country.
What is the situation in Iran since the imposition of martial law? Has the mass movement suffered a serious defeat or simply back?
The imposition of martial law has not been a serious deteat tor the mass movement but a temporary from which the masses will without any doubt recover very quickly. There are two important reasons for this.
First, the crisis facing the Shah's regime is much deeper than any it has had to face before, and the imposition of martial law has neither solved nor even opened the way to a solution to this crisis.
Secondly, the regime did not launch its counter-attack at a time when the masser were mnemse ves disillusioned and demoralised, but on une .contrar wher movement was on the upsurge and the masses were oecomlg radicalised and beginning to see their enormous sucaeun.
Thus the violent massacres 'Black Friday' on 8 September, which left several thousand demonstrators •cau. did -LOL bring demoralisation but and hatred of the masses AlECI towards the regime.
The situation has, of course, been calmer since the declaration martial law, but that is only because the masses have made a lacuca retreat to consider how they can deal with the new situation. It is also very important to note haven't ceased altogether Despite threats from the army, the Tuneral ol tnose kanee OT Friday turned into a demonstration against the Shah.
There have been demonstrations and clashes with the police and army, particularly in towns martial law nasTu imposed. And there has sidespread wave particularly among public employees.
The regime's attitude is also very Seun Canl. It has been laving carrot-and-stick game. It has brought soldiers onto the streets and made undisguised threats, but at the same time it has had to claim that it intends to carry on with its Drostamllic The regime has even made the Socialist Challenge 12 October 1978 Page 12 impose martial law alemborary ser crisis?
set back scrous colone cass on une other.
The present on une eru becoming MaSS and inefficiency of the regime. The crisis has InCreaS Ig inherent structural In oll revenues of vated the situation.
dUUl deepened the industrialisations.
imperialism, which has that struggles Alisation of semi-colonial Black 40,000-strong But industrialisation which occured in Iran other important Development of industries been means of production, which been SUIKCS. sector market As a result, production and falling profits.
"liberalisation' Manv previously Speakers include:
Ernest Mandel (United Secretariat Fourth International) ridiculous claim that it has had to in order safeguard its "liberalisation' plans!
You mentioned the crisis facing the regime. What is the nature of this What makes the present situation paruculany grave tor lne regime 1s that it is simultaneously faced with a hand, and an unprecedented political crisis and mass radicalisation on the economic decline began about two years ago. Contrary mace bourgeois economists and frequently repeated June basic Cause or une present crisis is neither the decline in real oil revenues nor the incompetence BILS roots in the problems of Iranian capitalism. Of course, the fall and government incompetence have greatly aggraIn the 20 years which preceded the present crisis, and particularly since the mid-1960s, the Iranian economy went through a period of almost uninterrupted expansion. A series of classes economic reforms, notably the land reforms, were carried out to enable capilanst aevelopment ana partal These reforms were fully backed by increasingly had to encourage partial industriacountries, such as Iran. in order to satisfv its own need to export means of production.
UluCL has serious Imitations. It is heavıly concentrated in the production of consumer goods.
producing played such a major role in the development of capitalism and expansion of the in the advanced capitalist countries, was insignificant.
there were serious limitations on the extent to which the home market could be developed, and nausues were soon racea wiln overIranian capitalsm has been faced with such a crisis in the past two years.
nighiy prontable industries have either ceased to be profitable or have experienced a rapid decline in profits.
For example. out of severa car assembly firms which experienced rapid expansion in the late 1960s and early 1970s only the largest, National, is making a profit at the moment and the rest are almost on the verge of bankruptcy.
Private investment has now almost ceased completely and there has beer a steady flight of capital abroad. The situation in the agricultural sector has been even worse and much of the land has even been abandoned by the peasantry Oil revenues could have delayed the crisis, but in practice they created as problems as they inflation soared. • COTTUDOn wastage reached astronomical figure and thev generally duaca to country's economic chaos.
Now oil revenues are declining in real terms and - given the regime's heavy commitment to Luis cape iture and the fact that it will l forced to increase social expenditure in an attempt to ease mass discontent the possibilities of bailing out -neustries are severe vimited The regime attempted to solvé the crisis Dy allacking une working class, the petit-bourgeoisie and the middle An austerity plan was introduced: anti-working class plans, such as a code of discipline for workers and worker identity cards, WEIC DrOU l in to limit the strength of the working class, which despite the lack of all elementary democratic rights had been able to win major economic demands; and the attacks on the petit-bourgeoisie were stepped up mide e-class salaries were imitee These plans failed to solve economie crisis. Insteac provoked a fight back by these vanous social grouos Behind these developments was the widespread alle growing popular discontent in the country, which had built up over years to create a highly CaDOS vCsLuaLO Years of brutal political repression; a growing gap between rich and poor; obscene manifestations of corruption and decadence; and problems such as shortages housing, essential necessities, schools and hospitals about which the government didn't even seem to care - contributed to bringing about this explosive mixture.
The oil boom helped to aggravate the situation, because the influx money into Shah's extravagant promises of a expectations watch the reg ne eo td (rea! Civilisation' Iran HOL USU.
How has the developed over the past year?
The development of the mass opposition to the regime in the past year can be divided into three phases The first began in the 1977, when various intellectual and professional groups solved: demands for greater freedom through and open letters.
This led to the organisation of a number of public meetings by the writers. the following autumn and then a series of student demonstrations and strikes. Once the regime saw that these protests were going beyond open letters and leading to widespread protests in une universiues il began a crackdown.
The next phase began in January. when the protests extended beyond intellectual circles. This was sparked off by a massacre of demonstrators in onl al unc ocelnnne oruus vedi What followed was 40-day cycle of protests.
The characteristic of this phase was widespread street involving a wide range groups: workers, students, the urban and to some extent the rural poor, and the petit-bourgeoisie.
The third phase came in the later part of the summer, after a period of and relauve This mobilisations were much larger and sine better organised. The aim of the Inel demos had become much more clearly directed at the overthrow of the Shah The masses became confident of their strength and were prepared to directly take regime's forces in street battles. For the first time, Tehran, Iran's capital, became the HUY CHuCHL What social forces were involved in these struggles?
Large sections ot almost oppressed social society have been drawn into struggle different gave rise cratic rights.
-Hass movenel of began making attack. have emerged?
HITSI TTON the famous demonstrations of social The time the opposition far more mas. on the bankruptcy centre of the mass bourgeois every ution of 1906. group Iranian over the past year. They all have motivations for thei involvement, but what has united them is that thev have all beer confronted with the same problem in their struggles to defend their particular interests: lack of demoLarge sections of the masses have gone beyond this and understood that they will have to overthrow the Shah's if they are secure acmocranc rignis and ll they are to be able to defend their interests sne sociaaver wuch gastaken une lead in these struggles and dominated unc movement ponncany is tne peut bourgeoisie. In recent years the petitDour eculse las ocen unuer constan!
It was in a far more favorable position to fight back than other social groups because of its close links to the religious establishment and so it has taken the lead drawing other social layers behind it.
What are the political forces which number of bourgeois opposition groupings. These range •LOG extreme right-wing Pan-Iranist Party, through to various bourgeois noeral groups None of thes groups amounts to more unan smal caques al present None has any significant support in the ruling class. They do not have any mass support and totally lack any kind of political organisation.
most significant bourgeois liberal group is the National Front. It has often been presented as a major group •DI CSS probably because of its historical link to Mossadegh's National Front.
But the present-day National Front is nothing more than a caricature of organisation which Mossadegh led in the early 1950s. It bears the worst characteristics of the and cowardice of liberal currents semi-colonial countries.
It is territied of the masses and places all its hopes in Jimmy Carter eventually coming to its aid. Its policy can be summed up in one phrase: adherence to the bourgeois ConstitIt has raised a number of important demands, such as the release of
dictator's days numbered h Iranian Trotskyists political prisoners, abolition SAVAK, and even trade union rights workers. KIlT has absolutely nothing to mobilise around unese cemanes The left in Iran is still extremely wcak. both organisationally politically. It is very difficult to assess. the strength of the left organisations because of their clandestinity, but it seems that the organisation which has made une greatest gains on une lent 1s the Tudeh (Communist) Party.
Until recently, the Tudeh Party called for a 'united front against the shan s personal called on sections of the ruling class to join this front. Under pressure fron the mass movement it now has a more overthrow of the monarchy and the radical Calling establishment of as like the National Front, the Tudeh Party has done little to mobilise the masses.
Other left organisations seem to be of little significance and certainy nor wave a visiole Toe! recent events.
Even the left-wing organisations, which had considerable X support among the students and youth before the recent events, have more or less disappeared from the Their problem has been that they have completely failed to give any coherent answer to the issues facing the mass movement.
Thus the Moslems dominate the whole opposition. They are extremely well organised and have set up organisational structures which in some respects resemble those of left-wing parties, and command enormous mass support.
Furthermore, the more radical wing of the Moslem movement ha shown no hesitations about going out Basses massive demonstrations of the first WECK organised by the Moslems, showed their impressive organisational ability and mass support Despite their strength and good organisation, the Moslems have had a very vague political programme. The radical wing of the movement, which has the greatest support, has called for the overthrow of the Shah and the formation of an Islamic government.
The moderate wing has called for adherence Constitution, emphasising provisions in the constitution for legislation to be vetted by the clergy.
Why have the Moslems been able to achieve such a dominant position in these struggles?
The Moslem clergy were in a far more favourable position to take a leading role simply because repression had destroyed all other organised political forces of significance. The religious establishment was the only organised Walen had neither destroyed nor subordinated to the It had its own independent source of finance in the form of religious dues which many people paid to the Ayatollahs. The mosques were the only places of free assembly which Had not been closed down, and the pulpit the only place where some freedom of speech remained:
by done strong and petit-bourgeoisie this struggle.
UnC aosence constituent struggle against the Shah - have beer them.
the Soviet and have exocusc orune cru guerrilla forces in the media.
effectively religion.
influence should be have done considerable damage by confusing which were struggle against it.
The attitude Iran What are the future prospects for the struggle against the Shah's dictatorship?
simply to the 1906 millions of politicised. A country repression has suddenly sprung to Nation caused by years of ruthless streets and have gained an enormou confidence. have gained considerable experience of struggle.
been Shah will find very difficult to take away from the masses. more than a few Black Fridays to destroy their newly-found confidence and determination.
serious problems. Politically it has been totally unable to rally any suport to launch a political counter-attack. The Rastakhiz Party, regime tried to build up as a political Secondly, the leading role played struggles is important. There are very Derween the petit-bourgeoisie and the clergy. The clergy draws much of its support from the petit-bourgeoisie, and the clergy has members. traditionally played the role of the wane political and ideological voice of the So when the petit-bourgeoisie took a lead in the fight against the Shah it was quite natural that it should use the religious establishment to organise gestapo.
Of course, in the final analysis, wnal unis question comes down to 1s the crisis of proletarian leadership. In against revo luonar proletarian leadership, the Moslems - as the political force which has shown the greatest consistency in the Sune able to draw the masses towards The support given to the Shah by particularly the Chinese bureaucracies has also nelpea have to strengthen the Moslems at the It should be emphasised that this overwhelming hegemony of Moslem leadership of the movement does not mean that the struggles movement is religious in the sense that has trequently been presented in the The major issues around which the masses have been rapid mobilised have nothing to do with This does not mean that the There political dangers of this Moslem disregarded.
Apart from the more obvious dangers arising from the religious weakness nature of the leadership and its ideology, the populist type of idea: movement. which the Moslems have propagatec and blurring the class nature of the Shah's regime and of the of the Moslems towards women will also be a serious problem for women's liberation in nave coming period.
establishment What is clear is that the mass struggle is continuing. In the last year, Iranians have become which had become politically dead as a result of The fear, apathy and demoralis dictatorship has completely gone. The programme. masses have seen their strength on the This At the same time they questions These are some of the gains that the It will take The regime itself is faced with revolutionary through which the base for itself, has disintegrated and effectively ceased to exist.
For the first time since the coup, there has even been heated speeches against the regime in the Parliament, which is composed of hand-picked Teame s apparatus of repression is still intact, but even that is beginning to show cracks under the impact of the crisis. A certain amount of demoralisation seems to have set into the ranks of SAVAK, Iran's Even in the army. the regime's last power base, there has been a certain amount of dissent.
wall makes concessions it will be opening the flood gates. If it doesn't, another very explosive situation is likely to develop rapidly. Added to this is the fact that economic CrISIS will almost certainly deepen in the coming period.
ne present ponucal uncertainty and the disruption caused by the upheavals and martial law can only an adverse effect on the Without doubt, the effect of the economic crisis and the country s radicalised atmosphere will be an • upsurge of working class and peasant which could radically change the character of the mass movement by taking the initiative away from the petit-bourgeoisie. A development of prerevolutionary situation is by no means out of the question.
are enormous problems ahead, the most important being the lack of a revolutionary proletarian weakness there senand te hegemony of the Moslems within the What tasks are revolutionaries faced with in Iran today?
The mass struggle in Iran has reached a stage in which millions of people understood the necessity . Io overthrow the Shah, which is the central issue facing the struggle in the aries must call for the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy; its replaceLa republic, anothe of constituent freely elected through universal suffrage.
AL une same ume revolorades must develop an action programme dealing with the important issues and problems facing the Iranian working Class and other oppressed group within Iranian society, and work to win over the masses to such a action programme. among other things, should deal with such as the nationalisation without compensation and workers control of large industries and banks; the national question and the right of self-determination for oppressed nationalities; the liberation of women; and the peasant The most important task facing revorauonanes is to begin to bund a party through their intervention in the struggles and all ideological struggle against the political currents leading the struggle at present.
Socialist Challenge 12October 1978 Page 13
THE WARS HIS CORAG I WOULD like to raise some points not covered in vour article detending the ANL's decision not to Carnival 2 from Brockwell Park to Brick Lane (28 September).
1 agree completely that it would have been a serious error to have fried out such a mass diversion. are totally you have ignored or are totally unaware seriousness the when they leave?' This divert problem to be overcome.
JENNYFROST[London E15] demoralising snould have been sent to the Fas End', and then go on to say that even if 5,000 had been mobilised, at the end of the day the 5,000 would have gone home. Who defends Brick Lane COUTHCEDOSC. anti-fascist mobilisation to self-defence by the black community and leads straight up a blind alley. True, the relationship is not simple — but it is the crucial off Gosling says (28 September), the fascist march was a provocation -but so was their march last year through Lewisham, responded, in marked contrast, correctly.
The ANL affirm INUSE commitment to mass mobilisation against the fascists by action and not just words and music. At the very should expect Challenge to take an independent line from the liberals and centrists when neee arises such a leadership, 20,000 might have been mobilised straight from Hyde Park.
Rather than striking off a few to go "the sectarian groups' for not deciding 'whether their defence of Brick Lane or an attack on the NF march' decision, and others about alternative forms of opposition, would in part be resolved by the presence or otherwise of ANL members there.
The numbers were all important in that 10,000 people could have stopped Socialist the Front and 1,500 of us suffered waiting for a Front march we could only heckled had it ever passed by us -which it did not.
Of course it was correct that the the music!)
for its failure.
Liverpool Street stations.
The done by the objective was the diversion?). exactly because this arrested avoided the defeat have (certainly not more than two-thirds of the 50,000 were primarily interested in 2. The ANL failed to organise ever adequate phone link-ups with what was going on in the East End.
3. The ANL "mobilisation' over the Loudspeaker at 4.30 from Brockwell Park was an ill-organised cover-up Many hundreds of people left the Carnival as a result, arrived as directed at Liverpool Street station at 5.30pm, to find no-one there to direct them.
They wandered round in groups and found themselves to be prime larges ol me sru and bands ol fascists dispersing from their rally There were a number or arrests al and harassment by the police and the NF at other tube Carnival provided opportunity to mobilise thousands of people to help consolidate the work Bengalis and other anti-racists in the East End over the summer; instead we have divisions and demoralisation (could this be what the NF wanted, rather than a The far left must do far more than mobilise for ANL carnivals to fight racism. Its first task is to defend those Brick Lane September and to mobilise again for Brick Lane Sunday after Sunday' We have to educate the youth drawn to these carnivals in a practical way on the question of no platform for fascists', on the racist nature of immigration controls and the whole sphere of state racism. The ANL must democratically restructured around a fighting programme, and if
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Anniversary of the Fourth International RALLY
Willie Mae Reid (leading black woman militant of American SWP) Stalls, exhibitions, speakers on Zimbabwe, Ireland, Iran, Latin America, international youth struggles. Friday 24 November, Camden Town Hall, London. teachers strike which is currently taking place.