General policies of the agenda the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)

Passed by the first congress of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)

Note

“General policies of the agenda ” was ratified by the first congress of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian.). The document had been drafted by a commission appointed by the party’s Central Council and was distributed among the party members. The commission reviewed the suggestions made by party members and made the necessary amendments to the text. The “General policies of the agenda ” was then publicly published. We asked friends of the party and experts to give their suggestions.

Some did so by sending out detailed suggestions or by criticizing the program. The commission reviewed these and presented the party’s first congress with a final amended version.

The congress accepted this document as a foundational text. A commission was elected by the congress to review the suggestions from the floor and also comments and suggestions by experts. The commission then suggested some amendments to the Congress which, upon ratification there, were inserted into the text. The final document was then approved by the congress.

General policies of the agenda of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)

Passed by the first congress of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)

Our views and values

We are part of the historical leftist movement of Iran and the world. We respect the achievements of these movements while maintaining our critiques of them, in theory and experience. We benefit from the thought of Karl Marx, the heritage of socialist currents and leftist and progressive theoreticians and maintain our belief in socialism. We do believe that socialism is inseparable from democracy and from our view it can only result from a conscious process of working towards a free and humane society formed on the basis of the growth of productive forces, changes and transformation of the relations of productions, social struggle against exploitation and abuse and attempts to establish and expand socialist values.

Our fundamental values include peace, freedom, equality, social justice, solidarity, democracy, legal equality between men and women, diversity in lifestyle and other human rights’ values, just and democratic distribution of power, wealth, opportunities and information, safeguarding the environment, secularism and lifting of all oppression and discrimination including class oppression and gender, national, ethnic and religious discrimination. These values are the fundamental bases of our program. In the world at large and in our country, a struggle is waged between labor and capital; we take labor’s side in this struggle and defend the rights, interests and demands of workers, toilers and the poor against the aggression of capital and also defend democratic demands of the new middle class of our country (teachers, doctors, civil servants, lawyers, private sector employees, etc.)

We back democracy and oppose dictatorship, tyranny and religious, hereditary and ideological governments. We believe sovereignty belongs to the free will of the people and are committed to free vote and choice of the people, rule of law, laws based on principles of human rights and democracy, a multi-party system, time limits for positions of power and political pluralism. We believe in decentralized governance and fight to deepen and expand representative democracy to participatory and direct democracy in various forms such as autonomy and self-management.

Crisis is endemic to capitalism and this system can’t overcome the crises that result from the process of capital accumulation. The capitalist system features a gap between labor and capital and a contradiction between the social character of production and the private acquisition of surplus value. The main structures and mechanisms of capitalism such as exploitation of human by human, exploitation of nature, the existence of a large army of unemployed and concentration of wealth, profit and capital are maintained, in every country and globally, by a very small number of capital owners. Contradicting the interests of the vast majority of the people of the world, capitalism expands social inequalities on a global and national level, helps weaken popular sovereignty and leads to poverty, war and discrimination. With its predatory use of natural resources, mass production and accumulation of destructive weapons and with creating an international system based on military power, financial capital and expansion of consumerism, it has threatened survival of the human species and various species of animals and plants on earth. We oppose the capitalist system. We believe capitalism is not to be the last economic-social system or the inevitable end of history. Humanity’s effort to achieve a humane society, free of exploitation, oppression and discrimination continues.

Globalization

We believe globalization is the main characteristic of our age. It is a process affecting all aspects of human life. Through this process, universal values such as peace, freedom, equality, democracy, human rights and solidarity have increasingly become values accepted on an international scale. Globalization can bring about great achievements in service of human society and in furthering humane causes and values. It can provide new opportunities for all but these opportunities are threatened by the dominance of big governments, international monopolies and especially global financial monopolies and leaving of the globalization process to the markets as the main organizer. The neoliberal globalization has resulted in concentration of an increasing amount of world’s wealth in the hands of the richest one percent. We defend national interests and global solidarity and oppose the neoliberal globalization pushed for by the far-right, new right, conservative governments, transnational corporations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund without the participation, observation and democratic intervention of the vast majority of the peoples of the world and for the interests of the rich minority, against that of the majority of human society. We reject denialist approaches toward the process of globalization and the view that sees the market as its only comprehensive and ultimate organizer. We believe globalization is a contradictory and very complex process with both positives and negatives. In approach globalization, it is important to both celebrate its positive points as worthy achievements of humanity and attempt to clear out its negative points; to both use the opportunities it provides for the realization of universal human values and sustainable development and to try to make it humane. We fight for a ‘Better World’.

Our Program: A Better Life for the Iranian People

Freedom, Democracy, Social Security and Environmental Protection

Necessity of a fundamental transformation in structures

Our country requires fundamental transformation and reorganization of its political, economic, social, educational, judicial and cultural structures. This transformation must make possible a transition to a modern and democratic government, end the absolute power of the state, realize individual, political and social freedoms, establish democracy in the country, institutionalize human rights’ fundamentals in laws, remove obstacles to the progress of country and put on agenda solutions to the question of poverty, securing of social justice, general welfare and progress of the country.

With understanding this necessity, we strive to realize the goal of our program which is building of a democratic and progressive society and a country based on freedom, equal rights, social justice, peace, environmental protection, securing of jobs, education and health for citizens and other features of sustainable development.

The Islamic Republic, the main obstacle to democratic transformation

The Islamic Republic is an ideological regime whose structures are based on discrimination, mixing of religion and state and sovereignty of the Shia clergy. The doctrine of Velayat-e-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurisprudent) is the main core of its power structure. The political-legal structure of the Islamic Republic is in violation of and contradiction with democracy; it obstructs reforms. The Islamic Republic is a rentier and clientelist state in which it is the political power that fundamentally shapes wealth, property and class privileges. The Islamic Republic is an authoritarian and oppressive regime opposed to human rights and democracy, protector of an outdated and brutal capitalism which preserves its political rule by relying on security, military and propaganda bodies, with a small and limited social base. The Islamic Republic is the main obstacle to people’s practice of free will and their right to self-determination; it is an obstacle to progress and democratic transformation and securing of freedom, social justice, general welfare and establishment of democracy in our country.

We struggle to bring about a transition from the Islamic Republic and establishment of a modern, democratic and secular republic in Iran. We believe the vote of people to be the basis of legitimacy for government and the republic we propose is rooted in the will of Iranian people. This will is to be realized through free and fair elections and by making possible the participation of all citizens.

A democratic and secular republic

We propose a political-social democratic system in the form of a republic. Our proposed republic is parliamentary and based on free suffrage, equal rights for all, rule of law, separation of state and religion, separation of three branches of government, independence of media, electability of our bodies of governance, possibility of power transfer between political parties through free and fair elections, decentralized political and administrative structures, political pluralism and a strong civil society. This republic won’t have an official religion or ideology and people’s legal right to belief in various faiths and beliefs will be respected by us. We stress that the constitution and other laws of the country should be devised on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its related documents. In our proposed republic, capital punishment, torture and punishments that violate human dignity will be forbidden.

Overcoming Discrimination

Iran belongs to all Iranians. All citizens must enjoy equal rights and no individual should be privileged or deprived because of his or her gender, ethnic belonging, belief and faith, class position, political and religious beliefs or atheism. We stress the equality of rights for citizens and unvarnished enforcement of human rights, which have been stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its attached protocols. On this basis, we believe that all discriminatory laws, which violate individual and social freedoms and human rights, must be repealed. Equality of rights for LGBT citizens and others should be secured. Discrimination against Afghans living in Iran and other citizens of non-Iranian descent should be finished.

Political and social freedoms

We defend freedom of belief, expression, religion, art, literature, assembly and demonstration. We defend the freedom to form social groups, guilds, independent worker organizations and NGOs. We defend free activity of political parties, freedom of media, free circulation of information and the right to access them. We defend the non-intervention of state in private life of citizens. We believe the dignity of humanity to be inviolable and the private and family privacy of citizens and their social dignity should be respected and safeguarded. Each Iranian can decide their lifestyle for themselves.

Legal system

Our society needs a legal system, which can give rise to an independent and functioning judiciary resulting from a secular constitution and in conformity with human rights’ charters and international covenants. All laws should be devised on the basis of constitution and without ex post-facto rules. Rule of law (i.e. equality before law)— which guarantees enforceability of the constitution and other laws — must be secured. Citizens must enjoy judicial security. Independence of judges and bar associations must be officially recognized. Arrest of individuals should only be possible on the basis of law and the arrestees must enjoy all rights stipulated in law. The government and citizens must observe the law.

Directions of economic program

Our economic program is based on the following lines:

— We believe in realizing and furthering sustainable development and in mixing mechanisms of state planning and market. Planning should help strengthen and revive economic infrastructure and especially produce and secure general welfare and social justice. We stress that economic monopolies must be prevented through devising of laws and preparing the ground for competition in various economic sectors.

— We believe a mixed economy (state, cooperative and private) is the adequate form of organizing the country’s economic life: 1) The state sector which includes government ownership of key and strategic sectors of the economy such as oil, gas and petrochemicals. 2) The public-private sector 3) the cooperatives 4) the private sector

— Natural resources such as water, soil, jungles, minerals, oil and grasslands are public wealth and belong to the current and future generations of the country. The ownership of such resources cannot be allocated to the private sector whose main motive is profiteering.

— We aim to de-commodify general and higher education, health and hygiene sectors. We aim to change tax laws and bring about progressive taxation of wealth and income. We aim to make the development of deprived and underdeveloped regions a priority of the development plan.

— We aim to change the balance of power by reducing the power and dominance of capital owners. We aim to insert labor, natural resources and environmental protection into the labor code and into decision-making processes. Labor councils should be a helping arm to trade unions and their representatives must be present in management councils of factories and corporations.

— We aim to strengthen the industrial manufacturing sector in fields that are compatible with the country’s economic power and with environmental protection. We believe our industrial strategy must be focused on investment in knowledge economy, green industries and expansion of oil, gas and petrochemical investments.

— The abnormal growth of the middleman sector in the country’s economy must be contained. Towards this goal, in addition to strengthening the country’s industrial sector, the activities of the middleman sector must be contained by adopting necessary precautions in law and in financial and economic policies. With encouraging policies, floating capital should be pushed toward investment in manufacture. We aim to dissolve all credit institutions by absorbing them into state banks.

— Statistics show that the service sector has experienced dramatic growth in world economy and in Iran. Due to its geographical location, climate and historical past, Iran has good opportunities in tourism industry, commodity exchange sector, technical services for regional countries, transportation and communication. Investments are necessary in such fields and also in services in information technology, information production and dissemination, media and also research and development.

— All economic units belonging to the Supreme Leader, the IRGC and the clergy are to be nationalized. Experts will decide on ownership structures for each of them. Property of those who have seized the country’s wealth with rent-seeking, corruption and smuggling will be audited and, after trial, ill-gotten wealth will come back to the nation’s funds. Military bodies must be prevented from taking part in various social fields including economic and political fields.

— Oil is part of the national wealth, which also belongs to future generations. We should plan to move toward the export of oil, gas and petrochemical products as opposed to crude oil exports. We must bring about necessary infrastructure for development of oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

— We must transition from the current model of excessive use of energy to a model of efficient energy use via a combination of price and non-price policies. We must reduce the intensity of energy consumption in all economic sectors of the country by replacing old techniques with modern and progressive techniques. We must reduce domestic hydrocarbon consumption and plan to use renewable (clean) energies. We suggest a gradual transition away from fossil and nuclear energies to renewable energies.

— The control of oil income by the state helps make rentier and authoritarian governments. We must, gradually and in a timed plan, limit and prohibit the use of oil income for current costs of the state. The income resulting from the sale of oil and natural gas must be instead provided to a Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) and used for civil construction costs of budget and development of the country’s infrastructure, investment in productive sectors such as green economies, qualitative development of education, improving research and development and strengthening the information technology sector, social security, environmental protection and a Special Fund for Future Generations (SFFG). The managing board of the SDF must be elected by the parliament and it must welcome participation of stakeholders.

— Population growth, the need of various economic sectors for agricultural products, job creation and possibility of earning hard currency all mean that the agricultural sector should be taken seriously, while taking the limitations caused by environmental crises into account. Providing credit for investments in agriculture, bank loans, expansion of agribusiness complexes, expanding process industries for agricultural goods, efficiency promotion and preservation of ground and subterranean waters, changing the model of irrigation, facilitating animal husbandry and expanding agricultural and agribusiness cooperatives are among the necessary measures that could help the growth of the agricultural sector.

— For economic growth to take place, economic corruption and the underground economy must be rooted out. To counter these, transparent information on economic activities must be published and media, trade unions, guilds and NGOs must be able to supervise economic activities of the state and statesmen. The civil society should be empowered. The fight against corruption should become institutionalized.

— Globalization has provided opportunities for development of countries including ours. We must use these opportunities by adopting a measured plan. Delays in this vain will push our country toward the abyss of backward countries. We believe that in the interconnected world of today without using the opportunities that exist on a global scale we can’t achieve sustainable development. Using opportunities means attracting foreign capital and advanced technology within clear regulations, improving quality of domestic production, improving labor efficiency to help competition and entry into regional and international markets as well as securing labor rights and security for foreign capital.

Social Security

Securing the rights of every citizen to free education, health, adequate housing and comprehensive social security including health, unemployment and disability insurances are among the fundamentals of our party program. We believe the vulnerable groups in society must be identified and the subsidies should be directed toward them. The low-income communities must be empowered. The disabled, single mothers and those under their custody who are vulnerable (economically and in terms of family support) must come under the coverage of social security and be a priority for service, health and treatment and empowerment programs. Senior citizens must be provided with social and care services, welfare facilities and adequate pensions. We defend financial policies that help locate budgets for the deprived and reduce the wealth gap. We advocate using of taxes to prevent super-concentration of wealth and economic power in the hand of the few. We advocate organization of subaltern layers of society.

Rights of workers and employees

Our program provides for securing the rights of workers and employees, recognition of the right to strike and collective contracts, unemployment insurance and job guarantee, enforcing trade union rights based on regulations of the International Labor Organization, securing the rights of employee representatives in management of industrial units, guaranteeing living wages, accepting basic conventions of the ILO, comprehensive social security including health, unemployment, disability and retirement insurance for workers, employees and their families, formation and expansion of worker cooperatives for housing and consumption, democratizing and making efficient the Social Security Organization (SSO), giving the control of pension funds to trade unions together with the government representatives.

Women

Establishment of democracy requires securing of equal rights for men and women. We believe the constitution and other laws including civil and penal codes must stipulate equal rights for women in all fields and to counter violence against women in public and private spheres. We support the demands of toiling women and formation, expansion and consolidation of women NGOs and independent movements of women. We consider their straightening to be a boon for guaranteeing of rights and demands of women and expansion of democracy. Rights of women include freedom in clothing, employment and full control over their bodies including the right to abortion. Women should enjoy equal rights to men in all spheres of political activity, competition and participation. To counter the discrimination that women have experienced in political and social participation, affirmative action policies must be adopted for a transition period and participation of women in all affairs of society including grand management of the country must be secured.

National and Ethnic Discrimination

Constituent parts of the Iranian nation, despite their common historical life with each other and their deep entanglement with one another, each have their own national and ethnic identity and experience discrimination. Among the significant results of this discrimination is the deprivation of Azerbaijani, Baluch, Turkmen, Arab and Kurdish Iranians from enjoying the creativities of their mother tongues and flourishing of their own culture. Democracy requires lifting of these discriminations. We support securing of national rights, unity of Iranians and integrity of the country. In a democratic Iran, Persian must remain the country-wide language, Iranian citizens must enjoy the right to education in their mother tongue and use of local languages next to Persian in administration of each part of the country must be legalized. We demand decentralization and running of each region’s affairs by its own people. We believe federalism is one of the adequate forms for decentralization and lifting of national and ethnic discrimination.

Youth

Our program provides for securing of individual and social freedoms for the youth, bringing about their free access to cyberspace, satisfying their needs in sports, education and recreation, expanding libraries, establishing cultural centers and spaces for youth. We support new life styles for youth, freedom in clothing and diversity. We believe it is necessary for youth to participate in grand matters that is related to their affairs.

Environment

The world and our country face a massive environmental crisis. Capitalism’s predatory use of non-renewable natural resources without thinking of the future and while aiming at maximum profits together with the current model of consumption, fossil energy use and also explosive growth of population has led to disturbing changes in the composition of the atmosphere, increasing greenhouse gas concentration, incremental environmental pollution and destruction of ecosystems. It has brought the conditions of life on earth to a crisis point. In our country, on one side, natural resources, lakes, rivers, wetlands and underground waters are experiencing draught and destruction of agriculture and husbandry; on the other hand, our country needs fundamental measures and expansion of regional and international cooperation, stopping of measures destroying the ecosystem, using taxes to reduce air pollution, preventing death of animal and plant species, devising a manufacturing policy and a use model that are compatible with environmental protection necessities and strategic planning to fix the damages already done.

Foreign Policy and National Security

The basis of our proposed foreign policy will be securing national interests, advocating a foreign policy based on peace, lessening of tensions, friendship and interaction between countries, friendship and cooperation with neighboring countries, opposing imperialist policies in the region and internationally, opposing political and military interventions and abuses by foreign powers in Iran’s domestic affairs, struggle for bringing about of peace, prevention of manufacturing of chemical and nuclear weapons (and destruction of the existing ones) regionally and internationally, struggle against terrorism, supporting the democratization of the structures of international bodies including the United Nations, straightening the place of NGOs in the UN, creating regional markets and signing bilateral and multilateral treaties with neighboring countries aimed at economic development, defending the existence of two states for Palestine and Israel and supporting struggles around the world for freedom and justice.