Tudeh Party of Iran commemorates 85th anniversary

The statement describes the Party as having played a major role in Iran’s political, social, cultural, and intellectual development. It highlights its campaigns against fascism, its trade-union and political organizing, the creation of the United Central Council of Workers and Toilers and the Freedom Front, and its extensive publications promoting Marxism-Leninism. It states that the Party significantly influenced Iran’s Left and progressive movements.

Following the US-British coup of August 19, 1953, the suppression of the Oil Nationalization Movement, executions, mass arrests, and SAVAK repression, the Party entered a period of clandestine activity and exile. During the revolutionary movement of the 1970s, it expanded its activities. After the September 1978 massacre at Jaleh Square, the Party’s publication Navid called for a nationwide general strike. The statement says that the general strike, particularly by oil workers, contributed to the overthrow of the monarchy and the February 1979 Revolution.

After the revolution, the Party returned to Iran and became a nationwide organization, organizing among workers, peasants, students, women, and intellectuals. The statement acknowledges that the Party initially prioritized opposition to imperialist threats while failing to give sufficient attention to the growing authoritarianism and religious reaction of the new government. By the early 1980s, it concluded that the ruling forces were pursuing the monopolization of political power and the suppression of leftist organizations.

The statement emphasizes the massive repression of the Tudeh Party in February and May 1983, including arrests, torture, executions, and the imprisonment of thousands of members. Despite the regime’s claims that it had destroyed the Party, the statement says that the Tudeh Party survived through the efforts of members inside Iran and in the diaspora. It also condemns what it describes as continuing propaganda campaigns by the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus, political opponents, and pro-capitalist forces aimed at distorting the Party’s history and policies.

The statement presents the current period as one of the most dangerous in Iran’s contemporary history. It condemns US and Israeli military aggression against Iran, the bombing and destruction of Iranian cities and infrastructure, and what it describes as war crimes. It reiterates the Party’s opposition to the Islamic Republic while also opposing foreign intervention, the dismemberment of Iran, and the imposition of political forces through foreign interests.

It also condemns the Iranian government’s repression of protests over poverty, high living costs, and deprivation, as well as executions and other repressive measures. At the same time, it criticizes US sanctions and economic warfare, which it says have intensified poverty and hardship for tens of millions of Iranians.

The Party calls for an end to sanctions and economic warfare, prevention of renewed military conflict, and mobilization against both foreign aggression and domestic repression. It states that its historic mission remains the liberation of Iran from tyranny and the establishment of freedom, genuine independence, social justice, and socialism.

The statement concludes by honoring fallen Tudeh members, political prisoners, their families, and Party members and supporters who continue their struggle. It calls for opposition to imperialist aggression and the Israeli state, opposition to dictatorship, peace, and the united struggle of patriotic and freedom-loving forces.