On 24 August 2004 some members of the Central Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI) announced their split from the Party. They decided to leave the WPI soon after their views, which were debated within the leadership for two years, were made public to the cadres and met with a resounding critique from the majority. Rather than participate in a Congress and submit to a majority vote, they decided last minute not to take part in the Congress, which was put forward by Hamid Taghvaee, the WPI Leader, as the highest organ able to bring the political differences to a resolution. These comrades refused to participate in the Congress and respect the majority vote. They left whilst giving a completely false picture of the internal discussions that have been ongoing in the leadership for the past two years.
Even a quick glance at the documents pertaining to the internal discussions within the Party leadership (which is now available to the public on www.rowzane.com in Persian) reveals the Right-wing basis of their split. These Right-wing discussions and stance - consistently put forward by Koorosh Modaresi - have been on issues surrounding the programme, strategy, tactic, and method of work and have been effectively contrary to the WPI's programme, its resolutions passed at previous congresses, and the fundamentals of worker-communism as well as the discussions regarding the Party's role in society and political power. The stance of those who have split from the WPI is in effect a regression to the well-known bourgeois communisms and Right-wing traditions which will not immediately and in the midst of a revolution against the Islamic Republic of Iran place the establishment of a Socialist Republic or the immediate implementation of socialism on its agenda.
Those who split demonstrate the bitter truth of the past decades about how communists inevitably become an appendage of mainstream bourgeois parties, pawns in the power game and eventually victims and or marginalised when they wash their hands off their radicalism and revolutionary aims in order to gain political power. The history of the Left in Iran and the world has given us many such examples. If the Party of those who have split wishes to continue with the stance represented by Koorosh Modaresi, it will not have any other fate.
Koorosh Modaresi's theses were first put forward in the 16th Plenum of the Central Committee and were met with the categorical opposition of the majority of the Central Committee, including many of those who have now left the Party with him. From then until the 4th Congress, heated discussions took place in the Politburo and the Central Committee in order to prevent these right-wing views from becoming the official views of the Party. The 4th Congress was a victory for the worker-communism of Mansoor Hekmat. In fact, all those who have recently left the Party voted in favour of the political resolutions of the 4th Congress - though some now say it was out of expedience. After the Congress, this viewpoint, however, gradually saw itself in a tight spot and started to stand against the implementation of the Congress resolution and its subsequent practical and complementary resolution that was approved in the 20th Plenum (namely the resolution about giving a social character to Left leading activists). Instead they turned to filing complaints and hindering the practical implementation of the approved policies, which in turn paralysed the work of the Politburo and the Executive Committee. When the internal discussions were made available to the cadres, the majority expressed their opposition to these views. The perspective of their not being elected in the next Congress to the leadership of the Party made these comrades split and form another Party.
The new Party that they have built carries contradictions right from the start. On the one hand, they swear upon the WPI programme 'A Better World' and Mansoor Hekmat, and on the other hand refrain from it in practice and in the real world based on Koorosh Modaresi's thesis. They have even made this point clear in their communiqué of formation. In it they say that their Party's "aim is seizing political power as the precondition to organising the social revolution of the working class". Yet the Communist Manifesto 160 years ago made it clear that the first step in a workers' revolution is the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the seizing of political power by the working class (and of course its political party). Our friends have only made a small change in the Communist Manifesto: seizing of political power is the precondition to organising the social revolution of the working class! In other words, the social revolution will occur after seizing political power! The question is: who, how and in what process will political power be seized in their scenario? The postponement of the socialist revolution to after seizure of political power, which has been introduced and defended by Koorosh Modaresi in internal discussions, is based on the outdated bourgeois Left thesis which asserts that "socialism will disperse people" and that a socialist revolution "at the present is impossible". Although they claim that this method of seizing political power is their strong point, in fact it is utopic and impossible. Even if you wash your hands off communism, freedom and equality and become communists of the Tudeh Party kind, even if you replace revolution with diplomacy and introduce theses such as civil disobedience, a Constituent Assembly, a coalition government with the remnants of the disintegrated Islamic Republic of Iran and referendum (i.e. all the theses Koorosh Modaresi presented at the 16th Plenum and defended until the split), you will not have a better fate than that of the Tudeh Party. Washing your hands off radicalism, basing your strategy for power on anything but the revolution is not a short cut to power but is rather a fast track to becoming isolated from the revolutionary workers and people.
We hope that the communists who are now unfortunately in the ranks of the split party realise how they have been classically deceived in the same way as a lot of radical communists have been during the past decades. The split Party with its platform and present combination of members can be a politically non-homogenous group full of contradictions. Differences and tensions can escalate at a crucial political moment or even before that. In anyway, if this group follows the stance represented by Koorosh Modaresi, which is obvious in their formation communiqué, it will place itself on the Right-wing of the political pole in society.
It goes without saying that the Worker-communist Party has no desire to see the split group move further to the Right. As long as these comrades commit themselves to the programme "A Better World", they have our recognition and respect. As long as they fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran, they have our respect. However, there is one difference between these comrades and any other party: they have called themselves the Worker-communist Party-Hekmatist and want to carry out their policies under the name of worker-communism and Hekmatism. We are duty-bound, therefore, to not allow even the slightest Right-wing deviation under the name of Hekmat or worker-communism. We will not let the Right-wing and bourgeois communism that Mansoor Hekmat discarded to enter via a back door. We will resolutely defend Mansoor Hekmat!
Finally, the split is the definite defeat of the Right-wing viewpoint within the Party. This exit strengthens our forces ten-fold. Even now we have gained unity and strength of will amongst the cadres around the Party policies. In fact, the Worker-communist Party, on the verge of a great revolution in Iran, has become ready to play its role. Another achievement from confronting the Right-wing within the Party has been to move the Party to becoming one which has a greater degree of openness based on the conscious will of its communist cadres. The recent discussions showed that the more the Party is open, accessible, and based on the communist cadres, the more it can defend itself. The discussions led to a more unified and coherent leadership and showed how such a leadership is the key for advancement. Up till the split, the leadership tried not to let these policies, of which even one could undermine the Party's base amongst workers, women and the youth, to dominate Party policy. Now the Party will work on this social base. This Party has come closer to the Party that can make it possible for communism to achieve victory in Iran. The 5th Congress will announce the ever-greater presence of this Party in society.
Translator: Maryam Kousha