The abolition of the wage system is called socialist revolution, which most Iranians did not, and still do not, favor. If the balance of social and political forces had been different than what they were, and one or another Marxist or "Islamo-Marxist" force had come into power, on its own or in coalition with other forces, and Iran had become a typical socialist party-state like the USSR or China or Albania (to one of which major Iranian Marxist organizations looked respectively*), by now Iran would probably have become more capitalist than it is now, given the trajectory of most state socialist countries. That is the irony of history.
I use the term social revolution to refer to cases where property relations have been changed radically without abolishing the commodification of labor power altogether, as is the case with the Iranian Revolution, which resulted in a very statist mixed economy,** in part due to the ideologies of social forces that took part in it, and in part due to the type of political economy -- critically dependent on oil and gas -- that the revolution inherited from the ancient regime.
That very statist mixed economy is what the neoliberal faction of Iran's power elite have been seeking to undo since the death of their dear Imam, in order to bring Iran in line with much of the rest of the world, including countries run by "socialists," "communists," "social democrats," etc.:
<http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=49852&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs> Iran's leader urges moves to boost private sector Tuesday, February 20, 2007
LONDON, February 20 (IranMania) - Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the government and officials to speed up moves to cut the state's economic role in the latest bid to revive a struggling privatisation programme, Reuters reported.
Iran tried to shake up its lumbering economy in 2004 by overturning Article 44 of the constitution which decreed core infrastructure should remain state-run. But private business has shown little appetite to invest in privatisations since then.
Critics say the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expanded the role of the state with profligate spending policies, fuelled by windfall oil earnings, stoking inflation and making the economic environment even tougher for business.
"In parliament, the laws and rules should be passed. In the government, the managers and officials should follow up this work seriously," Khamenei told a gathering including some of Ahmadinejad's ministers and also some of the president's rivals.
Khamenei, whose comments were carried on state television and radio, also urged the Justice Ministry to set up courts to defend ownership rights to encourage private investment.
"The government should speed up this work," Khamenei said.
Iran has in the past fallen short of targets for sell-offs in a country where the state owns banks, airlines, utilities and a range of industries. Key industries, such as the upstream oil sector, are excluded from the programme of sales.
Ahmadinejad, who has in the past accused private businesses of seeking inflated profits, launched a plan last year to sell heavily discounted shares in state firms to the poor, part of his pledge to spread the Islamic Republic's wealth more evenly.
Economists said the so-called "shares of justice" may change the shareholder but do not lead to the required restructuring.
"When you transfer ownership but don't transfer management, it will be the same," said economist Saeed Laylaz.
Some analysts said Khamenei's comments could be a gentle prod to Ahmadinejad to rethink his policies. Khamenei rebuked the government in October over inflation. It is now almost 16 percent.
"These remarks made were clearly designed to hasten privatisation and put the government under pressure to put it on track," said one Iranian analyst who asked not to be identified.
Foreigners can bid in Iranian privatisation tenders but need permission from the Economy Ministry on a bureaucratic case-by-case basis. Many foreigners are now wary of investing for fear of an escalation in a dispute over Iran's atomic plans.
Iranian investors complain that Ahmadinejad, who has complained about private businesses seeking inflated profits in the past, has not created business friendly environment.
* See Maziar Behrooz, Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran, London: I. B. Tauris, 2000, <http://www.amazon.com/Rebels-Cause-Failure-Left-Iran/dp/1860646301>.
** <http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch04.php> The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran Chapter IV Economy and Financial Affairs
On 5/15/07, Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:
> The government has plans to reduce the gas subsidy, apparently...
>
> IEA Says Iran Gasoline Rationing Is a Clever Move
> Reuters, May 11, 2007, 6:13 a.m. ET
> http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-energy-iea-iran.html
>
> Iran's plans to ration gasoline and increase the price should help
> curb imports and raise fuel efficiency but may provoke considerable
> domestic opposition, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on
> Friday. Iran imports 40 percent of its gasoline needs, making the
> Islamic republic vulnerable to trade sanctions in its dispute with the
> United Nations over its nuclear programme.
>
> The government has put forward plans to ration gasoline and raise the
> price, currently among the lowest in the world, from May 22. Iran is
> the world's fourth largest crude exporter but a lack of refining
> capacity has made it dependent on gasoline imports.
>
> "The new rationing plan should be seen as a clever move towards
> gradually adopting market prices, encouraging greater fuel efficiency
> and curbing demand," the IEA, which advises 26 industrialized nations,
> said in its monthly Oil Market Report. "However, the change will
> entail considerable social and political hurdles, which will need to
> be overcome if it is to be a success."
>
> According to the IEA, there are 15 million cars on Iran's roads and
> gasoline demand is estimated at about 78 million liters per day -
> about 5.2 liters per day per vehicle or three-quarters above Iran's
> planned three liters per day quota. "On average, therefore, the quota
> will last around 17-18 days. Heavy users who are unable to find
> transportation alternatives will be highly penalized, but there will
> be some drivers who will manage to curb their own consumption and feed
> what will likely become a highly profitable black market with their
> own quota surpluses," the IEA said.
Iran's big gasoline import is said to be its potential Achilles heel in international sanctions against it, so, besides environmental reasons, "something has to be done about it," but Iran's government had been proposing and then tabling higher gas prices and rationing of gas for some time, for the government doesn't want to see riots in response to higher gas prices that have happened elsewhere, e.g., in 1989 in Venezuela. Will it finally do it this time? Venezuela is also supposed to move to higher gasoline prices ("Chavez Agrees to Raise Gasoline Price in Venezuela," <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/29/content_5668692.htm>), too, but it doesn't seem to have done it yet: "The heaviest economic burden is on Pdvsa's shoulders, as the state holding loses USD 0.04 per each liter of fuel sold in the domestic market. In other words, the company is granting a direct subsidy of USD 0.0046 for each liter of 91-octane gasoline sold in the country, which is priced at USD 0.03" (Marianna Párraga, "Venezuelan Fuel Market Stumbling," <http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/05/14/en_eco_art_venezuelan-fuel-mark_14A868547.shtml>).
What do Iran's auto workers think of this question of gasoline subsidy and import? If they have a united opinion about it, I haven't heard it yet.
On 5/15/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On May 15, 2007, at 11:04 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > The sanctions have continued and expanded in recent years, which makes
> > it difficult for the neoliberal faction of Iran's power elite to
> > privatize as much as they would like.
>
> Ahmadinejad among them. From yesterday's FT:
>
> > Ahmadi-Nejad woos expat investors
> > By Simeon Kerr in Dubai
> > Published: May 14 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 14 2007 03:00
> > Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad used the first visit to the United Arab
> > Emirates by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic revolution
> > to call on expatriate Iranians to invest in the republic's -
> > privatisation programme
> >
> > Mr Ahmadi-Nejad told -Iranian businessmen that the planned sale of
> > half of the state-owned enterprises gave them the opportunity to
> > invest in Iran via the stock market.
The Financial Times goes on to note, however, that "The president's critics have said it will be difficult to attract foreign investment to the sell-off, which includes distributing shares to the poor" (Simeon Kerr, "Ahmadi-Nejad Woos Expat Investors," 14 May 2007, <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8ea94bc2-01b7-11dc-8b8c-000b5df10621.html>). The bourgeoisie and their press, inside and outside Iran, clearly think that Ahmadinejad is the least pro-capitalist of Iran's power elite. I will know that the Islamic Republic of Iran has lost its last defender when the bourgeois press begin to say about Ahmadinejad the kind of thing they say about Lula or Erdogan.
Whoever is setting the tone in Iran, though, few investors, foreign or expatriate or domestic, would risk a lot when it is not clear whether the sanctions won't be made far more onerous.
On 5/15/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On May 15, 2007, at 4:43 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote:
>
> > Doug writes:
> >
> >> It could get very ugly,
> >> though the UAW is giving every sign of rolling over so far.
> >
> > It doesn't seem like they have a choice, does it?
>
> No, though the more devious thing to do would be to posture
> militantly in public while cutting deals in private, a la Victor
> Gotbaum during the NYC fiscal crisis.
>
> I really don't know what I'd do were I in their shoes. I've never
> gotten a good answer out of labor radicals, who can't get more
> specific than "resist!"
It's a good thing that unions and leftists in the West are not leading Iran's auto workers. :-> -- Yoshie