BBC Persian's Interview with Azar Majedi On Mansoor Hekmat (Zhoobin Razani)

The following interview was broadcast by the BBC Persian on 5 July 2002. The broadcast is a segment of a more in-depth interview.

BBC: In BBC Persian's interview with Ms. Azar Majedi, Mansoor Hekmat's partner, we first asked her about the history of his political activism.

Azar Majedi: Mansoor Hekmat began his political activities in an organised form since the period of the revolution against the Pahlavi dictatorship. During those revolutionary days in Iran, he established with Hamid Taghvaie Ettehad-e Mobarezan-e Kommonist (Unity of Communist Militants, UCM), a communist organisation which struggled for the revival of Marxism and against the populism that dominated particularly the Third World in the name of Marxism. While living in Tehran, this communist political activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran continued.

In the spring of 1982 (1361), following the ruthless executions and arrests of 20 June 1981 (30 Khordad 1360) that took hold of the entire country, together, we left for the liberated areas of Kurdistan and continued our struggle with Komala. Later on, UCM and that time's Komala as well as other Marxist revolutionary organisations joined to form the Communist Party of Iran (CPI). His political activities continued in the CPI until, because of his struggle against nationalism, which was emerging as a strong tendency in the CPI, Mansoor Hekmat resigned from the CPI and established the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI). We recently celebrated the WPI's tenth anniversary.

During all the twenty some years of his constant struggle, Mansoor Hekmat (or Zhoobin Razani, his actual name) strived for freedom and equality, and particularly in Iran. His numerous books and articles, innumerable speeches and relentless struggle were aimed at reviving Marxism, enlivening worker- communism in Iran and presenting freedom and equality to the people in Iran.

BBC: In the last years of his life, what were his views on his political ideals and generally, Iran and the world, especially after the collapse of Soviet Union?

Azar Majedi: In fact, in many of his articles he noted that today's attack on communism and the announcement of communism's death have at the same time created circumstances by which we can demonstrate real communism and not that which was passed off in the name of communism and or socialism under the state capitalism of the Soviet Union.

BBC: That was Azar Majedi, the partner of Mansoor Hekmat who passed away 4 July 2002