William Morgan Shuster - The Strangling of Persia

Shuster returned to the United States and wrote a scathing indictment of Russian and British meddling in the affairs of Persia, titled The Strangling of Persia. In one well-known passage of that book, Shuster decried the influence of the Great Powers:

t was obvious that the people of Persia deserve much better than what they are getting, that they wanted us to succeed, but it was the British and the Russians who were determined not to let us succeed.

The Strangling of Persia, which has been dedicated to "The Persian People", was originally published in New York by the Century Company in 1912, then reprinted by the Greenwood Press in 1968 and Mage Publishers in 1987 and 2005. The book was subtitled, the story of the European diplomacy and oriental intrigue that resulted in the denationalization of twelve million Mohammedans, a personal narrative. The dedication of the book reads thus:

TO THE PERSIAN PEOPLE
In the endeavour to repay in some slight measure the debt of gratitude imposed on me through their confidence in my purposes towards them and by their unwavering belief, under difficult and forbidding circumstances, in my desire to serve them for the regeneration of their nation, this book is dedicated by the author.

The book's motto is:

"Time with whose passage certain pains abate

But sharpens those of Persia's unjust fate."

Shuster's book is an invaluable eyewitness account of a weak developing nation that is falling prey to the ambitious imperial expansionism of Great Britain and Russia. The central theme is the tenacity with which he applies himself to the task of creating a viable administrative apparatus to collect taxes, the sine qua non of creating a nationalist government capable of resisting imperialism. For this very reason, Shuster and his administrative assistants were the direct targets of the Russian invasion of the country in 1911-1912: Shuster's removal from his position at the Treasury was a principal objective of Russian foreign policy. The details of the struggle for power in Tehran are written in a robust, straightforward style.

Chapter XI of the Strangling of Persia provides a detailed appraisal of the state of tax collection in Persia, from payment-in-kind to tax farming. The interaction between foreign policy and taxation is particularly well done: rural landowners who didn't like paying their taxes were all too willing to ally with the Russian invaders.

The book is also remarkable because of Shuster's steadfast belief that he was working for a "Muhammedan" democracy. The constitution of 1906 had many similarities to Iran's constitution today, including judicial review by the clergy. But Shuster is unfailing in his assertion that he is working for a genuine democracy that is being overthrown by foreign imperial powers.