Resource Imperialism and Resistance: Labour, Security and Social Reproduction after Iranian Oil Nationalisation

The Iranian oil nationalisation crisis, which ended in the coup that overthrew nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, is well known. An international Consortium of the world’s major oil companies replaced the dominance of the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, but relatively little is known about the history of Iranian oil and its workers after 1953. Even after the coup, tensions continued between workers and management, leading to corporate strategies to maintain order over social reproduction, including repression and social engineering. Meanwhile, even before the Suez crisis, the British government still maintained its imperial vision over the Persian Gulf and considered the refinery city of Abadan as an opportunity to re-enforce its prestige. This paper examines how the Consortium addressed the exigencies of labour’s social reproduction in relation to corporate interests and ongoing British energy imperialism. By pointing to the resistance from the local population across oil operating areas, it argues that the Consortium and British government ultimately failed to fully control oil operations, such that not even automation could supplant the human in oil operations.