Albert Sohrabian who died in exile in Germany on the 11th of
Sept 2004 was undoubtedly one of the most important labour activists of the
Middle East. Albert was born in October 1927 in the village of Ghar (near
Tehran-Iran) in a peasant Armenian family. He lost his father when he was 6
years old and his mother at the age of 8. Albert went to live with his aunt in
Tehran where he attended school , however discrimination against Armenians in a
mainly Shia Muslim community as well as poverty forced him to leave
school and seek work.
When he was only 9.5 he started work as an apprentice in the workshop of an exiled Armenian shoe maker.
He attended his political meeting at the age of 13, when a close friend Moradian took him to a meeting of the youth organisation of the Iranian Tudeh party (pro Soviet communist party ) and he subsequently joined this organisation.
In 1946 he came in contact with a group called Krojoukha which was critical of the Tudeh Party . This group later dissolved itself and remerged as Shora ha (The Soviets) producing a journal Be Pish. In 1949 this journal was banned and all those involved with this group including Albert Sohrabian were jailed. He was in prison for two years and organised a hunger strike of the political prisoners that lasted 19 days.
In 1953 , at the year of the CIA coup against Mossadegh,
Sohrabian and other members of the group Shora ha
set up a new organisation called Yeka , haste communisti Iran ( Iran communist
cell) , this cell later joined others splits and groups critical of the Tudeh
party to set up Sazman Enghelabi Kargaran Iran ( SAKA) ( Revolutionary
organisation of Iranian workers. Although the new organisation identified
itself as a force opposed to the Tudeh Party they also rejected guerrilla
tactics used by other opponents of the Tudeh Party in the Iranian left and
tried to create worker cells in order to propagate communist ideas amongst the
working class. Between 1967 and 1971 SAKA succeeded in setting up worker cells
in most of the important factories in Teheran as well as setting up branches in
Esfahan, Mashad, Tabriz, Kashan, Ghazvin
Albert was arrested in 1971 by the Shahs
notorious secret service SAVAK and was given a six year jail sentence. While in
prison he impressed fellow left wing prisoners with his wit, humour and
generosity . For while during his sentence he and other Armenian political
prisoners were confined to a special wing of Evin prison that the guards called
Armanestan.
It was there that he met and influenced a number of Armenian political
activists from a younger generation.
Following his release from prison in 1978 he started working
in a shoe manufacturing workshop and in the first few years following the
Iranian revolution he was a founder member and an activist of Tehran shoe
makers trade union. As late as 1985 he and fellow workers celebrated 1st of May
clandestinely in Tehran , he was proud to say right under the nose of the
Islamic regime.
By then he was a member of the Organisation of
Revolution Workers of Iran ( Rahe Kargar) , a group he had joined in 1980.
Although he remained a member of this organisation until his death and an
honorary member of their central committee, never a sectarian , organisation
man
during his time in exile in
Europe he contributed to a number of broader campaigns in support of Iranian
workers such as Society of exiled workers, Workers
Left Unity Iran, Bonyad Kar ( Labour Foundation).
In the year 2000 he published his memoirs under the title:A
leaf from the communist movement of the Iranian working class
Memoirs of Albert Sohrabian. A book that remains unique in presenting an
insiders view of six decades of workers struggles in Iran.
In the last year of his life one his greatest achievements the setting up of radio Voice of Iranian workers where single handed, he managed to unite activists from different political groups and tendencies to work together in setting up a radio station dedicated to supporting Iranian workers, �Voice of Iranian Workers�. Despite his severe illness, he was the most enthusiastic member of the team responsible for the radio. His tired less efforts to iron out differences between contributors and editors, his determination to follow up every detail about the workings of the radio, to remind us all of our duties and responsibilities were crucial in the initial weeks following up the inauguration of the radio. This is even more remarkable as the last year was also the year when he suffered from cancer. The last Sunday evening of his life was spent entirely talking about this radio station in an internet chat room, where he explained the aims of the radio and called for support .
Although a communist throughout his political and labour life, Albert Sohrabian always put the interests of the working above party politics and this gained him unparalleled support amongst activists of the Left. The wide range of groups and individuals who have sent messages of condolence over the last week bear witness to this.
The Iranian Left has lost one of its most valued labour activists, a comrade who cannot be replaced. It is now our duty to follow up his projects with determination and rigor.
Yassamine Mather
19 Sept 2004
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