(Adapted from Against Capital)
International Monetary Funnd report a few days ago, referring to the statistics and documents provided by the Islamic regime, says that in the year 2021 the result of work and production of the Iranian working class has been more than one trillion and one hundred billion dollars. That figure was one trillion and seven hundred billion dollars four years ago. Now in a situation where the basis and foundation of the country´s economy is disintegrated and the cycle of reproduction of capital in Iran has stopped under the pressure of crisis and sanctions, however, it´s more than one trillion and one hundred billion dollars. To put it more clearly, the Iranian working class throughout the year 2021, in the turmoil of sanctions and tsunami of the capitalist economic crisis more than one trillion dollars in surplus value has handed over into the most savagest capitalists and the Islamic regime of capital. Remember this figure and let´s take a look at the working class´s annual income in same year. About 55 million of the total population of country are members of our class, the Iranian working class. The average number of households in Iran is 3.3 and the figure is higher for workers´family and is about 3.5 . If we divide the figure of 55 million working-class population by the same figure of 3.5 ( ) we find out the approximate number of working-class households and the figure is about 16 million and 6 hundred thousand households. This population is the first to sixth income deciles in terms of the amount received (Income). The average household´s income in all of 6 deciles is approximately 97 dollars per month and 1164 dollars in year. It´s an important point and at the same time it´s too obvious that the density of the number of households in the first, second and third deciles is in no way comparable to the fourth to sixth deciles. The number of unemployed workers is more than 5 million, even according to the government data with the population of their families, they make up a population of more than 18 million people. The whole population of this group is the first decile. Countless suburban populations, addicts, people who living in ruins and parks, people who spend the night on the street corners or in empty graves or people who spend the night on th buses, all of these people belong to the first decile. The population of the second decile is certainly much higher than the third decile and this downward trend from bottom to top is definitely prevalent among other deciles as well. On this basis, extracting the average annual income of a household from a total of six deciles, excluding ratios and demographics of each decile, it´s undoubtedly misleading. The figure of 1164 dollars is not enough closed to reality. In the most optimistic state and the most generous calculation, to the detriment of the working class and in favor of the capital owners or the capitalist state, perhaps we can believe the figure of 858 dollars annually for each household in 2021.
If we multiply the firgure above by the number of working households 16,600,000 , which is 1,424,280,000 , and this is the highest figure for the sum of the annual wages of the total working masses of Iran, that from industry to agriculture, mines, services, education, treatment, ports, transportation, roads, constructions, fisheries, hotel and restaurant or anywhere else imaginable. Now, we can compare this very optimistic sum with 1,100,000,000,000 dollars of the annual work and production of Iranian working class, the latter is 62 times the former !! Figures that should come as shock. The net profit of capitalists from the exploitation of the Iranian working class is more than 62 times the total annual income of the working masses. It´s hard to imagine, but it´s real and the truth is that the reality is far more terrifying. Why ? For this simple and transparent reason that the Islamic Republic has repeatedly acknowledged by its rulers, it dosen´t report a large part of the annual result of work and the mass production, not only to the World Monetary Fund or the Central Bank, but also to its program organization, government, parliament and domestic planning institutions !! Giant financial and industrial giants are under the ownership of Khamenei, Astan Ghods, The Revolutionary Guards, Bonyad Mostazafan and many other octopus-like enterprises. A regime that the largest segment of foreign trade or the whole process of global organizing of Iran´s totally capital for escaping the pressure of sanctions or any other reason advance suck like mafia, smuggling and promoting transactions outside the normal routine, it´s clear that the balance of its income and economic expenses must be kept secret. All the avidence shows that the annual product of work and social production of the working masses of Iran is much larger than the figures in the report of the International Monetary Fund or any other domestic and international institutions. This is what happens with our work, production and life. Capitalism and the savage Islamic regime of capital do this to us, the working masses. From every 65 dollars worker produces, in the best case, not more than one dollar enter to the cyle of our livelihood, welfare, treatment and education. In such a situation, in such burning hell, our whole effort and struggle get limited to struggle for a couple cents of wage-increase !!! Demands, such like slight change in “Job classification sheme” ! , include “ Inflation rate” in determining wage ! “Don not cut our health insurance” ! and “Pay us our unpaid wage for months and years” ! We demand these desires and needs from capital and the Islamic regime of capitalist class, though we already know that they are the main cause of all our poverty, hunger and misery. We take our complaint to the rule of the capitalists, those who plunder us and for accumulation of capital, for every 63 dollars of our work and production, at least 62 dollars has been taken out of our hands !! The very basic question is if capital and capital owners didn´t do so, if it didn´t take out the whole result of our work and production of our hands, how it came into being capital ? how it could reproduce itself ?? being galactic high and beccame the superme power of the universe ?? what´s the answer to this question ? The secret of all our hunger and miseries is hidden behind our ignoring to answer this question. Along with metamorphosis and despair, stamping our immortality of being and remaining a worker with accepting the eternity of capitalism so we request from capital to be not capital !! While in the depths of confusion, ourselves and all power of our class struggle are being eroded and in proscenium of durability of capitalism and are sacrificed. We ask from capital, the capitalist class and its government some demands such like wage-increase, welfare and freedom, livelihood guarantee, healthcare or a better life, from capital which is only our unpaid work, from the capitalist class, which is merely identified capital or unpaid work in the form of human beings. from a regime and rulers that is expanded in the form of a power structure and a barbaric order which dominate us. In a world of misery, so long as we´ve accepted the inevitable destiny of being and remaining worker and immortality of capitalism and until the day we identify ourselves as individual seller of the labor-force, as long as we limit our battle in conflict with this or that capitalist or government, until we want more wages and a better life from the capitalist system, we only depreciate our power of class struggle. Our answer, the anti-capitalist workers of Iran is that we must demand complete control over the destiny of our work, production and life by organized anti-capitalist councils. Determined and uncompromising we have to determine the total task of 1.1E12 dollars of our annual work and production. Simply increase wages and reform the job classification scheme is no pain reliever for our miseries. Which wage increase even has changed any amount of betterment in our daily livelihood ? On the contrary, even after wage increase we have become much poorer and hungrier than before. If our battle persists in its current arrangement, so this is what our class enemy always has sought and imposed to our life and battle process. We do not just produce the capital of the capitalist class, at any moment by generating capital and its galactic accumulation we reproduce durability and the repressive governance of the wage-slavery system. The current battle rail must be changed from its basis, and demand our totally control over the fate of our work, production and life, and enter the whole 1.1E12 dollars of result of our annual work into the process of improvement of our work and life. To do this important we have no choice except we turn into being an anti-capitalist council-organized class power worldwide, and have an organized class-movement against wage-slavery. Apply our class power against capital and by this organized class power abolish the capitalist state, and by council planning work and production and also establish it with free, conscious, incisive and equal intervention of the whole society.
Mazdak Kohkan
Feb. 2022
