Interview with Milad Resaeimanesh from Worker-communist Party of Iran

Hein Htet Kyaw: Can you introduce the audience to your politics and the Worker-communist Party of Iran?
Milad Resaeimanesh:
I am a lifelong communist whose politics are rooted in worker-communism: a tradition that centers class struggle, secularism, radical equality, and internationalism. I oppose all forms of exploitation and oppression, whether they come from capitalist states, religious regimes, or authoritarian nationalist projects.
The Worker-communist Party of Iran (WCPI) represents this political tradition. It emerged in direct opposition to both the Islamic Republic and monarchist or nationalist alternatives. The party advocates for the overthrow of the Islamic regime through mass struggle and the establishment of a secular, democratic society based on workers’ power, social ownership, gender equality, and full political freedoms. Our politics reject reformism within the Islamic system and reject replacing it with another form of authoritarian rule.
 
Hein Htet Kyaw: Can you explain the current uprisings and protests inside Iran? How many people have been confirmed to be murdered by the Iranian Islamic regime?
Milad Resaeimanesh:
The current uprisings are a continuation of the revolutionary movement that began in September 2022 under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.” These protests are not spontaneous or isolated; they reflect a deep and sustained rejection of the Islamic Republic as a system. What is new and decisive is that large sections of society no longer demand reform, but openly call for the complete overthrow of the regime and a transition to a secular and democratic order.Women and workers are at the forefront. Women continue mass civil disobedience against compulsory veiling and gender apartheid, while workers across multiple sectors organize strikes that directly challenge the regime’s economic and political power.
The regime has responded with extreme violence, including widespread internet shutdowns to conceal repression. Due to this information blackout, the full scale of killings is impossible to verify. However, according to reports from opposition and independent media, including Iran International, at least 12,000 civilians were reportedly killed over a very short period, though the real number is likely higher. What is indisputable is that mass killing and systematic terror are central tools of the regime’s survival.
 
Hein Htet Kyaw: You have protested for political prisoners and against the Islamic regime. Are there Iranian exiled left-wing activists in the country you are in that you work with? Can you explain these groups?
Milad Resaeimanesh:
Yes. Iranian exiled left-wing activists in the diaspora play an important role in amplifying the voices of protesters inside Iran. These networks are typically composed of former political prisoners, labour activists, women’s rights activists, and socialist organizers who were forced into exile.
Rather than acting as substitute leaderships, these groups focus on solidarity work: organizing demonstrations, exposing regime crimes, lobbying for the release of political prisoners, countering monarchist and pro-regime propaganda, and maintaining political clarity around secularism, anti-capitalism, and workers’ power. Many of these activists cooperate across organizational lines while maintaining independence from Western states and institutions.
 
Hein Htet Kyaw: Many Western leftist circles remain quiet, while "campist" factions suggest that the Iranian protests are merely tools of American or Israeli interests. From the standpoint of a dedicated communist and anti-imperialist, how would you respond to these groups? Furthermore, could you elaborate on the significance of the slogans "Neither Shah nor Mullah" and "All Power to Shuras"?
Milad Resaeimanesh:
My advice is simple: listen to the Iranian working class and revolutionary left, not to geopolitical fantasies. Anti-imperialism does not mean supporting or excusing reactionary regimes simply because they oppose the United States. The Islamic Republic is not anti-imperialist; it is a capitalist, theocratic, and brutally repressive state that crushes workers, women, minorities, and socialists.
Slogans like “Neither Shah nor Mullah” clearly reject both Western-backed monarchy and Islamic theocracy. They express a third position: independent class politics and revolutionary self-emancipation. Likewise, “All Power to Shuras” refers to councils of workers and the oppressed—organs of mass democratic power from below, not elites, generals, clerics, or foreign states.To label this revolution as a CIA or Israeli project is not only false; it is deeply chauvinistic. It denies Iranians political agency and repeats the regime’s own propaganda. Genuine internationalism means standing with people in struggle, even when their fight complicates simplistic geopolitical narratives.
 
Hein Htet Kyaw: Is there a significant left-wing political party in Iran that can lead the masses? What do you expect after the fall of the Mullah regime?
Milad Resaeimanesh:
Decades of repression, executions, and exile have severely weakened organized left parties inside Iran. No single party currently leads the mass movement. However, the absence of a dominant party does not mean the absence of revolutionary content. The movement itself—through strikes, neighbourhood coordination, women’s resistance, and popular councils—has produced a clear political direction: secularism, equality, and social justice.
After the fall of the Islamic Republic, the struggle will not end. There will be intense conflict over the future of society: between workers and capital, secular democracy and authoritarian restoration, social equality and neoliberal restructuring. The decisive question will be whether workers and the oppressed can organize independently through shuras, unions, and mass organizations to prevent both monarchist restoration and liberal-capitalist domination.
The revolution’s outcome is not predetermined—but its demand is clear: a free, secular, and egalitarian society built by the people themselves.
 
Note:
A recorded video interview exists documenting the 2022 discussion between Hein and Milad, which focuses on the widespread protests that took place in Iran during that year. The link for that interview is available here: https://libcom.org/article/video-interview-iranian-revolution-2022-milad-resaeimanesh