Under the rule of the despotic Islamic regime in Iran, the Iranian working class is experiencing one of its most difficult times, where the workers’ current situation can only be compared with that of 100 years ago. Poverty, widespread unemployment, drug addiction among the youth, prostitution due to poverty and wretchedness of living conditions, children’s deprivation of education and the presence of millions of labour and street children is the real and current image of the circumstances surrounding the lives of the Iranian working-class families.

The above image shows only part of the situation. The international economic crisis and its impact on the Iranian economy has made the situation many times more worse, in a way that for more than a year and following the implementation of the IMF and World Bank policies of cutting governement as well as production costs, the goverment subsidies for the most basic products have been eliminated and the existing labour laws have been changed in favour of the capitalists and along the policy of reduction in production costs. This situation has pushed the lives of the working-class families to the edge of collapse and devastation.

During the past 33 years workers in Iran have been fighting against this situation in different ways, and every time their struggles and protests have been cracked down by the Iranian security forces in the most brutal ways. Any attempt by the Iranian workers for forming independed labor unions, for the right of strike, for pay rises appropriate with living costs, for ensuring job security or protesting the late payment of their salaries and benefits has been faced with sacking and police crackdown. At the moment there are a big number of Iranian labour activists that are in jail just for defending their own demands such as those mentioned above, and there are others who are not yet imprisoned but who do not have any life or social security either and can be put in jail or sacked any time.

You are most probably aware of the Islamic Republic’s oppression against the Iranian labor activists and other activists such as those in women’s and student’s movements or the people’s revolutionary movement in Kurdistan, Iran. In these circumstances the Iranian workers movement expect us all not to leave them alone and support them and thier just demands in one voice and in anyway possible.

For this reason, a number of organizations supporting the Iranian working class as well as left and socialist parties and organizations have announced November the month of solidarity with the Iranian workers. On November 5th there will be demonstrations in many countries around the world demanding the release of Iranian labor activists and political prisoners and protesting against death penalty in Iran. Iranian workers expect you specifically to condemn the oppression and imprisonment of labor activists and all other activists and demand an end to execution by the Islamic Republic. We ask you to stand up for the freedom of all the Iranian labor activists and political prisoners. Your support today for the Iranian workers will have a great impact on thier lives tomorrow and will reinforce the international spirit of solidarity.

Long Live Workers’ International Solidarity!

The Abroad Committee of the Communist Party of Iran
October 2011

For more information please write to: abroadcommittee@gmail.com