Iranian Autoworkers Walk Out
Posted by Mike E on June 19, 2009
Autoworkers -- older photo posed by management
The workers of the Khodro automobile company in Iran issued the following declaration. It first appeared on The Field and has been translated by Iraj Omidvar. (Thanks to TellNoLies).
Strike at Iran Khodro:
We declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran.
Autoworkers, Fellow Workers: What we witness today is an insult to the intelligence of the people, and disregard for their votes, the trampling of the principles of the Constitution by the government.
It is our duty to join this people’s movement.
We the workers of Iran Khodro, Thursday 28/3/88 in each working shift will stop working for half an hour to protest the suppression of students, workers, women, and the Constitution and declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran. The morning and afternoon shifts from 10 to 10:30. The night shift from 3 to 3:30.
Laborers of Iran Khodor
* * * * * *
The Field’s Al Giordano writes:
This announcement – to my knowledge this is the first place it appears in English anywhere, obtained by The Field by the auto workers of the largest automobile producer in Iran – is significant on multiple levels.
The obvious one is that once the workers begin to flex their muscles on the means of production, no illegitimate regime can continue standing.
Another is that it reveals the malicious lie spread by some that the Iranian resistance is an upper class phenomenon restricted to one or two regions for what it is: untrue.
Another is that it reminds us that the early resistance movement that led to the toppling of the Shah in the 1970s was not primarily theological, but secular and from the left. These workers, many of them, are the children and grandchildren of union organizers and members from that era. They remember.
If the auto workers work slowdown and protest begins to spread to oil workers and other sectors of industrial labor, watch out.
That is the one factor that could most hasten the fall of the regime.
Miles Ahead said
Thank you so much for posting this. Does fly in the face of all those naysayers, who are condescendingly characterizing the millions of demonstrators as just a bunch of “rich kids.”
GD said
I have not definitively decided whether or not the elections was stolen. I’ve read reasonable articles from both points of view. The so-called “gucci radicals” no doubt exist. Rafsanjani who has done much to encourage these protests is probably the richest individual in Iran. However given the reactionary nature of the regime, the protests are legitimate. Iranian workers see this opportunity to advance their ability to legitimately organize. Even if the middle classes get the reforms they want the end result will most likely allow the working class to organize with less risk of repression. This is the best we can hope for since even this declaration from the autoworkers calls on the government to respect the constitution. Hopefully with Khamenei’s call for an end to the protests the protesters will begin to question the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and move beyond the Mousavi-Rafsanjani neoliberal clique. It is also important for class conscious Iranian activists at this juncture to attempt to encourage the students to become more radical and demand more than simply a relaxation of social mores. Yes many of the students are of a middle class background but they can be won over if Iranian socialists demonstrate that only they are willing to confront the government. I’m going to bet at this point with Khamenei standing firm, the neoliberal wing of the ruling class will now seek accommodation with Ahmadinejad, Khamenei and the security establishment.
Caleb T. Maupin said
http://calebmaupin.blogspot.com/2009/06/iran-and-us-media-comment-must-be-made.html
The above article breaks it down on Iran!
Below it is one of the leading Iranian Intellectuals who says basically the same thing as I do.
ray said
GD says it well. the current regime is repressive, but truthfully, what would make the following one less so? the workers taking steps toward becoming more politicized is good, but without some kind of party of their own, they will just become instruments of some other class.
obama was selected president because people knew that Bush had damaged the balanced of imperialist powers with his unilateralism. that consensual relationship that is NATO, the Security Council, the EU, etc is crucial to maintain, lest cracks develop which proletarians across the world can exploit toward anti-capitalist ends. Obama is a better representative of transnational capital than Bush. hence his tacit support for the mousavi-rasfanjani crowd who would likely invite GM-Fiat to privatize the nationalized Iranian auto industry. ironically, for the workers in auto and oil, a more “open” regime like mousavi’s would probably be BAD for them, since their wages would fall to chinese or indian levels (im assuming they are currently higher, this might be inaccurate).
the fact that the iranian revolution started from below and from the left, but got usurped from above and from the right should demonstrate how crucial it is for the proletariat to have its own political leadership and NOT for any reason ally with the bourgeoisie. ultimately nothing worth celebrating will come of this whole thing unless it moves in a socialist direction.(except that we learned that twitter can be a good organizing tool.)
we should stop holding our tongues about moudavi-rasfanjani and expose their neoliberal agenda, remind everyone how horrible the effects of such an agenda are for the people, stop adopting this implicit “lesser of two evils” neutral stance, and stop pretending this is some great movement for democracy. even it is a “democratic” movement, all that means in 2009 is that Coke, Chevron, Ford, and Nike gain equal access to a new market.
lets hope the workers are conscious of this, continue to grow, and become more militant and more socialist.
curious said
Just a question, because I have seen a class analysis used repeatedly when discussing the situation in Iran, and I want to be clear on the terms. What do people using this analysis consider “working class,” or who do they consider “workers,” and what do they mean by “middle class?”
GD said
Caleb, the Iranian protests are simply not just full of spoiled rich kids.
If they are middle and upper middle class kids, I have to admit that they’re actually quite brave given some of the violent images coming out of Tehran on Saturday afternoon. That’s not my point however. With the exception of Venezuela where student protesters are explicitly reactionary since they are protesting a left wing government, the overwhelming majority of student protesters around the world are progressive if not explicitly socialist. Let’s take the West for example.
Many of the students hoisting red flags around universities probably come from a far more privileged background than those middle class Iranians that you think are US imperialism’s useful idiots. That’s the reality of the radical left in the west. Since your active in groups with lots of socialists with middle class backgrounds, why are you so hostile to middle class Iranian students?
You attempt to tie your experience with pro-Shah Iranian exiles in the US to what’s going on inside Iran right now. You even admit that there were more Iranians against invading Iran then there were promoting regime change. Since these anti-invasion Iranians were living in the US, it’s probably safe to say that they don’t exactly admire the Islamic Republic much either.
This posting here on Kasama is to demonstrate that class conscious Iranian workers are in support of these protests.
I’m afraid that you subscribe to a rather crude anti-imperialism. The DPRK, Zimbabwe and Iran should under no circumstances should be invaded by Western powers, however that has led to many uncritically supporting their leaders and trying to downplay their crimes.
People come forward and defend Mugabe and ignore his slaughter of thousands of Nedebele instead accusing the US of crimes. The US is certainly guilty of the charges but the method is not much different than William Kristol defending the US while accusing Saddam of crimes against humanity.
I’m not going to shed a tear for Mugabe’s or Ahmadinejad’s downfall as long as something even slightly more progressive takes their place.
KF said
Curious – I was also confused on the same point, when the protests began. You might find this article interesting in understanding the way that class analysis has been used (and misused) by the Western press:
http://www.counterpunch.org/fiyouzat06182009.html
[moderator note: this piece is also available here on Kasama, so you can add your comments on it there.]