WEEKS of uncertainty manoeuverings behind the scenes the Iranian ruling class ended last weekend with the announcement that Mohammed Ali Rajai has been nominated as the new prime minister of Iran.
Rajai's appointment will mark the final success of Ayatollah Islamic neoublican rarty arm securoverall control of the The parliament, in which the IRP has an overwhelming majority following the bogus spring. elections, has been waiting since its opening session on 28 May for the come or a doz dodde even President Bani Sadr and the leaders of the IRP over who should be nominated for the Dos uon or brenier.
Bani Sadr's grudging announcement of Rajai's appointment, still to be connirmed by tne Majis but already approved by Khomeini himself, signals the failure of the President to untie himselt from the apron strings or te Islamic rundamentalists. Hardline The new prime minister is likely to appoint a hardline, Islamic days altad. nalal s cicactuals lot theoo were won in the Ministry of Education which played a coordinating role in the re Could universitie! launching of the Islamic 'cultural' revolution.
The stage is now set for the debate over what to do with the American hostages, who are at present held in far flung regions or une county. Direrences remait wildn the majlis over the hostage question. The faction around Ayatollah Beheshti - the IRP leader - lavour Dulung une nostages on trial as spies, with a sentence to follow if they are found guilty.
Others favour a trial of the US itself, Will nostages merely Yet present foreign minister Ghotbzadeh (who Is makev to serve me ine new covernment.
sin heaven eneral cord him revolutionary') bossibly even ban dada mansel like to see the hostages released, and a normalisation of Iran's international relations.
Exactly which faction wins will depend and Khomeini's Majlis cabinet in the Bani-Sadr present including the would Islamic politicians use hostage ment due both to a glut on the world market as the recession takes hold and to nroduCuOn and through the Iranian oil workers to non-renewable owners.
At the same time there has been a colin both the private ana buone sectors as we covermichl old unable to impose discipline work force (minimum wages doubled over the last year) or to come up with any real The dependence on foreign technology which characterised the chan usman acorre government's relucthe laws of the of a planned economy which could begin same reluctance to break capitalist propertv relations has lead the government into conflict with the pressure for a radical land reform from many sec Iranian women at the time of the insurrection issue as diversion from tions of the rural population. clergy has always been one of the larger landowners in une country inrouen religious foundations, and there are also strong links between the bazaar a soda base or enemune cer — and the big and middle-sized Iranian While about a thousand landowners possess some 25 per cent of cultivable land , nearly 10 million peasants have to subsist on another 30 per cent. Primitive arming mennoos. une breakdown une. agribusinesses by foreign under the shah, and a rising population inevitably mean food shortages - a10 ll6 growth of a black market economy in food which directly benefits the middlemen of the bazaar.
Housewives protesting creases have been attacked by shopkeepers and merchants in the bazaars throughout But to end speculation and the complete redistribution of land and a anti- imperialist struggle The shite comnlete change in the structure of credits and price levels, as well as a long-term project of education, and social and technical Lne assistance to the peasantry. the Trials of hostages are land- relevant to the solution of these problems which make everyday life intolerable for justified Led the "freedom' Certainly alliance fullest attention. timism reluctance soldiers to Standing ally marked nore at their peril.
rightward cupation, exist and organise.
Left layer of foci LAHOREOU anti-imperialist final, completely it- nationalities.
speeches against the rea which echo from pulpits around attempts to extend the antiImpertalst struggle into areas wnien alreci the everyday lives of millions have exposugly face Islamic imperialism', Islamic culture and Islamic As yet, however, the ruling block has not succeeded in inticing a deleat on these struggles. Massive repression on the scale which existed in the shah's dav would require an army and a secret police totally dedicated to the clergy's project.
the Khomeini-Bani Sadr giving question their But the armed force! have not yet recovered from the massive blow to their morale which they received during the rebruar usurrecuon. Ine performance against the Kurdish people both last August and in the war which i continuing in Kurdestan todav. give the government much cause for op The exodus of American advisers last year deprived the army of much of its support, while extensive desertions in the Kurdish campaign indicate a Anoth officers fight against • their erstwhile allies in the anti-shah movement The Islamic Revolutionary Guards remain loyal to Khomeini, but they are no substitute for a professional and reliabl The rightward lurch of the ruling block Kurdestan, the attacks ore women in recent renewed war weeks, and the driving of the left organisa tions from their strongholds in the universities tollowing the announcement of the "cultural revoluton is a dangerous and which socialists igTortes cave nor ver ex hausted their stock of barbarities: But the shift taking place without inere oeing any rundamental change In the balance of class forces. Although the Arab movement in Khuzestan province has been temporary nailea oy d virtual muitary ou resistance groups continue to Oil Minister Moinfa continues to complain of 'unruly and un controllable oil workers' preventing hin from 'rationalising' oil production.
there is a continuing tendency seizures lo lake place. , Organisea Dy Village and town councils and civil defence comAmong the working class, the develop. ment of shoras continues. Although these organisations still remain mostly confined to trade union-type activities, the fact that many of the industries have been nationalised and that the shoras are dealing directly with the government ministries brings out much more clearly for a whole workers the bankruptcy government's policies and their inabilit to solve the problems facing the country.
For those of the oppressed masses who still place their faith in Khomeini - in par țicular the artisan working class who stand in a much closer relation to the merchants and small capitalists in the bazaar, alla • a firm stand on the hostage question ensures their continuing support for the regime tel une hostages cannol be kept in definitely: as long as there exist extensive opposition the and government will continue to rely on their credentials ballitail their popular base. Thev will onlv be abl irreversible blow to organisanons or tne working class, te lelt, and une