The Iranian Working Class: History and Tasks Today

Details: Published on Wednesday, 05 June 2019 10:12; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1826 ... May 16, 2019
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The Iranian Working Class: History and Tasks Today

First Step

The Iranian workers’ movement dates back 120 years. One of the earliest strikes involving eleven thousand oil industry workers took place sometime between 1923 and 1930. This strike was organized by the first Communist Party of Iran. Reza Shah, the father of the late Mohammad Reza Shah, even with his relatively strong army, could not suppress the strike. He had to ask for the help of the English Royal Navy to do so. The workers’ movement had also raised the cry for the nationalization of the oil industry before it was nationalized by the Mohammad Mosaddegh and his National Front organization.

Between 1948 and 1951, almost 360,000 workers of the half-million worker population were... part of what was called the All-Union Council, and that was one of the reasons that Iranian workers were able to impose one of the most progressive labour laws in the entire Middle East region on the government of the time and a capitalist regime in making.

After the CIA-sponsored coup d’état in 1953, which led to the removal of Prime Minister Mosaddegh and the establishment of a military government for a few years afterwards, the Iranian workers’ movement encountered a decline in syndicalism, in the number of strikes, and in major struggles. However, some strikes and protests, radical in nature but mostly diffused, did occur. The protests by workers of the textile factory Chit Sazi Rey or by the traditional brick factories are good examples.