Re-posted from Shahrokh Zamani Action Campaign
We send our warmest greetings to socialist workers throughout Iran. Especially the workers of Khuzestan, including pipe making, Southern Railways, the Khuzestan Steel Company, Ahvaz Pipe Rolling, the drilling contract companies, the project oil workers, and our co-workers in Bushehr, South Pars, Gachsaran Petrochemical, the Haft Tappeh workers in Shush and the farmers of Khuzestan. And also, the militant workers of Kurdistan.
We, as the Khuzestan Vanguard Socialist Workers’ Cell, are confident that by uniting with the perspective of establishing a workers’ government, we will be an example for the unity of workers and all oppressed layers in Iran for [their] liberation from the capitalist system. This unity will free us from the shackles of the capitalist system once and for all. This is possible due to the anti-worker nature of the Islamic Republic, and the huge and powerful force of workers.
As much as the establishment of a councils’ system after the overthrow of the capitalist system is necessary in order to start a democratic socialist society based on the participation of the masses for economic progress based on the needs of the vast oppressed masses and all social strata, the maintenance and continuation of a workers’ government after the workers’ revolution is also very important for the transition from capitalism to socialism. These are very difficult tasks. Undoubtedly, the defenders of the capitalist system will not sit quietly and intend to prevent our progress in various ways. The rulers of the capitalist system, together with the reformist labour organisations, have always confronted us and created divisions and fuelled despair among workers.
However, the most important task of vanguard socialist workers is to realise united action among the conscious and anti-capitalist workers. The precondition for such united action in the struggle against the capitalist system is the need to learn from 44 years of workers’ struggles. Vanguard workers are obliged to strengthen the anti-capitalist consciousness among workers and to strengthen this consciousness based on the demands summarised in a workers’ action programme. Also, [they must] let the vanguard workers know that the struggle against the capitalist system is not separate from the struggle against the flunkeys of the capitalist system (that is, those who are appeasing the capitalist system). The task of the vanguard socialist workers is, on the one hand, to fight against the whole capitalist system through the continuation and deepening of workers’ strikes, and on the other hand, to confront the reformist currents among the workers who oppose the strikes.
To fulfil these tasks, vanguard socialist workers must:
First, recognise the everyday problems and find solutions to overcome the barriers imposed by the capitalist state.
Second, educate vanguard workers at the practical and theoretical level. Among them, there are workers who reject or downplay working-class ethics – which is at the centre of confronting the capitalist system – and try to deceive the workers. These people must be neutralised and exposed.
Third, organise themselves secretly and confront all the subversive plots of the capitalist system’s spies, in whatever guise they appear. Practical training to observe security matters is important so that the young vanguard workers can continue their struggle and are not arrested and intimidated.
Fourth, convince socialist workers of the necessity of forming united actions and solidarity and defending their fellow workers.
Victory is ours: long live socialism!
Khuzestan Vanguard Socialist Workers’ Cell
18 May 2023
