The Speech of Issam Shukri in the 5^th. Congress of the Worker-communist Party of Iran - WPI

Good morning comrades. I apologize, (as) I’ll be speaking in English. The only thing I know in Farsi is Khosh Amadid (Laughter). I’ve been trying to learn Farsi for the last 7 years unsuccessfully. I am going to take it very seriously this time.

My warmest greetings to this great congress. I am proud to be here. I congratulate all of you and the leading committee of the congress, for this successful, uplifting congress. We are here, my comrades, to make a decision. We are here to show a stance, and we’ve made it, me and my comrades. We came here to say that we support you. We are with you. (applause). The people and workers of Iraq have always looked up to the Worker-communist Party of Iran as the leader and the banner holder of Mansoor Hekmat’s communism (applause). And we will not let them down. We will continue on this path, and we want to show our support, and our sympathy with the Worker-communist Party of Iran.(applause). The leadership of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq has made a choice, and it was a political choice as you all know, and comrade Hamid has just pointed out to (it). This choice in my opinion was dangerous. It was dangerous for political reasons because the splitters have chosen to be away from revolution. The splitters have chosen another way, and they’ve decided consciously and willingly to split from this huge trend in society not only in Iran, (believe me), its all over the world. They did that, and our political leadership has decided to go there (with them). That was a very dangerous decision. I personally objected that decision. I have expressed in so many ways, that this decision would lead us to a dangerous conclusion. May be it will not show (under) in the current situation, may be we live in a dark scenario right now in Iraq, and we are (do). People are striving to live, they are striving to live decently, they are not really into politics, they are not as revolutionary as the situation in Iran and I believe you are all a ware of that as comrades. But the consequence of this (decision) does not mean that our leadership in the Worker-communist Party of Iraq would call upon the people of Iran to join the splitters!. They can not do that. This is dangerous even from the diplomatic point of view. Not to mention the consequences of political regression of our position in the future. There has been an evolved or molded position in our party among the cadres, among the members, that this is a wrong decision. This has to be changed. And we endeavor, in our party, (while) keeping the unity of the party, following the rules of the party to say that this decision is wrong and we will consider the Worker-communist Party of Iran as the holder of the banner of Masoor Hekmat (applause). My comrades, I would like to announce, we have announced this before in(side) the party that we have decided with 20 comrades to make a fraction within the Worker Communist Party of Iraq in order to change the decision, the dangerous decision of the leadership. This Fraction was molded in a declaration of two pages in which we put a political platform for our fraction. This political platform included pointing out to the main difference between our fraction, the group of cadres that opposed this, is that we consider the last resolution of the politburo in regards to supporting of the other faction to be dangerous and wrong politically. The second is we demand our rights to be heard within our party .we wanted to be granted a platform in order to speak up, in order to tell people what is going on, where the political difference was with the fraction. There has been no mention whatsoever of any political differences. It’s all (been) personal attacks, all organizational reasoning for the whole thing. And no communist in the world would believe that such a vast and momentous movement would split upon organizational differences. No body can buy this. The other thing that we considered, is that the Worker-communist party of Iran is the representative of Worker Communism trend in Iran and all over the world. That was our platform. We also mentioned in our fraction statement that we will maintain as a fraction a comradely relationship with the comrades who had splitted from the Worker communist Party of Iran. Because I believed right from the start, that people need time to digest, to think, to read, to have translations for all the researches that have been going on for the last two years. This is a basic right for everyone in the party. We didn’t have that chance unfortunately. So, we thought at least, step back a little bit, let the people know what was going on, and then (take the decision) before you indulge us in such dangerous decision that will have consequences and repercussions on the situation in Iraq for years and years to come.

And we also said, and we are persistent, and I want to address all the comrades and all the cadres and the leadership that we want to maintain the unity of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq. This is a dear party that has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Worker Communist party of Iran for years and years in the battles for human rights, workers rights, and women’s rights. We want to maintain this party but we want to change the policy regarding the alliance with the other faction.

We maintain our obligations as party members and we will maintain our activities within that party. Comrades, we have difference; political differences and we want the right to declare these differences. I want the support; I would seek the support of the congress for our fraction. People need our voices to be heard in Iraq, Iran and all over the world. We think that this is a turning point, a historical turning point. You have succeeded in a certain way, and you‘ve come up stronger, more pure, more vigorous. We need to do that in our party as well and we need your support for that. I reiterate my congratulations to you and I say we stand by you, and we will consider you the holders of Mansoor Hekmat’s banner. I will say again, Long Live Mansoor Hekmat, Long Live Socialism.