrutiny. No interim report was issued, and as the year allowed for their investigation wore on the existence of the Com- mission was almost forgotten. - Meanwhile,. there was plenty of activity on the political front to occupy public attention . The Persian Army, which since the collapse of Reza Shah had played only a minor role, appeared once more on the scenes. In June, General Razm-Ara (the name, by the way, means " battle ornament "), who had hitherto been Chief of General Staff, assumed the premiership as the result of something almost like a coup deka. He called for discipline in the existing national and international emergency. As an earnest of his reform- ing energies Press regulations were tightened up and a number of young men with allegedly advanced political opinions were con- signed to concentration camps as Communists. The internal economic situation, which had for many years made life progres- sively hard for the poor and progressively luxurious for the rich, changed if anything for the worse. Much was heard of the cliches which have been among the most popular of western exports in recent years—" New Deal," " Welfare State," " Political Resur- rection " and so on—but the first impact of military influence showed little signs of producing the benefits with which these terms are usually associated.
It was at this moment that the Commissioners of Purity and Refinement stepped quietly into the limelight and almost imme- diately stepped, equally quietly, out of it again. They waited until the very last day of their official existence before presenting their report. No doubt they felt that this was the safest way of pro- ceeding, for within twenty-four hours they could legitimately claim to 'be non-existent as commissioners, and therefore incapable of revising, or even of withdrawing, the opinions which they had recorded. And the opinions they had recorded were quite clear and quite unanimous. They made no claim that the time allotted to them had been sufficient for an adequate investigation. They did not avoid the main issue by naming a few unimportant scapegoats. Instead, they pointed out that they had, owing to the time factor, been obliged to restrict their investigation to a few Ministries and to a comparatively small number of high officials in those Ministries. Thereafter the lists they provided spoke for themselves. That of the " loss-bringers " was not only long, but full of names closely associated with both the old and the new administrations ; among them were three members of General Razm-Ara's Cabinet (holding the portfolios Labour, Agriculture and Justice), the Governors of three provinces, the Speaker of the Mejlis and the Director-General of the Seven-Year Plan. The commissioners, it seems, took some trouble before they dissolved to see that the contents of their report should be made known to the public. In this they were successful, though rumour has it that an attempt was made on the life of one of its members before their discreet retirement to the country.
From a domestic point of view it is now, of course, General Razm-Ara's turn to reply. His first move has been to set up another Commission to continue the work of the first, and to dismiss some of the named " loss-bringers " (others are protected by Parlia- mentary immunity). But the matter does not remain entirely one of internal Persian politics, for, as far at any rate as Persian public opinion is concerned, both Britain and America are involved. It is generally believed that the two Western Allies supported the General in his accession to power ; they are almost certain to be held responsible by public opinion for the sins of omission and commission of this as of other post-war Persian Cabinets. But whether or not this simplified reading of the situation is correct, it will be a pity from everyone's point of view if the new impulse towards purity and refinement in Persia beats itself out against the rock of inertia.
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