Dialogue from Network of Iranian Labor Unions

Recently, we were directed to an article in the March-April 2010 News & Letters, "Iranian workers enter the fray," by Raha, in which an isolated quote from one of our members was used to prove that a regressive repeat of the 1979 Islamic revolution was in store for Iran. The author claimed that NILU (the Network of Iranian Labor Unions) was set against advancing workers' independent interests because this would supposedly weaken the Green Movement's internal unity. Starting from this rather dubious premise, the author further claimed that there were clear parallels to be made between the present moment and 1979 when millions of people blindly fell into the trap that Muslim fundamentalists had set for them.

We are happy to inform the author and N&L readers that while there are many difficulties and perils attending the nascent democratic movement, a repeat of the Islamic Revolution is definitely not one of them.

First, unlike the earlier generation with its all-too-familiar revolutionary-romantic/Manichean notions, the new generation is both more sophisticated and more canny as to who its friends and enemies are and the magnitude of the problems. For example, you cannot find one single individual--out of several million Greeners--that is taken in by Mir-Hossein Mousavi's personality, magnetism, political infallibility or mystical powers. When he announced his candidacy last Spring, few had any idea who he really was. For many, a vote for Mousavi was a vote against the system and a vote of no confidence against the regime itself. Today, Mousavi enjoys widespread popularity because he has stood up to the dictatorship and hasn't caved in to the pressures and threats. His popularity would just as easily evaporate if he sells out to the system.

Secondly, the present movement is distinctly democratic in content and in its aims. While practically all the 1979 participants in one way or other called for some form of democracy, none wanted it for the other groups in the struggle. That is decidedly not the case today. Decades of living under dictatorial rule by clerics has taught everyone important lessons in civic responsibility and tolerance. Even structurally, the Green Movement is made up of a vast number of small cells of like-minded people with lots of horizontal ties and few vertical ones.

Thirdly, unlike the violence-prone 1979 revolutionaries, present-day Greeners show a remarkable antipathy towards indiscriminate and mindless violence. In fact, this could be said to be the closest to civil non-violent struggle in memory. We welcome this development as a new form of struggle for social and political empowerment for the third world and beyond (see: Frontline, "A Winning Strategy" at pbs.org). The South African model--where regime henchmen were given blanket clemency--is all the more critical for us because for millions of our devout fellow citizens, support for the regime is unfortunately equated with maintaining faith in God and the prophet.

Finally, this brings us to the contention that our group is for subordinating workers' rights to some nebulous larger aims. What NILU member Homayoun Pourzad was saying in that interview was not that workers should put on hold the promotion of their class interests or that women and young people should not advance their interests. Any cursory glance at our English-language website, Iran Labor Report, would show that we are doing exactly opposite of what the N&L author wrote we are doing or saying. (The same could be said of Zahra Rahnavard, also treated unfairly by the author.) In fact, we are helping with organizing the unorganized at great risk to our security and safety.

What Pourzad said in the interview was that differences among the various Green Movement contingents should not be allowed to aid the enemy to the detriment of the movement. Our movement is still rather weak while the enemy is ruthless, powerful and extremely cunning. What makes them even more dangerous is the special combination of religion and right-wing politics which they excel at exploiting with devastating results. For instance, there are currently over 40,000 volunteers signed up for suicide missions in Iran. In 2005-2006, the mighty U.S. Army was almost brought to its knees in Iraq by less than 1,000 suicide mission volunteers.

The analogy is not unlike the Weimar Republic before Hitler's rise to power. Had the liberals, socialists and communists united against Hitler, instead of attacking one another, the Nazis would probably not have been able to capture power in 1933 or even later. We are at a historic juncture which we could ill afford to miss. Any move that makes us weaker must be avoided. Class, gender and ethnic differences must be respected and articulated comradely and amicably. This was and remains the gist of our position.

--The Network of Iranian Labor Unions
April 17, 2010

Editor's note: Below we reprint the paragraphs where Raha, the author of the article in question, "Iranian workers enter the fray," quotes The Network of Iranian Labor Unions.

"Reports from southern Iran point to heavy security presence in the oil fields to crush any work stoppage by the oil workers. According to a union activist from the Network of Iranian Labor Unions, 'the nucleus of the movement is in place and once the situation allows for it, there will be a huge mushrooming of independent labor unions... we are focusing on organizing labor to bring the country to a halt if need be.... We think labor is poised to play a strategic role.'"

* * *

"The same is true of other forces, especially the women's liberation movement. Surprisingly, Zahra Rahnavard's latest interview, while insisting on women's rights, states that just as in 1979, women need to subsume their demands under the general needs of the movement. Have we not learned from 1979 that the 'general' cannot float in air outside the 'particulars,' that the whole cannot be without the parts lest it be an abstract whole? Will the Iranian women who have fought valiantly for so long once again have their demands postponed until after 'victory' is achieved?

"Unfortunately this attitude has made inroads into the labor movement. When asked about the Green movement, Homayoun Pourzad, a labor activist, states, 'The movement supporting Mousavi is a broad national-democratic front: we are all working with a sort of minimum program.... We do not have any illusions that anyone in the leadership of the Green Movement is 100% on board with workers' rights, but this is not the time to discuss that.' Why not?

"Didn't we witness the 1979 revolution get aborted when all the concrete demands for a new way of life got completely submerged under anti-imperialism without a thought to what happens the day after?..."

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