Honorable life Secrets of a martyr

Portrait of a Man in Revolution

Elham Saleh
Translated by Fazel Shirzad

2016-9-4

Note: A lot of people were deeply influenced by him. Attraction was one of his characteristics. He interested in fighting when he was fourteen, and experienced prison in the thirty-three years old, and prisoned for thirteen years. While he was working, he liked to effort in education. Education and fighting were being done together. He took his last test in a situation which he was pursued by SAVAK.  He was in relationship with the party "Devotees of Islam" and tried to attend in weekly meetings of Mosque named Sheikh Ali at street. All of the mentioned points were just several features of martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi. He was president of the guild Fakhar. It and fighting against the Pahlavi regime were an excuse to publish the book "Portrait of a Man in Revolution" ^*  

Difficulties in the way of the development of oral history

The book "Portrait of a Man in Revolution". At first sight, it is in a significant different with other volumes of the series "stars of guilds and markets"; the narrators of memories in the list and contents of the book is clear and separated. The first chapter of the book is called "Who was Mahdi Iraqi?" And other chapters are named according to interviewee, such as "Interview with Amir Iraqi", Interview with Seyed Asghar Rokhsafat", " interview with Abolfazl Tavakoli Bina "and "interview with Hussain Mahdian". This event result in a particular order for contents. Another difference is a nearly long notes of author that published as "Preface" (not the author's notes), in which, in addition to refer to the activity of groups in the years before the Islamic Revolution, the process of development the book "Portrait of a Man in Revolution" are mentioned.

The Preface is important because the problems of the author expressed in interview with different personalities and some of the difficulties of writing memoirs and editing oral history are introduced for the readers. To forget memories over the years caused some of the people to refuse of interview, restrictions on the expression of memories that eventually it caused memoirs not to be told completely, are some of the problems that can be seen in the preface of the author: " Some comrades of the martyr passed away in recent years; Ayatollah Anvari, Hajj Habibollah Asgaroladi, martyr Seyed Asadullah Azure, late Abolfazl Hajj Heydari. Some others had martyred or passed away before the revolution or the early years of the revolution; such as his comrades in the "Devotees of Islam" or the first Islamic Coalition members. "

Special issue of the book is trade activities of martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi during the revolution that this issue have raised less by some interviewees;" We also had some problems with the people whom we had interviewed with. Because they were careful to say and publish the memoirs. However, people of guilds and also his son did not remember enough memories about activities of the martyr in field of guilds, the most of their memoirs were related to campaigns and political activities"

Referring to the problems and importance of oral history development can be useful for people who work in this field.

Personal characteristics of martyr Iraqi

Amir Iraqi, Seyed Asghar Rokhsafat, Abolfazl Tavakoli Bina and Hussain Mahdian are the narrators of the book. Each of the individuals unveiled one of personality of the martyr Hajj Mahdi Iraqi. Amir Iraqi, the son of the martyr, was twenty-three or four years old. His father was arrested when he was seven - eight years old, and as he said, the most of his visiting with the father was in the prison; at first, meetings were doing with her mother, and later with his friends. Amir Iraqi speaks in a part of memories about the father's thoughts: "If we are going to study the life of Hajj Mehdi Iraqi as an educated man, not merely as a businessman, we should consider something between these two fields. The point, as I recently realized and Mr. Kazem Bojnordi one of cell mates of my father told me, is that Hajj Agha studied on economic issues in the prison. Apparently, he had discussed about economic debates in the prison that there were also some educated people and university students."

The part of the memories of Abolfazl Tavakoli Bina, who is one the veterans of the struggle against the Pahlavi regime and a close friend of the martyr Iraqi that formed Askarion Board in 1324 (1945)with him, is about the behaviors of the martyr Iraqi: "he was not angry; he was quiet and friendly. Perhaps, some can be fair and believer and faithful, but they are not attractive. One of his feature was that he was very attractive and intimate. He was very close with everyone as a brother, and when he visited them for first time, he used to show a friendly behavior. That is why Imam Khomeini loved him very much."

An Unprecedented event

One of the distinctions the book "Portrait of a Man in the Revolution", than some other trade volumes about market and guilds stars, is emphasis on the special role of merchants in Islamic Revolution. The emphasis is very obvious, the impact of the role of merchants is mentioned generally in the memories of narrators, even if it is not directly refer to guild activities of the martyr.

Emphasizing the business and trade were second works of Hajj Mehdi Iraqi, Amir Iraqi who is son of the martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi has said about his union activities: "His main task and work, before going to prison, was Fakhari or brick baking. After he was freed in 1355 (1976), he returned in his job. He worked for six or seven months in it, and he did good actions during this short time. He became the boss of guild and began to do a series of welfare actions into the factories. Brick baking was worst place to work. He ordered to all factories and brick baking factories to make bathroom and toilet for workers."

Abolfazl Tavakoli Bina has a memoir as "unprecedented strike of country" about the reaction of the merchants in the event of 15^th Khordad 1342 (in June 1963): "resistance of People in the major cities and closure of the Tehran market for fourteen days, which is unprecedented in Iranian history, caused regime [Pahlavi] to retreat. Imam Khomeini announced: "If the markets are not protectors of the revolution, the revolution would be failed." The market have been closed for more than two weeks.

In this book, Seyed Asghar Rokhsafat who is one of fighters and political activists before the Islamic Revolution in south of Tehran and a friend and townsman of the martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi, speaks specifically about difference between past and present market:" past market was in completely different from current market. In those days, people were literate and spiritual. They used to come and sit in mosques and learned lessons of trade and business. Then they went to work. Even there were some people who were as a Mojtahed (jurist) or close to a Mojtahed, but they were also a businessman.

The end of a life

The last content of the book is a memoir of Hussain Mahdi, one of the pre-revolutionary fighters and political activists who named as an alive martyr. Mahdian was along with Martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi in the last minutes of his life and in the early days of Shahrivar 1358 (September 1979):" on the day of the incident, the Iraqis came here. He telephoned to some peoples, and then got in a car to drive and  I sat next to him, and Hesam, the son of Hajj Mehdi, and my bodyguard sat behind me. After moving, when we stopped to give priority to other cars, an incident took place there.  There were 3 persons and with a motorcycle. One of them was laying in wait on pavement, and fired continuously us as soon as we arrived there. I was injured by three bullets. We were carried to hospital.

The Short introduction of narrators and section of photos

At the beginning of the book "Portrait of a Man in Revolution", some words of Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei and martyr Dr. Ayatollah Beheshti about Hajj Mehdi Iraqi are mentioned. Imam Khomeini described him:" I have known him for about twenty years. Hajj Mehdi Iraqi was as a good and dear brother and son. It was very difficult situation for me, when he was martyred.  But what makes it easy to get is that it was for God. I congratulate it to all Muslims. It must be martyred, because it could be a very invaluable for him to be died on bed.

However, the narrators say their own memories individually and in different seasons, the bock "Portrait of a Man in Revolution" has another feature that can be a good one; short biographies of each narrator are mentioned at the beginning of each chapter.

In the section of photos, although some of the photos do not have required quality, but photos are very unique in this book. Some of the photos are related to: "Coup in 28 Mordad 1332 (august 1953) and the joy of an army for collapsing a government and returning of the king, Scattered fighting during the events of 28 Mordad 1332, The presence of Soviet troops from the Sixth Armored Division and driving T-26 tanks at the streets of Tabriz and marching of joint forces of Russia and Britain to intimidate in Tehran."

In one sentence "Portrait of a Man in Revolution", is one of successful volumes for stars and guilds.

* Portrait of a Man in Revolution: unmentioned statements of martyr Hajj Mehdi Iraqi. Author: Sayed Mustafa Forghany, Tehran; Fatehan 1394, by efforts: Aftab Messenger Art Institute, 160 p.