Talking to Workers: From Khomeini to Ahmadinejad, how the Islamic Republic's Discourse on Labor Changed through May Day Speeches (19792009)

Morgana, M Stella ORCID: 0000-0003-2091-4515 (2019) Talking to Workers: From Khomeini to Ahmadinejad, how the Islamic Republic's Discourse on Labor Changed through May Day Speeches (19792009). IRANIAN STUDIES, 52 (1-2). pp. 133-158.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2019.1599713

Abstract

<jats:p>This paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates multiple constructions of workers’ roles, which were systematically propagated by the IRI’s Supreme Leader and president over time. The analysis relies on the following primary sources: from the 1979 May Day sermon, pronounced by Ruhollah Khomeini, to the 2009 speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, together with messages sent by Ali Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. Showing how workers’ role—understood as a collective and distinct group—was gradually minimized, this paper argues that a bottom-up<jats:italic>cleaning up</jats:italic>process slowly purified May Day. In fact, the IRI progressively neglected workers as (revolutionary) social actors and interlocutors, as it stopped talking to masses and started speaking to middle classes.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Iran, Iranian Workers, Labor, May Day, Workers Day, Workers
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2022 08:15
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 20:45
DOI:	10.1080/00210862.2019.1599713
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164335