Communist Workers of Iran

As imperialist sanctions are stepped up, leaders of Iran’s ‘opposition’ are in headlong retreat. Yassamine Mather reports on the anniversary of the 2009 rigged elections

Demonstrations were held across Iran on the June 12 anniversary of last year’s rigged presidential elections – despite a heavy security presence and the cowardly back-stabbing of the so-called ‘reformist opposition’.

Meanwhile, the much heralded United Nations resolution on further sanctions against Iran – expanding the arms embargo and barring the country from sensitive activities such as uranium mining – was voted through on June 9. The UN measures present a diluted version of what the US administration had proposed, but they still allow high-seas inspections of vessels believed to be ferrying banned items to Iran, while 40 categories have been added to the list of people and groups subject to travel restrictions and financial sanctions. The European Union has promised to impose its own extra measures, targeting the energy, trade and transport sectors.

We have received reports that Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heidarian, Shirin Elm Hola, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Aslamyan were executed. Each of them for several times went under the worst tortures to confess to the crimes that they did not commit. Every so often, news of their heroic resistance to the pressures would leak outside of the medieval torture chambers that would set our heart on fire. Although, the risk of painful tortures, injustices and executions hovers over the head of every political activist and revolutionary, and being aware of this danger, we step in to the battlefield of class struggle, however, our humanity blocks all reasons and logic, and we cannot stop our tears of deep sorrow from losing a comrade and a friend. So tonight, with tearful eyes, and a deep pain in heart, we will mourn our departed comrade and friends. But tomorrow, we shall wipe the tears from our eyes and alongside the families of these brave class warriors and the militant students, we shall take to the streets to commemorate our comrades in arms, and show to the capitalist murderers that they did not die in vain, and the flare of class struggle is fueled with their blood.
The execution of these brave men and woman is another sign of the excessive acuteness of the class struggle in society. A struggle that for many years has been growing. And which, at the end of the spring and early summer (2009) it advanced to the revolutionary situation for a while in the capital city. The waves of the storm of these struggles continue with ebbs and flows. At each downturn, the people reviewed the shortcomings of the struggle, to the best of their common knowledge, only to step forward, and raise their objectives and methods in this revolutionary path. Only the capitalist ruling circles and their lackeys interpret these temporary ebbs to be permanent and final, and plunge in to the illusion of “stability” and “authority”. But even in their illusions they are fearful and scared. This is the only way that these ferocious actions could be interpreted. They see in their dreams that these murderous actions will horrify the militant people of Iran to retreat and hesitate in further confrontations. But, on the contrary, in such circumstances, the result of these actions is nothing but to convince more people that this government is incorrigible and make them more committed to its overthrown.
On the other hand, such desperate actions are yet another evidence of the fact of government’s inability to remedy the economic and social crises that have been causing the uptrend of the class struggle. The capitalist rulers, aware of this inability, have been watching the signs of the working class raise of consciousness and the resulted development and preparation of its forces to enter the field of political struggle. This was shown by the unity of the working class activists on this year’s celebration of May Day (2010) and the political demands they put forth, plus the support they showed for the democratic struggles of past year, as well as the demand to free all political prisoners. These signs have horrified the capitalist ruling circles more than ever. To a government that many of its top ranking armed forces officers have admitted to “reaching the brinks of disintegration” at the peaks of a non-organized populist movement, the thought of the working class movement joining the general democratic movement, is horrifying enough to reach the point of madness to commit such an insane acts.
The timing of the execution of Farzad Kamangar, a conscious working teacher, committed to his class mission, should not be seen as coincidence. This is a message of the capitalist ruling class to the worker activists. They show their bloody hands to warn the working class that they will go to any extent and commit any criminal and murderous act to stay in power. Their hopes of effectiveness of such means and measures, shows their class ignorance and inability to correctly analyze the current situation of the class struggle. They do not understand that the general trends of the class struggle is not determined by the activists’ state of mind, but by the common desperation of the working class and the necessity of structural change of world capitalism, if at all possible. This is the conditions that have brought the two main class forces of the society to a confrontational show down. It is the pressure of such material condition of the class struggle that imposes itself to the individual activists. For the sake of argument, let us say such cruelty is effective enough to intimidate some activists and campaigners. But very soon, the social pressure exerted on them will nullify its effects. This great pressure, not only reduces the effect of such intimidation on the present activists, but also, it will force more of the working class population and strata in to the battlefield.

Workers and toilers of Iran!

The execution of our comrade and friends indicates that the governing circles of the Islamic Republic are not hopeful of any peaceful resolution to these social and political crises, and there are no practical plans and policies of reforming the establishment and change in our living conditions. Now, the violence of capitalism has extended from exploitation of our labor to assaults on our life and that of our children’s. We must take lessons from the world working class experiences and utilize our common knowledge of struggle. This will show us that as long as we put our fate in the hands of capitalists and their representatives, we shall see nothing but poverty, hunger, enslavement, torture, death and executions. The only way to save ourselves and other toilers of the world is to take our fate in our own hands and advance to a united struggle for self-determination. And this requires the ability to organize. We should gather together in our workplace and areas of residence to discuss and study our situation and the ways to overcome them. We should elect our representatives to form the councils and have them to make connections with other workers and neighborhoods. This is the only way we can prepare the grounds for a general and nation-wide revolutionary struggle. It is only in such a direction that we can make our destiny with our own hands. This is the only way we can secure a better future for our children and a better world for all the working people of the world.

Bread, housing, freedom – Republic of Councils

Persian date: 19th of Ordibehesht 1389 – 9th of May 2010

Farzad Kamangar: EI Outrage at Iranian Teacher’s Execution

Education International is deeply troubled to hear reports that Iranian teacher trade unionist Farzad Kamangar was among five people who were summarily executed in secret on 9 May.

Farzad Kamangar, a 35-year-old member of the Teachers’ Union of Kurdistan, was accused of “endangering national security” and “enmity against God”. He had lived with the threat of the death penalty since February 2008, when it was imposed upon him after a sham trial that lasted less than five minutes.

Although the Iranian authorities had accepted Farzad’s appeal, the case stalled when it should have been sent to the Supreme Court for review. After further delays, Farzad’s lawyer was told that his file had been lost. Despite the evident lack of independent inquiry into the allegations and the absence of a fair judicial process, Farzad has still been reportedly executed.

EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, said: “We are all deeply shocked and saddened to hear that Farzad has been executed. His case was particularly troubling to our 30 million members because of the opaque and secretive manner in which his trial was conducted, the lack of basic rights he had access to whilst in prison, and the fact that neither his family or legal representatives were informed of his execution. This is a terrible day for teachers, union activists and human rights. EI expresses our solidarity with Farzad’s family, colleagues and students.”

He added: “EI recognises the rights and responsibilities of all governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences but this must be in line with international and national standards of fair trial. EI is also unequivocal that the Iranian government must ensure respect for all trade union and human rights.”

The trade union and human rights community had campaigned against the death penalty and prosecution of Farzad. EI and its affiliates have been particularly vocal and lobbied the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, which subsequently “urge[d] the Government [of Iran] to immediately stay the execution of Farzad Kamangar’s death sentence, annul his conviction and secure his release from detention.”

Call for action:

* EI is joining international networks and campaigns to remember Farzad and support other Iranian teachers and union activists, including Rasoul Bodaghi, Hashem Khastar and Bahman Goudarzzade, who remain in prison within Iran.

* EI is writing to the Supreme Leader and Iranian authorities to request a transparent investigation into the execution of Farzad and to halt any further executions.

* EI is informing and calling on all EI affiliates to write to their respective country’s foreign office to express their shock at the execution of Farzad, to call for open and fair trials, and an end to the death penalty.

* EI is encouraging its affiliates to hold vigils to mark the sad news of the death of Farzad.

Five Political Prisoners Executed In Tehran

(Radio Zamaneh) — Five Iranian political prisoners were hanged this morning in the Tehran’s Evin prison.

Fars news agency announced that the five individuals “were involved in terrorist operations including bombing of public and government centres in various cities of Iran.”

The prosecutor’s office issued a statement saying that “Tehran Prosecutor’s representative and defense attorneys of the accused were present in all the stages of their trial.”

Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili were arrested in 2006 and 2007 and sentenced to death for membership in Turkey’s Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) a separatist movement that both Turkey and Iran regard as a terrorist organization.

Shirin Alam Holi was arrested in 2008 by the Revolutionary Guards and was accused of “Moharebeh (enmity toward God) through cooperating with the Kurdish opposition group, Pezhak.” In December of 2009, she was sentenced to death.

Mehdi Eslamian, according to Tehran Prosecutor’s office, was found guilty of involvement in the bombing of Hoseinieh of Seyed ol-Shohada in Shiraz.

Several more Kurdish political prisoners are in imminent danger of execution in Iran’s prisons.

Last November, Ehsan Fatahian, another Iranian Kurdish prisoner, was executed for “armed activity against national security.”

The Islamic Republic appears to have fast tracked the death row process in the past months in reaction to the growing protests in Iran.

Hundreds protest in Tehran over political executions

Iran Focus

Tehran, May 10 – Hundreds of people are protesting in central Tehran in apparent condemnation of the execution on Sunday of five Kurdish political prisoners. (11.30 am local time)

Some 600 people have gathered on the west of Enqelab Square amid tight security, an Iran Focus correspondent in Tehran says.

There have been chants of “Death to Khamenei”, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Security forces attempted to make arrests.

The demonstration follows a night of similar acts of protest in the capital.

Chants of ‘Allah-o Akbar’, or ‘God is the greatest’, and “Death to Khamenei” could be heard from rooftops for several hours into the night in Tehran’s Imam Hossein, Vanak and Tehran-Pars districts.

Students told Iran Focus that at 4am local time on Monday security forces established a large presence in the vicinity of the University of Tehran in an apparent bid to intimidate students who had called for a rally later in the day to condemn the executions on Sunday.

The Tehran public prosecutor’s office in a statement on Sunday said Shirin Alam-Houli, Ali Heydarian, Mahdi Islamian, Farzad Kamangar, and Farhad Vakili were hanged at dawn in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

They were convicted of ‘Moharebeh’, or ‘waging war on God’, in 2008 for membership in opposition Kurdish groups, including PJAK, and acting against State security.

According to sources from the town of Kamyaran, where Mr. Kamangar was a teacher for 12 years, hundreds took to the streets on Sunday to condemn the execution despite a heavy police presence.

The defeat of the 1980s Left was a major defeat. No one single organization has come out of it. However there are places one can show solidarity with. There is a new Left growing in Iran and this Left has less baggage. It is not connected to any of those various old groupings. There are people in exile who will say, “these are our comrades.” But the reality is that this is not the case. Some of the organizations set up, such as The Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations in Iran, have people who were associations with one or another of those past political organizations, but now they are in a completely new organization, with new ideas, which are much more practical. In this respect there are places to show solidarity but many of them are not expressing themselves in the language of solidarity campaigns and quite a lot of that work is done in Farsi.

Let us gather on this 1st of May (International Workers Day) to declare:

A Group of Workers’ Activist (JAFK)
Communist Workers of Iran (CWI)
Unified Workers’ Front
Founding Group of Construction Workers Union

WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS. We deserve a different life. We deserve relationships free from cruelty, violence and discrimination. We deserve self-determination.

We are deprived human beings. people working from dawn to dusk but only to become poorer and more problems every day. We are the majority of society but the result of our labor and toil ends up in the pockets of the capitalist exploiters who own the State, the weapons, the courts and the prisons.

We are human beings only in name; in reality we are second class citizens. Valuable as we are because we produce value, but, in this cold and ruthless system and its reactionary ideology, we are assumed worthless. Our energy and labor power is valued the same as car fuel that should be used up every day. We are looked upon as sheep who need shepherds or as children who need guardians. The ruling class with their Guards, Baseej Militia, Sepah, the Security Services, and the superstitious religious clergy injecting venom of patriarchy and chauvinism, with their divisions and discrimination and national humiliation, and with the stick of national media, try to push us to confront each other and force us to submission.

We are toilers. Behind the furnaces of hot melting metal to the dusty carpet workshops, behind the presses and clinic corridors, rooms and warehouses of the market to sugar cane plantations, in the kitchen and kindergarten and from home to great halls and Auto making and heavy machineries and …..

We are Workers. Women and Men. We deserve to know the secrets of the universe. We deserve to be free from creationist mythology and the illusion of almighty power in the sky. We deserve to understand the world. We need to change ourselves and the conditions that are forced upon us. We deserve an awakening, we need to unite and revolt. We are worthy of self-determination by dismantling the ruling state of exploiting executioners. We should construct a new society and administer a new government. We must constitute modern and vanguard laws. We must begin a true, popular and radical revolution towards the elimination of all classes of society. We must consistently change social relations to sear the roots of class, gender, national, racial and religious oppression.

We stand tall against the capitalist exploitation order which has inherited the weight of thousands of years of class societies. To shatter the capitalist system and break away completely from this heavy inheritance depends on shattering the big and small chains that have enchained half of human society since the outset of class divisions, namely the Women. We measure our animosity with the class order by an ongoing and permanent struggle in the long road to achieve the world communism.

Generation after generation we have suffered and struggled. Sometimes we went forward and sometimes we were defeated. Sometimes we let our illusions take over and sometimes we ran after hollow words and promises. Time after time we experienced the inability of a capitalist order to reform to the benefit of the oppressed and have not. Thus we see that as long as the capitalist states are in control, the fate of the deprived and condemned class will remain as is.

As long as capitalism lingers on, human society will be burdened with the old and illogical exploitative relations. As long as capitalism lingers on, its old rusty beliefs and values continue to spread its root in the society and block the conscious unity and Freedom of humanity. As long as capitalism lingers on, the war and imperialist aggression machinery continues the censorship, torture, imprisonment and executions, and maintains the hell of poverty and misery of unemployment, inflation and suppression of all democratic rights.

For Over 31 years, we have been imprisoned by a religious theocratic despotism, the Islamic Republic! A capitalist regime that disguises itself behind the religious robes and military uniforms while, sucking up billions of petroleum and natural gas dollars and other national resources, wiggling like worms in the sludge of stock market and brokerages as the servants of international capital to fatten themselves and their international partners with fruits of our labor. They make their profits regardless of economic conditions. Whether it is booming or in depression, stable or in crises, high or low prices, they keep making money from our constant unemployment and job insecurity, physical and mental pressures and social misery of prostitution, drugs and suicide.

For the last 31 years, every time we united on our demands and dared to stand up and strike, they arrested and imprisoned our leaders and combatants, awarding them with conviction records and job dismissals.

They have deprived us of our right to organize independent assemblies, striped us from our rights of free expressions and strikes. Their Labor Laws are suited to their needs of exploitation, administered and executed by their lackeys. At any time it becomes cumbersome it is translated by their courts or “reformed” immediately by their parliament to serve their “Earthly” interests. While, they preach us of the “worthlessness of material world and praise the “After Life” and “God Almighty”!! Which, they “represent” on earth, to make us believe whatever is happening to us is some predestined fate that we should blindly accept and submit to. This power is watching over us, awarding our submission with a place in heaven, and punishes our sins with hell. Thus we should surrender and be obedient to the Islamic system and refrain from the idea of rebellion.

These are the brainwashing programs that are constantly propagated on the Medias and the pulpits in the mosques.

They have established patriarchal and chauvinist rules and value over the civil laws of the State. They cultivate the slavery of women. They have caused marital violence against women rise multifold. They announced to men of all classes and strata that they have legal and ethical superiority to women. And, it is only in the Islamic state that such privileges are allowed and guaranteed.

They deceive the people and remove the thought of revolution from their mind by carrying out farce and predetermined elections. Keeping them away from streets and direct them to voting boxes.

They keep immigrant workers and toilers from Afghanistan in absolute legal vacuum exploiting them brutally in cities and villages across the country. And through their devious propaganda and misinformation, create false divisions and animosities between working class and the peoples of Iran who are also enchained and share the same fate.

For a while, under the pretext of economic sanctions and war with Iraq, and later, the excuse of “economic adjustment” that was the “IMF” and “World Bank” policy for the global economies, pressed us under the punch of poverty and misery. Cutting the state subsidies is the latest form of continuation of their criminal actions that constantly dips us more under the poverty line. In the war against the monstrous inflation, our negligible wages keep losing its purchasing power and value. The slogan of “Double Effort and Double Work” is nothing more than a code for “Double Exploitation”.

The time has come for a new uprising. The Coup d’état rulers may scare off a few people by threats of murder and suppression, and cause a short period of disappointment and discouragement, resulting an ebb in street struggle, but, they cannot get over the huge contradictions rooted deeply in the society and the ruling order.
The “Green” representatives are nowadays hated and weakened. They may be able to prevent small group of people from carrying out aggressive actions, pursuing the illusion of “regime reforms and gradual changes from within” using “non-violent tactics “. But, they are unable to present the necessary fundamental social, economic, political and cultural changes. It is us who holds the key of ultimate solution. The people must hear this from us. Are we able and willing to offer the road map to the necessary changes? Can we unite and form the various organizations and fronts around some of the radical and key demands? Against the parties of the order that are representatives of the ruling regime and the reformist parties who want to mediate between the regime and the people? Do we want to unite and crystallize under the banner of social revolution, and gather around a revolutionary communist party? Now, that the society is engaged in political struggle and focusing on the political power, do we have the ability and the desire to carry the banner of a consistent, radical, and planned struggle on our shoulders? Do we want to and can we put the program of real change and a popular Constitution before the toilers and oppressed people of society and unite all those who are suffering from class, sexual, national and ethnic, and religious oppression which would materialize this program?

The destiny of our society is directly related to the answer we shall give to all these questions. These are major tasks that need bravery as well as a clear view and foresight to be fulfilled. These are major tasks that will never be accomplished if we put our faith on the infighting between the different wings of the Islamic Republic or put our hopes on the “Green “leaders or any other class force that does not want to step out of the capitalist system limits; These are interconnected revolutionary tasks which the short sighted reformists who with their small expectations and their bargaining for “more advantageous sale of labor in the capitalist market” will never be able to unlock.

We are workers. Women and men. With demands that are particular to the working class. Demands that reflect the differences and distinctions in genders, job categories and special trades of different sections of workers. With the righteous demands that each is, or should be the subject of struggle:

The right to form independent workers’ organizations and unions,

The right to strike,

Dissolution of anti-workers institutions and espionage and repressive forces within the workplace…..,

Wage raises and payment of unpaid wages,

Abolition of temporary contracts,

Abolition of child labor,

Prohibition of forced retirements, layoffs and unemployment,

Establishment of the right to a job fit for human with decent working conditions and decent pay,

Establishment of the right to health and medical insurance and proper unemployment and retirement payments,

Equal wages for equal jobs for men and women,

Cancellation of the removal of subsidies that results in more than doubling the poverty level for the majority of the masses,

some of our demands as workers are the same as the masses of people:

Freedom of speech, the right of expressions and gatherings, as well as the right to protest and demonstrate,

Abolition of censorship, and freedom of intellectual and scientific, cultural, and literary and artistic activities,

Release of all political and other prisoners that are imprisoned for their beliefs,

Separation of church and state,

Abolition of all patriarchal, male dominancy and anti-woman laws and regulations,

Prohibition of all National and religious discriminations in the field of cultural and economic and administrative and citizen rights,

Abolition of torture and executions,

We realize that the fundamental interests and demands of the working class and oppressed masses are only possible through the overthrown of the regime and the religious despotism. This overthrown makes the following demands that the Iranian people are eagerly looking forward to be realized:

Abolition of all suppressive military and security – intelligence institutions,

Trial and punishment of the perpetrators and those responsible for killings, violence and rape during the life of the Islamic Republic,

Trial and punishment of all of those who invaded and abused the rights of the people in any way and form and those involved in plundering the national resources and public properties,

We are part of an international class. Our class is the material and dynamic force inside the capitalist world that have the common goal of establishing a communist society, with the common mission of liberating the mankind from exploitation and tyranny, with a common program to form revolutionary governments and execution of a socialist revolution., Through the use of the scientific of Dialectical Materialist viewpoint, and common ideology that brings about the international solidarity and attains cohesion and communal identity.

Come with us on this May Day (the-International Workers Day) to declare:
We have a common destiny with the world’s workers and oppressed masses–the billions of women and men living in the world. We have a common mission. If we comprehend our class interests, if we learn the science of changing the society, if we build the necessary tools for executions of revolution and victory in making a new society, if we are consistent in the route of the revolution, we will be able to change the world and write the history in our own handwriting.

May 1, 2010

A Group of Workers’ Activist (JAFK)
Communist Workers of Iran (CWI)
Unified Workers’ Front
Founding Group of Construction Workers Union

On the topic of the Republic of Peoples Assemblies as a form of government, the bourgeoisie tries to present it as an unachievable dream. This is because nobody can deny that this is a democratic system of governance; that is a government that gives every single member of society the means for direct intervention in legislative and administrative rule. Of course considering existence of millenniums of living in class societies, imagining an egalitarian, fair society as a real possibility rather than a dream is very difficult. But fortunately for example democracy of Athena lasted long enough until the time when humanity invented writing and recorded history and, therefore it became recorded as a historical paradigm of such a government.

Sixteenth Message of the Communist Workers of Iran –
The outcome of February 11th ceremony of the 31st year anniversary of the Revolution was unpleasant and disappointing for many “leaders”. The main reason given was “the participation of a large crowed in the pro regime demonstration”. But the fact shown by the Google’s satellite images of the Azadi Square shows that the combined pro government and the reformist supporters was no more than 50,000, while the anti government demonstrations in Tehran and other cities was at least hundreds of thousands. Also, Iranian society is fragmented in a way that the defeat of some groups is the victory of others. So, instead of presenting a broad and general analysis, let us pay attention to this demonstration’s outcome for different political groupings and see how successful each of these groups has been in reaching their tactical goals. Only through such perspective can we discover how victorious they have been, and if there are grounds for disappointments.

To begin with, let us consider the military-security wing of regime’s claim of victory. Did they really reach the goals that they set for themselves and announced through their media?
We were all witnesses to the fearful acts of this wing after experiencing a shameful defeat on Dec. 27th demonstration, the famous “Red Ashura”. During the two months period from that day The Police and Revolutionary Guards and the Security Ministry used all their might and power to prevent opposition forces presence in the February 11th. There was not a single day in which a number of human rights activists, writers, journalists and students, who had usually acted as the sources of news and political groups’ mediums to harmonize their actions, were not being arrested in large numbers all over the country. There was not a single week that the clergies of Friday Ritual Prayers, across the country, did not threaten the activists and the people prohibiting them from participating in anti government demonstrations, alleging their animosity towards god, threatening them with incarceration and execution. There was not a week during which some political prisoners were not executed or moved to solitary confinements. Every day a military or security spokesman would terrorize people with threats of armed suppression of the demonstrations. They mobilized hundreds of bus loads of Basijis from all over the country to bring them to Tehran’s Azadi Square as shown by Google Earth pictures. The regime’s intention of upholding a “fifty millions” strong ceremony was announced few days prior to that day. All of these efforts was to discourage the people from organizing their own ceremonies and demonstrations in opposition to the Islamic Republic’ rule and the military–security government of president Ahmadinejhad.
However, based on the regime’s formal reports and that of the foreign reporters, as well as the reports of the independent sources backed by the video clips showed a presence of no more than fifty thousand people in Azadi Square, which forced the government cut short the formal ceremony from a daylong celebrations to only an hour and half of boring speeches by the officials. So, what is definite is the fact that the regime’s military-security wing did not reach any of its goals and desires and definitely it was the losing side.

But can the defeat of the military-security wing be counted as the victory for reformist leaders and their “green movement”? The answer to this question is both yes, and no.
Considering the content of the messages, call ups and interviews of the leaders of the “green movement” they had two goals announced.
Their first goal was to demonstrate that they possess so much support and influence among the people, that under the existing threats, they can muster so much power to steal the official ceremony for their own benefits and “paint Azadi Square green with their flags.” They were sure that the number of their supporters was greater than that of the other wing’s participants. But they were not aware that such tactic is in contradiction with their own strategy of no confrontations and non violence. The pro government supporters who were brought from all over the country had occupied all the necessary spots for a successful propaganda plan. The Bassiji groups were positioned in the midst of the crowed to prevent any shows of the green symbols and, they were ready to violently act against anyone who wanted to show off a green sign. So it was clear that if the supporters of the reformists wanted to carry out a nonviolent strategy and show their submission to the Islamic Republic laws, they would be unable to carry out the tactic of “painting the Square with green flags and symbols.” And that’s what happened! With their inability to show their green signs, they were used as mere numbers for the government show of “Victory”. The reformists’ justification of the tactical mistake of “The Trojan Horse” and blaming their small puppies such as “Ibrahim Nabavi” for introducing this tactic is an attempt to cover up the defeat of their “non-violence” and “legal” strategies. This goes to prove that such a line is useless when confronting a military dictatorship, even if one’s goals are feeble reforms in distribution of power amongst the inner circles of the regime. And such attempts are destined for defeat. When we look over the calls made by the reformist group and individuals we can see that all of them had suggested the same tactic of participating in the regime’s demonstration. Shakoori Rad, a reformist leader, confesses this defeat in an interview he had with Norwooz website by saying: “Green movement was not successful in showing political force to the government during the February 11th demonstration. The greens had announced they were going to show up with their green symbols. Although they were present all over the place but they were unable to use their green symbols and this caused the government supporters to count them in as their own supporters and, in their official propaganda they were presented as supporters of the status quo.” So, regardless of all their justifications, the reason of the “green movement’s” failure in their primary goal was due to their strategic delusion presuming that a cannibal regime can ever be reformed from within.
However, after the victory of the revolutionary people on Red Ashura in street battles against the suppressive forces of the regime, the reformist were just as afraid as the military – security wing and more concerned for their loss of leadership over the people to the revolutionary forces. From that day, they began signaling the government for reconciliation. The call of participation of their supporters in government planned ceremony was thrown in the deal as a good will gesture. After all, essentially, the “green movement” leaders are part of this regime and they find themselves much closer to the regime’s cannibals than to the revolutionary and “Structure Breaking” people. Based on their calls of co participation in the formal ceremony, we must admit that they were relatively successful. They managed to place masses of people, whom albeit all concessions and betrayals of the reformist leaders still have not discovered their hidden agenda, right next to the Islamic Republic supporting forces.

On the other side, it could only be said that the revolutionary people were the true winners on February 11th. They managed to have their own demonstrations in several spots in Tehran and some other cities despite all threats of the regime and, showed to the other Iranians and people of the world that they are longing for the fall of the Islamic Republic and, as long as this regime is still in power they will be using every single opportunity to show their dissent. They were also able to show the fact that the regime no longer has the power to force them back in to absolute asphyxia. It can be said that the sum of the numbers of participants in numerous independent demonstrations of people was much higher than the combination of both of the regime wings supporters who were around Azadi Square.
But unfortunately, February 11th commemoration cannot be marked as a great leap forward in tactics, people’s growth in consciousness in forms of the contents of their slogans, or the sheer numbers of participants.
Well, perhaps we have gotten used to high expectations during the last eight months and, in each and every gathering we expect a fantastic progress as an spontaneous element that does not need its own endurance and hard work. Like some of our Anarchist revolutionaries who satisfy themselves with the consideration of the absence of centralized leadership in these demonstrations as success in itself. Such activists do not present any clear program for this movement’s progress. Since, if they did, that might be assumed by others as attempts to obtain “centralized leadership!” They simply bow to the spontaneous movement and, rationalize “Harmonious Nucleuses” as immature and circumstantial as they are. At a time when the respect and credibility of the reformists is vanishing among the majority of the people and becoming more isolated on daily basis, they refuse to take a stand against the “Green Movement” and its symbolism. They do not try to inform their followers on how the reformist leaders are abusing such symbolism to wash the lines of demarcations. That is while the people themselves are putting this symbolism away and, getting into a deeper understanding of the revolutionary process and their goal of Democracy. The only criticism that the Anarchists have in regards to February 11th is that the “centralized” reformist leaders made a mistake of choosing the “Trojan Horse” tactic.

But the fact of the matter is the lack of influence of the experienced revolutionary left elements, due to their skimpy numbers and impact on the people’s struggle, is the main reason behind the slow and staggering development in revolutionary process.

Comrades! Communist revolutionaries!
The beginning of people’s street struggles on 06/13/2009 was due to the defeat of reformists’ parliamentarianism. On that day, the “Harmonious Nucleuses” that until then had been mobilizing their friends and neighbors under the direct supervision of election campaigners defied the reformist leaders. Despite those leaders’ suggestions of non action to the election cheating, they brought the people to the streets for direct action. In less than 3 days, millions of people protested through demonstrations that the reformists had forbidden and, forced the reformist leaders to linger behind. During these eight months the people’s struggle has developed through dialectical interactions between people and the reformist leaders and seen its ups and downs. Unfortunately we have to admit that the revolutionary informed elements and forces and, communists in particular failed to be efficient in having a positive effect upon the people. And for that, there were a number of reasons:
First of all, the non communist forces that want to overthrow the Islamic regime do not have any revolutionary alternative to attract people toward a premeditated and definite struggle.
Second, the forces that are known as “communists” among the masses are unfortunately the Tudeh Party and, the (people’s fedaee) Majority. One faction of Tudeh Party, in collaboration with “legal Marxists”, in practice, support the military-security wing of the regime through a reactionary analysis of “lack of social movement” and, tagging the street struggle as “pro American.” The other wing of Tudeh Party, along with the (people’s fedaee) “Majority”, “Pro Democracy Coalition” and “Republican Coalition” by becoming “greener than greens” are unconditionally supporting the reformist leaders. This has caused the attractive trend of communism of past few years to come to a halt. People are turning away from such communists and their “Communism”. Perhaps now, some of the decent workers’ activists recall our warning about staying away from this type of left and, regret their past mistakes, even though remorse does not solve the destructive effects of “Unity in Action” and “Coalitions” of the past decade.
Thirdly, as we said earlier, under the influence of rightwing anarchism, a group of intellectuals and youth who still believe in communism are tailing the masses and staying away from presenting any resolution.
Fourth, the organized forces in exile, which after months of confusion, have finally acknowledged the existence of the revolutionary trend are using their mass media tribunes for propagating their own organizations. But, by not being capable to complete it with organizational work, they are only producing followers for the forces on the scene, mentioned above. An example of this is the Bus Drivers Union activists. Now that they have decided to get involved in political struggle, are acting along the “green movement.”

And finally, we have to admit that we do not have the necessary force to have a direct impact on these struggles. In addition, we have also been hit at different levels that we cannot substitute for a long time. Also, our active workers’ nucleuses are not enough to have direct effects in the escalating workers movement. The number of the old supporters of the Tudeh Party and Majority Trade Unionists are much higher than ours and as we can see, even if they bring masses of workers into the political arena they will be under the green reformist banner.
Our only effect has been through our public propaganda where, through our scientific analysis and correct predictions have been exposing reactionary thoughts and slowly directing some activists towards the revolutionary strategy and tactics. So far, we have managed to prove the existence of a revolutionary process and, through attracting a few workers activist groups, alongside our comrades in the movement, to lead a small sector of the working class to affirm the necessity of an all out revolution for the establishment of the Republic of Peoples’ Assemblies as an alternative State.

But if the revolutionary communists intend to be influential, not only in general with long term slogans, but also in daily and ongoing tactics, they ought to clear themselves from all revisionist, opportunist and right anarchist influences and confront the people’s spontaneous struggles and their lack of knowledge of their class positions in this revolutionary process. And we suggest to our anarchist comrades not to count every confrontation with the revolutionary people’s ignorance as an attempt to manipulate leadership. No political line is more anarchist than the genuine revolutionary communism. The establishment of the Republic of Peoples’ Assemblies is the only practical blow to centralized government and, developing the spontaneous “Harmonious Nucleuses” of struggle into local and workplace Councils is the most definite, efficient step in leading the people and workers toward overthrowing the centralized system of capitalism.

Now that the regime forces, both the reactionaries and the reformists, are all becoming isolated between the masses, and they have no resolutions to get out of these crises, join us in order to harmonize our tactics and strategies to become the most efficient force in people’s struggles.

Forward with forming Local and Factory Councils!
Forward toward the Revolution!
Forward toward establishment of the Republic of Peoples’ Assemblies

Communist Workers of Iran
February 11th of 2010

Reformist followers join the government supporters on Feb. 11th in Azadi Sq.

By: Yassamine Mather –

Last week’s official celebrations of the February 1979 uprising that brought down the shah’s regime in Iran stood in total contrast to the events of 31 years ago.
The Islamic state’s lengthy preparations for the anniversary of the revolution included the arrest of hundreds of political activists, hanging two political prisoners (for “waging war on god”), and blocking internet and satellite communications. In addition, the government brought busloads of bassij paramilitaries and people from the provinces to boost the number of its supporters – it considers the majority of the 14 million inhabitants of Tehran to be opponents.
The 48-hour internet and satellite blackout was so comprehensive that the regime succeeded in stopping its own international press and media communications. On the morning of February 11 connections to Iran’s state news agency and Press TV were lost. Foreign press and media reporters found themselves confined to a platform next to where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking. Neighbouring streets and squares were barred to them. The bassij blocked all routes to Azadi Square by 9am and dispersed large crowds of oppositionists who had gathered at Ghadessiyeh Square and other intersections, preventing them reaching the official celebration.
From the speakers’ podium, surrounded by bassij and revolutionary guards, many of them dressed in military uniform, Ahmadinejad produced yet another fantastic claim. In the two days since his instruction to Iran’s nuclear industry to step up centrifuge-based uranium enrichment from 3% to 20%, this had already been achieved! Nuclear scientists are unanimous that such a feat is impossible.
Huge flags surrounded the Azadi Square podium and the official demonstration was dominated by military figures – typical of the kind of state-organised shows dictators such as the shah have always staged. The crude display of military power, together with the severe repression in the run-up to the anniversary, had nothing to do with the revolution it was supposed to commemorate.
In fact the events of February 11 2010 were the exact opposite of February 10-11 1979, when the masses took to the streets and attacked the repressive forces of the regime, when prison doors were broken down by the crowds and political prisoners released, when army garrisons were ransacked and the crowds took weapons to their homes and workplaces, when the central offices of Savak (the shah’s secret police) were occupied by the Fedayeen, and when air force cadets turned their weapons against their superiors, paving the way for a popular uprising by siding with the revolution.
The show put on by our tin pot religious dictators was an insult to the memory of that uprising. Yet despite all the efforts and the mobilisation that had preceded the official demonstration, despite the fact that the confused and at times conciliatory messages of ‘reformist’ leaders had disarmed sections of the green movement, the regime could only muster 50,000 supporters. Meanwhile tens of thousands in Tehran and other cities took part in opposition protests – even in the streets close to Azadi Square despite the presence of large numbers of bassij. The protests were so loud that, according to Tehran residents, the state broadcast of Ahmadinejad’s speech had to be halted and instead TV stations showed the flags and crowds to the accompaniment of stirring music. Fearing that the bassij might not be able to control the protesters gathering in neighbouring squares, the government decided to start its extravagant ceremony early and then cut it short. So, despite only beginning at 10am, it had finished by 11.30.
Over the last few months there has been a lot of official nostalgia about the1979 revolution and ironically there are undoubtedly political parallels with the current situation – not least the fact that, just like Ahmadinejad and ‘supreme leader’ Ali Khamenei today, in February 79 ayatollah Khomeini was not on the side of the revolution. In the words of Mehdi Bazargan (Khomeini’s first prime minister), “they wanted rain and they got floods” (in other words, they wanted a smooth transfer of power, with the repressive, bureaucratic and executive organs of the royalist state left intact).
Yet the events of February 10-11 1979 shattered those hopes. No wonder the first official call by Khomeini, on the day the Islamic republic came into existence, was for people to hand over seized weapons to the army and police, for ‘order’ and for an end to strikes and demonstrations. From the very beginning religious clerics in Iran were an obstacle to revolution and for the last 31 years all factions of the Islamic Republic, including the ‘reformists’, have done their utmost to negate what was achieved with the bringing down of the shah’s regime.
Looking back at the events of 1979, in many ways it is amazing to think that a rather weak, confused and divided left managed to accomplish so much in such a short time. But for many Iranians of a different generation the current struggles are indeed the continuation of the same process – and many of them are determined to continue this struggle, however long it takes.
‘National unity’
Of course, if the anniversary of the revolution was not a good day for the government, the ‘reformist’ leaders of the green movement too had little to celebrate. Fearful of growing radicalisation, as witnessed by the Ashura protests in December, they spent most of January in both open and secret negotiations with the office of the supreme leader searching for a compromise.[1] Even though by early February it was clear that no deal was on the cards, they continued to issue confusing statements about how to approach the official celebrations.
Both Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Moussavi implied that participation in the demonstration (official or otherwise) was important as a show of ‘national unity’. They condemned any attack on the bassij and other militia and repeated their declarations of allegiance to the Islamic Republic. Many of their supporters joined the official protests wearing no identifying colours and were therefore counted by the regime as supporters.
As always, the main problem with our ‘reformists’ is that by remaining loyal to the ‘supreme leader’,[2] by condemning the popular slogan, ‘Down with the Islamic regime’, they fail to understand the mood of those who have taken to the streets in protest. If for a while they were lagging behind the protests, today they no longer even understand the movement they claim to lead. That movement is adamant in its call for an end to the current religious state, an end to the rule of the vali faghih (Khamenei, whose ‘guardianship of the nation’ is supposed to represent god on earth) – the repeated shouts of ‘Death to the dictator’ are directed at the so-called ‘supreme leader’ himself.
The February 11 protests marked a setback for Moussavi and Karroubi – not just in terms of their politics, but also in their choice of tactics. First of all, it is foolhardy to organise demonstrations to coincide with the official calendar of events, as it allows the regime to plan repression well in advance. Secondly, it was absurd to call on people to join the regime’s demonstrations and, thirdly, opposition to a repressive dictatorship cannot simply rely on demonstrations. The state has unleashed its most brutal forces against street protesters, and we need to consider strikes and other acts of civil disobedience too.
A lot has been written by Persian bloggers about the ‘lack of charisma’ of Moussavi and Karroubi. However, the truth is their main problem is not personality, but dithering. This has cost them dear at a time when opposition to the regime in its entirety is growing, and the left can only benefit from this.
The anniversary of the revolution reminded Iranians of the slogans of the February 1979 uprising. The principal demands of the revolution were for freedom, independence and social justice (the ‘Islamic republic’ was a post-revolutionary constitutional formula imposed by the clergy). Thirty-one years later, no-one, not even the majority of Khomeini’s own supporters, who currently form the green leadership, claim there is any democracy in the militia-based monster of a state they helped to create.
Iran’s independence from foreign powers is also debatable. US hegemony might be in global decline, but in Iran, following America’s defeat in February 1979 and the subsequent US humiliation of the embassy hostage-taking in 1980, the last two and a half decades have seen a revival of US influence. As discussed in detail at the February 13 Hands Off the People of Iran day school in Manchester (see opposite), we can even see US influence during the Iran-Iraq war (Irangate and the purchase of US arms via Israel). In the late 1980s US policies of neoliberalism and the market economy dominated Iran’s financial and political scene and since 2001 the Iranian state has supported US military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the issue of social justice, even though the previous regime’s downfall had a lot to do with class inequality, the Islamic version of capitalism has brought about much harsher conditions for the working class and the poor. The Islamic state’s own statistics show a constant growth in the gap between rich and poor. The impoverishment of the middle classes, the abject poverty of the working class, the destitution and hunger of the shantytown-dwellers – these are all reasons why the current protests continue in urban areas.
Crocodile tears
In the midst of all this internal conflict, Iranians face the continued threat of war and sanctions. On February 15 Hillary Clinton declared: “Iran is moving towards a military dictatorship.” Yet there is nothing new in the power and role of the revolutionary guards in Iran. Ever since 1979 they have been the single most important pillar of the religious state, involved in every aspect of political and military power. What is new is their involvement in capitalist ventures, empowered by the relentless privatisation plans driven by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
In recent years capitalists in Iran and elsewhere have complained about the revolutionary guards’ accumulation of vast fortunes through the acquisition of privatised capital – precisely the pattern seen in eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. Those in power, often with direct connections to military and security forces, are in a position to purchase the newly privatised industries. That is the case with many US allies in the region, yet we have not heard the state department commenting about ‘creeping military dictatorships’ in those countries.
No doubt, as repression increases, Iranians’ hatred of the bassij and revolutionary guards will increase and they will respond to these forces as they did in the protests of late December and last week. However, they do not need the crocodile tears of the US administration – indeed interventions like those of Clinton and condemnations of the repression coming from the US and European countries tend to damage the protest movement inside Iran. After all, Iranians are well aware of the kind of ‘democratic havens’ created under US military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the last thing they want for their own country is regime change US-style.
It is difficult to predict how the opposition movement will develop, but those of us who have argued that the current protests have economic as well as political causes are in no doubt that we will witness many more street demonstrations, strikes and other forms of civil disobedience. The state is clearly gearing up for another round of repression and there is no sign that those arrested in the last few weeks will be released. Death sentences have been passed on a number of political prisoners, some of them arrested prior to the elections of June 2009 (some have been found guilty of the crime of participating in protests held while they were in prison!).
Even before the new wave of sanctions hits the country, the economic situation has worsened. Thousands of workers are about to lose their job following the bankruptcy declaration of the electricity and power authority last week. Hundreds of car workers – the elite of the Iranian working class – are being sacked every week. On the other hand, the involvement of the working class in the political arena has increased to such an extent that even the BBC Persian service admits we are witnessing a “qualitative change” in workers’ protests.[3]
Four workers’ organisations – the Syndicate of Vahed Bus Workers, the Haft Tapeh sugar cane grouping, the Electricity and Metal Workers Council in Kermanshah, and the Independent Free Union – have published a joint statement declaring their support for the mass protests and specifying what they call the minimum demands of the working class.[4] These include an end to executions, freedom of the press and media, the right to set up workers’ organisations, job security, an end to temporary ‘white contracts’, equality in terms of pay and conditions for women workers, abolition of all misogynist legislation, the declaration of May 1 as a public holiday with the right of workers to demonstrate and gather freely on that day, the expulsion of religious workers’ organisations, which act as spies, from workplaces …
Meanwhile, Tehran’s bus workers have issued a call for civil disobedience: “Starting March 6, we the workers of the Vahed company, will wage acts of civil disobedience … to protest against the holding of Mansoor Osanloo in prison. We appeal to the Iranian people and to the democratic green movement to join us by creating a deliberate traffic jam in all directions leading to Valiasr Square.”[5]
Workers involved in setting up nationwide councils have issued a radical political statement regarding what they see as priority demands Iranian workers ought to raise at this stage. Emphasising the need to address the long-term political interests of the working class, they also call for unity based around immediate economic and political demands.
As the struggles in Iran enter a new stage, where the weakness of the ‘reformist’ leaders is causing despair amongst sections of the youth, and at a time when the US, Israel and now Saudi Arabia are issuing threats of direct military action and sanctions, the need for international solidarity is stronger than ever before.
Notes
1. See ‘Reformists fear revolution’ Weekly Worker January 14.
2. See, for example, ‘Karroubi accepts Ahmadinejad as Iran’s president’ The Daily Star (Lebanon), January 26.
3. www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2010/02/100204_l12_ar_labour_movement.shtml
4. See www.iran-chabar.de/news.jsp?essayId=27347
5. ahwaznewsjidid.blogfa.com/post-3521.aspx

Contrary to the claims, analysis and the false comments by various factions of the regime and their capitalist supporters, the basis of peoples protests in 2009 was not the tenth presidential elections or the coup d’état of the military-security wing of the regime.

Source:Weekly Worker 802 Thursday January 28 2010 –
Ben Lewis welcomes the initiative of Communist Workers of Iran and offers some fraternal criticisms:
We welcome the political platform of the Communist Workers of Iran (CWI). We have proofed and edited the English text and are publishing it in the hope that, at a time when the Iranian masses are on the move once more, the question of the formation of a mass Marxist party in Iran can be seriously addressed. As Lenin once put it, without a party the working class is nothing, but with one it is everything.

We in the CPGB have been at the forefront of raising principled, anti-imperialist solidarity with the Iranian masses through our work in Hands Off the People of Iran. We have always made clear that solidarity demands a two-pronged fight, both against imperialist intervention and against the theocratic regime. As well as giving a voice to the demonstrations, slogans and demands of the Iranian working class and campaigning to raise money for strike funds and organising materials, it is also incumbent upon us to critically engage with the politics that our comrades are forging in the heat of struggle.

It is in this spirit that my comments on the CWI platform should be understood. Hopefully we can initiate a wider dialogue and learn from each other. This certainly is not intended as an attempt to lay down ‘the line’ from London to comrades abroad, by means of some sort of delusional ‘international perspectives for Iran’ theses à la Workers Power, Socialist Appeal, etc. I am aware of potential problems, and difficulties with translation, but a serious dialogue could prove fruitful.

The positives

From Britain, where halfway-housism, reformism and Labourism abound, it is certainly encouraging to see that the comrades are raising the need to form “working class parties based on Marxist concepts of class struggle, in order to lead the revolutionary movement” as an immediate task. “Throughout the world,” they state, “revolutionary communists have a duty to form vanguard parties in the areas where they are based, to achieve the independence of the working class in line with revolutionary tactical and strategic goals.” This task is also correctly historically located in the “new period” of imperialism following the collapse of the USSR and the “dispersion” and lack of intellectual orientation of the working class following “the defeats of the treacherous organisations and parties in the last century” – Stalinism and social democracy, in other words, with the former’s treachery still fresh in the minds of Iranians since 1979.

We should certainly accentuate this extremely positive aspect of the platform and fight for this core premise in Britain, Iran and internationally. Largely due to its status as a ‘core’ imperialist country, the effects of the economic crisis here in Britain pale in comparison to what has engulfed Iran. But the objective need for a party of Marxism – ie, a democratic centralist organisation whose goal is the dictatorship of the proletariat (rule of the working class majority) and a clear commitment to communism – is just as great. Those looking to revive ‘old Labour’ or set up a Labour Party mark two are not only objectively opportunist: they are living in the wrong times.

There is a strong emphasis in this platform on working class independence and a clear rejection of popular frontism, with the comrades dismissing “the compromising theories which, using excuses such as the ‘lack of working class readiness’ or ‘unpreparedness of the society’s foundation’, try to reduce its class goals to a level acceptable to the bourgeoisie”. This is quite right: the strategy we expound must have the conquest of state power by the working class as its aim and all of our tactical shifts and retreats must be subordinate to this. Particularly at a time when Mir-Hossein Moussavi’s ‘reformists’ are seeking to limit and control the movement, it is necessary to break any illusions the masses might have. It is also excellent that the platform stresses the need for “leadership of the working class party over all social movements” in order to win them “to fulfil the strategic goals and slogans of the revolutionary proletarian movement”.

Strategy

To do this, it is necessary for communists to seriously study the dynamics of other subordinate classes alongside the working class. Although the platform quite correctly identifies capitalism as the “dominant mode of production”, with the majority class both in Iran and the world being the proletariat, it is too simplistic to merely talk of “two antagonistic classes confronting each other” or to argue that during the shah’s rule “the collapsing feudal system was replaced with a capitalist mode of production”. The Iranian state bureaucracy precisely retains aspects of feudal patronage and organisation, which is extremely important in terms of its relationship with other classes.

For example, there are other subordinate strata in Iran, such as the peasantry, the shanty-town dwellers eking out an existence by buying and selling what they can, the petty bourgeoisie, small landowners, etc. A communist programme for Iran should aim for the proletariat to become the hegemonic class, organising a programme for every particular democratic grievance – using the carrot and the stick to remove the threat of these other forces being won over as a bastion of reaction in the interests of the Iranian ruling class. Thus it would be helpful for the comrades to expand on the nature of relations in the countryside, how the towns and cities are fed and what demands possibly flow from this for communists.

I would have to take issue too with some of the strategic perspectives that result from this omission. For example, the immediate demands outlined do not seem to link up with a more general strategy for power, apart from numerous references to soviets – “the only form of state in class society that can take away all political and legal privileges of the bourgeoisie, and act as a key change to end relations in society which are based on prejudice vis-à-vis sex, class, nationality and religion”. Further, by citing the example of the Paris Commune as the first incarnation of “people’s assemblies (soviets)”, the struggle for the “democratic republic” is incorrectly equated to “liberal and revisionist views of socialism which try to maintain pyramidal and parliamentarian bourgeois power using deceptive terms, such as ‘democratic republic’ …”

Indeed, such an approach would make Friedrich Engels either a liberal or a revisionist! It was he who pointed out: “If one thing is certain it is that our party and the working class can only come to power under the form of a democratic republic. This is even the specific form for the dictatorship of the proletariat, as the Great French Revolution has already shown” (A critique of the draft Social Democratic programme of 1891). Marx and Engels did indeed see the Paris Commune as a manifestation of the dictatorship of the proletariat – although it did not spring from soviet-style people’s councils, but from an election to a local authority!

The sort of democratic republican demands developed by Marx and Engels which were realised in 1871 are also of extreme importance now in Iran: universal suffrage to an assembly with full legislative and executive power, instantly recallable representatives on a worker’s wage; the people’s militia, etc. Obviously this has nothing to do with the kind of two-stage revolution that the term ‘democratic republic’ clearly summons up for many comrades in Iran.

The danger of voluntarism looms here, however – for example, when the platform states that the Iranian working class welcomes the current crisis “to use the opportunity to overthrow and annihilate the bourgeois ruling machine” by establishing soviets, etc. Yet the soviet form of power only proved successful once, and then only for a limited time.

What was decisive in the Russian Revolution was the leadership of a Bolshevik Party that had sunk roots before the revolutionary outbreak of 1917 and that did have the struggle for the democratic republic at the heart of its programme. Whether the comrades want to use the name ‘democratic republic’ or not, it is evident that the current platform is missing key democratic demands in relation to the state on top of the ones that are included, such as freedom of assembly, etc.

The platform could also place more of a stress on the regional significance of the Iranian workers’ movement. It is perfectly correct to emphasise the struggle for a “united international body capable of overthrowing the global capitalist order (imperialism)”, a body that is different to the numerous parodies of genuine internationals organised today. However, is it also worth noting the importance of international cooperation across a Middle East torn by imperialism and reaction. Given that the struggle against imperialism now links more or less the entire region directly, I feel that with the right approach a Marxist party of that region could be a serious medium-term goal.

What this presupposes though, which is not mentioned in the text, is the strategic orientation required to actually fashion a party of the working class. For example, how does CWI wish to relate to other left organisations in Iran, however discredited they may be and however much they have been submerged by the ‘green’ movement? What about united front tactics and/or programmatic critiques of the cultism of the Hekmatists, the naked class-collaborationism of Tudeh and other groups?

Party organisation

The platform is right to “reject all petty bourgeois understandings of revolution that believe a group of vanguard ‘representatives’ of the working class can directly and without relying on the conscious, strategic and organised struggle of the working class to reach the final goal of working class revolution”. Which is why the party form is a crucial political question.

This also has relevance in the organisational steps that CWI plans to take towards building a ‘vanguard party’. As this paper has pointed out, the concept of a ‘vanguard party’ is a problematic one. Most of the far left upholds the example of a Bolshevik Party, as laid down by the first four congresses of the Comintern. But in looking to build Marxist parties as opposed to sects, it is necessary to look back to the origins of Bolshevism. In this period Lenin and his followers built an organisation around the acceptance (not agreement) of the party programme. Thus it would be better to talk of the formation of parties based on acceptance of a Marxist programme, as opposed to “Marxist concepts of class struggle”.

The Bolsheviks were actually both a vanguard and a mass party, which aimed to follow the example of German Social Democracy under Russian conditions. This is also important. Open agitation and organisation is out of the question for our comrades in Iran. But with programmatic seriousness and a collective organiser, agitator and educator in the form of an Iskra-type Marxist publication that gives precedence to the formation of such a party, huge gains could be made. For this reason, it is important that the ‘organisational’ aspects of the platform are expanded to include the right to form factions, openly criticise party actions and positions before and after their implementation, and so on. These questions are not secondary. Given the degeneration of the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik Party itself, they are of huge importance for the kind of working class rule we wish to bring about.

Precisely because of the strategic defeats of our class in the 20th century, the overriding task of communists is to engage in serious programmatic rapprochement in order to live up to the huge opportunities that will be thrown our way in a new and dangerous period of capitalism’s sordid history. We hope that some of these criticisms prove helpful. We look forward to a response, and are committed to doing our utmost to ensure that the Iranian working class can set its own agenda in the struggle against the tottering Islamic Republic.