from: Worker-communist Party of Iran-Britain
27 September 1997
Message of solidarity to Merseyside Dockworkers and Women of the Waterfront

Dear Comrades,

On the 2nd anniversary of your dispute with the Merseyside Dock owners, Worker-communist Party of Iran-Britain (WPI) send you our warmest greetings and total support for your struggle and your demands which are shared by many workers all over the world.

You have proven that the working class in Britain are not prepared to accept the most inhumane conditions that the employers and the state plan to force on us, while the Multi-national Corporations are registering astronomical profits.

You have kept the spirit of the British working class alive and by raising the banner of Social Justice in April '97, you have become a focal point for millions who have no voice. You have been a bastion of the struggle against misery, unemployment, poverty and rightlessness.

Those who advocate industrial peace are today even incapable of pretending to defend our basic rights for a decent life. While the industrial arms of the Labour Party are asking us to sacrifice for the sake of even more profit and competition, you have stood for truth and shown their historical failures for all to see.

Comrades, your struggle has relied on one of the best traditions of the working class, i.e. Internationalism. From Amsterdam, to Sydney, from the docks of New York to Canada, the name of Liverpool dockers is synonymous with Working Class Internationalism.

This is also the experience of the working class in Iran. As you are aware, the Oil workers in Iran confronted the Islamic regime of Iran with industrial action and demanded the right to collective bargaining, right to strike and organisation. The scale of international support for the oil workers dispute effectively forced the Islamic Regime to back down and agree to the International Labour Orga
nisation sending a mission to investigate the condition of the working class in Iran.

We have not forgotten that during 1977-78, British dockers supported the Iranian Workers in their struggle against the Shah's regime by refusing to handle Iranian cargoes and ships.

Comrades, today all over the world major industrial disputes quickly turn into an international issue and rely on international support. Only an international movement of workers with a clear aim of abolition of wage labour can put an end to this brutal system of capitalism.

Long Live Workers' International Solidarity
Victory to Liverpool Dockworkers and Women of the Waterfront
Down with capitalism
Long Live Socialism