When mass demonstrations erupted across Iran in December 2025, they represented the most profound challenge to the Islamic Republic since the revolutionary upheaval of 1979. This was no "economic riot" staged by foreign actors. It was a revolt against dictatorship in all its forms: a manifestation of the law of uneven and combined development, wherein the most advanced contradictions of global financial capital collide with the archaic, theocratic structures of a semi-colonial state.

This analysis applies the theoretical tools of the Fourth International and the broader Trotskyist tradition to understand what is happening on the streets of Tehran, Isfahan, and 220 other locations across 27 provinces. The framework is permanent revolution: the recognition that in countries like Iran, the national bourgeoisie proves inherently incapable of resolving fundamental democratic and social tasks. The theocratic-capitalist regime that enforces 52% inflation and 57% malnourishment cannot reform itself. Neither can Western-backed monarchist restoration offer liberation.

Part One examines the material basis of the uprising: the catastrophic collapse of the Iranian rial, the abolition of subsidised exchange rates, and the fiscal drain of the Twelve-Day War with Israel. It documents the unprecedented horizontal spread of protests into medium-sized towns and rural areas, analyses the regime's "foreign agitator" propaganda and its manufacture of pro-Pahlavi sentiment through IRGC infiltration and deepfake media, and argues for the revival of the Shoras—the workers' councils of 1979—as the only genuine alternative to both theocracy and imperialist-backed autocracy. The legacy of SAVAK brutality and the "modernising dictatorship" of the Pahlavis remains a primary barrier to any monarchist project. The masses will not rise again to reinstate a broken system that served as a pillar of US hegemony.

Part Two maps the British left's fragmented response to these events, exposing the ideological fault lines that run through contemporary revolutionary socialism. From the Stop the War Coalition's warnings against Western intervention to the campist apologetics of Press TV commentators, from Socialist Worker's defence of popular agency to the Fourth International's call for independent working-class mobilisation, the 2026 uprising has forced a reckoning with questions the left has dodged for decades. How do anti-imperialists respond when an oppressed population rises against a regime that positions itself within the "axis of resistance"? What distinguishes principled internationalism from reflexive defence of states that challenge Western dominance?

The analysis names names: Lindsey German, George Galloway, David Miller, Craig Murray. It traces the "Assad parallel" deployed to dismiss Iranian dissent and examines the strategic dilemmas facing solidarity activists who must oppose both Western imperialism and theocratic repression simultaneously. The taxonomy of the British left—anti-war coalitions, revolutionary internationalists, and campists—offers a framework for understanding similar debates across the international socialist movement.

About Red Mole Guides

Red Mole Guides address organisations and issues in socialist politics that rarely attract mainstream academic or institutional research. Open source methods and reader correspondence form the core of these guides, prioritising accessible public data and community insights over proprietary sources. References appear where verifiable, but coverage relies on dispersed, non-traditional materials.

Treat this guide as you would other open-source intelligence: valuable for orientation but requiring critical verification. Publishing as an eBook enables rapid updates from feedback. Readers' corrections are welcomed to enhance accuracy.

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