In Iran, as tension increases between U.S. and Iranian capitalists making World War III a growing possibility, the working class is experiencing severe ruin. The devastation from the Iran-Iraq earthquake was the deadliest in a decade.
Devastation of Workers in Iran
It mainly affected Iran—killed over 500, injured 7,460, and left countless homeless, traumatized, and in dire conditions. It also hit seven big cities and 1,950 villages in the Kermanshah province. Officials said 12,000 houses had been completely destroyed and a further 15,000 damaged (The Guardian, 11/14). Over 70,000 need emergency shelters.
The earthquake and the government’s actions have affectively increased poverty and suffering of the working class. Communism will prevent the social devastation of earthquakes by putting the lives of the workers first.
Instead of using its resources to support employment, equity, and to sufficiently fund 70,000 working class families in need of emergency shelters after the earthquake, the Iranian ruling class spent billions of dollars on its ballistic missile programs and other military and intelligence projects (NYT, 8/13). Other funds are being used to support the Assad regime in Syria. The Iranian government wants to protect their investments in Syrian oil. The ruling classes are always concerned about their profit margins and their ability to stay in power. The needs of the working class mean nothing to them.
Mass Disaster Preventable
The country lies on dozens of fault lines. The 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake killed in northern Iran killed 35,000 to 50,000 people. The 2003 Bam earthquake in the southern Kerman province killed at least 31,000. In 2012, a double earthquake killed 300.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president from 2005 to 2013, initiated a program to build low-income housing in regions that had long history of earthquakes. Housing was knowingly created along the fault lines.
Similar to the lies told by the ruling class in the U.S after Hurricane Katrina (which killed over 1800 working-class families) the rulers’ mouthpieces in Iran said, “nothing could have been done”(NY Times, 11/13). PLP knows, from our study of what the Bolsheviks achieved, that a better world is possible! It is possible to protect the lives of the working class.
After the earthquake, many people blasted the government on social media for failing to provide resources in a timely manner. “Iranians from across the country pitched in to gather water, food and tents and transported the aid with their own cars to the disaster zone” (NY Times, 11/26).
Iran-U.S. Tension
The rivalry between the U.S. and Iran to see whose ruling class will dominate the energy-rich Middle East has already killed hundreds of thousands in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and threatens to be much bloodier in the future. Imperialist wars benefit the ruling classes of the rivals, because they are the ones who profit from control over trillions of dollars of raw materials, markets, labor and investments. But the price of these deadly wars are paid for by workers, as they are used as cannon fodder and as massive military spending crowds out spending on vital social programs.
U.S. government complaints about the Iranian theocracy are pure hypocrisy. The U.S. has sold hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Saudi ruling family. Its criticism of Iran’s involvements in Syria and Lebanon is also hypocritical given the U.S. record of occupations and support for dictatorial regimes in the region, including Iran itself. (The CIA worked to overthrow the secular leader Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953 who sought to nationalize oil, the U.S. armed the torture regime of the Shah of Iran, and is currently funding terrorist groups in Iran.)
Problem with Nationalism
Iran is preparing to confront the “threats, malicious, hegemonic and divisive activities of America in the region” (NYT, 8/13). The bosses use nationalism and patriotism to pit workers against workers in order to build profit-driven wars. There are reports of rising mass national unity against U.S. president Trump and Saudi Arabia, signaling more tension. However, capitalist-caused devastations such as the earthquakes in Iran that increased poverty and homelessness, and recent tax bill in the U.S that indubitably affects the poor, make it difficult for them to do so. Be it Iran, Saudi Arabia or U.S., the working class suffers, either through death due to war, death due to environmental cuts that increase “natural disasters” or death due to cuts to healthcare and other social services.
Under communism, workers’ needs will always be primary, because we won’t have a need for profit. Even as the 70,000 workers in Iran remain homeless the international working class is constantly reminded what’s important to the ruling classes everywhere. Our fight is more important than ever. Are you ready to fight for a better world? Workers of the world unite!