An Obituary of
Albert Sohrabian - Veteran Iranian Labour activist
Six decades of
fighting for workers rights
Albert Sohrabian
who died in exile in
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
Albert was arrested in 1971 by the
Shah’s 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
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
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 insider’s view of six decades of workers struggles in
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.
Radio Voice of Iranian Workers has lost its most valued
founder member, 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