The Union of Iranian Communists was a Maoist organization in Iran. It was founded in 1976 after the unification of the “ Organization of Communist Revolutionaries” and the Palestinian “ Pooya Group”.

The Organization of Communist Revolutionaries was founded in 1970 by a group of Iranian students at the University of California, Berkeley. It was formed in opposition to the Shah’ s regime in Iran. Following Maoist ideas, it engaged in armed struggle against the Pahlavi regime, and also focused on spreading its ideology among the working class.

The Palestinian Pooya Group emerged from the remnants of the Palestine Group. The members were sent to Iraq and Lebanon in 1969– 1970 for guerrilla and partisan warfare training as repression under the Pahlavi regime escalated. The group supported an armed, guerrilla‑style struggle, and like the Organization of Communist Revolutionaries, followed Maoist ideological principles.

A shared set of goals, such as fighting against imperialism and the despotic Pahlavi monarchy, brought the Organization of Communist Revolutionaries and the Palestinian Pooya Group closer together, ultimately leading to the formation of the Union of Iranian Communists. The Union published two periodicals: Haqiqat (The Truth) and Komounist (Communist).

Before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Union of Iranian Communists praised Imam Khomeini’ s struggles and, as the popular movement reached its peak in 1978, the organization aligned itself with the Revolution’ s central slogans. However, lacking any popular base inside Iran, it played no direct role in the events related to the Islamic Revolution.

In the early days after the Revolution’ s victory and with the onset of anti-revolutionary activities in Kurdish regions, the Union announced that it had established the “ Tashkilat-e Pishmarge-ye Zahmatkeshan-e Kordestan” (Kurdistan Toilers’ Peshmerga Formation) to combat separatist groups. At the same time, it expanded its structure by forming sub-organizations such as the “ Militant Women Society” and “ SETAD (Revolutionary Mass Organization of University and School Students) ”.

When the Iran– Iraq War broke out, the Union of Iranian Communists called the conflict an act of aggression and formally declared that steps should be taken to repel Iraq’ s assault. It viewed the war as one dimension of imperialist plots, especially by the United States, and actions such as the Nojeh coup and the Tabas incident as attempts to destroy the Iranian Revolution, undermine the achievements of the anti-monarchy uprising, and take away Iran’ s freedom and independence. It called resistance to these plots a national and anti-imperialist duty and, through a series of communiqué s, announced its full readiness to “ help defend the Revolution and the homeland and to take part in the war against the aggressive Baathist forces”. The Union of Iranian Communists also called on all people and forces, regardless of their views or tendencies, to unite, arm themselves, and continue the fight until the complete expulsion of the Iraqi army from Iranian soil. On this basis, it condemned the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 479 and stressed the continuation of the war while rejecting any peace with Iraq.

From the Union’ s perspective, Iran’ s success in the war represented the defeat of imperialism and a major step toward advancing the democratic and anti-imperialist Revolution of the Iranian nation; a victory it believed possible only by turning the war into a mass, popular struggle. Accordingly, the Union of Iranian Communists suspended its activities in Kurdistan and, in a statement to Kurdish peshmerga, demanded that “ the war in Kurdistan must be stopped immediately and all forces and resources placed at the service of the war”. It also redirected much of its political and propaganda work toward the war issue. As a result, a group of Union members, under the formation called “ DAS”, was sent to the southern front; ten or eleven of them— including Abulqasem Sarafzadeh, a member of the Union’ s central cadre— lost their lives in the war. However, there are documents proving that Union members stole large quantities of weapons and ammunition and transferred them to the Union’ s office in Aghajari.

As tensions escalated between President Abolhassan Banisadr and the Islamic Republic system, the Union of Iranian Communists called on all communists in Iran to unite against “ the Islamic Republic Party’ s coup against the presidency”. Following Banisadr’ s removal from office and his flight from the country, the Union announced: “ A coup has taken place in the country that endangers the very foundation of the Revolution and even the fate of the war; therefore, an armed campaign should be started against the coup plotters to save the Revolution”. To this end, it formed a Standing Leadership Committee and, in 1981, replaced the “ DAS” plan with the “ Howzeh” plan. It recalled its members from Khuzestan to Tehran and simultaneously stationed forces in the northern forests of Iran. The Union of Iranian Communists defined its objective as saving the Revolution from deviation by opening a “ third front” through the formation of a classical army in the forests— aimed at liberating the country and ultimately overthrowing the system through reliance on workers’ and mass activities.

In these years, Haqiqat covered the Iran– Iraq War far less than before. The Union portrayed the war as the system’ s main pretext for consolidating power and argued that the only path to victory in the war was the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. It insisted that the Islamic Republic Party was using the war as a tool to dominate the country through its coup against the president.

On September 27, 1981, Operation Thamen al-Aemmah (as) was carried out, which resulted in the breaking of the siege of Abadan. The Union of Iranian Communists saw the announcement of victory in this operation as pure propaganda put out by the ruling system. In its communiqué titled “ Immediate Goals of the Sarbedaran Uprising”, it declared the start of armed struggle against the Islamic Republic. Among the ten goals listed in the communiqué was the overthrow of the Islamic Republic system and the formation of a Constituent Assembly to determine the country’ s future political system. The eighth goal called for “ mobilizing the people and all material and spiritual resources of the country to save Khuzestan and expel the Baathist aggressors from Iranian territory”. Thus, the “ Immediate Uprising” plan— aimed at capturing the city of Amol— was executed on November 9, 1981, but failed in its opening hours. In the meantime, the Union of Iranian Communists issued statements condemning the continuation of the Iran-Iraq War and asking the people not to cooperate with the armed forces or participate in the warfronts. On the eve of Operation Tariq al‑Quds in late 1981, the Union assessed the future of the war as follows: neither the Iraqi regime nor the Iranian government could sustain a fifteen‑month conflict; both countries were facing severe economic strain, and neither possessed the military capacity to defeat the other.

On January 26, 1982, the Union tried to seize political and security centers in Amol— a second attempt that again ended in failure. Afterward, the Union’ s network in Khuzestan was broken up in September 1982, with 138 members and supporters arrested and large quantities of weapons found in their caches. After the remaining members fled abroad, the organization was merged on October 1, 1982, with the National Council of Resistance, operating outside Iran. During this period, the Union observed that continuing the war served to consolidate Iran’ s political system, while both the manner of ending the war and the very act of ending it posed risks to the political systems of both Iran and Iraq.

With the arrest of the founding board, central committee, cadres, and county branch officials in the summer of 1982, the organization’ s structure inside Iran collapsed. Nevertheless, members abroad held the Fourth Congress of the Union of Iranian Communists in spring 1983 in an attempt to revive the organization. The following year, they founded the “ Revolutionary Internationalist Movement”. Meanwhile, inside the country, the Sahand Group’ s printing and logistics center— one of the Union’ s affiliates— was discovered and shut down in May of the same year, and 309 of its members were arrested. In 1985, the Union separated from the so-called National Council of Resistance and resumed armed struggle against the Islamic Republic in Kurdistan.

Finally, in late April 2001, the Union of Iranian Communists held the Founding Congress of the Communist Party of Iran. Then, by announcing its unification with Komala, Sahand, and several other groups, it established the Communist Party of Iran on May 1, 2001. Also, Haqiqat became the party’ s official publication.⁠[1]