We can both play that game.

Statement of the Worker-communist Party of Iran on the new round of the uprising of the people of Iran

[The text in this section is a statement issued by the Worker-communist Party of Iran on January 5, 2026, regarding the recent mass protests by the Iranian people.] Protests that began on 28 December 2025 following the Tehran bazaar strike, in opposition to rising prices and the severe economic situation, have grown broader and more radical by the day. Chants of “death to the dictator” and calls for overthrow have shaken the streets of large and small cities alike, once again drawing global attention to the struggle of the Iranian people to free themselves from the Islamic Republic.

These protests are a continuation of previous struggles, and it is specifically the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution that has once again taken to the streets—this time under different conditions and with an even stronger emphasis on “life”. Attention is now focused on how this revolution, in its new phase, will chart its path forward, and on how the people of Iran, by defeating the Islamic Republic and taking control of every aspect of life themselves, will shape a new chapter of history.

The latest protests are unfolding amid a dramatic deterioration in living conditions. For many people, there is no longer any room for patience or compromise, and as a result ever wider sections of society are being compelled to enter the struggle and settle accounts with the ruling power. On the other side stands an Islamic Republic weaker and more crisis-ridden than ever, with no economic or political answers to offer, and still reliant on bullets, prisons, executions and the machinery of repression.

For the revolution to overcome the Islamic Republic, it must bring an ever broader social force into the field and make greater use of levers such as nationwide strikes and a general strike—measures that are extremely difficult for the state to confront. The widest possible sections of the population, in cities large and small and across neighbourhoods nationwide, must actively join the revolution, while simultaneously engaging in sustained and varied forms of protest: demonstrations, night-time chanting, neighbourhood control, and attacks on state forces and institutions. Workers in industrial centres, teachers, nurses, retirees, public-sector employees and students can—and must—play a far more decisive and central role.

Strike committees, neighbourhood control committees, mutual aid committees and revolutionary coordination networks must be formed wherever possible, preparing the ground for the mass expansion of the political movement and readiness to deliver decisive blows to the Islamic Republic.

But the revolution does not confront only the Islamic Republic and its repression. Another danger threatening its advance and victory lies in efforts to steer political developments in Iran through deals from above—preserving the foundations of repression, dictatorship, religious authority and the state apparatus—whether through media manipulation, public opinion engineering, or direct and indirect intervention by foreign governments, so that they remain limited to merely the passing of power from the hands of one capital owners to another. In the presence of a revolution of this scale, such efforts are often presented in the name of the revolution itself, even as its supposed outcome. In reality, they serve the interests of the ruling regime and work against the revolution.

A clear example of this danger can be seen in the activities of monarchist forces. Through deception and propaganda, issuing death threats, intimidating opponents, engaging in thuggery, abuse and misogyny—in short, by modelling themselves on Trump-style fascism—they seek to eliminate rival figures and leaders who enjoy popular support, aiming wishfully to claim uncontested leadership. This delusion works to the benefit of the Islamic Republic and to the detriment of the people’s revolution. As a result, the struggle to overthrow the Islamic Republic has today become inseparable from the struggle to neutralise and defeat this home-grown, Trump-style fascism.

The Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in Iran must, even before its final victory, entrench its human principles—such as unconditional freedom of expression, organisation and political activity; the abolition of the death penalty; and the dismantling of all forms of misogyny—so deeply in Iran’s political culture that no one can cross these lines without being exposed and isolated. Confronting attempts to clip the wings of the revolution, impose top-down deals, or manufacture artificial leaders likewise depends on the mass participation of millions in advancing the revolution across the country.

Opposing all forms of attempts to cause divisions among the peoples living within Iran’s geography; reaffirming Woman, Life, Freedom as a unifying slogan; rejecting all forms of dictatorship and state power imposed above society; insisting on demands that uproot the machinery of repression and suffocation; enforcing a total ban on execution, torture and imprisonment; and defending unconditional freedom of expression—these are all essential to strengthening and deepening the revolution.

Under current revolutionary conditions, collective effort and direct action to confront livelihood issues—from strikes and struggles for wage increases to protests for public services, the formation of medical mutual aid groups, cooperative funds, child-support initiatives, environmental rescue groups and other forms of solidarity—also take on political significance. In these areas too, the revolutionary movement is compelled to exercise direct popular power, even before fully displacing the ruling political power, depending on the balance of forces.

The revolution does not manifest itself solely through street protests, neighbourhood control or strikes. It can also take shape through revolutionary actions by workers in water, electricity, hospitals, telecommunications and other institutions, aimed at alleviating or resolving people’s immediate problems. This points to a broader truth: for full and comprehensive victory over the Islamic Republic, the current revolution must not only undertake revolutionary economic and welfare measures, but also move towards socialism—towards placing social production and distribution under the control of direct popular institutions.

The new phase of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution has brought the prospect of victory over the Islamic Republic closer than ever before. At the same time, it makes clearer than ever that decisive victory can only come alongside the defeat of all reactionary, traditional and backward forces that promise the people a return to the past, to despotism, servitude and inequality.

Down with the Islamic Republic! Victory to Woman, Life, Freedom! Long live the Socialist Republic!

'cept this one doesn't come from an Australian white shithead 🤷‍♀️