na Pra Se SE Ae A ep nee NT BYIRA MUNIST: “United front needed for full liberation On January 13, amidst the ‘rapidly-developing events in Iran, the Tudeh Party’s (Iran’s Com- munist Party) Central Committee issued a declaration outlining its proposals in the liberation strug- gle underway. Below are the main points it contained: ere ie By forming a United Front for the national liberation of Iran, by intensifying the national libera- tion movement and the all-round preparation of the armed struggle we will repel the assaults of im- perialism as well as of the anti- national and anti-democratic re- gime... This heroic and historic strug- gle not only threatens the rotten imperial regime of Iran but also one of the most important ter- ritories of imperialist robbery and aggression in the world. The bloodthirsty imperialists under the leadership of aggressive and thievish U.S. imperialism deprive our country yearly of national wealth amounting to dozens of . billions of dollar and have trans- formed our country into one of their largest aggressive military bases against the peace-loving peoples of the region ... The Shah’s regime and im- perialism have imposed upon the peoples of our homeland a bloody civil war. Therefore it is the task - of all patriots to repel the attacks of the enemy on this battlefield, too, with the same immovable will as always by an all-round preparation of the armed struggle and by its coordination with all other forms of the political strug- e and to prepare themselves for re decisive offensive. e Tudeh-Party is of the opin- jon that the development of the situation in our country has reached a stage at present due to which, considering the armed and criminal assault of the Shah’s re- ‘me and of imperialism against the people, the preparation of the armed struggle of the people will be the most important and most urgent task of all forces combat- ing the regime and imperialism. Therefore, fully aware of our his- - “toric responsibility at the present moment we declare: - 4) The CC of the Tudeh-Party - of Iran appeals to all leaders of the national liberation movement of Iran, especially to His Holiness the Great Ayatollah Khomeini, His Holiness the Ayatollah Taleghani, Dr. Karim Sandjabi and the other leaders of the fighting religious and political movements of Iran, who exper- ienced personally the crimes of the regime, to use their total force, their whole influence and their entire prestige for the establishment of a united front for the national liberation of Iran, a front which will unite all honest national forces of the homeland in their struggle against the regime and imperialism. This front will aim at taking over the leading role in the struggle of the whole people against the Shah and against im- perialism and at organizing, be- sides the application of all normal methods of the political struggle, to prepare and lead the armed struggle of the people against the armed forces of the Shah’s re- gime. 2) The Tudeh Party appeals to all fighters of the people, to all political organizations and groups of Iran, besides the endeavours to establish the mentioned front, to make all efforts that the cells and sections of this front be formed among the people, in every fac- tory, at every university, at any school, in any enterprise and in the countryside as well and in the residential areas of the towns with the participation ofall fighters. By all ways and means one must st- rive for their extension and con- solidation. In fulfilling this task the heaviest burden will be put on the shoulders of the heroic and glorious working class of Iran. They have given the hated de- spotism and imperialism very ef- fective blows by their excellent struggle during the last years and especially during the last months, The Tudeh Party is firmly con- vinced that the working class of Iran will master its histori- revolutionary mission at this stage of the struggle, too, at the very front of the working people and all patriots. Any cell and any section has to use all forces to extend the normal political cam- paigns — manifestations, strikes etc., — and at the same time to prepare for the armed resistance and armed offensive in con- frontation with the obscure forces of the murderous regime of the Shah and imperialism. 3) The CC of the Tudeh Party of Iran appeal to all patriotic of- ficers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers, to transform their struggle against the Shah’s re- gime, which in form of desertion only has a passive character, into a positive and active struggle in order to paralyze the military ap- paratus of the regime and to estab- lish a front of resistance and of assault within the army. Patriotic officers, non- commissioned officers and sol- diers! It is your task to participate courageously and unselfishly like your revolutionary fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in this historic struggle bravely and consequently. It is your task to form secret cells and sections of © the united front for the national liberation of Iran in every bar- rack, in every military formation, to join the cells and sections of the people’s front and to help them in forming armed units, in the field of military training and in procur- ing weapons and ammunition. It is your task to paralyze with all means from inside the military organization of the people’s enemies and to put the barracks of the regime under the- control of the people. Patriotic fighters! Just as the heroic fighters in Teheran, Isfahan, Mashdad, Tabriz and many other towns have understood and practised it on their own initiative it is the first, most urgent and most impor- tant task of the forces combating the regime and imperialism to an- | nihilate the criminal organizations of Savak, the guards of murderers ‘of the police and the punishment units of the rural police. With the annihilation of the organiza- tions of the political terror and Oppression, above all with the an- nihilation of Savak, the nightmare’ of fear will be taken from the country. The victory in this field will make the political reconnais- sance work among the simple and not yet conscious members of the army and the encouragement of the hesitating officers, non- commissioned officers and sol- diers, to follow the people, much easier. The Tudeh Party appeals to all leaders of the national liberation movement... for the establishment of a united front which will unite all honest forces in their struggle. The Tudeh Party is firmly convinced that the working class of Iran will master its historical revolutionary mission at the very front of the working people and all patriots. This is the most urgent task of all fighters of the national liberation movement... lranian oil workers’ strike broke back of Shah’s tyranny _The following is a portion of a feature article in The U.S. Daily” World by Tom Foley which out- lines the key role played by the strike of Iran’s oil workers during the dramatic events which re- sulted in the toppling of the Shah. * * * It was not the gigantic de-. monstrations. of millions that brought the Shah down, although they battered like a river in flood against the structure of his rule. What broke the foundations of the Shah’s tyranny was the strike by , Iran’s 67,000 oil workers. The Shah was dependent for 85% of his money on oil The first strike began in Oc- ‘tober, after 10 months of mass demonstrations had failed to top- ple the Shah. It almost ended his rule right then. Alarmed, the Shah installed a military government and ordered it to drive the oil workers back to work at gunpoint. It did. But then there was a slowdown. And finally, at the beginning of De- cember, another strike — this time a political one aimed straight at the Shah. Oil production fell to ‘nothing. The Shah lost billions, the Iranian currency was wreck- ed, and the huge, clanking jugger- naut of Shah rule ground to a halt without oil. Power of Workers It was one of the clearest and most important demonstrations in The women of Iran are playing a prominent role throughout the bitter recent years of the power of or- struggle to topple the Shah and his hand-picked successor. Women ganized industrial workers. It have marched in huge numbers at every stage of the struggle. made many people nervous for precisely that reason. To reassure these people, Time magazine re- ported in its Jan. 22 issue that the rumors circulating in Tehran, that Iran’s Communists had taken over the oilfields, were untrue: Time said there were probably less than 5,000 Tudeh (‘‘Mass- es’’) Party members among the Iranian oil workers. Did this calm Time’s alarmed readers? I think not, because the historic centre of strength of the Tudeh (outlawed since 1949) had been among Iran’s oil workers, and these nervous people who read Time had been assured by the Shah and the CIA (who put him’ back in power in 1953) that the Tudeh had been utterly wiped out and was non-existent in Iran. Oil was struck by the British imperialists in Iran (then called Persia) in 1908. It was run as a totally British operation, by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company — owrted by the British government — until.1951, when the late Pre- mier Mohammed Mosaddeq nationalized Iranian oil, with the support of practically all Iranians. There followed a bitter political and: economic struggle between the Iranians and U.S.-British im- perialism, which ended when the CIA overthrew Mosaddeq by a_ coup in August 1953, and reinstal- led the Shah on his throne. The Shah always knew who put him there, and it was not the Iranian people. CIA Coup and U.S. Oil For whom did the CIA place the Shah in power? An answer begins to emerge if we study who derived the most benefit from this CIA coup: the big U.S. oil monopoly corporations. U.S., not British. Mossaddeq’s oil nationaliza- tion was never revoked — could not have been, even by the CIA, the Shah and the oil corporations, without ‘provoking a mass upris- ing in Iran. What was done to get around that fact was this: On Oc- tober 29, 1954, an agreement was signed by the Shah and the big monopoly oil corporations. Oil sales and distribution within Iran would remain a monopoly of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC); oil explora- tion, production, refining and all oil sales abroad were to be hand- led by an international oil monopoly corporation cartel, po- litely referred to as ‘‘the Consor- tium.”’ The Consortium is made up of British Petroleum, 40%; Shell, 14%, Gulf, California Standard, Exxon, Mobil and Texaco 7% each; U.S. independents 5% to- tal, and Compagnie Francaise des Petroles, 6%. The 1954 Consor- tium agreement, which was celebrated by hanging 21 oil workers’ leaders, thus broke the former British monopoly of Ira- nian oil and gave the U.S. oil monopolies a 40% cut. The British could do little to protest this U.S. muscling in, the Iranians nothing. But the Consortium agreement is completely illegal in the eyes of all Iranian patriots. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 23, 1979—Page 9