The Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran (TPI) issued consecutive statements on the popular protests in Iran on December 29, 31 and January 2.
ICP, 1 January 2018
On December 29, the TPI issued a statement emphasizing that ‘The struggle of the people of Iran - frustrated with oppression, tyranny, high prices and despotism - against the dictatorship is real and should not be allowed to be snatched away and misappropriated in the interests of domestic or foreign reactionary forces’.
According to the statement, ‘the internal conflicts of the regime and the unprecedented revelations of infighting between powerful factions’ is a reflection of the deepening economic crisis and reveals the corruption of the regime. ‘The escalation of external pressures on the regime have altogether created a very critical and explosive situation in our society’ said the statement.
It was stated that the gatherings of the people in numerous cities has been accompanied by ‘broad and extensive labour protests against high prices, oppression and the injustices perpetrated by governing bodies … all of which protect the interests of the grand capitalists.’ The protests show the readiness and willingness of the enraged and frustrated masses’ preparedness ‘in opposing and waging an open fight against the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran’.
The TPI rejected the claims of pro-regime reformists that ‘the protests are “conspiracies”’ and it confirmed that the demands of the masses are not ‘minor adjustments to the current regime’ but are more fundamental regarding the governance of the country. The people of Iran, having experienced the manipulation of elections throughout the last two decades, are now ‘moving away from the strategy of making a choice between bad and worse’. This includes the pro-regime reformists who have been playing ‘the role of that nation’s power brokers these days’.
The TPI noted that the Trump administration in the US, the right-wing government of Netanyahu in Israel and the political groups such as the Iranian monarchists are seeking to influence the developments in the country. Their aim is to replace ‘the current reactionary regime with another reactionary regime’ through foreign military intervention which ‘leaves no room whatsoever for any optimism regarding the future designs of such “opposition”’.
In its statement, the TPI called all ‘progressive and freedom-loving forces of Iran’ to participate and guide the protest movement of the masses by highlighting the legitimate demands of the masses for abolishing the existing suppressive regime and ending the economic deprivation, while avoiding reactionary and divisive slogans. The TPI also warned that any attempt to hijack the struggle of the people ‘by a bunch of reactionary opportunists’ should be prevented.
The statement underlined that the system cannot be reformed and the sole solution is ‘to wage a joint and organised struggle of all social layers - from the workers and all working people to the militant youth, student, women and progressive and freedom-loving intellectuals - around popular slogans against the rule of tyranny and to establish ‘the rule of the people and freedom, peace, sovereignty and social justice’.
2nd Statement
On 31 December, the TPI issued a 2nd Statement on the developments regarding the protests.
The statement was as follows:
- The broad protest movement of the masses against the dictatorial regime of Iran must be expanded and organised through progressive and national slogans, towards the developing of a united action of various social strata; from the workers and working people to the militant youth, student and women.
- The Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns the brutal suppression of the popular protests by the repressive forces of the regime.
- The Tudeh Party of Iran, its membership and sympathisers fight alongside the militant people of Iran to abolish tyranny and establish freedom, peace, sovereignty and social justice.
- The Iranian regime intends to violently drag down the protest movement of the masses and brutally suppress it, just as in 2009
Dear compatriots,
Your revolt in recent days against oppression, poverty, deprivation, injustice and the tyrannical regime ruling our nation, has grown further and has spread to many cities throughout the country. At the same time, in the past two days, we have witnessed the organised violence of the suppressive forces of the ruling theocratic regime who have been sent into the streets to intimidate the people and clamp down upon their legitimate protests. The murdering of a number of demonstrators in the city of Dorood and the injuring of a number of demonstrators in Tehran and other cities, demonstrate the regime’s plans to push the popular protest towards violence, brutally suppress it and drench it in blood.
As stated before, the Party believes that the people’s protest against the continuation of the anti-people and reactionary rule of the Supreme Leadership regime has objective foundations in the socio-economic crisis in the country, the crisis of the legitimacy of the regime - whose levels of corruption and incompetency is revealed more and more with every passing day - and the growing poverty and marginalisation of millions of our fellow citizens. The continuing suppression and crackdown and depriving the people of their basic human rights should also be added to these grievances. That is why today we witness the people - frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with those who kept talking about reforms and a so-called supposed “religious democracy” - now seeking other clear and robust solutions so as to move beyond the current unsustainable situation.
Dear compatriots,
Based on the received information, the regime is rapidly preparing for a brutal and bloody suppression of the people’s movement. The only effective way to confront this approach of the tyrannical regime is to widely mobilise the popular forces, the workers, the working people and the militant youth, students and women of the nation. The experience of the 1979 Revolution and the overthrow of the police-dictatorship Pahlavi regime proved that dictatorial regimes could not be toppled through street demonstrations alone. What broke the back of the puppet regime of the Shah was the million-strong demonstrations of the masses alongside the general strikes and the active participation of the workers and working people - particularly the oil workers - in nationwide strikes that made it impossible for the tyrannical regime to continue. For this to happen, there is required a thoughtful nationwide organisation and the selecting of appropriate popular slogans. The slogans of the students at yesterday’s clashes calling for the united action of students, workers and other social strata, counted as one positive indication of such an understanding and the realisation of the urgency of the current critical situation. Without the united action of various social strata that are dissatisfied with the current situation, it is not certain that the brave street protests of the people - and particularly the younger generation - will achieve its ultimate success. At the same time, the exploitation by both domestic and external reactionary forces, whose goal is to spread misleading slogans and robbing the masses of their true protest movement, must be prevented and clearly confronted. The misleading slogans of such forces - including persuading those protesting to resort to violence - will only benefit the suppressive forces of the regime and the opponents of the popular movement.
Dear compatriots,
The Tudeh Party of Iran, in standing with your struggles, considers itself an inseparable part of the popular protests against the continuation of the tyrannical regime. Once again, we call upon all the freedom-loving and progressive forces of the nation, the workers and working people and the militant students, youth and women of the nation to fight in a united front for:
- Putting an end to the despotic regime,
- The unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners,
- Putting a stop to the atmosphere of repression and suppression and the returning of all suppressive forces to their garrisons,
- Putting an end to the poverty, marginalisation, high prices, economic hardship, corruption, and oppression of the ruling regime,
- Creating the conditions for the people to determine their own destiny, organising the great nationwide movement of the people patiently and the utilising of appropriate slogans
- Preventing the suppression of this growing movement of the masses by the regime through its employing of extensive violence and a bloody attack on the movement in the hope of dissuading the people from continuing the struggle.
Victory to the united struggle of the people of Iran against the ruling dictatorial regime!
3rd Statement
On January 2, the CC of the TPI issued a 3rd statement. The statement began with the following assessments;
• The regime’s plots to violently and bloodily suppress the protest movement of the frustrated people must be prevented through an organised struggle and united action.
• We strongly oppose any kind of foreign intervention in Iran and believe that the right-wing and racist leaderships of Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and the criminal and reactionary regime of Saudi Arabia, are no friends to the people of Iran and certainly do not strive for freedom, independence and social justice in our homeland.
• We condemn the deliberate and purposeful attempts of the mass media of imperialist states, as well as the propaganda and news outlets of the Iranian regime, to misrepresent the democratic, patriotic and virtuous characteristic of the current protest movement in Iran
• The way to save Iran is not to replace one dictatorial regime with another kind of dictatorship and tyranny. Our people are striving for a national, popular and democratic republic
• The struggle to reject the dictatorial regime of the Supreme Religious Leader in Iran should be progressed with careful organisation. The broad participation of manifold social layers - and particularly the workers and working people - in this struggle, in paralysing the ruling apparatus, would be a decisive factor in forcing the regime to retreat.
The statement, addressed the compatriots in Iran and said "you have proved that you will no longer put up with the circumstances imposed by the ruling dark-minded regime". It condemned the accusation that the resisting people are "foreign agents" and the threat to force the resisting people "to leave the scene of struggle". It was stated that the government measures are "tantamount to the imposing of martial law" while regime agents are "looting public places and resorting to violence in order to divert the movement towards its bloody countering and, by doing so, detach the majority of the frustrated masses from the body of the protests, forcing people to turn against each other".
The statement underlined that the purpose of the Trump administration of United States, the anti-people government of Israel and the reactionary regime of Saudi Arabia is "to destabilise the situation in the Middle East region and the Persian Gulf area in accordance with their strategic interests". The other reactionary forces, such as the monarchists have repeatedly asked for "foreign military intervention" in Iran and this indicates to the danger that is seriously "threatening the movement for freedom". Also, "the experience of the protest movement of the masses in recent days has also underlined the complete bankruptcy and lack of credibility of those who claimed to be pro-reform in Iran" which has for years persuaded the people to accept the Islamic regime and that their choice is limited to between “bad and worse”.
The TPI reiterated that Tudeh members and sympathisers are a part of your protests and repeated its call to confront the regime through "a united action, organised struggle and joint movement of all social layers - from the workers and working people to the brave youth, students and women of the nation - and through the preparing of nationwide strikes and the paralysing of any possibilities the regime has to survive". The demands of the united anti-dictatorship front would be:
• Rejecting the Supreme Leadership Regime and the rule of clergy over our nation, and to put an end to the despotic regime,
• The unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners,
• Putting an end to the poverty, marginalisation, high prices, economic hardship, corruption, and oppression of the ruling regime,
• Putting a stop to the atmosphere of repression and suppression and the returning of all suppressive forces to their garrisons,
and
• Transition to establish a national and democratic regime and for the people to determine their own destiny,
in order to prepare for organizing the nationwide and great movement of the people by choosing appropriate slogans.
The statement finally warned against possible attempts by the regime "to divide the broad protest movement of the masses from its social base, derail the movement towards violence and crush the growing movement of the people by violent and brutal suppression so that they might become dissuaded in continuing the struggle".