Statement of the Political-Executive Board of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)
Khamenei is Fearful of the Growth of Leftist Thought in Universities!
Ali Khamenei, in line with his long-standing tradition, met with selected students this year as well to share his latest new ideas with them, namely, to warn Hezbollah and sober them up. However, he left the main question of even his chosen ones about the irresponsibility of his subordinate institutions unanswered. Instead, he repeatedly reiterated his claim that the Islamic Republic (IR) was involved in a "massive and extensive struggle" against the "infidelity front, oppression and arrogance" and specified the direction of the upcoming presidential election with the term "young and Hezbollah government ".
On this basis, he warned the selected students that they should hold the demanding flag and not let the Marxist left current hold on to it and raise it. What he means by demanding is social justice, which the left-wing students have always been a staunch defender of, and the IR is now itself an example of corruption, bribery, plundering, and anti-social justice. In order to underestimate the left, Khamenei claimed that the left, a long-standing current rooted in the depths of the society social movement, is suffering "theoretical poverty" and is lacking "field, active, efficient and selfless force". He falsely claimed that “all leaders and elders of left movement have surrendered” to the United States, Israel and the monarchist groups.
Khamenei's vindictiveness against leftist thought and force is not new. In 2015, in a meeting with a group of Islamist students, while acknowledging the formation of leftist currents in universities, he related their emergence to the United States and said: "If it is true that Marxist current is intellectually active in our university, it definitely is because of American money as they have no incentive. They are spending money, because after all, it is a great blessing for them to tear students apart and it is one of the reasons for reviving Marxism." His words five years ago, as well as a few days ago, indicate that his eyes and ears are aware of the reality of universities and the existence and growth of leftist thought and he is very fearful of this fact. His remark that these forces are nothing and have no future, is exactly the sign of his fear of the left as a rising current.
The leader of the IR falsely thinks that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, widespread repression of leftist parties and organizations in Iran, execution of hundreds of their cadres and the purging of the country's universities of leftist students and professors, the leftist current, as one of the "global, historical and national rivals" of Islam has been eliminated from the world and Iran. With this false conception, he did not think that the left current would once again re-emerge in the security atmosphere of the university. That is why he says with surprise: "Of course, what I have heard at our university is that there are currents that are trying to revive the ideas of Marxism, but this is a fruitless effort." (Lecture in 2015)
Leftist Combatant Students!
Contrary to the notion of this symbol of Velayat (guardianship) tyranny, your re-emergence is real. This boiling furnace of justice has been burning for a long time in the world and in our country. But the Supreme Leader of the IR should know that as long as capitalist system is alive, as long as profit and capital are in the hands of a very small group of capitalists, as long as labor and nature are exploited, discrimination and inequality rule, poverty and injustice are rampant, the class divide is deepening and freedom is being chained, left will be alive. The left derives its existence, growth, and influence from the fact that the IR is now, in all these areas, a clear example of oppression, poverty, the deepening of class division and the cultivation of corruption and bribery. Neither the capitalist propaganda apparatus nor the repression of authoritarian regimes can eradicate this force.
Over the past two decades, the left movement, in spite of security atmosphere, has not only re-emerged in the country's universities, but has become more active and by using limited facilities and space has defended justice values and workers and laborers’ demands against the prevailing tyranny, the neoliberal policies of the government and the plunder of capitalism and has risen for freedom and social justice. Prior to the 2009 election, growth of the left force in the country's universities and the publication of numerous publications with leftist ideas were evident. In that year, the Ministry of Intelligence cracked down on young people and students and some left-wing study circles and arrested a large number of them. During that period, like early years after the revolution, universities were purged. However, the next generation of students turned to the left and took to the streets in the November 2019 uprising, chanting, "We are the children of the workers, we stand by them." It was this fear and concern of left-wing growth that the security-intelligence organs were instructed to crack down on students and arrest and sentence large numbers of them.
But the repeated repression of this force has never worked, and after each repression a new flood of new forces has come to life. In the days following the missile firing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the passenger plane, students at Tehran and Amirkabir universities staged demonstrations and chanted slogans against the IR, the Supreme Leader and the IRGC. They chanted: "All these years of crime, death to this Velayat (Guardianship)" and "The IRGC is committing crime, the leader is supporting". Students carried several placards with slogans against neoliberalism. This move showed that the left has established itself in the universities and has been able to convey its voice to the people of Iran and the world and in connection with the struggles of workers and teachers, to resonate the voice of freedom and justice in universities, streets and factories and to take steps toward solidarity of students with workers and teachers.
Comrades!
The Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian), as a critic and opposition current to the system of capitalism, exploitation of labor and nature and advocate of freedom, social justice, democracy and socialism, is pleased with the re-emergence of leftist movement in the country's universities and support chanted slogans on January 1 and 2 and your solidarity with workers, the poor and teachers. We hope that the current student movement, as it did in the decades before the 1979 Revolution, will be portrayed with the face of freedom and justice and that the flag of left current will be raised in the country's universities by you.
The university has always been a platform for the formation and growth of leftist forces. The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian), like the Fada'i movement itself, has a unique feeling with you students and is with you in defending socialist values and in the struggle against tyranny and for freedom, social justice, democracy and the elimination of discrimination. We hope that a close bond will be formed between the student movement and the left parties and organizations, and that the left will be able to play an effective role in advancing democratic developments and transitioning to democracy and fulfilling the demands of workers and the poor by advancing the influential position in the country's political sphere.
Political-Executive Board of the Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)
June 1, 2020
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