A growing wave of protests have swept across Iran. Thousands and thousands of workers from the oil, gas and petrochemical plants, as well as several mines and heavy industrial plants, … have gone on strike.

The coordinated strike action across so many oil and gas plants has trembled the foundations of the whole capitalist system in Iran and its Islamic state. This is the section of the working class in Iran that delivered the final blow on the Shah’s regime in the 1979 uprising and led to the popular slogan of “Our oil workers, our resolute leaders” echoing throughout the country. This is the sector that by merely deciding to call “tools-down”, can halt the supply of gas, making it impossible to even do the household cooking.

This week’s all out action is a display of the might of a force that has only flexed its muscles. The workers’ all-out industrial action has caused shivers right in the core of the entire system and marks a major change across the whole society and the balance of class power.

With the second wave of Covid-19 engulfing the country, and soaring temperature of 50°C in the South of Iran, the courageous workers of the Haft Tapeh sugar cane Company, have continued their strike action for over 50 days, holding their marches with the support of the local people in the city of Shush. Thousands of workers at this agro-industrial complex have been at the centre of current protests in Iran and have been receiving heartening messages of solidarity and support from a range of industries over their demand for an immediate payment of all unpaid wages, reinstatement of all sacked workers, and the return of all the embezzled company funds. The embezzlement which had taken place following the privatisation of the company has once again exposed the depth of corruption that goes right to the heart of the government and the entire ruling body including that of the office of Khamenei, the Supreme Leader.

This week’s coordinated industrial action of the oil and gas workers over pay and conditions and their call for an end to the role of the corrupt “contractors” and their employment contracts. This is a targeted demand against the enforced policy of the Islamic Republic over the past years where workers are indirectly employed through different contractors, as agencies, with many having to sign blank employments contracts. These demands, like those of the Haft Tapeh workers, are not limited to one industry or one sector, but represent the demands of all working people in all workplaces in Iran.

With the continuous fall in the value of the currency, and the soaring of the prices of the basic needs, millions are living with wages at a fraction of the officially declared poverty line. Tens of millions are seeing their meagre wages evaporating daily through inflation on one-hand, while more pressure is being put upon them with the spiralling rate of unemployment, not to mention the rising death toll of Covid-19.

Further protest actions have also been staged at different cities by teachers, council and municipal workers, nurses and hospital workers, etc. Protests that show no sign of subsiding.

The display of industrial power of workers in this week has been such that the Islamic Republic cannot simply crush it by arrests and gunning down the workers. In one refinery, in the city of Isfahan, columns of security forces blocked the gates to prohibit striking workers from leaving the plant, but the resolve of the workers forced the security forces to retreat and open the gates of the plant. Only last month, the continued united struggle of Haft Tapeh workers, supported by workers in Iran and internationally, also forced the Islamic Republic to release apprehended workers’ representatives. At the same time, however, the Islamic Republic knows far too well that backing down would mean nothing but the opening of further actions in all and every workplace.

There is no doubt that the current status quo is not sustainable. Workers in Iran are doing all they can to push back one of the most decadent capitalist states. The Islamic Republic has the connections and support of the capitalist class when it comes to workers’ struggles and demands. The working class in Iran also relies on fellow workers internationally.

With the escalation of the protests, this week has marked a new dawn in the class struggle in Iran – one that cannot be simply ignored or reversed. In such circumstances, workers in Iran are rightfully looking towards fellow workers, unions, and all workers’ organisations and progressive bodies internationally for support and solidarity. The Islamic Republic must be forced to recognise that workers in Iran are not alone and they have an international class to reckon with.

Aman Kafa

Hekmatist Party (Official Line) – Organisation Abroad

August 7, 2020