Attlee’s Labour Against Iranian Workers

By: Jack Taylor

While the post-war Labour government empowered workers at home, it played a disturbing role in suppressing Iran’s labour movement for the benefit of oil companies.

Members of the Tudeh (Communist) Party in Iran carry placards denouncing the United States and Great Britain during a demonstration in Tehran's Parliament Square, 21 July 1953. Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images

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Popular historiography of pre-revolutionary Iran’s relationship with the West is dominated by the 1953 CIA-led coup d’état against Mohammad Mossadegh. But far less attention is paid to the role Britain played in the country a decade prior – both in safeguarding its oil interests and in repressing Iran’s nascent labour movement. In August 1941, British […]

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Popular historiography of pre-revolutionary Iran’s relationship with the West is dominated by the 1953 CIA-led coup d’état against Mohammad Mossadegh. But far less attention is paid to the role Britain played in the country a decade prior – both in safeguarding its oil interests and in repressing Iran’s nascent labour movement. In August 1941, British […]

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Popular historiography of pre-revolutionary Iran’s relationship with the West is dominated by the 1953 CIA-led coup d’état against Mohammad Mossadegh. But far less attention is paid to the role Britain played in the country a decade prior – both in safeguarding its oil interests and in repressing Iran’s nascent labour movement. In August 1941, British […]

Popular historiography of pre-revolutionary Iran’s relationship with the West is dominated by the 1953 CIA-led coup d’état against Mohammad Mossadegh. But far less attention is paid to the role Britain played in the country a decade prior – both in safeguarding its oil interests and in repressing Iran’s nascent labour movement. In August 1941, British […]

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