Last month, Gerald McIlwaine - along with other members of what The main aim of the government has been to rush to establish stable capitalist rule by calling on the masses to give up their arms, abandon their self-elected committees in the army and industry and return meekly to work. They fear the dynamic of a situation in which the masses, increasingly self-confident, could continue the democratisation of Iranian society in a clear anti-capitalist direction.
A key target of their attacks have been workers in the oilfields and other industries who (as the Tehran daily Kayhan reported on Feb 19th) "are not listening to the Ayotollah Khomeini" and over whom "leftist groups have an astonishing amount of influence". Correctly insisting that the Ayotollah's government was elected by no - one, they have refused to abandon their elected committees and demands for legalising workers' control and opening the books of companies to public scrutiny.
Curbing such committees has been a major aim in restoring stable capitalist rule and is the reason why statements from the Barzagan government have become ever more shrill. On Feb 20th, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, a principal advisor to the Ayotollah, was reported in the New York Times as denouncing "those rebellious elements who are trying to form workers' committees and threatening demonstrations if oppos. ed".
Alternative The attacks on industrial workers has gone hand in hand with a more general attempt to restore 'order' by curbing the initiative of the masses. Calling on people to return the arms seized during the mass antiShah mobilisations, the government has ordered Iran's 450, 000 soldiers to return to barracks & accept the discipline of their former proShah officers.
Such moves have clearly brought the government into increasing conflict with rank-and-file soldiers who have set up democratic cttees fighting for their right to free speech, to participate in political activity, and to "elect commanders we trust, not appointments from above".
What the government fears from these committees - in industry, in the army and the neighbourhood -is that, representing the democratic interests of the masses, they could become an alternative power structure to their unelected rule Organised on a regional & national basis, they could lead the struggle for elections to a genuine Constituent Assembly in which a Workers and Peasants' government could emerge.
Prestige The government's repressive moves have, of course, won the approval of anxious officials both in London & Washington. The Ayotollah Khomeini, who was earlier reviled by US officials & the mass media for refusing to come to a deal with the Shah, is now seen as the main force for shoring up the curbing any encroachments on private property.
There can be no doubt that the Ayotollah is well-placed to carry out this task. The fact that today, however, he is forced to oppose - and not champion - the aspirations of the Iranian people will increasingly undermine his prestige. Growing layers will begin to see that the only way of defending the gains they have won - and of extending them - will be by seeking a socialist outcome to the revolutionary struggle.
Such a process has already begun to open up not only in the opposition developing to the Bazargan government among soldiers in the army and workers in the industrial cent.res. The fact that the Ayotollah has begun to curb the rights of women and the oppressed nationalities - in particular the Kurds - has drawn wider layers into anti - government action. On March 8th, for example, there was a 5000 strong demonstration in Tehran by women protesting the role reserved for them under the Ayotollah's Islamic Republic.
Opportunity Such a situation will open up major opportunities in the period ahead for revolutionary socialists ' such as those organised in the Socialist Workers Party, Iranian section of the Fourth Internationall. By championing the rights of the workers -& their allies among the peasants, Political prisoners released from Savak jails.
soldiers, women & oppressed national minorities - they have a real chance of winning thousands to see that the solution to their problems lies in breaking with capitalism & fighting for a socialist republic It is not just a question of supporting the demands raised but of helping to build the popular organs of power that have already sprouted up in the factories, army and neighbourhoods and trying to link them on a national basis. Such organs, representing the real interests of the mass of Iranians, could begin to pioneer the call for a Workers & Peasants government within a democratically - elected Constitvent Assembly.
See page 9 for position of Iranian Trotskvists.