Bakhshi, a labor activist "We have a tool more powerful than nuclear energy: Our labor power"

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Esmail Bakhshi

Q: In the face of what capitalists and the state do, what body do workers have for discussion and decision-making, for organizing and responding?

Esmail Bakhshi*: They have no [organizational] body at all. Whatever effort we made to form a powerful council in Haft Tappeh—so that from within Haft Tappeh we could raise many issues for all workers in Iran or represent their voice—were destroyed. Unions like the Haft Tappeh and the Vahed Syndicate [Tehran Bus Company Workers’ Union] were suppressed as much as possible; they were weakened and their members were imprisoned.

We have no institution or body [of workers] to organize us, or where we can sit together and discuss, or that can represent the united and independent voice of all workers in Iran. We don’t have one, because we were not allowed to. Do you know why? Because workers make up the largest segment of Iran’s population. If we had such an organization, we could easily achieve many of our demands without bloodshed.

In the end, I ask: Is it possible to achieve our demands without war? Without bloodshed? Without violence? Yes—yes, we say it is possible. We have a tool more powerful than nuclear energy. What tool? Our labor power. We strike—we withhold our labor from state and private employers, from the capitalists. What could they do then?

Imagine fifty million wage earners—I use the term wage earners deliberately—teachers, staff, employees, workers—if we had our own independent unions and councils, united together and went on strike. We would not need to come into the streets to be killed. A strike—work stopped—what could they do? Without violence, we would truly paralyze them.

But at present we have no such organization in Iran. Someone might say we have the Workers’ House. The Workers’ House absolutely does not represent Iran’s workers. It is a state body, a security institution—completely anti-worker. It does not even dare to mention the name of the representative of the Haft Tappeh workers. It is actually responsible for suppressing us. That was our point all along: why were we shouting that we must have our own independent councils?

Believe me, if we had our organizations, I would prove that by withholding only our labor power (we do not own the means of production; the only thing we own is our labor power)—if we withheld it, and considering that out of ninety million Iranians, seventy to eighty percent are wage earners—workers, employees, teachers, and many others who receive wages—then under these conditions, where the Islamic Republic puts so much pressure on us and oppresses us economically, imagine if we shut down work: the major petrochemical industries, oil companies, sugarcane industries, steel industries, workers in all municipalities across Iran, transportation sectors—if for just one week everyone stopped working together—believe me, we would achieve every demand.

But no—we do not have the kind of organization you are referring to.

***

Source: https://www.peykarandeesh.org/index.php/25-articles/1632-2026-02-17-22-59-20

*) Who is Esmail Bakhshi?

Esmail Bakhshi is an Iranian labor activist best known as a prominent representative of workers at the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company in Khuzestan province, Iran.

Why he became known

He emerged as a leading voice during major labor strikes at the Haft Tappeh sugarcane complex in 2018–2019, when workers protested unpaid wages, privatization, and poor working conditions.

Bakhshi publicly criticized government policies and called for independent workers’ councils.

After being arrested during the protests, he stated that he had been tortured in detention, which drew significant attention inside and outside Iran.

Arrests and legal cases

He has been arrested multiple times in connection with labor activism.

Iranian authorities charged him with national security–related offenses, which supporters argue were politically motivated.

His case became symbolic of broader repression of independent labor organizing in Iran.

Broader significance

• Bakhshi is widely regarded by labor activists as a symbol of:
• Popularized the demand for council-based governance
• Opposition to state-backed privatization
• Workers’ rights and freedom of association