Ran 'workers Struggle

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More and more now, the crisis of imperialism reflects itself back into the countries of the Middle east.

The Shah of Iran, too, has overspent his oil revenues, not least in such ways as the Empress Farah's use of an Iranian Boeing 707 jet last month to transport three tons of marble to decorate a new swimming pool.

If the Shah has been running a much-publicised 'anti-corruption campaign' at home, there is little sign that this will allay the growth of popular discontent and the reawakening of the working class movement in his country.

At least fourteen "terrorists' have been executed by the Shah in recent weeks. Some of them allegedly killed Mohammad Sadegh Fateh (a notorious landlord . and exploiter of child labour) twenty of whose workers were shot down during a strike in 1971.

One notable feature of these barbarous regimes is the cordial support given to them by British Labour and trade union leaders.

The visits by Trade Secretary Shore and other Labour ministers tr cos tha Chah in Tahenn and St Moritz is already notorious. TUC General Council member Lord Briginshaw also visited Iran before his recent retirement.

The notorious trumped-up charges against twenty-one Iranian students who protested against one of the Shah's series of executions were carried through by the British authorities, but eventually had to be dropped.

The price of this cooperation is the maintenance of an illiteracy rate of over 50% in Iran, together with an average income of less than £8 week in the rural areas.

The oi wealth goes into the pockets of a few millionaires and the multinational companies are allowed to exploit the Iranian masses in ways which help to undermine workers' conditions everywhere.

This is why we welcome the appearance of leaflets and other material produced by a group of Iranian workers in this country called 'Nabarde Kargar' (Workers' Struggle/ pointing out the conditions under which oil wealth is produced, and initiating a 'Campaign for the Restoration of Trade Union Rights in Iran' The r aIr+ thant 6:f the Shrewsbury Two had beer Iranians, they wouldn't only hav been wrongly jailed, they woul have been executed' They show the links of thi multinational companies and thei desire to earn profits where ther are no 'labour troubles' (tradi unions have not been allowed is Iran since 1953).

They point out further that "there is a link between unemploy ment, redundancies and wage cut in this country, and the lack o: trade union rights in Iran.

The Workers Struggle group call for the right to set up unions, t bargain and to strike, as well as fo: full freedom for all political prison ers in Iran.

They call on trade unionists anc Labour Party members to suppor the idea of a British Labour Move ment Mission of enquiry to visil Iran and find out the rea conditions under which worker struggle for trade union rights'.

We feel sure that readers and supporters of this paper will want to give their support to this campaign and to obtain more material about it from Nabarde Kargar at PO Box 21, 197 King Conce Rd Tandon WC1

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The first two political documents reproduced in this volume It was in struggling to understand this material in the writing