On the occasion of May 1st, International Workers’ Day, a group of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK)-supporting political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison issued a letter honoring the suffering and sacrifice of Iran’s laboring class under the mullahs’ regime.
“Let us pause,” they wrote, “to remember the murdered and buried miners, the workers burned alive in IRGC depot explosions in Bandar Abbas, those killed due to safety violations, and the families of workers trapped in poverty, illness, and slow death.”
They emphasized that for decades—under both the Shah’s monarchy and the current theocracy—workers demanding their rights have been suppressed and gunned down. The prisoners noted that in over forty years of the genocidal regime’s rule, real wages and purchasing power for wage earners have continuously declined—whether they are industrial workers, teachers, nurses, clerks, university professors, or public doctors.
“Aside from a handful of thieves, cronies, embezzlers, and regime insiders, the vast majority of our people live under the poverty line,” the letter declared.
They held the IRGC, regime-controlled foundations, and monopolistic smuggling and trade cartels directly responsible for Iran’s economic ruin. At the top, they named Ali Khamenei and his “wage-drawing” government as the masterminds of ongoing schemes to extract what little remains from the public. “They’ve even set their sights on families’ emergency savings,” the letter warned, condemning a recent proposal for state-controlled ‘investment’ of private deposits.
The prisoners mocked the regime’s deception:
“This regime has nothing in common with workers or their rights—it is their sworn enemy. It spreads unemployment deliberately. In today’s Iran, the cheapest and most expendable commodity is labor itself.”
They illustrated this injustice by citing construction costs, noting that only 15% of the final price of a home goes to the workers and technicians, while the rest is devoured by inflated land, materials, and state-controlled infrastructure.
Concluding their letter, the prisoners proclaimed that the only viable path for workers, teachers, nurses, retirees, and the broader public is uprising:
“The cry of every worker must be: Death to the Oppressor—be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader!”
Signed:
Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) – Ghezel Hesar Prison
April 30, 2025