In Honor of,
30th Anniversary of the 1979 Uprising and 38th Anniversary of the Siahkal Epic

In February 1971 when the dictatorial regime of the Shah was in its strongest position, Peoples' Fedaii Guerrillas with strong determination launched an attack to topple the imperialist dependent regime of the Shah. By attacking Siahkal Gendarmerie they were able to break the atmosphere of fear and repression. Contrary to the dominating belief in those days that thought the regime and its secret police Savak were invincible, this attack proved the opposite. From there on a new chapter was open in the struggle of the working class. In Feb. 1979 this struggle culminated into a nationwide uprising that eventually brought down the 2500 years of monarchism in Iran. In Feb. 1979 when millions of people from all walks of life took to the street chanting "Death to the Shah", world imperialism and it operatives in Iran were engaged in secrete talks with the religious fundamentalists headed by Ayatollah Khomeini to derail and silence the people's uprising. In those days it seemed necessary that for protecting the interests of the world capitalism the existing economic structure and repressive state apparatus, especially the intelligence organs, should be rescued and protected. The day after the collapse of the Shah's regime, all the state repressive institutions and structures were reorganized and new elements were brought in to manage these institutions. These new elements looked different and started operating under the name of Islamic revolution aiming to protect the interests of the world capitalism.


From that day on people of Iran have been facing dark days much more painful and harsher than what they experienced under he Shah's dictatorship. At that time US had much wider agenda in defending and supporting Pan-Islamism in the region. The Islamic Republic of Iran like other reactionary movements in Pakistan, Algeria, and Turkey, had strong backing of the United States. They were supported similar to Taliban and Bin Laden. US was supporting these reactionary movements in order to make its capitalist expansion in the region relatively smooth. In those years creation of OPEC and rising oil prices were major concerns for the capitalist world. Long term plans of the US and other major industrial powers were based on the idea that the money paid for the oil should be funneled back to its origin by selling them goods produced in the West. Along with this policy and in this framework those countries which were operating in the economic circle of the West and also were willing to subjugate their own people with religion and divinity were able to receive US backing and support. At that time religion and return to the ideas of the dark ages were rapidly in the rise in our country.

Exporting capital to other nations always needs secure and safe environment and this "grand task" is only achievable by the regimes which are willing to deceive their own people with empty hopes and promote antiquated barbaric ideas. For this scenario to succeed, advertising religion and promoting superstitions among masses becomes crucial and plays a central role. If it wasn't for the pivotal role of the religion how else the Islamic Republic could have managed to promote rituals and ideas of the dark ages as it has done so masterfully for so many years?


Even though these tactics and policies, to a large degree, were useful in 70's and 80's in protecting interests of the imperialism, but over the time pretty much lost their efficacy. This stemmed from the fact that these religious forces to a large extent were in odds with the modern economic structures and their historical roots blended with ethnicity separated them from the West and put them on the opposite side of the US interests. Some of these forces such as Bin Laden and Mullah Omar who were Sunni faith decided to revolt against the US hoping to satisfy and keep their fundamentalist followers together. The Islamic Republic who saw its very survival tied to the growth of religion and returning to the teachings of the early Islam was no exception. This regime in order to secure a place for itself in the Islamic world, from day one tried to introduce itself as a leader of Shia population in the world. Heads of the Islamic regime know well that if at any time they decide to put aside their religious cover, there will be no credibility left for them in the eyes of the Arab nations and they will lose out the competition to the other leadership contenders. This will be very detrimental for the regime and leaves no room for the regime's wishful ambitions and egos in the Islamic world. To succeed in the leadership contest, at the beginning, after adding some stability to its shaky power apparatus, regime tried to slowly distance itself from the US and with some "anti imperialist" slogans created a new Islamic charter for itself to compete with other Arab contenders. Nonetheless this didn't work well for the regime and over the time further isolated the Islamic Republic from the world community, UN charters, and international laws.


In last 30 years the theocratic regime ruling Iran has imposed such a harsh and devastating economic, social and political conditions on people that it is hard to find a comparison for it in any other part of the world. This regime for so many years has subjugated the people of Iran by relying on antiquated religious teachings. For so many years regime has tried to constantly create international tensions and divert the public opinion away from the pressing domestic problems. Only few years after they came to power Khomeini and other heads of the regime were constantly advertising war slogans such as "Conquering Jerusalem Via Karbala (Iraq)". Head of the regime continued interfering in the business of the neighboring country Iraq so much that soon people of both nations were drawn into an 8 years of unwanted bloody war. After 8 years the war ended and Khomeini died with it as well. Regime continued to keep the people preoccupied with the issue of finding a replacement for the deceased leader. Throughout the entire war period, repressive domestic crackdowns continued with highest urgency. Opponents of the regime were identified and no matter what their political affiliation, religion, or ideology was, they were arrested, tortured, and sent to fire squads. From day one, regime has instigated conflicts with the neighboring countries and has used this as a pretext to impose a state of repression on people. They have always pushed to crackdown ethnic Kurds, Balouchies, Azaries, Turkmen, and people in Khozestan.


Workers of Iran who helped to overthrow the Shah's regime by staging nation-wide strikes and street demonstrations are now living in very harsh and grim economic conditions. They are deprived from having their own organizations and often go unpaid for months. There are reports that in some factories workers haven't been paid for over 16 months. Workers' movements and their economic demands are usually answered with prison, torture, and execution. Activists very often are sent to prison with some absurd justifications.


Iran's nuclear issue and its consequences is something that has been used by the regime to threaten the world community and to extort random inside and outside of the country. On one hand the issue has been used for domestic public consumptions and on the other hand regime has utilized it to intensify its anti Western propaganda. Regime continues to claim that the West is against us and wants to prevent us from flourishing and acquiring atomic energy. With this pretext every opponent is labeled as a Western collaborator! They go on claiming if "anybody attacks our nuclear facilities, we draw the entire world into a war". So far this scare tactic has worked well for the regime, and industrial powers and especially the Europeans in order to protect their own economic interests have given the regime a free hand.


Despite mounting poverty, drug addiction, and prostitution, which are directly related to the underlying economic conditions, every year millions of dollars from people's money and from the national treasury are spent in Arab, African, and Latin American countries to support the so called "Revolutionary and anti American" movements. Heads of the regime see weakness in the implementation of the international laws and are not afraid to claim, "recent war in Gaza was our second war with Israel". For sure talks like this in such an open format can give a pretty good justification to Israel to prove that the real enemy in the region is Iran and not Hamas by launching a war against Iran and slaughtering defenseless people of the region. Even though the war between Israel and Hamas is not over yet but the regime has already made commitments to start allocating assets to rebuild Gaza, as they did in Lebanon after the war between Sheikh Hassan Nasrollah and Israel. With the oil price dropping and widespread shortages spreading, where is the grim economic condition of Iran is headed and what is to be done?


The lesson of the last 30 years has thought us that as long as this regime is in power, people of Iran will not be able to see the happy days of freedom and prosperity. The only way out of this grim and dark condition is to topple the criminal regime of the Islamic Republic and establish a democratic government in its place. To achieve this vital goal we must unite and rise up united against the regime.

Down with the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Long live Peoples' Democratic Republic,
Long live memory of the martyrs of Siahkal and 79 uprising,
Long live Socialism.
Organization of Iranian Peoples' Fedaiie Guerillas (OIPFG)