International Workers’ Day, 1st May, arrives at a time when capitalism has entered a new phase of its structural crisis — a crisis increasingly manifesting itself in the struggle between capitalist powers over the division and acquisition of markets and the intensification of the arms race. The manifestation of this crisis and conflict can be seen in the increased attacks on the working class and their class allies, and in the wars that have been waged all over the world. Among these wars, we can mention the criminal, destructive, and genocidal attack by the Zionist regime of Israel on the Palestinians in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, the war between Ukraine and Russia, and the civil war in Sudan.
The global capitalist crisis has made parasitic economies, including Iran’s, even more fragile, and if we add to that the Islamic Republic’s rentier economy, which relies on oil rents, we end up with the same miserable situation that the Islamic Republic regime has created in Iran; economic crisis and recession, followed by inflation and high prices in Iran, have severely affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of workers, employees, teachers, nurses, and the general working population. According to Hossein Raghfar, an economic expert, half of Iran’s eighty-five million population were living below the poverty line in 1400 (2021–2022). The Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Labour has reported this figure as 26.5 million people. Other state-affiliated bodies have published different figures. What is clear is that the Islamic Republic’s institutions, as always, are not revealing the true statistics. According to Raghfar, 33 percent of Iranians suffer from “absolute poverty” and six percent of them live below the hunger line.
Economic, social, and political crises have engulfed the entire country. In its 46 years of rule, the Islamic Republic regime has shown that it has not only been unable to resolve these crises, but has also continually exacerbated them, ruining the lives of millions of workers and toilers, and driving them into poverty and hunger.
In Iran under the rule of the Islamic Republic, it is not only the economy and exploitation that have ruined the lives of the working masses. Workers and other exploited people also suffer from the lack of freedom of expression and association in the workplace.
They are repressed, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and executed, just like other social groups. Unlike in many countries, workers and their class allies in Iran do not have the opportunity to leave work on 1st May or have this day as holiday, take to the streets, protest and march against oppression, exploitation, and inequality. However, workers in Iran celebrate 1st May in various ways they can and manifest their solidarity against the oppression and exploitation.
Long live 1st May, International Workers’ Day of Solidarity!
Forward to forming the secret strike committees in factories and workplaces!
Forward to the social revolution!
Association of Iranian Political Prisoners (in Exile)
25 April 2025 /5 Ordibehesht 140Top of FormBottom of Form
