Seeing is believing, they say. But anyone who has followed the news account or even so much as glanced at the pictures of the dramatics and antics of Iran’s ex-Premier Mossadegh while on trial for his life at Tehran will find it hard to believe that this ranting, fainting funny man was ever the master of his country.

But he was. And though the buck-and-wing behavior of this pajama-clad dervish may be, as the Iranian prosecutor [Hossein Azemoudeh] said yesterday, “funnier than Charlie Chaplin,” it has another side. The serious aspect of Mossadegh’s display arises from his diminished but apparently still potent command of the emotions of many Iranians. A ground swell of sympathy for their histrionic ex-leader has apparently been increasing as the trial goes on.

Now that the hearing approaches its final stages, these followers have apparently decided to vent their feelings in demonstrations. Today they called a general strike in which Communist elements joined, elements that Mossadegh favored while he was in power. [What a crock!] There have been violent clashes with the police; in one of them an American photographer is said to have been clubbed because the police were unable to read his press card. The disturbances are likely to continue so long as Mossadegh remains in the public eye. While his posturing may strike us as wholly preposterous the effects in Iran had better not be underestimated.