The following is the text of the message of greetings sent by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party, Iran on the occasion of its 75th anniversary.

DEAR Comrades,

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) greets the Tudeh Party of Iran on its 75th anniversary. On this momentous occasion, we greet the leadership and all the members of the Party and reiterate our heartfelt solidarity.

The Tudeh Party, which was formed in 1941, was a successor to the Communist Party of Iran that was banned by the King of Iran, Reza Shah in 1934 and is steadfastly fighting for the rights of the Iranian people. The party played an exemplary role in the fight against imperialism, its control on the oil industry and also against all forms of reaction in the society. It had built a united front in the struggle against oppression and exploitation attracting wide sections of the society – workers, peasants, artists, writers, poets and intellectuals – to the party. It was this growing popularity of the party that had frightened ruling classes in Iran and made them ban the party and unleash brutal repression ever witnessed in history.

It is the unbowing, courageous attitude of the Tudeh Party of Iran – withstanding all forms of repression and oppression – that inspires the communists world over.

In today's world situation, imperialism is trying hard to ensure it retains its hegemony over the resource rich West Asian region and over the entire world. With the global economic crisis still gripping many of the countries, efforts are on to dominate markets for resources and end products. Military might is used to promote economic interests. Destabilisation of Western Asian regimes, progressive regimes in Latin America and containing the growth of China and assertion of Russia are all part of the same policies. Growth of authoritarianism, racism, sectarianism, religious hatred, intolerance, fundamentalism and terrorism are encouraged by the ruling classes to weaken the growing and spreading discontent against the capitalist system and ruling class policies. The growth of right-wing forces is a challenge to the communist and left parties. It is upon us, the communist and workers parties, to correctly channelise the growing discontent in the fight against capitalist system.

People around the world are fighting back the attempts of the ruling classes to maximise their profits by intensifying exploitation. In India too we had recently witnessed a 180 million strong united working class strike action against the neo-liberal capitalist policies.

In this background, we are confident that the Tudeh Party of Iran will live up to the high expectations among the people of Iran and resist all the efforts of ruling classes and imperialism.

On this joyous occasion of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Tudeh Party of Iran, we once again reiterate our solidarity and affirm that the CPI(M) will stand shoulder-to-shoulder in its struggle against imperialism and for a society free from exploitation.

Central Committee

Communist Party of India (Marxist)