Workers all over the world have been in an ongoing and constant war with the capitalist class and states over working and living conditions. Nothing but the power of the working masses could curb the greed of capital for intensifying the exploitation of the worker.
But in this direction, a subject called law, legislation and the adoption of laws and regulations have also emerged. A subject that has been subjected to contradictory and inverted interpretations. Given all the events that have taken place since then, three different versions of the role of law can be seen.
First , would seems that the working class has been fascinated by the legislature and has seen the approval of fair rules and laws !! , secular and progressive , democratic and security protection and welfare , health and human dignity as ways to cure its miseries !! and has been trying to achieve this goal in different ways, including parliamentarism and right to vote !!
Second , that the working class wasn’t interested in parliamentarian and the legal struggle, relied on the strategy of protests, strikes and demonstrations as well as the struggle against the regime or demand for overthrow, but had been struggling to reform laws by replacing oppressive and anti-labor charters with just progressive and self- interested laws !!
Both narratives, despite their different appearances, have a single essence, but both narratives insist on the importance of hanging the working masses to the law. In the meantime, the first narrative goes as far as completely denying the class struggle and replacing it with parliamentarism. An approach that was especially represented by the Social Democrats, trade unions and a wide range of so-called labor circles from the late nineteenth century onwards. The second narrative is hidden behind the controversial slogans of revolution , overthrow and seizure of political power and even communism, but still equally, it undermines the foundation of the workers ́ class-struggle and makes the labor movement such as tools for relplacing one form of capitalism with another. The same path that the left-wing and Leninist parties have gone and still do. Both tendencies believe that the working class should fully welcome the rule of law and recourse to legislation, and strive with all mights to replace the ” good laws ” with the bad ones, in order to improve its living conditions and welfare through the struggle for the passage of a modern and democratic welfare-based labor law !! and thus, demand as much human rights and political freedoms as possible, and obtain secure legal support for these demands !!!
Third , the working masses have basically originated from their class- power and proportionate with the capacities of their current struggle forces they ́ve imposed their demands and expectations on capitalists and governments. In this regard, incidentally it’s been the capitalist class that been shouting about respect and reverence for the law and order. The capitalists considered the wave of uprising of the working masses as anti-order , anti-national security and anti-peace and comfort of society , anti-social stability and against national interests , against the progress of the homeland and charter of human rights. Capital has, as far as possible, opposed any boundaries and restrictions on the exploitation and production of profits, but when it faced the powerful wave of the labor movement, had raised the issue of law and respect for it, and with all its might used to control and suppress these struggles and uprisings. If police and army had committed massacre, parliament also passed the laws as quickly as possible to eliminate the current danger of the labor movement from capital. Parliament and the state entered the campaign with this role and measured the knowledge and consciousness of the workers and tested their potential might of class struggle, and because of it and then drafted a ceasefire resolution. The intent of this emergency and expedient ceasefire , with the aim of preserving and surviving capitalism was named the law . Parliament is the capital identified in the guise of law and civilization, and has the role of deception and brainwashing and for this reason, the law inspires itself and represents the whole society. Capital by benefit of all these, denies existence of classes, class society and exploitation of workers by capital, separation of worker from work and result of work, and the process of determining the fate of production and life and it does hide all these realities of class society. The capitalist class uses the law as a weapon of capitalist perpetuation and also eliminating the danger of the labor movement. We must carry out our struggles against child labor and oppression of women and gender discrimination, environmental degradation and lack of socio-political freedoms, demand for reduced hours and labor intensity, and also demands for wage increase and adequate and appropriate unemployment insurance and retirement as far as our strength and power allow . That’s why citing the provisions of the law is merely limiting these claims to the confines of the capitalist class. These legal boundaries have no credibility and value, and shouldn’t have a place in workers ́ protest and struggles. The source of our misery and humiliation is our being workers and in our deprivation of inference in determining the fate of our work and lives. Let advance our demands such as a step, a moment and such a stronghold of the global class war in order to push back the capitalist class as much as possible and in the direction of elimination of capitalism and abolishing of wage labor system.
” The anti-capitalist workers of Iran ” dec. 25 , 2021
