| Worker-communist Party of Iran | |
| Native Name: | حزب کمونیست کارگری ایران |
| Native Name Lang: | fa |
| Colorcode: |
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| Split: | Communist Party of Iran |
| Founder: | Mansoor Hekmat |
| Chairperson: | Hamid Taqvaee |
| Ideology: | Communism Workerist Marxism Third camp |
| Position: | Far-left |
| Membership Year: | 2008 |
| Membership: | 250 |
| Website: | WPIran.org |
| Country: | Iran |
The Worker-communist Party of Iran (Persian: حزب کمونیست کارگری ایران|hezb-e kommunist-e kârgari-ye Irân) is a political party founded in 1991 that seeks the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the establishment of a Socialist Republic in its place. The party's primary slogans are "Liberty, Equality, Workers' Rule", "Down with the Islamic Republic", "For a Socialist Republic" and "The Basis of Socialism is the Human Being".
WPI owns a 24-hour TV station called New Channel, which broadcasts mainly in Persian, but includes some programming in English, Kurdish and Azeri Turkish. The Communist Youth Organization is the youth wing of WPI. The organization's current leader is Hamid Taqvaee.
WPI is banned in Iran, as are other parties opposed to the Islamic Republic. It nevertheless boasts members in worker, student, women and other sections of Iranian society. The party maintains a presence in Western countries; having official organizations in Germany, the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, France, Finland, Denmark,USA, Canada, Turkey and Australia. Using these countries as a base, the WPI works with the Iranian community to further its immediate aims to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
WPI was formed in 1991 after some members of the Communist Party of Iran left to form a new party. The main founder and leader of the party was Mansoor Hekmat, who died on July 4th, 2002. The founding declaration of the party has four signatures: Mansoor Hekmat, Koorosh Modarresi, Reza Moghadam and Iraj Azarin. The latter three individuals have since left the party.
After the death of Mansoor Hekmat in 2002, there was a debate in the party over whether a new leader should be announced or not. This led to the formation of two factions, one centred on Hamid Taqvaee, who was defending "Collective Leadership", the other around Koroosh Modaressi who believed that party should choose a leader immediately. The Central Committee subsequently voted for immediate election of a leader. Taqvaee and Modaressi nominated themselves and Koroosh Modaressi was chosen.
During the 4th Congress of Party, Modaressi did not nominate himself for leadership again saying that he would like stand down in favor of Hamid Taqvaee who, as the only candidate, was then appointed automatically.
The leadership debates eventually led to the exodus of more than half of the members of Central Committee and most of the Kurdistan Committee in August 2004. The defectors chose the leadership of Koroosh Modaressi, who was then Chairperson of the Political Bureau. This move was supported by the leadership of the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq. Together they formed a new party called the Worker-Communist Party of Iran-Hekmatist. They claim to be closer to the ideas of Mansoor Hekmat, though this is denied by the leadership of the WPI, who declared themselves to be the real followers of Hekmat's ideas.
The conflict between the two parties is still ongoing and the WPI leadership sometimes sarcastically refer to the WPI-H as 'anti-Hekmatist'. In return the WPI-H claim that WPI represents a retreat to the "traditional left" and is a "populist" party.
The WPI's main newspaper is Anternasional (in Persian, International), an eight-page Persian publication which is published every Friday. However, the party is also responsible for the following publications: https://anternasional.com/wp/
In March 2006 the WPI started a theoretical journal named Be Su-ye Sosialism (in Persian: به سوی سوسیالیسم Toward Socialism). The first issue was published in October 2008.In 2022 Keyva Javid started a daily publication named Journal in Farsi.https://journalfarsi.com/
Since the establishment of the party, WPI members and cadres have created and joined many organisations and campaigns on different issues. Such organisations are usually very close to the party. These are as follows:
The Leftist Worker-Communist Party of Iraq (LWPI) which was formed in 2004 after the major split in the WPI. It is a sister party to WPI. The LWPI's Current Leader, Osam Shukri, is a member of Central Committee and politburo of WPI.