Two obstructive Tudehist currents and the urgent necessity of forming the working-class party

 Abbas Goya - April 17, 2026

If the Achilles’ heel of the 1979 revolution was the absence of an independent socialist party—free from the influence of the Soviet Union or China—then the revolutionary uprisings of the past decade in Iran have been suffocated by the complete absence of such a party. The uprisings of 2017, 2019, and 2022 came and went without even a single genuine step toward forming a working-class party. The result? Nothing. Absolute zero.

Even worse, these uprisings failed not only to attract a new generation of workers to socialism, but even existing organizations have weakened, lost momentum, and retreated. This is not merely an objective setback—it is a political dead end. Why?

The answer is clear: two reactionary Tudehist tendencies have weighed down every communist effort like lead.

The first is a direct continuation of the anti-worker tradition of the Tudeh Party and its offshoots; the second is a so-called “new” variant, no less degenerate: a worker-averse tendency that, under the label of “worker communism” and the absurd claim that “socialism scares the people,” has effectively raised the white flag of surrender. These trends cannot be explained away with empty labels like “left” or “right”; both are unapologetically right-wing and reactionary. One takes the campist “resistance axis” stand, the other of pro-Westernism; and despite all superficial differences, they share one core trait: alienation from the independent interests of the working class.

These reformist currents--whether Islamic-stricken  or atheist--once seen as avant-garde, have now become a direct brake on the revolutionary struggle of workers. Worse, by hijacking the names “left” and “communism,” they have discredited both.

But this is not the end of the story. The living, practical critique of the workers themselves has pushed these currents to the margins—and will continue to do so. The question is: what will fill the void? From the perspective of working-class interests, there is only one urgent answer: the creation of a real party. A communist workers’ party, rooted in the workers’ movement itself, with a clear, uncompromising line—no illusions of “everyone together,” no bourgeois opportunism, no retreats from socialism.

Without such a party, talk of “social revolution” is nothing but empty rhetoric. Once again, in no uncertain terms: forward to the formation of a working-class party!