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The Charter
of the Fundamental Demands of the Working Class of Iran
The attack of the capitalist
system on the level of the workers’ livelihood becomes more
widespread day by day, and the workers are driven more and more to
the depths of non-existence. On the
one side of society, there is a huge accumulation of wealth and, on
the other side; there is unprecedented poverty, adversity, and
disfranchisement. The class gap is catastrophic to such an extent
that there is no way out for the workers but a life and death war
against capitalism. This war has been imposed on the workers by the
capitalists, and as you make your bed, so must you lie in it. There
is no day that goes by without congregations, sit-ins, strikes,
rallies of the workers against the capitalist system. The road
obstruction and cutting of the artery of the movement of capital is
going to become a militant anti-capitalist tradition of the working
class of Iran.
However, despite the workers
demonstrating the same demands everywhere, their struggle has not
entirely come under one nationwide flag. One of the reasons for not
achieving much in the way of results from all these workers’
struggle is found precisely in this point. It is obvious that so
long as the workers’ struggle remains localized and scattered even
with all the devotion and sacrifice they will not achieve their
goals. The first step for pushing back the continued attacks of
capital on the livelihood of workers is to hoist one flag, a single
countrywide charter containing the fundamental working class
demands. It is indispensable to emphasize that these demands are
fundamental to the class struggle. First of all, compared to workers
in some parts of the world Iranian workers are currently deprived of
even the most basic rights. Moreover, and even more importantly, the
necessary condition for promotion of the scattered struggles of the
workers to the level of a nationwide struggle in its broadest form -
which itself is the necessary condition for resistance against
capital in the current situation - is to bring forward not the
demands of this or that part of the workers but the most general and
fundamental demands of the working class as a whole.
It is essential to explain the
point of view from which the workers make their demands. The essence
of any demands, whether fundamental or not, is that the workers are seeking only what the capitalists have taken from them, that is,
their surplus labour. Through these demands, then, the workers are
only telling the capitalists and their government that they must
give back what they have unrightfully taken. This is how the
workers, in their spontaneous struggle, challenge the capitalist
order. In every moment of their lives and in their many different
ways, workers challenge capitalism: "Why must I work when someone
else steals the benefit?" "Why must I produce the wealth of society
when I have no share in it?" It is from this point of view that we
as a small part of the working class have compiled this charter.
The fundamental demands of
today's Iranian working class are:
1)
The minimum
monthly wage for any worker must be 600,000 Toman (Iranian
currency).
2)
All children under
18 years of age must receive a child benefit of 100,000 Toman
monthly.
3)
Women’s domestic
labour must be ended; till then, all housewives must receive wages
equal to those of the rest of the workers.
4)
Unemployment
insurance must be universal, with benefits not less than the minimum
wage.
5)
All temporary
contract work must be abolished.
6)
Labourers, the
unemployed, domestic labourers, and children under 18 years of age
must be paid by the 25th of every month.
7)
Adequate housing with full
utilities, including electricity, water, furnishings, and means of
communication are the inalienable right of every worker. This will
require:
(a)
The use of
government buildings for workers' housing.
(b)
The government to
allocate an adequate percentage of its annual budget to build new
housing units for workers.
8)
Health care and
medicine at all levels must be free.
9)
Education at all
levels must be free.
10)
All transportation
in society must be free.
11)
Day care must be
free for all.
12)
All caring
facilities for the elderly, disabled, and handicapped must be free.
13)
All child labour
and employment under the age of 18 must be abolished.
14)
Any sexual
discrimination against women must be abolished. The fulfillment of
this demand must include:
a)
Women and men
having equal rights in all aspects of the law including labour law,
family law, and criminal law.
b)
Any government
intervention in the choice of lifestyle including clothing and the
relationships between men and women or boys and girls must be
prohibited.
c)
Forming a family
or ending a relationship must be by mutual and free agreement with
equal rights for all concerned.
d)
Prohibition of any
kind of marriage before the age of 18.
15)
Workers must be
free to form any kind of workers' organization, including a
nationwide anti-capitalist organization.
Workers
Let's Get Organized against Capital !
Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organization (Tehran Region)
April
2008
www.hamaahangi.com
hamaahangi@gmail.com
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