May 1 of each year marks the celebration of workers all over the world, which is held to commemorate this industrious class. In Iran, just like other countries, this day is an opportunity to honor the workers of our country. Workers have been the focus of attention due to the importance of their presence in various economic fields as well as their significant and influential population. Since before the Islamic Revolution, violent left-wing groups and movements have claimed to support the proletariat based on communist and Marxist traditions. However, by reviewing these groups’ records thereafter especially in the turbulent period of the 1980s, one can find how they have targeted the workers in such a way that members of this class have been one of the largest portions of Iranian citizens that fell victim to the violent and bloody acts of terrorist groups.
It is noteworthy that a significant number of assassinations of Iranian workers were carried out by the same leftist groups. According to available statistics, since the victory of the Islamic Revolution to the beginning of the 2010s, 1628 workers have been targeted by terrorist groups. Two hundred twenty-eight of these were under the age of 18 and 1134 had primary education or no literacy. The age and educational level of these people clearly show that they were ordinary citizens of the society and had no political, party or group affiliations. Out of all, over 400 of them were assassinated by left-wing groups that claim to support workers the most. What is more surprising is that more than 250 people have been assassinated by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist group. Interestingly enough, despite the considerable amount of crimes the MEK has committed against the working class, it is still trying to show themselves as supporters of this class.
It has been clear for several decades that Marx’s heirs have never been able to be good defenders of workers and their rights. For them, the workers were a tool to political exploitation in gaining the support of the masses. The high volume of assassinated workers by these groups in the 1980s shows that to them, in pursuing their totalitarian goals, it doesn’t matter whether their targets were weak classes that they claim to support them. And in this regard, there has been no difference between radical leftist groups and Marxist regimes and the workers, each in a different way, have been victims of one of these two.
For Iranian people, first day of May 1 is not only Workers’ Day. It reminds them the memories of hundreds of workers who were unjustly killed by violent terrorist groups.