The emancipation of the working class from the barbarism of capitalism is achieved through social organization
This year, the Iranian working class is welcoming the first of May under conditions where we witnessed extensive social protests last September. Prior to the onset of these protests, the ongoing protests by retirees and organized protests by teachers and workers with demands for basic livelihood, free education and healthcare, job security, social freedoms, and welfare continued as in previous years.
The minimum wage in Iran is among the lowest in the world, and the unemployment and inflation rates in Iran are among the highest in the world. In addition to the low level of wages, the implementation of unbridled market economy policies has resulted in instability in job positions and intensified competition in the labour market, imposing multiple social pressures on wage earners. Despite the skyrocketing cost of living and the housing crisis that has affected the lives of millions of people, the 27% increase in wages by the employers and the government representatives this year showed that the ruling class in Iran has no responsibility towards the livelihoods of millions of people.
Simultaneously with extensive social protests and ongoing protests by retirees, teachers, and workers, the minimum demands charter of trade and civil associations was presented by signing it by 20 labour associations and social entities. However, the current situation clearly shows that regardless of the shortcomings of the charter, pursuing and achieving a level of the demands raised requires, some level of organization and the existence of mass organizations of the working class.
The implementation of austerity policies over the past few decades has led to the concentration of social wealth in the hands of a minority of capitalists, and the magnitude of this wealth indicates the deep class divide in today’s world. The conditions of capitalist domination in the world over the past few decades and the economic, social, and political suppression of the working class have led to the unbridled growth of capital in various regions of the world. The natural result of these conditions is the political, economic and hegemonic competition of different capital sectors to gain more profit and access to global markets. In recent years, with the intensification of this competition between different imperialist blocks, military solutions have practically been put on the agenda of hostile capitalist blocks. The only achievement of this competition and military tensions between these imperialist powers has been increased inflation, poverty, misery, and more killing and displacement for the global working class.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began as a result of conflicting interests between different capitalist blocs including the US, UK, and the European Union on one side, and China and its allies such as Russia on the other side, has resulted in the massacre, destruction, displacement, and homelessness of millions of people, as well as inflation and food shortages, without any positive outcome for the working class and hardworking masses.
In the past year and this year, we are still witnessing workers’ and people’s protests and strikes on a global scale, from European countries to Latin America, Asia, and Africa, against the austerity and savage attack of global bourgeoisie on the living standards of the global working class. The demands of workers and the masses against inflation, high prices, increasing wages, and attacking the rights of retirees, on the global levels, which are common, and against the capitalist system. In fact, the common interest of workers in any part of the world is to improve their livelihoods, increase their wages, and achieve their welfare demands, regardless of their geographical location, in opposition to the capitalist and exploitative system that seeks to secure the existing costs of conflicts by invading the living standards of the working class in order to gain more profit. This economic common demand of the global working class should be accompanied by other demands of the working class, including political demands. The working class, both at the national and global levels, more than ever before, needs to articulate these political demands. Political demands of the working class are those demands that arise from the situation of this class as a class under oppression and exploitation. The proposal of these demands is the path of struggle for this class to liberate itself from political and class tyranny, as well as to abolish the wage and class-based labour system. The Iranian working class, more than ever before, bears this historic task of fighting against domestic and imperialist capitalists and oppression and It must be at the forefront of the ongoing struggle in society with its own goals, demands, methods, and specific tools, including economic, political, and cultural organizations, as well as intelligent combinations of strikes and demonstrations to liberate the working class and the entire society from the ruling class and the disgraceful regime of the Islamic Republic. To achieve this goal, the working class must establish its own organizations, such as trade unions or labour unions, and political organizations, in order to provide itself and other segments of society with the possibility of liberation through a comprehensive struggle against the ruling class in Iran.
Solidarity institutions with the labour movement in Iran
Campaign to support Iranian workers
Council for Solidarity with Workers’ Alternatives in Iran
