Sharp Sword, New Plow

A crimson tent was set up in the muddy Maragheh plain in honor of the royal presence. Baggy-pants peasants and their red-cheeked women and children crowded close to stare at Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, Shah of Iran, resplendent in the green uniform of army commander in chief. Suddenly, the Shah asked for the microphone, delivered an impromptu talk to the crowd. "I've been in this land reform business for over ten years," he said. "It's now reached its decisive stage. Believe me, it is no honor to be King of a poor and hungry people." As he handed out land deeds, the Shah asked one farmer if he was happy. "No. I'm not happy," he replied. "I am reborn."

Thus last week, in a region close to the Russian border, the Shah officially launched the land reform program that he had signed into law on Jan. 15. Under the law, worked out by idealistic Agriculture Minister Hasan Arsanjani (who insists on serving without salary), a landlord may be forced to sell most of his holdings, is compensated by the government over a ten-year period. The Shah, who in the last decade has distributed to peasants more than half of his own 1,500,000 acres, is one of the few Iranian landlords with any liking for reform. Most cling tenaciously to the feudal system, which has given big landowners control of three-fourths of Iran's arable soil. Some 17,000 villages are owned outright by 160 wealthy families, and most of the nation's 16 million peasants are serfs.

Landlords are not alone in opposition to the reforms, long urged by the U.S. Five of the Shah's 16-man Cabinet voted against the law. Iran's Communists, fearing the loss of a traditional class-war propaganda issue, joined with rightists last month in staging bloody riots in Teheran. Some observers in Teheran fear that the reform plan may never get far beyond last week's dramatic giveaway. Even the Shah's close aides concede the project may well take 20 years. The peasants cannot be given land without first being taught marketing, crop rotation and the use of fertilizer--all formerly handled by landlords. Cooperatives must be set up and loans arranged to tide the peasants over bad harvests. The speed of the operation depends on the state of Iran's treasury, which is chronically empty.

But last week it was clear that at least the peasants and the Shah are true believers in land reform. As the Shah left his crimson tent at Maragheh, he angrily ordered away the soldiers who were holding back the crowd with bayonets. For the first time in his life, the Shah walked alone and unprotected in the midst of his people. Weeping peasant women tried to kiss his hand or foot; those who could not reach him ran to kiss his royal car instead. Driving away from the dark, muddy plain, the Shah could hear the peasants shouting after him: "May God keep your sword always sharpened!" "May God strike down your enemies!"

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