The Charter of the Cooperation Council of Iranian Leftist and Communist Forces for the Revolutionary Overthrow of the Islamic Republic and the Establishment of Council Rule in Iran January 25, 2026

The Charter of the Cooperation Council of Iranian Leftist and Communist Forces for the Revolutionary Overthrow of the Islamic Republic and the Establishment of Council Rule in Iran

January 25, 2026

January 2026

A new wave of nationwide uprising, which began on the 27th of December 2025 following the collapse of the value of the national currency and the staggering rise in the prices of everyday necessities, rapidly spread to universities and dozens of cities across Iran. The people who rose up, everywhere and in the streets, targeted the entire Islamic Republic regime with the slogan ‘Death to the dictator.’ The leaders and commanders of the Islamic government, terrified by the spread of the popular anger and their protests, moved into action from the very first moments and days with the weapon of bloody repression. On the twelfth and thirteenth days of the protests, using the calls of Reza Pahlavi and the orders of Trump as pretexts, they pushed brutality and savagery to their peak, giving horrific dimensions to their crimes. In these days, the leaders of the Islamic Republic, by cutting off the internet and telephone communications, massacred thousands of people and, by stockpiling the bodies of the victims in large warehouses in Kahrizak, Tehran, and other locations and displaying these heart-rending scenes, let out cries of victory at the height of their desperation and helplessness.

This powerful wave of the protest movement is in a continuation of the revolutionary movement of 2022 and the mass uprisings and immense political storms which over the past eight years have transformed Iran’s political landscape and brought about a profound shift in the consciousness and awareness of workers and the people of Iran. The driving force of these social movements consists of workers, the urban poor, women, teachers, retirees, students, and marginalized youth, who have been drawn into direct confrontation with the Islamic government of capitalists by protests against soaring prices and runaway inflation, unemployment, unprecedented poverty and economic misery, gender, national, and religious discrimination, deprivation of social, political, and individual rights, and destructive environmental policies. The Iranian labor movement, which for nearly two decades has inspired other radical protest movements through its magnificent strikes and demonstrations, has not only plowed the political ground for the rise of these mass uprisings but has itself also drawn strength from them. Women, enraged by gender discrimination and who, through their leading role in these developments, shattered the ideological pillars of the Islamic system, have in the current situation also transformed the face of Iran’s streets and cities by pushing back the Islamic hijab law. The student movement, which has repeatedly shown that at the sharp turns of these confrontations it stands alongside the oppressed strata of society, remains a bastion of resistance and defense of freedom and equality. The revolutionary movement of workers and freedom-seeking people in Kurdistan, on a mass scale, demonstrated that in order to rid themselves of the Islamic Republic and achieve their demands, it has adopted a strategy of unity and solidarity with the nationwide movement. Other social groups—such as revolutionary writers, poets, artists, and progressive filmmakers—by accompanying the movement and depicting the epics and sacrifices of the workers and the oppressed and their protests and sufferings, have in practice revealed the mission of progressive art through the living experience of mass struggle.”

These vast social and protest movements, which enjoy the sympathy of the majority of the people of Iran, have clearly exposed the political illegitimacy of the Islamic Republic regime. Under these conditions, the deepening crisis of legitimacy, ideological deadlock, the depth of the economic crisis and the destruction of energy production and transmission infrastructure, entrenched corruption and the growth of mafia-like gangs within the ruling structure, the consequences of intensified international sanctions, runaway inflation, unprecedented price hikes and a tsunami of unemployment, an out-of-control environmental crisis, and dozens of other factors have left the Islamic government of capitalists utterly incapable and helpless even in providing bread and water, electricity, and clean air.

This helplessness, unfolding against the backdrop of the failure of its regional strategic policy, the collapse of the forces of the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance,’ and defeat in the twelve-day war, has further intensified internal conflict and crisis within the ruling system. In the current situation, while the Islamic government has inclined toward negotiation and compromise in order to escape the pressure of U.S. and Western imperialist powers and to break out of international isolation, it has, in facing the people and confronting the expanding labor movement and mass protests, relied on a strategy of escalating repression and resorting to horrific crimes as the key to its own survival.

Nevertheless, on the basis of existing economic realities—the deepening gap between poverty and wealth, persistent discrimination and inequalities, and the prospect of further intensification of price hikes, poverty, and misery—at a time when the Islamic regime is helpless and incapable of responding to the demands of social movements, and when the weapon of massacre and repression has also lost its former effectiveness in intimidating society, the growth and expansion of the labor movement and other progressive social and protest movements has become inevitable. As the ongoing nationwide protests have shown, even larger uprisings and explosions of popular anger now lie on the horizon.

Under such conditions, not only the ruling factions but none of the segments of Iran’s bourgeois opposition have any answer or solution for ending this vast economic poverty and social suffering. Sections of Iran’s bourgeois opposition—such as republican currents that fear the rise of the labor and revolutionary movement even more than they fear the Islamic Republic—have, by relying on a strategy of so-called nonviolence, preemptively branded the revolution and the independent initiative of the masses as ‘violent,’ and have openly declared their opposition to any form of revolutionary transformation. The solution proposed by these forces for managing Iran’s capitalist economic crisis is nothing more than the continuation of layoffs, the ongoing cheapening of labor power, the normalization of relations with Western governments, and the pursuit of economic programs based on the free market. At best, these forces seek, while preserving capitalist relations, to replace the existing religious despotism with a non-religious but still exploitative government.

Another group of bourgeois opposition forces—such as monarchists, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, pro-Western republicans, and nationalist parties in Kurdistan and other regions—have pinned their hopes for overthrowing the Islamic Republic regime on the maximum-pressure policies of the Trump administration, including military intervention and acts of war by the fascist Israeli state. They offer no perspective other than a transfer of power carried out over the heads of the masses of the people and the unraveling of the social fabric.

It is clear that under such conditions, U.S. military intervention would not only be detrimental to the mass movement of the Iranian people, but could also serve the survival and ascendancy of a faction of the Islamic government that possesses both the capacity to compromise with the United States and the ability to brutally suppress the ongoing protests.

In this context, socialism is the only alternative capable of opening a horizon of liberation for the workers and oppressed people of Iran, who have been driven to the brink by the scale of poverty and lack of political and social rights. Socialism, and the establishment of council rule by workers, toilers, and the oppressed people of Iran, is the only alternative that can put an end to all the economic crises, social hardships, and the lack of rights, discrimination, and inequalities that grip the lower classes. The socialist alternative rests on objective and realistic practical foundations. It relies on the real power of the working class and its social movement, on its political hegemony over social developments and other revolutionary movements in society; it relies on the women’s liberation movement, the radical student movement, the revolutionary movement of workers and freedom-seeking people in Kurdistan and the struggles of other oppressed nationalities, as well as the movement against the death penalty and their field-based struggles.

These social movements, which are actively present on the scene, have also made advances in organization and leadership despite operating under the blade of repression by the Islamic Republic regime. Socialist leaders and activists of the labor movement and other progressive social movements, by uniting around a socialist strategy in organization-building, forming nationwide leadership, and winning political hegemony over these movements, can fulfill their historic mission in this period. It is through the labor movement—relying on its organized power and in unity and solidarity with these progressive social movements—that the Islamic Republic can be overthrown in a revolutionary manner, its Revolutionary Guards, army, repressive, bureaucratic, and legislative apparatus smashed, and, upon its ruins, a system of council rule by workers, toilers, and the oppressed people of Iran established. Through a fundamental transformation of the economy, this will open before society a horizon of liberation from all the afflictions of the capitalist system and a perspective of freedom, equality, and well-being.

In view of the fact that the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime has entered a decisive phase, the Cooperation Council of Iranian Left and Communist Forces emphasizes the vital necessity of expanding a united and nationwide struggle for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and the establishment of council rule by the workers and oppressed people of Iran. Since, unlike the parliamentary system under capitalism—which turns participation in politics, governance, and the administration of society into a specialized domain inaccessible to workers and the people—council rule is based on the direct participation of citizens from the local to the nationwide level, it guarantees and secures the involvement of workers and the people in political and economic decision-making and in the administration and management of society. Therefore, in opposition to the plans of the bourgeois opposition for a transitional period and a parliamentary system, we regard the council system as the best and most accessible means for the participation of all members of society—as both lawmakers and executors of the law—in governing society.

The Cooperation Council of Iranian Left and Communist Forces believes that under conditions in which technological advances and the expansion of social networks have developed communications more than ever before and have made access to information in all fields widely available to the public, the council system has further facilitated the direct participation of workers and the masses of the people in the administration of society and has turned it into a practical possibility.

Council-based governance of society can prevent the establishment of a bureaucratic system that once again sits above the people and reduces them to powerless spectators of the political scene. Workers and people who are organized within a council system will themselves be both lawmakers and enforcers of the law. In this system of governance, all administrative, political, and judicial officials are elected by the people and can be removed at any time whenever the majority of voters so decide. Council rule has a hierarchical structure, with the Nationwide Congress of Councils serving as the highest organ of people’s sovereignty in Iran. The Nationwide Congress of Councils functions as the lawmaker, organizer of the highest state institutions and executive affairs, and supervisor of their work. In a council government, political parties can be present in the organs of administration and management of society and political power only through participation in council elections at various levels.

Council rule, emerging from the uprising of the masses, can declare and swiftly implement the political actions and program provisions outlined below, which are rooted in the daily lives and struggles of workers, toilers, and the oppressed people of Iran:

1. Establishment of the rule of workers and toilers through organs of direct exercise of the people’s will. Expansion of councils at workplaces and residential areas up to city, regional, and nationwide levels to replace the rule of the Islamic Republic, guaranteeing universal, general, free, secret, and equal voting rights for all citizens, utilizing all forms of direct mass participation. The right of every individual over 18 years old to run for and hold any elected position. The right of voters to recall representatives at all levels, at any time the majority so decides.

2. Arrest, trial, and punishment of the leaders of the Islamic Republic in public courts.

3. Freedom for all political prisoners. Abolishment of ‘political crimes’ and the dismantling of political prisons. Abolishment of the death penalty. Abolishment of torture.

4. Unconditional declaration and implementation of political freedom, freedom of belief, expression, the press, assembly, organization, party formation, and the right to strike, along with the prohibition of any form of thought policing. Freedom and access to the internet for all, the right to uncensored access to information, and the freedom of everyone to use various internet programs and networks to express opinions, with the abolition of all forms of censorship.

5. Complete separation of religion from the state and from education. Freedom of religion and of being non-religious. Abolition of all religious laws, dismantling and dissolution of government religious foundations and institutions. Confiscation of the assets and properties of these institutions that produce ignorance and superstition, as well as all endowments, and allocation of them to meet the immediate needs of the people.

6. Establishment of workers’ control over production and distribution.

7. Guaranteeing the livelihood and welfare of all citizens in accordance with modern global standards, through councils and institutions elected by workers and the people. Provision of adequate unemployment insurance for all individuals over 18 who are ready to work, as well as for all those unable to work due to physical or mental reasons. Guarantee of free education, healthcare, and public health for all citizens.

8. Complete elimination of all forms of gender discrimination and oppression through the abolition of the sexual apartheid system, repeal of all anti-women and discriminatory laws, declaration and implementation of full and unconditional equality between women and men in all aspects of individual and social life, and creation of equal opportunities in all fields.

9. Full recognition of sexual orientation rights, including the right to same-sex marriage, and the abolition of all forms of discrimination and oppression against the LGBTQ+ community.

10. Prohibition of professional work for children under 18. Ensuring and guaranteeing that all children have access to education, healthcare, well-being, and happiness, and creating suitable conditions for their growth and development. Classifying any sexual assault or abuse of children as a criminal offense and ensuring state protection of children.

11. Rejection of all forms of oppression, discrimination, and inequality in society through the declaration and implementation of full equality of rights for all citizens, regardless of gender, religion, nationality, race, or citizenship. Rejection of national oppression and resolution of national questions through recognition of the right to self-determination via the votes of the affected communities. At the same time, we advocate the free and voluntary unity of all residents of Iran and believe that such unity serves the interests of the working class and the toiling masses.

12. Abolition of trade secrets. Abolition of secret diplomacy.

13. Immediate actions and long-term planning to protect the environment and vital resources of water, soil, and clean air, by reducing and ultimately ending the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy.

14. Establishment of social ownership over key industrial, banking, service, commercial sectors, and large agricultural and livestock companies.

15. Bringing all industrial and commercial institutions, as well as the assets, properties, and wealth of various foundations and institutions affiliated with the Islamic Republic regime, under public control; taking control of endowments and using them to serve public welfare.

16. The council rule of the people of Iran considers support for labor, socialist, liberation, and freedom-seeking movements worldwide and in the region as one of its important duties.

The Stockholm Conference calls on workers, toiling people, freedom-seekers, progressive women, and communists to join the council alternative, to play a role in shaping and advancing it, and to raise this horizon in the ongoing struggle. We have entered a decisive era that will also determine the fate of future generations. Our revolutionary decision, will, and practice today can and must shape this period and the future. The council and socialist alternative is urgent and feasible, and it must, in the course of the struggle to overthrow the Islamic Republic and in the era that follows, put an end to all the hardships and sufferings imposed by capitalism to date.

The Cooperation Council of Iranian Leftist and Communist Forces strives, in line with fulfilling the above mission, to unite and mobilize the leftist and revolutionary camp. In order to advance this goal, the Council considers organizational expansion, the broadening of cooperation, and the implementation of necessary initiatives and actions in this area as an integral part of its ongoing agenda and inescapable responsibilities.

Down with the capitalist Islamic Republic regime!

Long live freedom, long live socialism !

Long live the unity of the ranks of the socialist alternative camp !

Cooperation Council of Iranian Leftist and Communist Forces