The Role of Khosravi Khorasan Textile and Spinning Factory on Economic and Social Situation of Mashhad (1937- 1971)

Abstract
Mashhad has been a good platform for the development of the textile industry since the mid-Qajar period. In 1937, in the first Pahlavi period after modernization and basic developments, the first and the largest spinning factory in eastern Iran was launched in Mashhad, named Khosravi Khorasan Textile and Spinning Company. The establishment and expansion of the spinning factory in the Pahlavi era made Mashhad as one of the textile poles which had an effective role in the textile self-sufficiency of Iran in the 1980s. The existence of this factory, as a symbol of the identity of the Mashhad working-class community, not only directly employed thousands of workers at the factory, but also had many social effects on labor issues such as their literacy and specialized training. Moreover, some workers' neighborhoods were formed because of the spinning factory in Mashhad. The factory was faced with challenges such as economic crises and the impact of political tensions during its establishment and development period. So, the raising question is that, how did the establishment of the factory affect the economic and social situation of Mashhad? This study tries to do a document based evaluation of this local industry and its socio-economic impacts on Mashhad through a descriptive-analytical method. The findings indicate that the selection of this area for the establishment of the textile factory led Mashhad to have an effective role in industrial and employment policies and economic self-sufficiency of Mashhad as one of the Iranian textile poles in the Pahlavi era.