2-03-06, 9:39 am

Statement of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran regarding the vicious attack by the reactionary regime of the Velayat-e Faqih (Supreme Theocratic Leader) on the workers and trade union activists of Tehran's Public Transportation Company

Fellow Citizens,

In a vicious attack on the workers of Sherkat-e Vahed (Tehran's Public Transportation Company), the security thugs of the Velayat-e Faqih regime arrested hundreds of militant workers and their families, sending them off to government torture chambers. According to a statement released by the Syndicate of Public Transit Workers of Tehran and its Suburbs, on Saturday, January 28 the widespread strike by the transit workers 'encountered an unprecedented raid by the Islamic Republic security forces'.

The statement goes on to say that the regime's thugs forcibly entered the residences of union activists and took even their small children off to jail. 'They arrested a great many of our colleagues; we don't have the exact number yet, but certainly the number exceeds hundreds. Using brutal violence and threats, they forced some of our colleagues to return to work to drive the buses, and also brought in scab drivers from the armed forces. The regime has let loose thousands of policemen and security agents on us, uniformed and non-uniformed, to break our strike. This is our current situation.' Repeated attacks by the security forces on workers and union activists have become a regular part of the despotic new government's efforts to subdue the voices of opposition and ever more brutally suppress the struggle of Iran's working class, a struggle that could evolve into a serious threat to the regime.

This policy against workers and their unions, coupled with attacks on the student movement, terrorizing the media and journalists, and steadily militarizing the country's political atmosphere by employing the excuse of a 'foreign threat', is part of the regime's strategy to divert attention away from the country's political and economic situation to their own advantage.

The new government is determined to crush all the potential for change that exists in the popular movement, and has as its ultimate goal the imposition of an authoritarian regime similar to that of the Taliban.

The lack of response from a number of the country's social and political groups, and the reformist forces in particular, will only serve to aggravate the attacks of the despots. Keeping quiet about the attack on the transport workers not only makes it harder to defend the detainees and gain their freedom, but will also be seen as a green light for the reactionary ruling forces to intensify and expand their attacks.

By mobilizing the social forces within the country and organizing a broad-based solidarity movement internally and internationally, we can apply the necessary pressure on the regime. We must demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested workers, union activists, and their family members. We must also insist on the full recognition and implementation of conventions 97 and 98 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) upholding the right of workers to organize unions.

We cannot allow this regime to gradually roll back all the accomplishments of the popular movement in recent years and impose a harsh and bloody tyranny on our country.

Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran 29th January 2006