In Defence of Marxism

On March 20 pickets were organised outside Iranian embassies in Mexico, Britain, Austria and Pakistan. In some countries the pickets will take place next week. Apart from this we have received signatures from trade union and student activists from the USA and Canada, from Sweden, Belgium, Italy and several other countries. Below we publish the reports from Britain, Mexico and Austria.

"Iranian workers are not alone" - report of the London picket

Tuesday March 20 saw the international day of action in solidarity with Iranian workers. In London a picket was held with over a dozen people present. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to protest in front of the Iranian Embassy and even before all of us had gathered, the police were there already to remove us from the entrance to the embassy, claiming this was "private property" where no demonstrations were allowed! Clearly the repressive methods of the Iranian regime apply to the territory around their embassy in London!

Not falling into provocations, we moved down along the road while the police entered the embassy to tell the Iranian staff that we wanted to hand over a letter protesting against the lack of workers' rights in Iran. Twenty minutes later they came back and said that the embassy was not interested in our letter and that it was better we left immediately

As we attempted to reach the gate to the embassy to at least post the letter, it soon became clear the two police officers were looking for any excuse to arrest someone. So much for democracy in Britain! Despite all the talk about "freedom and democracy" by Tony Blair, apparently this does not apply in his own country, where peaceful protesters are not even allowed to post a letter into a letterbox.

We were left with little choice but to send the letter by post. Of course we have no illusions that one letter will change the Iranian regime's attitude to its workers but at least we hope that this picket showed that workers in Britain are following the events in Iran. Pickets like these are an important way of demonstrating this support.

Mexico: "The Iranian workers are not alone" - Protest action outside Iranian embassy in Mexico

On the international day of action on March 20 in defence of workers' democratic rights in Iran, the comrades of the International Marxist Tendency in Mexico, together with the Polytechnic Students' Struggle Committee (Comité de Lucha Estudiantil del Politécnico, CLEP) and the Student Committee in Defence of State Education (Comité Estudiantil en Defensa del la Educación Pública, CEDEP) organised a protest action outside the Iranian embassy against the persecution carried out systematically by the Iranian government against the trade union activists, against women and also teachers and students who struggle for their democratic rights and for decent living standards.

We were received at the door of the embassy by a consular representative to whom we explained the reasons for our visit. We handed him a resolution that had been signed by over one hundred trade union and student activists. The resolution expressed opposition to the persecution on the part of the regime against all those struggling for social rights.

The organisations and individuals that took part in the protest outside the Iranian embassy, feel that the problems of the Iranian workers are not alien to us. On the contrary, we consider them our problems. And in this protest action we were expressing the feelings of all Mexican workers.

It is our opinion that the repression carried out by the Iranian regime against the working class is aimed at protecting the interests of capitalism. In desperation at the implacable and determined action of millions of Iranian workers in defence of their rights, the government and the bourgeoisie of that country have launched a ferocious persecution of thousands of trade unionists in an attempt to put a stop to the struggles of the working class.

Unfortunately for the bourgeoisie and the government, the Iranian labour movement is very strong and the repression ahs not achieved its aims. Furthermore, as was clear on this March 20 day of action in many different countries, "The workers of Iran are not alone"! Proletarian internationalism is another element that counteracts the repressive intentions of the Iranian regime. The labour movement of the whole world is watching carefully the developments of the class struggle in Iran and on this March 20 it showed that it is prepared to take various forms of action of support and solidarity with its class brothers in Iran until all the rights of the workers are recognised and all forms of persecution and repression are put an end to.

The Mexican workers and students reiterate their total support for the struggles of the Iranian workers and we commit ourselves to continue with this kind of action until the government of Iran puts and end to its repressive policies.

Workers of the world unite!

Editorial board of "Militante"

Report on activity of "Iranian workers are not alone" campaign in Austria

On March 20 we organised several activities in support of the "Iranian workers are not alone" campaign. In Vienna we had a stall at the university collecting signatures for the international appeal of the Iranian Workers Solidarity Network (IWSN). Dozens of students signed the appeal and we had very good discussions explaining the situation of the workers in Iran, how they struggle, how they are facing repression from the state. This initiative was organised together with the solidarity group "Iran SOS". These Iranian comrades had produced a very informative leaflet for this day of action giving a whole series of examples of workers' struggles, especially because the wages have not been paid for months. In the future we want to continue this cooperation with the Iran SOS group in building concrete solidarity.

For many students it was the first time that they had received any information about the class struggle in Iran. In the mass media Iran is always shown as a monolithic regime of Islamic fundamentalism threatening the whole world. There was a big interest in the question of how a viable workers' movement can develop in Iran.

Our campaign also got the support of the Austrian Socialist Youth which published the appeal on its web site.

On March 20 there was also a small rally in front of the US embassy organised by the Vienna Socialist Youth and other left-wing organisations against imperialist aggression against the Iran. There we also presented the appeal of our campaign.

In the evening we presented the appeal in several branch meetings of the Socialist Youth. There was also big interest and we will organise discussions on the perspectives of the Iranian labour movement and the resistance against the Mullah's regime.

Comrades from the Socialist Youth Vienna-Alsergrund