Iran

Dramatic events are unfolding in Iran. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance that appeared to be the largest anti-government demonstration in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Reuter says one demonstrator was shot dead. But nothing can stem the tide. The revolutionary situation is unfolding with lightening speed.

Two candidates stood in the Iranian “elections”, but the regime had decided who was going to win long before any votes were cast. In spite of the mild, “loyal opposition” of Mousavi, large sections of the Iranian electorate used their vote to express opposition to the regime. Once the “result” was announced violence broke out on the streets, revealing the seething anger and discontent among the masses. This marks a new phase in the development of the Iranian revolution.

Last week the workers of Iran Khodro were successful with their glorious strike which started in the assembly hall and continued in the shuttle (body) hall and ended with the press hall strike. The workers’ immediate demands were payment of their unpaid wages (productivity and last year’s production record bonuses) and to switch workers on temporary contracts to contracts of the Iran Khodro Company itself.

At 5pm on May 1 2009 workers and their families gathered in Sanandaj's Amiriyeh Park to commemorate International Labour Day. The May Day celebration was disrupted after 15 minutes when police and plain-clothes security officers attacked those gathered, beating them and arresting 12 people.

Rob Walsh reviews new book by Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian (Published by Pluto Press, www.plutobooks.com). The book looks at the role played by the Iranian working class in past movements and the role they are playing today. A compelling read.

There were around five to six thousand workers at the Shiroodi sports stadium near Tehran. The Labour House, however, again used its own rotten old method for dispersing the workers.

The real question to be asked is not whether the British sailors were in Iranian or Iraqi waters. The real question is who benefits from this "provocation". The incident would seem to fit in well with the plans that imperialism has to strike at Iran's nuclear development plan.

The Pentagon is continuing intensive planning for a possible bombing attack on Iran. These preparations began already last year, by order of the President. In other words, the decision has already been arrived at. All that Bush is waiting for is a suitable opportunity to put it into practice.

A new book on Iran has recently come out, Iran on the brink,which is based on interviews with workers in Iran and which gives a unique glimpse into the struggles and aspirations of the Iranian working class. On March 6 at 6.30pm it will be launched at Housmans Bookshop in London.

Instead of listening to the advice of Baker and the Iraq Study Group to seek an exit strategy, Bush prefers to up the stakes, increasing the number of troops in Iraq and threatening both Syria and Iran. He is coming into conflict with the ruling class he is supposed to represent. Herein lies a potential political crisis of major proportions in the USA.

With slogans such as "Employment, employment, is our obvious right; job security is our main demand" and "Unity, unity, workers, unity" Iranian workers came on the streets of Tehran on May Day. The workers from Qom were walking at the front of the rally and carried a large placard with "Temporary contracts must be revoked" and "End slavery" written on it.

On the eve of the Iranian New Year [21 March] the job classification system, one of the workers' demands in this company, was officially implemented. Its coming into effect raises the company's workers' wages by about 10 percent. We congratulate the workers of Iran Khodro on this victory.

We received this brief report by the Workers' Action Committee (Iran) on a recent strike at the Iran Khodro car plant in Tehran. The production line in most halls came to a halt and, with the slogan "Going on strike is the only way to act", the strike took over the whole plant.