Since 28 December last year, mass demonstrations have been occurring in Iran against its government. Initially they were a spontaneous reaction to the economic distress caused by a collapse in the currency, but they soon turned on the regime as a whole. Authorities have responded with intense violence. Eyewitness accounts tell of security forces using machine guns on demonstrators. The most widely quoted figure for casualties speaks of 2,600 killed, though other reports suggest a far higher death toll.
A Murderous Regime
In Iran, a clique of reactionary clergy control the major levers of State power and blackball all rivals from running for election. They are a false friend to the Palestinians and confine their anti-imperialism to the sphere of rhetoric. The clergy came to power in the wake of the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 that overthrew the hated Shah. A faction around Ayatollah Khomeini outmanoeuvred both bourgeois democrats and the Left to gain approval for the Islamic Republic and then proceeded to drown opposition in blood. The Left and bourgeois democrats were crushed from 1980-82 with arrests, torture and murders.
The regime has proceeded as it began. Thirty thousand Leftist prisoners were executed in 1988. During the 21st Century, opposition has spread and now encompasses the vast majority of society, as people react to economic hardship, stultifying clerical rule, official corruption and harsh repression. The most serious upsurge was the Woman, Life, Freedom revolt of 2022-23, which was suppressed with the loss of over 500 lives.
No Return to the Shah
This time round, some quarters in Iran have succumbed to despair, calling for the United States to intervene to restore the Shah to power. People, feeling powerless, seek deliverance from the outside. This would be the worse possible response. The Shah, like his father was, would be a puppet of the United States and ally of Israel. The wealth of Iran would be handed over to US oil companies, while Donald Trump would immediately turn to the next couple of countries on his regime change list.
"Poverty, corruption, high prices, we march until overthrow." Graffiti found in Khorramabad amid the 2025-2026 Iranian protests.
Workers Must Step Forward
There can be no solution to this desperate situation without the working class stepping forward to lead the struggle. Demonstrations of tens or even hundreds of thousands can be met with bullets and the murderous Ayatollahs will win. The tables can be turned by a massive strike wave, with workers in the oil industry taking the lead. By cutting the economic power of the capitalists off at its source, the working class would be taking action that cannot be solved by bullets.
Workers' action in Iran would lead to demonstrators dropping support for the Shah and force the United States to drop its ambitions there. It would open up the possibility of another Iranian Revolution that not only overthrows the hated clergy, but sets all of West Asia alight in revolts to overthrow despots across the region and build a movement that can build free societies for all.
Down with the Ayatollahs!
https://ancomfed.org/2026/01/solidarity-with-demonstrators-in-iran/
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Link: (en) Australia, Ancomfed Picket Line - Solidarity with demonstrators in Iran (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
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