Iran

The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash was celebrated by hypocritical imperialist governments and newspapers in the West, who gloated at the end of the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ – while preserving harsh sanctions that subject millions of ordinary Iranians to hardship, and continuing to support Israel’s butchery in Gaza. The communists make no common cause with these characters, who are themselves murderers representing the same vile capitalist system as the Mullahs ruling Iran. From our own perspective, we say: Raisi’s bloodstained legacy is one of counterrevolutionary reaction. May the revolutionary Iranian masses soon bury the Islamic Republic alongside him.

On Saturday 13 April, Iran announced that it had launched an attack on Israel with over 300 drones and missiles. That afternoon, Joe Biden left the comfort of his beach house in Delaware and hurried back to the White House amidst a looming sense of crisis. The same night, the President met with members of the National Security team regarding the unfolding missile attacks in the White House Situation Room. 

Saturday 16 September marked the first anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini, which sparked the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ uprising in Iran last year. It was commemorated with a bazaar strike in Kurdish towns, and with street protests by the youth in Tehran, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Amol, Hamedan, Rasht and Bukun, among other cities.

In less than a week, a nationwide strike has broken out across Iran. Beginning on 21 April, with 18 workplaces affected in the oil-gas sector, it has now spread to now involve over 100 workplaces across the mining, steel and oil-gas sectors. The strikes began in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, but they rapidly spread to Bushehr, Fars, Kerman, Isfahan, Kerman and Yazd province.

A new wave of youth protests coupled with student and bazaari strikes in Iran began on 5 December, and were planned to continue until 7 December. The protests, which have so far reached 83 towns and cities, were initially called by revolutionary students, but the call was echoed by workers’ organisations.

Over two months since the beginning of the revolutionary uprising of Iranian youth, following an ebb under heavy repression, a new round of protests took place between 16-19 November, which show the whip of counter-revolution driving the movement forward. For final victory to be achieved, there must be mass, organised participation by the working class!

26 October marked 40 days since the murder of the Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, by the regime’s morality police. Being the final day of the traditional Shia mourning period, it was met with massive protests, becoming a new highpoint of the movement, with protests in nearly every major city. In many Kurdish towns, a general strike broke out; across the country, bazaari strikes were held in support of the movement; and in Tehran Metro conductors went on strike in support of the revolutionary youth. 

It is over a month now since the outbreak of the youth uprising in Iran, sparked by the regime’s murder of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini. With near constant clashes between security forces and youth in every major city, in addition to waves of bazaar strikes and a series of industrial strikes, the situation has the potential of turning into a revolutionary mass movement. Since last week, a campaign for a general strike has been spreading, along with calls for the formation of revolutionary resistance committees.

The movement of Iranian revolutionary youth – which began with the murder of Mahsa Amini on 16 September by the regime – has spread to broader layers of the masses, including important sections of workers. The task is now posed of overthrowing the Islamic Republic and the decrepit capitalist system upon which it stands. But to lead the Iranian Revolution to victory, the advanced guard of Iranian workers and youth must absorb the lessons of the past – of Iran’s rich revolutionary history. To that end, the editorial board of In Defence of Marxism would like to bring to our readers’ attention articles that we believe excellently condense the lessons of this history.

The following is a model leaflet, produced by the International Marxist Tendency, to be distributed at events and demonstrations held in solidarity with the revolutionary youth movement in Iran. It presents our position on how this inspiring movement should advance. Down with the mullahs' regime! Down with imperialism! Down with capitalism!

As the nationwide protest movement in Iran enters its fourth week, the efforts of the regime to suppress it only appear to have had the effect of further agitating the masses and of drawing in new layers. The youth on the streets and in the university campuses have now been joined by thousands of school students and bazaar merchants, as well as important layers of the working class. Most importantly, a series of strikes have started in the oil and petrochemical sector, the heart of the Iranian economy.

As we have recently reported, the Iranian masses are in the midst of a monumental struggle against the regime. In this podcast recorded by Fightback (Canadian section of the International Marxist Tendency), Hamid Alizadeh talks about the mass movement in Iran, what's necessary for it to win, and what we can learn from it internationally.

Two weeks on from the outbreak of the revolutionary uprising in Iran, and the movement continues. In every major city, violent clashes are occurring between the youth and security forces, with repression becoming ever harsher. Well over 100 have been killed and many more have been arrested. On Monday, students responded by commencing a strike, which has now spread to over 100 universities!

The movement against the Iranian regime continues on the streets, despite heavy-handed repression by regime forces. Having spread to more than 140 cities, towns and villages across the country, what started as a protest against the killing of a young Kurdish woman has turned to a powerful revolutionary movement of the youth against the regime as a whole. The question remains however, where does the movement go from here?