August 25, 2026

In Workers World’s opinion, the task of progressive activists and organizations, especially those in the imperialist countries, is to promote, in both theory and in practice, united strategies to weaken and defeat imperialism. The enemy is the ruling class of the U.S. or the other imperialist countries in the Global North. That task should exclude positions hostile to any country fighting for its very life and independence from foreign imperialist domination.

We state this opinion, because a British publication, The Guardian, posted an open letter on Aug. 20 entitled, “To Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two blades of a scissors.’” The first subhead under the title states, “On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that republic claims to stand against.”

In this editorial, we express in the strongest terms why Workers World newspaper and the organization it represents, Workers World Party, condemn and refuse to sign this open letter and also urge other forces who consider themselves anti-imperialist not to add their names.

We are already witnessing that some who signed the open letter are now publicly rescinding their signatures — a good sign. This letter is misusing the issue of justice for “political prisoners” in an attempt to undermine the Iranian government when that government is in a life-and-death struggle to push back imperialist aggression, plain and simple.

First of all, let’s be clear about the role of The Guardian. Its editors claim to represent “independent” journalism. And The Guardian does sometimes take mildly progressive stances on certain issues. But it is still part of the corporate media that comes down on the side of imperialism on major questions of war and peace.

The Guardian’s occasional progressive stances can cause confusion in understanding who are our real allies and who are our real enemies in the class struggle against imperialism. This is especially true where a war is concerned, like the one that the U.S. and Israel have been carrying out against Iran since Feb. 28. Imperialism is imperialism, whether carried out with a soft line or a hard line.

This open letter accuses the Iranian government of using the U.S.-Israeli war to hold on to power and at the same time charges it with repressing political prisoners (or dissension) in Iran. The letter even has the audacity to compare these prisoners historically to U.S. Black political prisoners at the time of the early 1970s known as Black August, a period in U.S. history sparked by the plight and righteous resistance of Black incarcerated revolutionaries like George Jackson demanding national liberation.

We point out here that imperialist forces have never supported or defended U.S. political prisoners. Never!

Which side are you on?

When it comes to an imperialist war imposed on a country that has in the past century been a virtual possession of the British Empire and then a client state of U.S. imperialism, the most important question to answer is: Which side are you on?

From the beginning of the 20th century until 1951, Iran’s rich oil reserves were controlled by the then Anglo-Iranian Oil company (now British Petroleum or BP). This meant big profits for the British oil barons but extreme poverty and repression among the Iranian masses.

Once Mohammad Mosaddegh was democratically elected as Iran’s first prime minister in 1951, for the next two years his government sought to nationalize the country’s resources to help uplift the living standards of the people. However, a CIA-British-led, right-wing coup violently overturned the Mossaddegh government and installed the monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran in 1953.

Twenty-six years later, the Iranian Revolution in 1979, led by Islamic forces, overturned the brutal rule of Shah Pahlavi, a willing puppet of U.S. imperialism.

For the next 47 years, the U.S. has used war-like measures, especially sanctions, in an effort to overturn the Iranian government and replace it with an accommodating pro-imperialist government, which would do the bidding of the corporate interests of the billionaire ruling class in the U.S. and their junior partners in Iran.

Despite the damaging U.S.-imposed economic sanctions, despite the assassinations of its leaders like Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and despite the military targeting of Iran’s infrastructure, including its nuclear energy program, Iran is winning the war against the U.S. and the Zionist State of Israel. This Iranian resistance is a huge setback for an already declining imperialist system.

The Iranian masses have come out in the streets in the millions since Feb. 28 to defend their leaders, who represent their sovereignty and independence. The Iranian people understand who their rightful enemies are — U.S. imperialism and its allies.

And frankly, the antiwar movements located in the Global North, especially inside the U.S., should take a lesson from the Iranian people. And that lesson is to prioritize which side you are on when imperialism is the main culprit. Pro-imperialist publications like The Guardian should not be allowed to dictate or sidetrack the independent perspective of any left organization and movement.

Countries in the Global South have suffered materially and historically from all forms of inequality within their societies caused by economic underdevelopment due to capitalist oppression. There is no better way to show solidarity with their people than to take their side in their heroic and righteous battle against imperialism.