The Iranian revolution is often maligned as a purely “Islamic” revolution, proof of the supposed anti-democratic, backwards desires of the Iranian masses. In fact, the uprising in 1979 was a “riot of democracy”; a mass rebellion against imperialism and capitalism with workers’ power at its heart.

The shoras linked the power of Iranian oil workers to workers in other industries, such as banking clerks, the railways, post offices and more. They fought for decent wages and job control, but also for radical political demands.

The history of their rise and fall contains valuable lessons for socialists.