Class Division and the Rise of Labour Struggles in Iran
Asqar Karimi
asghar_karimi@yahoo.comOn July 15, angry workers from Shadanpur Shoe Factory and Jamko Textiles smashed the Islamic Majlis' (Assembly) railings while ignoring warning shots. Workers jeered one of the Assembly members who stepped outside among the crowd. Eventually, Karubi agreed to meet with some of the workers. After several days, this protest continued to be a hot item in the government-controlled press. The labour protest forced the Islamic Assembly, government, leaders and media to react and intensified factional fighting over the economic crisis and dreadful labour conditions. The Shadanpur workers were demanding six months and Jamko workers 11 months of unpaid wages. This was one of many actions by workers in the form of pickets and sit-ins. Security forces attacked the protesters, using tear gas, warning shots and sprays. They beat them violently; as a result, 8 were wounded and required hospital treatment.
This year alone, the Islamic Republic's security forces have attacked, beaten and wounded workers primarily protesting against redundancies and unpaid wages. In February, they attacked the striking workers of Press Cylinder in the industrial city of Ghazvin, and a gathering of the Se Setareh Shoe Factory in Tehran, injuring several workers. The savage attack on Simin Factory textile workers in Isfahan on March 4 resulted in approximately 20 wounded and 25 arrests; many workers had their hands and legs broken. On March 7, they attacked a thousand workers of Bafnaz in Isfahan with tear gas and truncheons; on May 6, they attacked 1,500 Baresh Factory textile workers in Isfahan and arrested 50 of them and on May 27, they attacked Jamko Factory workers in Tehran. These examples are a small part of the regime's brutality.
The main demands of this segment of workers are to receive unpaid wages and protest employment insecurity. Hundreds of thousands of workers have not received their wages for several months to 3 years and are at risk of being made redundant. Clearly, there are no unemployment benefits.
The State of Workers' Families
What the Islamic Republic and the private and public sector bosses have done to workers is indescribable. According to Islamic government officials, families have been destroyed; malnutrition is rife with many living on one meal of potatoes a day. Poverty is extreme with many children being forced to abandon their schooling to beg on the streets. Many have been evicted from their homes and many more have turned to addiction. According to the head of prisons, 120,000 are in prison as a result of having been forced to turn to illegal activities due to unemployment. Some workers have even been forced to sell their kidneys in order to survive. Girls in working class families have been forced into prostitution; the rate of suicide among breadwinners has increased sharply. Life for some sections of the working class has become hell.
The material and other damage done to nearly a million workers who have not been paid are shocking. The regime's only response has been truncheons, tear gas, gunfire and imprisonment. All factions are in agreement and act in a unified manner when it comes to imposing rightlessness, oppressive laws, defending employers, not taking responsibility, non-provision of welfare and suppression.
The Islamic Regime's Statistics
On July 5, 2000, the government-affiliated newspaper, Kar va Kargar [Labour and Labourer], wrote: 'There are 4 million unemployed, and only 85,000 of them are covered by unemployment benefits. The threat of closure of another 500 to 1,000 large factories exists.' Unemployed women and millions of youth seeking employment are also not accounted for in the statistics. The situation is worsening every day.
In November 1998, Alireza Mahjoub, the general secretary of the government run Islamic Labour House said: 'In 392 production units, the wages of up to 400,000 workers has not been paid on time and a further 400,000 workers has been underpaid by 40 to 50 percent of what the subcontractor receives.' On July 23, 2000, it was announced that '700,000 workers are facing delayed payments.' The real numbers are now much higher.
Other Problems
The problems workers face does not end here. To this list, one must add growing inflation, water and electricity rationing that usually occur in working class neighbourhoods, lack of basic services, demolished homes, etc. and this does not include problems arising from an Islamic, misogynist, and oppressive government. (On July 11, 2001, the regime's security forces demolished 200 homes in the Nasirabad locality in Tehran because of lack of legal certificates. Many were wounded, including some children, and several were arrested. This is the recurring situation for hundreds of thousands living in shantytowns around the big cities.)
Financial Corruption and Class Division
Unprecedented financial corruption has taken over the entire government. State and private officials and companies are busy transferring huge amounts of money into accounts abroad, including in Germany and Switzerland. Because of the intense factional fighting, embezzlement is being exposed on daily basis. Billions more is being spent on arms, repressive forces, prisons, herds of mullahs, Hezbollah and terrorist and Islamic groups in other countries. The result of this situation is an incredible class division. In April 2001, the government-affiliated newspaper Hayat e Now wrote that 40,000 people have 12 percent and 26 million only 9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product - and this is only what the government asserts. According to a report published by UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Maurice Copithorne, in March 2001, which used government figures, 20 percent own 80 percent of the wealth. This is only a small section of workers' grievances. In the real sense of the word, a generation of workers and their families are being ruined.
Workers' Resistance
Faced with these conditions, workers are resisting on a wide scale. In particular in recent years, workers' protests have been increasing. According to Copithorne's report, between May 1999 and April 2000 there have been 244 labour protests, 46 percent of which have been about unpaid wages. The real statistics are a lot higher. Copithorne's report only takes into account protests that have been publicised abroad. In recent years, many protests have poured onto the streets. Sit-ins at government centres, road blockages, street marches, and in recent months gatherings at the Islamic Assembly are new forms of workers' protests. Not a day passes without government officials expressing concern. In recent days, the cabinet and Assembly have been discussing the prohibition of strikes and protests. Strikes and protests have always been illegal in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the right to strike and protest have never been recognised. What they mean by banning strikes and protests is more violent suppression of workers. Passing legislation for more severe measures, however, will not help the government and will not reduce the protests.
In recent weeks, there have been almost daily labour protests at the Islamic Assembly. Assembly members, the President's Office, the Guardian Council, Leader and other government organs have said that non-payment of wages is not their responsibility. The government and its institutions have removed any responsibility from themselves. Workers are so furious that in the first half of July, they smashed the Assembly's railings twice despite warning shots fired by security forces. The Islamic Republic neither wants nor can solve or reduce the deep economic crisis. It cannot do much when faced with the ever-increasing protests of discontented workers and people; suppression has the reverse effects. Every week, members of the Islamic Assembly, ministers, the Guardian Council, Expediency Council and journalists produce mountains of materials on the economic crisis but none provide solutions. In fact there are no solutions. As far as the workers and millions of deprived people are concerned, the only solution and a precondition to any improvement in their lives is the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Asqar Karimi is a member of WPI's Central Committee and Political Bureau.
