Yoshie:
Lou, do you realize that the Tudeh Party doesn't exist in Iran now? What doesn't exist can't do anything, leading to disaster or triumph or whatever.
But this is not about what is going on in Iran today. You have become embroiled (whether you know it or not) in Iranian exile politics. The line that you are pushing in MRZine is identical to the current in the Iranian left that wants to subordinate itself to Ahmadinejad. The Workers World Party had a debate in which Ardeshir Ommani, head of the American-Iranian Friendship Committee, defended your analysis against that of Morteza Mohit, a MR contributor who signed the open letter attacking your pro-Ahmadinejad propaganda. People can read WWP's obviously biased account at: http://www.workers.org/2005/world/iran-0922/index.html. This debate reflects the omnipresent Manichean tendency in Marcyite politics that puts a plus where the USA puts a minus. That being said, at least the WWP once had the proper understanding of Iranian politics that you obviously never had: http://www.workers.org/ww/1999/edit0722.php EDITORIAL Iran--A new phase of the struggle As we write this, six days of rallies by tens of thousands of Iranian students--the greatest outpouring of protest since the 1979 revolution--have been followed by a counter-demonstration in Teheran organized by the fundamentalist clergy. For the first five days, the students had the support of Iran's bourgeois liberal clerical president, Mohammad Khatami, against the fundamentalist clergy led by the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But on the sixth day, when the students in Teheran fought back against police and right-wing vigilantes who had attacked them with teargas and bullets, Khatami buckled under right-wing pressure and told the students to call off their demonstrations. The students first began their protest after the vigilantes, who have the support of the fundamentalist wing of the government, raided a progressive newspaper, Salam, that had been calling for reforms. That was followed July 9 by a police attack on their dormitories in which at least 20 people were hospitalized and 125 arrested. The students have been demanding a lifting of restrictions on journalists and newspapers. But behind the issues of press freedom are more explosive social questions related to the harsh living conditions faced by the working class, which has seen no improvement in its material existence since the great struggle of 1979 against the U.S.-puppet Shah. (clip) -- www.marxmail.org
