Review of “The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization” by Hossein Ahmadi Rouhani (Part Four)
As previously mentioned, from the beginning of its creation in 1965, the organization’s instructional courses included the four areas of ideology, politics, economics, and organization and in each weekly session, some or all the areas were covered and discussed.
With respect to the content of the course in the area of ideology, the Holy Quran and Nahj al-Balagha constituted the basis. At the beginning of each session, a few verses of different chapters such as At-Tawbah, Al-Anfal, Muhammad, and Al-Ahzab were recited and interpreted and at times, instead of Quran, some parts of Nahj al-Balagha including the sermon related to Imam Ali’s will, his letter to Osman Ibne Haneef etc. were read. Afterwards, other issues and topics were discussed.
Other books and pamphlets that were generally studied in this regard include The Path Taken, God in Society, Love and Worship, The Issue of Revelation, and Islam: the School of Fight and Generation by Mahdi Bazargan; Jihad and Martyrdom, and A Shining Ray from Quran by Ayatollah Taleghani; Creation of Man and Quran, and Evolution by Dr. Yadollah Sahabi; Is Man Born of Monkey? by Mahmood Behzad; Of Men and Galaxies by Fred Hoyle; The Origin of Life by Alexander Oparin; Where Is Science Going? by Max Planck; Four Essays on Philosophy by Mao; Elementary Principles of Philosophy by Georges Politzer; Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Joseph Stalin etc.
In the area of economics, issues such as the economic and social conditions of underdeveloped and developed countries were compared and contrasted and roots of the major differences between the two types of countries were discussed and solutions for elimination of such differences were provided. In this regard, a critical approach to superficial and reformist solutions of politicians such as Jose Ducastro, was adopted. Also, the necessity of a tough fight against imperialism was emphasized.
As for the content, books such as, The Geography of Hunger, The Geopolitics of Hunger, Of Men and Crabs (by Josué de Castro) and pamphlets such as Economic and Social Survey of Underdeveloped Countries, etc. were studied. A series of questions had been provided for participants to answer while studying the books.
Following these studies, in order to increase the economic knowledge of the whole organization, a number of other books such as The Economics by Dr. Pour Homayoun, Ideas of the Great Economists by George Soule, and Economics in Simple Terms by the organization itself, were studied.
In the area of politics, the superintendent of each constituency would lead an oral discussion on the significance of political issues and its inextricable link with economic issues as well as on the history of European colonialism and then neo-colonialism and the fights and struggles of different nations.
In addition, books such as The Inheritor of Colonialism by Mahdi Bahar; Nationalism and Anti-colonial Fights in East Africa by Masoud Ansari; A book on The History of Palestine by Akram Zeiter; The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon; Un million de dollars le Viet by Jean Lartéguy; History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution by Ahmad Kasravi; The memoires of Anthony Eden: Full Circle by Anthony Eden; Le meilleur combat by Amar Ouzegane and other books on the Algerian people revolutionary fights and history of Vietnam were studied.
In the next phase, books and articles such as What Is to Be Done? (by Lenin), What Is Fight? and Professional Fight (prepared by the organization) were used as political instructional texts. Also, military tactics and strategies employed by imperialists and liberation forces in the occupied countries were examined and studied.
In the area of organization, the most important issues discussed include the necessity to act covertly and stick to principles of secrecy, the necessity for continuous fight, democratic centralism, collective leadership and individual responsibility, criticism and self-criticism, conditions of recruitment, methods of recruitment, responsibilities of a superintendent and how to treat subordinates and so on. In this regard, books and pamphlets such as How to Be a Good Communist? by Liu Shaoqi, Against Liberalism by Kohn Kekes, and different books on Mao’s teachings were studied.
Besides the theoretical instructions mentioned above, the organization had a series of practical instructions and programs from the very beginning as well. In the first years, they included mountaineering, morning exercises, community tour program especially in the slums of Tehran and Shahr-e-Rey. But later on, military training, forgery etc. were added to programs.