"Islamic Fundamentalism": A
Tool in Imperialism’s Hands
Written by the IPFG*
In the last two decades, we
have witnessed the daily rise of a phenomenon known as "Political
Islam" or "Islamic Fundamentalism", especially in countries where
Moslems make the majority. Unfortunately, the growth of this fundamentalism,
which mostly hides behind and justifies itself through anti-Imperialist
slogans, has resulted in some wrong viewpoints and illusions among
revolutionary and communist forces. As a result, when analyzing
the class nature of this fundamentalism, these communist forces are being diverted,
and while repeating bourgeois propaganda, they incorrectly
consider these groups as "anti-Imperialist" and "Revolutionary".
It is due to this very fact that as an Iranian communist organization, which
has witnessed up-close the relentless strangulation of the anti-Imperialist Democratic
movement of the Iranian people by the Islamic Republic regime in Iran for the
past
In most analyses common
today, there is an effort to wrap "Islamic
Fundamentalism" in "anti Imperialist"
clothing. According to these analyses, Khomeini's clique and the Islamic regime
in Iran were seemingly a manifestation and symbol of anti-Imperialism. But in
fact, while verbally opposing American and other Imperialist forces, the very same
Islamic regime under Khomeini's leadership has indeed viciously crushed the
genuine anti Imperialism-Democratic movement of the Iranian people; a movement
that had started with "Down with the Shah" and "Down with
American Imperialism" slogans. This regime has repressed and executed masses
of people, freedom fighters and communists for their true and just anti-Imperialist,
Democratic demands. Therefore, those who consider this regime to be
anti-imperialist must explain why it has put forth this blood drenching
suppression of the people’s anti Imperialist movement and revolution!
The truth is that in the 70's,
workers and the toiling masses of Iran, inspired by the struggles of our
organization; The Iranian People's Fadaee Guerillas (IPFG), formed an anti-Imperialism, Democratic movement with the goal of
overthrowing the dependent regime of the Shah and abolishing Imperialist
domination in Iran. But when the revolutionary struggle in its process intensified
and saving the Shah's regime by his Imperialist masters was no longer feasible,
in order to counter the masses’ movement, the Imperialist forces in Guadeloupe
Summit decided to replace the Shah's regime with an Islamic current, which was
in line with a policy of installing a green belt around the ex-Soviet Union. In those days, this Islamic current under Khomeini's
authority did not even have an organization, but with Imperialists’ political
and material supports, this clique was rapidly boosted up, and under the circumstances
of a lack of a revolutionary leadership (keeping in mind the very hard blows
our organization had received at the time), an Islamic Republic regime filled
the "alternative vacuum" for the Imperialists.
From the very first days of coming to power, the
Islamic Republic regime under the name of Islam, yet in fact serving the Imperialists,
committed atrocities against the oppressed people of
In the following years, tens of thousands of
communists and anti-Imperialist combatants were massacred by the Islamic
regime. This regime even executed kids and teenaged girls as young as
This regime has crushed the just struggles of the
oppressed Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Baluchs, Lors, and Turkmans for wanting
self-determination. After a while, in
order to repress the revolution even further and to benefit the Imperialists,
the Islamic regime kept Iran in an 8 year reactionary war with Iraq; a war that
for the oppressed masses of the two countries brought nothing but misery,
hunger, death and destruction, while making the region a profitable market for the
Imperialists, and put billions of dollars into their pockets by the selling of military
weapons of their arsenals.
It was the same regime that in 1988 right after the
end of the war, fearful of the spread of the people's struggle, slaughtered tens
of thousands of political prisoners; a political genocide never recorded in
history before. The regime executed several thousand political prisoners and
massacred them all at once. A few years later, again around the same time when
resistance and the masses’ movement were on the rise, the regime started the horrifying
murder of intellectuals and writers; murders which later the regime was forced
to admit to when its crimes were exposed. These crimes are now known as the government
"serial killings".
In spite of all the "anti American"
and "anti Imperialist" rhetoric, the Islamic regime through out all these
years has given away our oppressed people's national wealth and resources to the
Imperialists’ oil and military companies and Trusts.
At an international level we are witnessing an
incorrect supposition that based on the empty anti-Imperialist slogans these
Islamic currents put on display, tries to relate the struggle of the
"petty bourgeoisie" with "Imperialist capital" or big
capital in the dominated countries. This analysis is not based on reality. On
the contrary, in Iran where we have experienced almost 3 decades of the rule of
the "Islamists", reality shows that from day one in addition to the
savage and bloody suppression of the workers, the Islamic regime has also oppressed
the peasants, farmers, the toiling masses and the petty bourgeoisie which are
under Imperialism’s extreme plunder and exploitation. It prevents the breaking up of any private
property for the benefit of large property owners and bureaucratic capital. Islamist experience in
The experience of "Islamic
Fundamentalism" in Iran is the manifestation of the reality that
"Political Islam" is but a cover for the expansion of the hellish
domination of Imperialism over and against workers and oppressed peoples; not an
opposition to it. The great and bloody experiences of the workers and oppressed peoples in
To strengthen our struggle to realize this
revolutionary desire, we must try to expand our unity and solidarity. In this
time of crisis, we must try to write the following slogans in permanent and
dominant colours on our flags: "No To Imperialism!", "No to
Islamic Fundamentalism – the tool for advancing Imperialistic politics!",
and "Long Live the Anti-Imperialist, Democratic
Revolution under the Leadership of The Working Class!"
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* The IPFG (The Iranian
People’s Fadaee Guerrillas) is a Marxist-Leninist Organization formed in the
early
Visit: www.fadaee.org ,
Contact: ipfg@hotmail.com