Workers World, Vol. 21, No. 49
December 12 – The outbreak of fighting in the Tabriz area between the central government of Iran and Azerbaijani students and workers has brought into bold relief once again the relation between the struggle against national oppression and the overall struggle against imperialism.
Press reports from Tehran and Tabriz are full of ominous predictions on the outbreak of full-scale warfare. There are also reports that the leaders of the central government and of the Azerbaijani people are attempting to arrive at a solution to this crucial problem.
Should full-scale warfare break out, it would be regarded as a god-send by all the imperialist forces and especially by the U.S. Nothing would serve the interests of American finance capital and the Pentagon strategists more than an opportunity to intervene in a period of civil war in Iran.
Open warfare between this key province and the central government would have incalculable consequences. For one thing, the Kurdish people have for a long time been conducting an open struggle for their right to self-determination. Attempts have been made by the military forces of the central government to brutally suppress them.
It is of great interest that the Kurdistan Democratic Front offered a ceasefire to the Iranian government in the event U.S. imperialism openly intervenes in a military way.
A military struggle against Azerbaijan would also certainly have serious repercussions among the Baluchis in southeastern Iran and the Turkomans in the northeast. It is also possible that the Arab minority in the southwest would be greatly influenced in a similar direction.
The division and dismemberment of Iran is a dream which unbridled U.S. militarism cannot easily abandon. The dangers to the revolution are obvious.
Nevertheless, it is important to consider the national question in Iran independently of the current struggle against imperialism. The question of the rights of oppressed peoples must be considered on its own merits.
In his message to the International Court of Justice, to which U.S. imperialism has brought its complaint against Iran, the foreign minister of Iran rejected any claim by the court to jurisdiction over its sovereignty, characterizing Iran as an oppressed nation and the U.S. as the oppressor.
Over and over again in speeches and in writing, the Iranian government has continually referred to itself as an oppressed nation and the U.S. as an oppressor. This is an absolutely incontestable assertion validated by a mountain of irrefutable facts.
The existence of oppressing and oppressed nations is one of the fundamental characteristics of contemporary imperialism. It has been exhaustively dealt with by Lenin and profoundly analyzed, particularly in his work “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.” The struggle between oppressor and oppressed has dominated all class society. In ancient times, oppressing and oppressed nations often changed roles.
Imperialism, however, has imparted a special form of oppression that not only exacerbates all national antagonisms but differs fundamentally from the oppression of pre-capitalist times in that now the oppression and exploitation of weaker peoples is the economic source for super-profits, a kind of privilege and booty which puts all ancient forms of exploitation into the shade. Imperialism in its insatiable appetite for super-profits must continually expand, and along with its expansion goes the inevitable oppression, no matter what sophisticated technology it may bring in its train.
The struggle against imperialism is paramount for the liberation of all the oppressed. Whoever subordinates the anti-imperialist struggle claiming to do so in the interests of the class struggle ultimately ends up damaging the class struggle itself. It is impossible to conduct any consistent struggle, including the highest forms of class struggle, without taking into account the worldwide predominance of the imperialist class system of monopoly capitalism – a system which still dominates militarily and economically over vast portions of the planet.
Nonetheless, it is equally true that no nation, even one as barbarously oppressed by imperialism as Iran, can itself become free from imperialism if it oppresses other nations.
The struggle against imperialism is not only intransigent but consistently progressive in all its varying aspects. It is impossible to conduct a thoroughly progressive anti-imperialist struggle while at the same time continuing to oppress national minorities, deprive them of their rights, and in other ways subjugate them to the dominant nationality.
The right of nations to self-determination is too well known to need much discussion. A nation might choose to merely demand to be treated equally under the law and not be subjected to discrimination. But an oppressed nation also has the right to demand self-rule or autonomy within the framework of a united country like Iran.
Or it may elect to secede – which is also a right of an oppressed nation if it cannot get justice as it sees fit.
Every nation in contemporary society is divided into hostile classes. This is also true of oppressed nations, even where class relations are not fully developed or are merely embryonic in character. It is the pursuit of the revolutionary class struggle by the proletariat and the poor peasantry which alone guarantees a solution to the problem of national oppression and class exploitation. There is no other way out. The socialist transformation of society is the only sure exit from age-old exploitation, including its newest forms.
The Iranian government has conducted an exemplary anti-imperialist struggle against the U.S. It has exposed the true face of U.S. imperialism as a predator of the oppressed. It has been able to put U.S. monopoly capitalism in the dock and publicly expose all its bloody deeds in Iran over a period of so many years. But to make the struggle fully consistent, it must guarantee the rights of the oppressed nationalities in Iran itself.
It has dealt unjustly with the Kurds. Of course, the whole world knows that it was not too long ago that the CIA was financing the struggle of the Kurdish people against the Iraqi government. But notwithstanding that, the right of a nation to self-determination is not nullified for all time because imperialist have been able to impose leadership upon an oppressed nation, either through bribery, corruption or other means.
Furthermore, the right of oppressed nations to self-determination depends upon the historical conditions in which they pursue their struggle. The national question assumes a different character with each change in the historical context of the struggle. A great deal also depends on the character of the international situation.
The duty of the dominant nation in a country such as Iran which has a number of national minorities is to guarantee the rights these national minorities need to determine their own destiny. This does not signify hostility to Iran or the Persians as such. On the contrary, it may be the very best medium for cementing solid bonds in the anti-imperialist struggle. Of course, where a national minority is under the direction or control of imperialism, it is altogether a different matter.
The struggle of a central government against the leadership of a national minority that allies itself with imperialism must be conducted solely and exclusively within the context of the struggle against imperialism. It must not be used to subjugate the oppressed nationality, deprive it of its rights, reduce it to a vassal status, or impose the social and cultural values of the dominant nation. In light of the fact that the Iranian government has accused the Azerbaijanis of being manipulated by the imperialists, this takes on significance. Thus far, however, there is no real evidence that the U.S. as such is involved.
The point to be borne in mind is that the struggle at the present time is being conducted by Ayatollah Kazem Shariat-Madari, who himself does not greatly differ in his ideological outlook from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Both are conducting the struggle in a religious, ideological polemic, underneath the surface. However, the issue so far as the Azerbaijanis are concerned pertains to self-determination, whatever form it takes.
Neither Khomeini nor Shariat-Madari lay claim to the abolition of class rule. They both, in religious form, share a bourgeois point of view. The imperialists thus far try to cast Shariat-Madari as the “moderate,” as the one who is a more conciliatory leader towards imperialism, as he is reputed to be on the question of the hostages. But that does not necessarily affect the course of the struggle of the Azerbaijani people. Their struggle for self-rule, limited autonomy, or just equal civil rights may part company with Shariat-Madari’s position, if indeed they adhere to it.
What is said about the rights of the Azerbaijani people applies to the other nationalities as well. The revolutionary vanguard elements among the oppressed nationalities are duty bound, while striving for their rights, to conduct their struggle within the framework of the overall anti-imperialist struggle against the U.S. Otherwise it will turn into a reactionary obstruction in the way of the general anti-imperialist struggle and end up objectively as a surrender.
Only the working class party, only those who adhere to Marxist-Leninist principles regarding the prosecution of the revolutionary class struggle, have the chance of fully realizing along with the people both national freedom and the socialist reconstruction of society on the basis of having defeated imperialism in the first place.
The duty of communists in the dominant nationality, in this case the Persians, is to advocate and fight for the right of self-determination of all nationalities, while of course conducting the anti-imperialist struggle in the light of the revolutionary class struggle. The duty of the communists in the oppressed nationalities, while fighting for their national rights, is to emphasize the anti-imperialist character of the struggle. In this way there is complete solidarity between the communists, the Marxist-Leninists, in both the dominant and the oppressed nationalities.
If the comrades in the dominant nationality emphasize, within the framework of the anti-imperialist struggle and the class struggle generally, the rights of oppressed nationalities, they will have carried out their duties to the workers and the peasants in the oppressed nationality and laid the basis for genuine class solidarity. Conversely, if the comrades from the oppressed nationalities, in the course of carrying out their struggle to obtain their rights as a nationality, emphasize the anti-imperialist and the class struggle generally, they will be in complete accord with the comrades and of course objectively with the workers and the peasants in the dominant nationality.
Of course, in the case of the Azerbaijanis, the Kurds and other nationalities, they are oppressed by a dominant nationality that is itself oppressed by imperialism. In the case of a metropolitan imperialist country like the U.S., the workers in the conduct of the everyday class struggle must of course give special consideration to the anti-imperialist struggle as regards, for instance, Puerto Rico. On the other hand, the comrades in Puerto Rico must of course give priority to the anti-imperialist struggle while at the same time affording special emphasis and consideration to the struggle for class solidarity with the workers in the metropolitan imperialist country.
Class solidarity, which is the preeminent objective in the overall struggle, will be achieved by the comrades in the different nationalities complementing each other’s work for the purpose of winning both national rights as well as pursuing the anti-imperialist and general class struggle.
Last updated: 11 May 2026