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NEWS & LETTERS, July 2002
Iranian labor reborn on May Day
Toronto—During the last year, Iran has been the scene
of hundreds of large-scale workers' demonstrations, of which nearly 250 were
officially reported. Some of these demonstrations became battles with guards and
government security forces. These actions underlay the conference of Iranian
labor activists and scholars from within Iran and abroad who held a conference
in Toronto, Canada on June 2 and 3. In 2002 Iranian workers held the first independent May
Day celebrations since the early 1980s. These celebrations in various cities
were independent of both the government and its so-called workers'
organizations. Those at the conference who argued that the main
obstacle to the creation of an independent labor movement was the lack of
political freedom and the oppressive Islamic government included members of the
Workers Socialist Unity, Iranian Worker-Communist Party and Labor Left Unity
which has broken from them, International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
and Left Block, as well as independents. Another group argued that the main
obstacle was a backward economy, and therefore labor's main task for now is to
work for the industrialization of the economy. An Iranian woman worker in Canada spoke on women's
working conditions in Iran's factories where she had worked. Women in the
factory suffered not only from the division of labor but also from gender
discrimination. When the Islamic regime tried to separate the women's section
from men in the workplace, women workers rejected separation, but male workers
in the factory backed it. Men commented that this separation was good for the
honor of women workers. She said women who wanted to live independent of parents
would face problems even renting apartments. Many single women have to live on
prostitution or as temporary wives. Women are under a microscope. One speaker from the Iranian journal ANDISHAH-I JAMI’A
(SOCIETY’A THOUGHT) spoke about the establishment of the first independent
Iranian workers' unions (Itahadiah-i Kargari) this May Day as a turning point
for workers’ independent organizations and the workers' movement. He spoke of
a revolt of unemployed workers, now five million, against capital and against
all moralities which limit personal relations. Morteza Mohit, the translator of István Mészáros's
BEYOND CAPITAL and the author of IN DEFENSE OF MARX, emphasized the importance
of establishing bourgeois democracy. A leading theoretician of Workers’
Socialist Unity argued that Iranian reformists are trying to limit Iran's
democratic movements to formal procedures of democracy. Both an oil worker and
an ex-textile worker argued that Iran is "already an industrialized
country," against advocates of more capitalist development. I asked what kind of development we were talking about,
development of capital or human development? One printshop worker argued that
unions should only defend workers' economic demands. A labor scholar from
Germany responded that unions are living phenomena that we cannot confine to
economic demands. Marx defended unions but also wrote of workers'
struggles against this system and the abolition of the whole capitalist system.
One speaker cited Marx’s letter to Arnold Ruge and his defense of the Silesian
workers' strike in 1844, which showed that the historical role of workers was
for political and human freedom. Nasser Saidi, editor of PAZHUHASH-I KARGARI (LABOR
RESEARCH), focused on the need for the independence of workers' organizations
from the government as well as right or left political parties. He argued that
political awareness comes from workers' own struggles and not from outside, but
it is important that workers and intellectuals work together. A heated debate followed on what kind of workers'
independent organization there should be. What kinds of relations should there
be between political parties and workers' organization? Is this a continuation
of the past or does it mean new relations? One speaker argued that at a time
when capitalist ideologues and even some who used to consider themselves
leftists talk about "the death of Marxism," it is crucial to show
Marxist views as key to the success of workers' movements. I spoke about the perspectives of Marxist-Humanists and
Anjoman Azadi on these issues. I discussed the publication THE REVOLUTIONARY
JOURNALISM OF FELIX MARTIN (ISAAC WOODS): WORKER-THEORETICIAN and Felix Martin's
emphasis on the distinction that Marx drew between forced labor, which is what
capitalism is, and creative human labor.
—Ali Reza |
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