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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2009
This article chronicles the genesis, process and forms of collective protests by the unemployed in Iran immediately following the revolution of 1979. It analyzes the dynamics of jobless mobilization in demanding employment and social protection by exploring its complex relationships with the Islamic government, the opposition forces and the broader revolutionary process. In developing countries, an organized struggle of the unemployed for jobs and protection is extremely rare, notwithstanding high rates of open and concealed joblessness. Family, kinship, patron-client relationships and especially the informal sector provide essential mechanisms for protection and survival; lack of ‘organization generally prevents the emergence of sustained protest movements. I argue that the conjuncture-based articulation of resources and political opportunity underlying the movement set the Iranian case apart. The resources included the post-revolutionary massive and sudden loss of jobs along with the rise of a revolutionary ideology among the jobless.
1 This background section on the Iranian Revolution is based upon Bayat, Asef, “Revolution Without Movement, Movement Without Revolution: Comparing Islamist Activism in Iran and Egypt”, mimeograph, 1996.Google Scholar For a historical background to the Iranian revolution see Abrahamian, Ervan, Iran Behveen Two Revolutions (Princeton, NJ, 1982)Google Scholar; and Katouzian, Homa, The Political Economy of Modern Iran (London, 1982).Google Scholar For literature on the Islamic revolution reflecting different perspectives, see Abrahamian, , Iran Behvcen Two RevolutionsGoogle Scholar; Arjomand, Said Amir, The Turban for the Crown (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Moaddel, Mansoor, Class, State and Ideology in the Iranian Revolution (New York, 1993)Google Scholar; Milani, Mohsen, The Making of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (Boulder, 1988).Google Scholar The best account may be found in Parsa, Misagh, The Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution (New Brunswick, NJ, 1989).Google Scholar
2 On the anti-democratic nature of the Shah's regime and its political implications see Halliday, Fred, Iran: Dictatorship and Development (London, 1977)Google Scholar (on SAVAK activities); Lajevardi, Habib, Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran (Syracuse, NJ, 1985).Google Scholar
3 On guerrilla activities in Iran see Halliday, , Iran: Dictatorship and DevelopmentGoogle Scholar; Abrahamian, , Iran Between Two Revolutions.Google Scholar
4 Useful accounts of post-revolutionary events may be found in Bakhash, Shaul, The Reign of Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution (New York, 1984)Google Scholar; and Rahnema, Ali and Nomani, Farhad, The Secular Miracle: Religion, Politics and Economic Policy in Iran (London, 1990).Google Scholar
5 Iran, Bank Markazi, Annual Economic Report, 1358 (Tehran, 1979), p. 7.Google Scholar
6 See Paykar, 1 Moldad 1358/1979, p. 6.Google Scholar
7 Estimate from the Budget and Plan Organization based on the generalization of a survey i of unemployed in Tehran in 1979; see Statistical Yearbook 1358 (Tehran, 1979), p. 102, Table 30.Google Scholar On 24 Farvardin 1358/1979, the Tehran Musavvar, a Tehran weekly, reported that “according to an official figure, three million workers are unemployed; most are casual and construction laborers”; see Tehran Musavvar 1, no. 12, Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 12.Google Scholar The Council of Unemployed Diplomehs submitted a similar figure; see Pirouzi, 3, Azar: 1359/1980, p. 31.Google Scholar In 1976, there were some 900,000 unemployed (10.2 per cent of the labor force). Assuming that their number had reached 1 million by the advent of the revolution, some 2 million lost their jobs as a result of the revolutionary events. See Farjadi, , “Barrasi-ye Bazaar-i Kar, Ishtighal va Bikaari dar Iran” [A Survey of Labor Market, Employment and Unemployment in Iran], Barnameh va Tmvse'eh, 2, no. 3 (Fall 1992), p. 69.Google Scholar By 1980, however, we know that fewer than 500,000 jobless had actually registered with the Ministry of Labor. On this subject and on an early discussion of the composition of the unemployed in post-revolutionary Iran, see “Jang, Kar va Bikari” [The War, Work and Unemployment], Pirouzi, 3 (Azar 1359/1980), pp. 30–35.Google Scholar
8 See Plan and Budget Organization, Barrasi-ye Bikaari dar Tehran, Tabistan 1358 [An Overview of Unemployment in Tehran: Summer 1979] (Tehran, 1979).Google Scholar
9 See Bayat, Asef, “Why Don't the Unemployed Rebel? Or Do They?”, mimeograph (The American University in Cairo, 1996).Google Scholar
10 Interviews with Mustafa, an unemployed workers' organizer in the oil city of Abadan, conducted in Los Angeles, May 1986; also see Organization of People's Guerrilla Fedaii of Iran (OPGFI), Gozarishi az Tashkil-i Sandika-ye Kargaran-i Prozheii (Fasli) Abadan [A Report on the Formation of the Seasonal Workers' Union in Abadan] (Tehran, 1979).Google Scholar
11 See Ayandegan, 25 Farvardin 1357/1978.
12 See OPGFI, Gozareshi az Mubarizat-i Kargaran-i Bikaar-Shudeh.
13 Ibid.
14 One tuman equals Rls 10. In 1979, US$1 = about Rls 70.
15 See Paygham-i Imrouz, 11 Farvardin 1358/1979.
16 Ibid.
17 See, for example, Kargar bell Pish, the journal of the Paykar Organization, no. 5, 8 Khordad 1358/1979, p. 4.
18 See Bazargan, Mehdi, Masa'el va Mushkilat-i Sal-i Avval-i Inqilab [The Problems and Difficulties of the First Year of the Revolution] (Tehran, 1983).Google Scholar
19 OPGFI, Gozareshi az Karagaran-i Bikaar-Shudeh, p. 30.Google Scholar
20 See Tehran Musavvar, “Bar Bikaaran-i Mutahassen dar Nowrooz Che Gozasht?” [What Happened to the Unemployed in Sit-In in Nowrooz?], 10 Farvardin 1358/1979. See also Ayandegan, 9 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 3Google Scholar; also interviews with Naser (who participated in the operations), December 1994, Germany.
21 A copy of the flyer is in the author's possession.
22 See Ayndegan, 29 Esfand 1357/1979.
23 Ibid.
24 See Tehran Musavvar, 10, 10 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 19.Google Scholar
25 Based upon an interview with Naser (a leading participant in the hunger strike), December 1994. This sense of disappointment and expectation can be detected in the following angry statement from a laid-off worker “We have now been out of work for the last seven months. Is this really the result of our Revolution – that we get left out in the cold and are penniless and unemployed? At the beginning of the revolution, during our strikes, the managers would threaten us by calling the police. Now, they do the same thing, by calling the Pasdaran!” See Ayandegan, 13 Khordad 1358/1979, p. 4.Google Scholar
26 Ayandegan, 29 Esfand 1357/1978.
27 See Tehran Musavvar, 10, 10 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 20.Google Scholar
28 Interview with Naser (who participated in the hunger strike), December 1994.
29 OPFGI, Gozareshi az Mubarizat'i Kargaran-i Bikaar-Shudeh [A Report on the Struggles of the Laid-off Workers] (Tehran, 1979). Also based on my interviews with Ghasem, an exiled worker who was active among the unemployed workers of the city of Abadan, and Mehrdad, a left-wing mobilizer.
30 See Ayandegan, 9 Khordad 1358/1979.
31 See Ibid., 15 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 3.
32 See Ibid., 27 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 3.
33 Kargar Beh Pish, 5, 8 Khordad 1358/1979, p. 7.Google Scholar
34 See Kar, 5, Farvardin 1358/1979.
35 See Ibid., 7, 30 Farvardin 1358/1979.
36 See Ibid., 6, Farvardin 1358/1979.
37 A copy of the resolution is in the author's possession.
38 See Kar, 9, 13 Ordibehesht 1359/1980, p. 8.Google Scholar
39 See Ibid., 1, 30 Farvardin 1358/1979, p. 5.
40 Ibid.
41 The leaflet of the Fedaii Organization, dated 57/12/21 (1978), is in author's possession.
42 Kar, 9, 13 Ordibehesht 1358/1979.
43 Interview with Reza, who organized the unemployed in the city of Kermanshah (Bakhtaran), conducted on 10 February 1993.
44 Ibid.
45 See the statements made by those organizations on May Day 1358/1979. See also Abrahamian, Ervan, Khomeinism (Berkeley, 1993)Google Scholar, the chapter on “May Day in the Islamic Republic”.
46 For a detailed report on May Day 1979 see Farhang-i Novin, 4, Ordibehesht 1358/1979, special May Day issue.
47 See Bayat, Asef, Workers and Revolution in Iran (London, 1987), p. 104. Table 7.1.Google Scholar
48 See Khalesi, Abbas, Tarikhcheh-ye Bast va Bastnahini [A Short History of Basnishini] (Tehran, 1987).Google Scholar
49 Khalesi, in Tarikhche-ye Bast, sees a continuity, from ancient to contemporary times, in the usage of the concept bast-nishini (pp. 59–70).Google Scholar In addition, the term tahassun is described in the major encyclopedias of both Dehkhoda and Mo'in as a synonym for bast-nishastan. While some elements of traditional ideology (such as recourse to the Royal Court, or tahassun at the Ministry of Justice), persist, the term's meanings have largely changed over time. Traditionally, tahassun meant the efforts by individuals or groups to seek refuge at a holy site as a means of escaping punishment or voicing a protest. It was a mechanism of justice in the absence of laws by means of resorting to divine protection. The concept changed slightly at the beginning of modern times. In Iran, since the Qajar dynasty (1797–1921), the places of refuge included not only the holy sites but also the royal courts, stables of aristocrats, public telegraph offices, and especially foreign embassies (Ibid., pp. 19–20). During this period, concepts evolved such as political asylum, diplomatic immunity, and the like. In this altered sense, the actors resort not so much to divine protection as to political authority. Finally, the term's contemporary connotations are entirely different. Today, it is understood essentially as a collective action by a group of people who cither pursue publicity for a particular belief or cause disruption to pressure the authorities to satisfy certain demands. The concept is almost mixed with the modern practice of “temporary occupation”, where the actors resort neither to God nor to political authority but rather to public pressure.
50 See Piven, Frances and Cloward, Richard, Poor Peoples' Movements: Why They Succeed. How They Fail (New York, 1979).Google Scholar
51 Interview, conducted in October 1993, with Roham, a reporter on labor issues for the Tehran daily, Paygham-i Imrouz. The newspaper was published after the revolution of 1979 but banned in the summer of that year.
52 Interview with Merdad, a left-wing activist involved in the unemployed movement, July 1993.
53 Interview with Roham, October 1993.
54 Interview with Naser, a worker activist in the House of Labor, December 1994.
55 OPGFI, Gozareshi az Tashkil-i Sandika-ye Kargaran-i Bikaar-Shudeh.
56 See Kargar Beh Pish, 5, 1358/1979, p. 11.Google Scholar
57 Interviews with Mustafa (one of the leaders of the SPWA) conducted in Los Angeles, May 1985.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid.
61 Interview with Reza, a labor activist, May 1993.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 Ayandegan, 4 Ordibehesht 1358/1979, p. 3Google Scholar; see also Tehran Miaavvar, “Gozarcshi az Khane-ye Kargar va Sokhanan-i Kargaran-i Bikaar”, 2, 18 Khordad 1358/1979, pp. 24–25.Google Scholar
66 The Resolution of the Central Constituent Council of the Unions of the Unemployed Project and Laid-off Workers of Iran. The original text is in the author's possession.
67 See Middle East Economic Digest, 5 10 1979, p. 29.Google Scholar
68 Interview with Rohamm, a labor reporter, October 1993.
69 The statements by many officials immediately after the revolution substantiate this argument.
70 Interview with leftist activists involved in the movement confirm this point.
71 Such as Kar, Paykar, Khabar-i Kargar, Khabar Nameh, Kargar-i Komonist, Mujahed.
72 The Tudeh (Communist Party) was considered the “first road” and the various Marxist guerrilla Fedaii organizations the “second road”.
73 A Marxist-Leninist organization with a Maoist orientation.
74 Interview with Darvishpour (who participated in unemployed workers campaigns), conducted in November 1993.
75 See Bazargan, , Masa'el va Mushkilat-i Inqilab, p. 122.Google Scholar
76 Ibid.
77 See Iran, Bank Markazi, Annual Economic Report (Tehran, 1982), p. 8.Google Scholar
78 This information was released by the Labor Ministry in Ayandegan, 2 Ordibehesht 1358/1979, p. 1.Google Scholar In addition, the Ministry of Roads and Supply announced that it employed some 5,000 skilled and unskilled laborers for road construction; see Ayandegan, 16 Khordad 1358/1979, p. 4.Google Scholar
79 For the details, see Bayat, , Workers and Revolution in Iran.Google Scholar
80 An original copy of the flyer issued after the workers began their sit-in is in the author's possession; see also Kar, 9, 13 Ordibehesht 1358/1979, p. 10.Google Scholar
81 See Ayandegan, 27 Mordad 1358/1979, p. 5.Google Scholar
82 See Iran, Bank Markazi, Annual Economic Report, 1982, p. 50.Google Scholar
83 See Ayandegan, 21 Farvardin 1358/1979.
84 See Ettilaat, 2 Shahrivar 1364/1985.
85 Ayandegan, 17 Tir 1358/1979.
86 Ibid.
87 See Bazergan, , Masa'el va Miishkilat-i Inqitab, p. 125.Google Scholar
88 Ayandegan, 9 Khordad 1358/1979.
89 Ibid., 22 Khordad 1358/1979.
90 Ibid.
91 For a discussion of these issues and events, see Bayat, Asef, Street Politics: Poor People's Movements in Iran, 1977–1990 (New York, forthcoming, 1997).Google Scholar
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