EVERY AVer of Tehran society, from the court to the street. is nearly certain that the Shah will go in the next week or But if he manages to ride the DECOOL crisis he will considerably strengthened, if onlytemporarily.
The Shah himself is aware of the fate which awaits him. sources in enran intorius that he has joined his family on covered casinos, Luxury hotels and brothels. which is an apt symbol for the Pahlavidynasty.
Tehran sources report that a group of generals visited the Shah last week to try to get him to relinquish power. Now there are indications that a regency council has been formed which will take power in ine next tew days.
SHIFT Certainly something is afoot.
Ardeshir Zahedi, the ambassaGoT 1o wasnington WhOs widely regarded as Shah Carter, has returned to Tehran.
cards. The last time Zahedi was martial law declared!
Probably US imperialism has decreed that it can no longer afford to jeopardise its interests by propping up this bloodstained maniac. Better to give ground now than lose the lot.
Ine reason me governmental crisis continues, as shown by our evewiness account. Is une strength of the masses on the SUCCE.
SLAUGHTER few days, typically supressed by the British press, is that possibly thousands people have died in a slaughter even bloodier than 'Black Friday'.
But the second is that the fighting spirit of the demonstrators is only getting fiercer. For the first time there have been exchanges of gunfire - in other words the people are shooting back.
A police officer died in one of these clashes Monday.
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Socialist Challenge 7 December 1978 page 2 be "BUT PRINCESS ASHRAF THE sections of Tehran, moving to virtua civi wat Part of the reason for the determination of the opposition religious month mourning, Moharram.
Moharram is a crucial part of the religious calendar of Shia goand Islam, Iran. It is the commemoration wich is dominant in or tne deal of Imam russem, the grandson of the prophet precursors of the Suni Moslems. DEADLINE In a religious unlike anything Moslem world, Shi'ites enact a month of self-flagellation, chest beating, passion plays, latterly, scarcely political demonstration.
Religious dedication partly explains the masses' readiness no dev mne minary ment's ban on public manifestaconsor Monarra But, more to the point, they •Wal -ENCIE objective is only days away; the of tenth day of Moharram December) is widely touted as the deadline for the departure of the King of Kings.
The essential co-ordination between sectors of the opposition. As indicated in our report rom Tehran - and contrary to the Western press workers' strike We also hear that workers are taking strike action. When the troops At about ple, wearing white started coming out onto the streets in the poorer southern districts of Tehran.
They began demonstrating, shouting 'Death to the Shah". ne numper or cemons ator rapidly grew as they were joined by people who had gathered in mosques for ceremonies marking the beginning of the month of Moharram.
Truck loads of soldiers and jeeps equipped with machine guns rapidly appeared on the scene. Army officers addressed the crowd speakers in an insulting way, telling the peopleto 'get lost and which is 2o nome or ese shooting'.= The demonstrators retused to disperse and the soldiers began of people in other Tehran heard the sound of gunfire they began coming out onto the streets and demonstrating.
move into an area to attack demonstrators after the curfew the power workers simply pull the plugs, comrades to get away. else in the romany, anti-strike laws sumnuace une workers to more and imaginative actions. disguised are generally obliged to clock on, but they then work to rule or - Implement elementary workers control. govern The power workers' action is one such example. political workers who have held political (11 discussions in company time are another. And the oil workers' decision determine who did and didn't factor is the getruer was a tnira But the most example as beerune workers', who drew up a list of the 200-odd top official swho were smuggling capital out of continues. tecountry The official inquiry set up to selective DOWCE investigate the allegations will be a whitewash and nobody 9pm last | large crowds of peo- Shahreza shrouds, and many were killed.
beneare blood off the streets through loud- killing many.
we star districts of armytrucks.
Early this allowing their by the workers.
regime's SENTENCE have only Workers month corruption Nassiri, SAVAK isimplicated The many they would CODE explosive the large removed under a workers, The demonstrations reached their peak between 10-10.30pm and and Hedayat Avenues. Demonstrations were attacked by helicopter gunships The demonstrations continreligious out thistime automatic fire could Once the demonstrations had subsided atter 4am tire engines were brought in to wash the It is believed that at least 2-3,000 people were killed. One of the reporters from Kayhan 10.30am: saw an armoured car open fire on demonstrators in Sarsabil, The official casualty figures broadcast on the radio are seven deaths and 35 iniured. but Kayhan reporters have counted uD to 800 bodies in the cit morgues, while many bodies are believed to have been taken to them. an unknown destination down morning people started to come out onto the streets once more. They have set do thesame takes it seriously. The main of the Iranian revolution will be topic of conversation in Tehran the is rather who is on the list issued Our Top of the list is Hojabr Yazdani who is responsible for salting away some £40m. The strange thing about his name being on the list is that he is workers. sentence - a case in which the former head of shooting military names on the list which most embarrasses the govern«tentan.
But most interesting of all are of money code name. The who know that the culprit is the Shah himself, have demanded that the Central Bank release the real name. non-existent.
Thecrucial factor at this stage up barricades to prevent tanks trucks moving through the streets.
At 10am the sound of gunfire can be heard throughout the city once again. In several parts of the city people have begun processions in unc streets in defiance of the martial Tehran and Shiraz refineries are on strike. There is a partial strike in the southern oil fields. A full strike is expected to start today. Many shops, offices and all schools remain closed La large demonstration is taking place in Sa'adi Avenue. Troops have opened fire, killing many.
11.30am: Tens of thousands in front of the main entrance of the bazaar carrying placards saying 'Death to the Shah' They called on soldiers to join As they approached This gun and greeted do the same soldiers to 5 demonstrators impact of the mass movement on the ranks of the army. Discipline is beginning to Tehran correspondent reports how an officer greeted demonstrations at the weekend. Another eyewitness tells of how an officer broke down in tears when his soldiers refused to disperse a picket of striking oil SHOOTING And we have heard that has been reported from inside the major Saltanat Abad army base in north-east Final could mean a number of things — but none of them bodes well for the regime.
With the mass movement at its present pitch the prospect of an orderly stabilisation of a pro-Western regime to succeed the Shah looks distant.
If the army collapses it will be Our socialism will be infinitels more democratic than what evist socialism in the Cook and tastern rurope nate dierconed stan in the eyes of the millions of workers throughout the world. We are opposed t A CAMPAIGN of meetings, postering and badge selling is sweeping country preparator for December solidarity demonstration One of the biggest meetings gathering several hundred in London on Monday night.
But perhaps the biggest breakthrough has been Liverpool, where the dock shop stewards have invited a speaker from the Committee Against Repression in Iran to address tel quarteriy unis weanesday The dock shop committee will also be sending a speaker to a Trades Councilsponsored public Thursday [7.30, Star Social Club. 39 Shaw Street, Liverpool 5].
There was another breakthrouch in Birmingham Saturday, when for the first time supporters of the religious opposition in Iran joined a 500-strong demonstration cal led by the Committee Against Repression in Iran.
In Plymouth, •Dr Death' Owen has his [marginal] consuluency people marched through the city centre complicity with the Shah.
And, perhaps most importantly of all, CARI is in touch with shop stewards at the Vickers plant In Newcaste where they make the Chieftain tanks which are propping up the Shah.
Readers in those areas where there hasn't yet been any action should take the initiative: try to invite CARI speakers to your labour movement organisation, for example. It doesn't matter that vou won't be able to arrange it till after Christmas solidarity will still be needed then.
Get the new CARI badge to sell, and posters for the demo from Box 4, 182 Upper Street, London N1.
DEMONSTRATE!
Sunday 17 December 1.30pm, Speakers Corner socialisi state. The Stalinist models «
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Shah flees to island
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