Many claimants, little men

A Rapport on Partisan Combat through Cuba, Egypt and Algeria

Cosroe Chaqueri (former left activist and historian)
Translated by: Natalie Haghverdian

2015-8-29

For us, who had suffered the coupe d’état of 28^th of Mordad (1953 coup) not only by the Shah’s regime but from his allies, the revolution in Cuba and Algeria were inspirational. Victory of these revolutions led us to a new pattern of movement against the regime which was different from the National Front and that of Dr. Mossadegh; it wasn’t peaceful. Inspired by the victory of armed combat in Cuba and Algeria we realized that peaceful movements in Iran are not effective anymore and we have to move towards armed conflicts. Now, years after, I can say at least about myself that such a method lacked sufficient research and study and was a mistake; later studies revealed this mistake.  

1

It was spring of 1961 when I graduated from California State University and I intended to pursue my MS and PhD in London. I decided to stop by Cuba to observe their experience of revolution. There was no direct flight from the US to Havana so I had to travel to Mexico and from there to Havana and then London. When I arrived at Mexico, a customs agent asked my destination and I said Cuba. He asked me to wait and couple of minutes later he approached me with a police office. They said that I’m a communist and intend to go there to support the revolution. I said that I’m not a communist. I’m only a graduate student from the US going to London to pursue my education and I simply decided to spend my vacation days in Cuba.

The Mexican police officer was not convinced and said: “You’ll be deported to the US tomorrow.” They assigned a guard with me and we slept in the transit café in the airport till morning. Then they put me in an airplane and gave my passport to the captain to hand it over to FBI once we are in the States. The FBI interrogated me for half a day trying to understand my incentive for going to Havana and I repeated what I had already said in Mexico. The FBI agents asked my all sorts of questions about the Iranian regime and the Shah and I denied any relation with the opposition. Couple of hours later, an agent said that since the US – Iran relations are amicable I’m off the hook; however I can’t fly to Cuba and have to travel directly to London. They changed my ticket and sent me to London. There I filed a complaint against Mexican authorities with the Embassy of Cuba; however, the relations between the two countries were cold during the revolution and such complaint didn’t have a chance. It wasn’t my intention to contact Cuban authorities but I wanted to observe the revolution and compare it to what I had read.

2

A while after I started my studies, an Egyptian classmate invited us to his place. I then realized that he is a prominent person and the Commercial Liaison of Egypt in London studying for his PhD in economics. That night we had long discussion on the Middle East and Nationalization of Suez Canal and Oil in Iran. Our professor defended the National Oil Company. She believed that land ownership has nothing to do with oil and it belongs to those who extract it. I argued: “The same way that the oil in Texas in the US has owners, the oil in Iran is owned by the people not foreign companies.” The discussion went long and I gave a report on Oil Nationalization in Iran and problems that oil company had caused and Coupe d’état against Mossadegh. Couple of days later a received a phone call from someone claiming to be the secretary of the Ambassador of Egypt in London. Then I was connected to talk to the ambassador and he congratulated me for my position in defending Mossadegh. It was the day that Gamal Abdel Nasser raised against the Shah. The ambassador expressed interest to visit in person since he was interested in providing support to the supporters of Mossadegh since Nasser was also interested. I said that I’m not in a position to make a decision and consequently consulted a number of friends from National Front. They consented to the meeting hence I did. In that meeting the ambassador expressed Nasser’s willingness to provide any type of support including military training and financial and radio facilities to the supporters of Mossadegh. This was discussed in National Front in Europe and it was decided to discuss it with the leaders of National Front inside the country.

Although it was dangerous for me to travel to Iran but I came in Nowruz of 1962 anyway. When I arrived in Tehran, security guards confiscated by passport and then I learned that leaders of National Front were all arrested pursuant to the event in Bahman of 1961 by Amini. There was only Mr. Haghshenas from the leadership council. I met with him at midnight which was a mistake and would draw more suspicion. When I said that Egyptians are interested to support he got furious and asked me to leave claiming that we are being recorded. Since my passport was confiscated I had to stay longer in Tehran and during the same time some of the leaders were released from prison. I went to meet Mehdi Azar in charge of foreign relations. Unlike Haghshenas he welcomed that idea but reminded that the National Front can’t directly get involved and said: “You go and do whatever it is that you do and in case the intelligence service comes to us we would deny any relation with you.” Having the consent to the leadership and once my passport issue was resolved I flew to Beirut. I was supposed to fly directly to Cairo from Beirut to negotiate with Nasser but since I didn’t know exactly what to discuss I returned to Europe once again.

Couple of days later we had our meeting in Germany and then I met the Egyptian ambassador in London and stated that our specific demand is to have a radio station and military training for Iranians and also financial and logistics support. It was important to know what Egypt will demand in return. After a while, along with Dr. Taghi-Zadeh, a member of Supreme Council of National Front in Europe I visited the ambassador again. He agreed to all our terms and in response to my question that what is Egypt is asking in return, he said: “Fight against the Shah.” For the terms of our activities in Egypt he said that anything published shall obtain the approval of Egyptian authorities. I responded: “It’s not possible since we are students of Mossadegh and independence is more important than anything.” We could have joined the Russians under such terms. Their facilities are far more developed. At the time, Arabs would refer to Persian Gulf as Arab Gulf and they wanted us to comply. I said: “We don’t want to tie our independence to the interest of the Government of Egypt.” The ambassador was offended so we left.

3

Pollution in London had aggregated my asthma. At the beginning of 1963 I returned to the US. There I would attend the meetings of the National Front held in the premises of Mr. Nakhshab, Chamran or Yazdi in New York or New Jersey. There I told my experience of travelling to Cuba. I could feel that there is the interest of partisan combat with Chamran and Nakhshab but not Mr. Yazdi who had just left Iran to study his PHD. In a meeting Mr. Yazdi said: “Why don’t you go to the Cuban consulate in the UN and share our interest to visit Cuba?” My act of referring to the Cuban consulate was naïve but driven. The Cuban representative didn’t agree to meet since this could trigger rumors about the activities of the Cuban consulate in the States accusing them of pursuing revolutionary affairs which was risky for diplomatic relations. I wondered later that why Mr. Yazdi didn’t take such measures himself.  

4

A year later, after the uprising of 15 Khordad (June 5^th 1963), which moved us all, I quit my studies and travelled to Europe to joint revolutionary movement. We figured that Iran is ready for revolution and we have to focus our efforts for the revolution to take place through armed conflict. The idea of partisan combat was getting stronger despite all the research I had done. A friend of my brother was a senior office in Algeria and close friend of Bashir Boumaaza. My brother asked him to introduce me to Bashir Boumaaza so that we could meet and discuss the possibility of using Algeria as our partisan combat base. I received a letter from him and got my visa from the embassy and travelled to Algeria. There were other Iranians but my trip was to remain a secret so I didn’t meet any of them.

I met with Bashir Boumaaza couple of days later. I explained our intention and he agreed to discuss it with Ahmad Ben Bella the president and leader of revolution in Algeria. Couple of days later I was asked to meet with Ben Bela at the presidential office. I was warmly received. I said: “I’m happy that Algeria has no ties with the government of the Shah and doesn’t intend to start one.” I said that the Shah not only didn’t support the revolution in Algeria but acted against it. Then I discussed our request for partisan combat support. Ahmed Ben Bella promised all types of support including military base and radio station and financial resources. Then I told him that five of my colleagues have to travel to Algeria to set the base but it is risky to travel with their own passports. He told me to deliver their pictures to the ambassador of Algeria in Bern and receive Algerian passports. At the end I asked him to give our newspaper – Free Iran- a picture. He signed one and gave it to me. I asked another picture for myself. I delivered the first picture with the Resolution Statement to Freedom Front Congress condemning Mossadegh arrest. It was in this trip that I realized the Freedom Front Congress of Algeria shall be convened shortly and I asked him to approve a resolution demanding release of Mossadegh. He agreed and asked me to write the resolution and it was read in the congress meeting and also printed in relevant publications.

5

Many were talking about partisan combats since it was the fashion all over the world but once it would come to action they would run away. Five were supposed to travel with me to Algeria but two resigned for different reasons such as their studies and families. Eventually three of us travelled to Algeria but they said the Ben Bela is busy and we have to wait for a week. He was busy after since he was dealing with the uprising of military and my companions insisted that we have to return to Europe. I was supposed to attend an important meeting in New Zealand on behalf of the World Confederation to reveal information against the Shah and have a declaration against the government of Coup d’état. So I introduced a replacement to Ben Bela and left. When I returned to Europe I realized that another companion had insisted that they have to return since Ben Bela was refusing to meet representatives of Mossadegh. The fact is that not only we lacked the competence but we didn’t have the backbone for partisan combat amongst Iranians in Europe. 

At the time the National Front in Europe was dealing with serious conflicts. Before going back to Algeria I tried to build unity among leaders. I met with Bani Sadr. I didn’t tell him that I had been to Algeria however I slightly indicated that we are undertaking serious measures. He clearly said that the only thing he wants is the presidency post. I teased him and said that he and Shahin Fatemi shall resolve their issues of presidency and advisory post issues amongst themselves to bring peace into the front. Then I met with Ali Shariati in Paris who was returning to Iran. I talked about Algeria and he was very happy and said that he will provide support in his return but he was arrested entering Iran.

6

I was studying revolutionary movements at the time and gradually I figured that Iran is nothing like Viet Nam and Algeria (fighting for independence) and Greece and Spain (dealing with civil wars) and topographically and demographically it is not possible. Moreover, having a neighbor like Russia could complicate the situation like in the case of Mirza Kouchak Khan. After following the reaction of my combatants in Europe I realized that partisan combat is useless and focused my efforts in historical research and confederation combat to release political prisoners and establish human rights. Couple of years later I set up a publication in Italy and spent most of my time printing historical documents of the twentieth century regarding public movements and theoretic contents. Although the number of such publications never exceeded 70 in ten years but it attracted political forces abroad towards books and study.