Wikipedia:Marxist Mojahedin

Marxist Mojahedin were a faction within the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) that emerged in 1975, after members associated with it declared that they no longer self-identify as Muslims but rather only believe in Marxism–Leninism. They subsequently started an intragroup conflict with other MEK members who refused to join it (on the grounds that they still believed in Islam) and tried to purge the group in order to make it purely Marxist.

By 1979, the faction was considered defunct as its members formed different political organizations, including Peykar and Worker's Way. As a result, the rival Muslim faction was able to take over the MEK after the Iranian Revolution.

History
The members of the faction were neither raw recruits nor ideological simpletons, conversely many of the intellectuals surviving from of the early MEK days were among them. Two members of the MEK's original Ideological Team were among senior members of Marxist Mojahedin.

At the time the schism happened suddenly in October 1975, the MEK was operating with clandestine cell system in three branches wholly separated from each other, each headed by a Central Cadre (CC) member. The ideological shift in the organization was completely top-to-bottom and started by Taghi Shahram, one of the three CC members. He then persuaded another CC member Bahram Aram to leave Islam, and through him started converting the branch subordinated to him. The other CC member, Majid Sharif-Vaghefi, refused to join and led the opposing faction whose members remained Muslims. This led to infighting within the organization and Sharif-Vaghefi and his second-in-command were murdered by the Marxist faction. The purge by the Marxists continued, however its scope is unknown. The Marxist Mojahedin claimed that they have purged almost half of the members who refused to "correct" themselves. The rival Muslim faction, maintained that only as much as 20% of the members sided with the Marxist faction. Nonetheless, the Marxist Mojahedin failed to dominate the MEK and the Muslim faction survived, partly in the provinces, in Tehran bazaar and mainly among jailed members.

Marxist Mojahedin retained the organization's name, before assuming the title Bakhsh-e Marksisti-Leninisti-ye Sazeman-e Mojahedin-e Khalq-e Iran (lit. 'The Marxist-Leninist Branch of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran') in 1978. Nevertheless, they modified the emblem from the beginning by dropping Islamic elements. They called each other with the title rafiq (comrade) instead of baradar (brother), stopped performing prayers and dropped 'In the Name of God' from their pubications.

The Muslim faction accused the Marxist faction of orchestrating a "coup d'état" in the MEK. Iranian opposition were surprised by rise of this faction within the MEK. Abolhassan Banisadr, who was exiled in France at the time, slammed the Marxist Mojahedin and labeled them as "fascists" in a tract named monafeqin az didgah-e ma (lit. 'our view of the hypocrites'). The Freedom Movement of Iran also denounced the faction and paid tribute to Muslim members who were murdered by the Marxists. Left-wing organizations did not endorse the purge done by the Marxist faction. The Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (which was on friendly terms with the MEK) was very concerned about the issue and Hamid Ashraf had strongly reacted against the assassination of Sharif-Vaghefi. Conservative clerics issued a fatwa which prevented Muslims from associating the Marxists, declaring that they are najis.

According to the information compiled by Ervand Abrahamian, the total number of Marxist Mojahedin guerillas who lost their lives was 30, of whom 16 were killed in action while 10 others were executed. One member committed suicide, one was tortured to death and the other two were missing. The members of the rival Muslim faction who lost their lives were 73, more than twice.

Ideological tendencies
According to Maziar Behrooz, the Marxist Mojahedin were "staunchly Stalinist–Maoist from its inception" and their understanding of Marxism was "at best, infantile, superficial and shallow" in comparison to the Tudeh Party of Iran and the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas. Mao Zedong's essay On Contradiction served as a major influence on the faction.

The faction first publicized its positions in late 1975 with a publication named Manifesto of Ideological Positions of Organization of Iranian People’s Mojahedin (Marxist-Leninist). It stated that "in honest efforts to resolve the most basic problems of the revolution, we arrived at the truth of Marxism-Leninism", adding that "In spite of all the innovations that our Organization introduced to religious thought and in spite of all the efforts it made to revive and revitalize its [i.e., Islam’s] historical content and upgrade its archaic principles and methods to the latest scientific contributions [to the study] of society". The manifesto further explains the reason behind leaving Islam as: "Religion has no answer to the fundamental question 'why should one struggle against oppression?’ In fact, an individual can be highly devout and extremely observant of religious precepts, yet remain passive... If you examine carefully the Koran and the other Islamic texts, you will see that they are somewhat ambiguous on this issue and recommend resistance only in dire situations; i.e. when one has actually been physically expelled from one’s town or territory... Thus Islam leaves unanswered the question 'why should I struggle?’ Marxism, on the other hand, has no difficulties answering it; for struggle is the essence of dialectical materialism."

Legacy
After 1979, the Marxist Mojahedin ceased to exist as a faction in the MEK and these groups are considered successors to it: During the Iranian Revolution, the faction was reorganized and a new leadership adopted new policies and a new name, Peykar (lit. 'Struggle'). However, some members refused to accept the changes and two other smaller splinter groups were formed, namely Arman (lit. 'Aspiration') and Nabard (lit. 'Combat'). Peykar had Maoist orientations and was joined by some other groups with such an ideology, while members of the Marxist Mojahedin who were less favorable to China formed another organization known as the Worker's Way. The group Arman was later merged into the Organization of Working-class Freedom Fighters (simply known as Razmandegan).
 * Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (sāzmān-e peykār dar rāh-e āzādī-e ṭabaqe-ye kārgar), simply known as 'Peykar'
 * United Campaign for Fulfillment of the Working Class Aspirations (etteḥād-e mobāraza dar rāh-e ārmān-e ṭabaqa-ye kārgar), simply known as 'Arman'
 * Group for the Combat for Emancipation of the Working Class (gorūh-e nabard barā-ye āzādī-e ṭabaqa-ye kārgar), simply known as 'Nabard'
 * Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, also known as 'The Worker’s Way' (rāh-e kārgar)

Membership
Notable members of the Marxist Mojahedin and their future political affiliations (if any) are:


 * Jalil Ahmadian (Peykar)
 * Morteza Aladpoush (Peykar)
 * Ebrahim Avakh (Worker's Way)
 * Bahman Bazargani (—)
 * Masoud Esmaeilkhani (—)
 * Ebrahim Jowhari (Worker's Way)
 * Fathollah Khamenei (—)
 * Mehdi Khosrowshahi (Worker's Way)
 * Mohammad Khansari (Peykar)
 * Hossein Qazi (Worker's Way)
 * Hassan Rahi (—)
 * Mohammad Rahmani (Peykar)
 * Mojtaba Taleqani (—)
 * Vahid Afrakhteh (—; executed in 1976)


 * Kazem Shafiiha (—)
 * Mohammad Shafiiha (Peykar)
 * Taghi Shahram (Peykar)
 * Alireza Tashayod (Worker's Way)
 * Alireza Zomorrodian (Peykar)
 * Hossein Ahmadi-Rouhani (Peykar)
 * Torab Haqshenas (Peykar)
 * Bahram Aram (—; killed in action)
 * Puran Bazargan (Peykar)
 * Alireza Sepasi-Ashtiani (Peykar)
 * Leila Zomorrodian (—; killed in action in 1976)
 * Sedigheh Rezaei (—; killed in action)
 * Hasan Aladpoush (—; killed in action in 1976)
 * Mahbubeh Motahedin (—; killed in action in 1976)