Avant-garde of the proletariat should show the road of class struggle

After the election circus in Iran, which resulted in confrontation between bourgeois gangs, political currents took different positions dependent on which class they belong. The left of capital as always tried to play its roll as good as possible. Tudeh Party, Fedaian Majority became directly mouthpiece to the Moussavi. The radical phrase part of the left, in the head “Worker”-“Communist” party of Iran proclaimed beginning of the revolution even presented the leader of revolution (Hamid Taqvaee) and on another ways supported the struggling bourgeois gangs.

In Iran a worker must have two or three job to support his family and IBRP points correctly: ”The working class of that area are also subject to attacks on living conditions brought on by the entire world bourgeoisie.” There is a general dissatisfaction within the working class and in the last years working class has been radicalised gradually. But in the absence of an established internationalist positions in the Iranian political milieu, the protest of working class brutally represses without to indicate protests of a social class. Internationalist positions are very weak in Iran and its militants very isolated. They must try to break down this isolation and establish connection and collaboration with other internationalists. Of course internationalists with more established positions have more responsibility in this point.

IBRP entirely correct points to “Bourgeois rivalries” in the events of Iran. But IBRP forgets its roll as, an avant-garde of proletariat; *a revolutionary organization and it resulted in a passive politic.* IBRP have been one of the most important currents within Left Communism and militants outside IBRP have had great expectations on it. IBRP, ICC and The Bordigists stand for positions and traditions, which make these currents the true defenders of proletarian positions, i.e. the tradition of the communist left.

Workers of Iran Khodro (Iran’s car industry) stroked in 30 minutes to support people’s protest. The revolutionary organization should say to these workers, instead of supporting slogan “down with dictator” expand your struggle, independent of all bourgeois gangs, against capitalism, with slogan “down with wage slavery”. The avant-garde of the proletariat must try to avoid working class acting as canon fodder for any of the struggling bourgeois gangs. The *compass* of proletariat; the IBRP should show the road of class struggle, for our class, the working class. IBRP missing this important points in its analyze.

Internationalists in their analyze must describe for workers, why die for democracy? Capitalist democracy and capitalist dictatorship are two sides of the same coin. Capitalist democracy is not a paradise. You that want die for democracy, you could see, how the workers of Volvo cried in the factories of Volvo when they became unemployed! A passive practice avoids the revolutionary organization of its very important task, contributing to developing and generalizing of class-consciousness.

If the IBRP (or the ICC) is going to play an important role in its historical task as one valuable avant-garde of the proletariat it must understand its roll the leading role of the revolutionary organization.

Long live Left Communism

Internationalist June 23, 2009

Forum: 

staying at the window waiting for "good news" is so far from our politic dna since always.

we try to point out - necessarly by outside the flame of the riots - the exact nature of events in progress.

I think you'll find into all our documents calling to working class to act as class itself with its own goals, instruments ecc...

i'd be particularly interested into knowing how/if is responding the iranian working class to the situation; above all the tehran transport workers who has been protagonists of important mass protests ( and repressions) into last years ( I refer to Mansour Osansloo; is he still free from jail ? )

Greets

I don't think you have been very fair here as we have been arguing for the independence of the working class from the beginning. I don't think we could have been any clearer. As to passivity we are not in direct contact with Khodro or any other factory in Iran so all we can do is issue the general lines that we have issued. What we have argued (more strongly than anyone else I think) is that this bourgeois faction fight will not provide any basis for the working class to respond - the working class will have to find its one raod with its own fight against wage slavery as you suggest. Below I quote myself in reply to another thread on this site (from an "almost" ex-Trotskyist who thinks that writing out a wishlist for revolution is the same thing as giving a clear lead in the current situation).

At the moment the biggest danger is that we have something like a rerun of thirty years ago with workers getting involved in a bourgeois faction fight and suffering the consequences. And back then there was a lot more independent class action than today (but the shoras/shuras were not workers’ councils as we understand them and certainly the form hid a lack of consciousness). Moussavi was Prime Minister during one of the most repressive periods in the history of the Iranian Islamic Republic Republic (during the Iran Iraq War) and is certainly not even the focus for independent action by those members of Iranian society who have had enough of repression and economic stagnation. It seems as though we have split inthe ruling class without any of the preparations needed on our side to benefit from it. As elsewhere even if this political crisis mixes with a social crisis the *Iranian workers will have to look to their own independent interests first in order to build up their unity and solidari*ty. After that we will see how far they can go in developing the nuclei of class cosncious workers who will join with the rest of the world proletariat…

The emphasis is mine but we have said the same in our public statements.

text of leaflet for demo in sheffield, UK

all the formatting has gone, the original looks better.

Iran at the crossroads – workers cannot support any faction of the ruling class

Iranian ruling class splits

On the one side - those sectors which more or less look to the family of the Ayatollah Rafsanjani (one of the richest and most powerful in the country), who are tired of the limitations on economic activity imposed by international sanctions and want a greater opening towards outsiders. On the other side, those sectors of the bourgeoisie whose power has been strengthened in the last few years,favourable to the aggressive policy of Ahmadinejad. Their bastions are in the state bureaucracy, the Army and the Pasdaran.

Working class has nothing to gain from either side

This conflict is one played out within the Iranian bourgeoisie even if the “refomers” (in reality they have always been big players inside the clerico-fascist regime) represent the hopes of millions wanting a relaxation of the most vulgar forms of social control that have been in operation for the last thirty years.

And everything to gain from class struggle.

Workers must break with all factions of the ruling class and fight for their own interests. In Iran, as elsewhere, capitalism offers no future. Strikes under the control of the workers themselves, and the building of the revolutionary organisation are our weapons. Above all workers must not be dragged into a bloodbath on behalf of any of their exploiters and the powerful imperialist interests seeking to gain from the situation. The stakes are high because, as is well-known, Iran is the fourth highest oil producer in the world, and it sits in the hottest zone for imperialist tensions on the planet.

Workers of the World, Unite!

Capitalism in Iran and everywhere is beyond reform – workers must defend themselves against attacks on their living standards and join the struggle to build the International Revolutionary Party. That is the mission of the

INTERNATIONAL BUREAU FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY.

Further information - www.ibrp.org