[7 titles from the Iranian Guerrilla Era] Iran Research: Bulletin of the Iranian Research and Publication Group No. 2 (Aug 1972); No. 3 (Nov 1972); No. 4 (Jun 1973); No. 5 (Oct 1973); No. 6 (Mar 1974); No. 7 (Jul 1974); What a Revolutionary Must Know (1973) Iranian Research and Publication Group (Iran Research); Ali-Akbar Safayi Farahani

A rare collection of subversive material including 6 very early Bulletins (Nos. 2-7) and a related publication. Printed card wraps 15x21cm to 18x23cm some with maps of Iran and illustrations. Various numberings. Good to near fine. The editors and authors are not named and their location not given, but pricing in Pence to the fronts of n6 and n7 suggests the UK, the latter also priced in Cents and DM suggesting outreach in the US and Germany. The content indicates these were issued either on behalf or in support of at least two major Iranian guerrilla groups operating against the Shah and US influence. The Bulletins were launched to provide news on developments since the "Battle of Siahkal", which links it to the Organisation of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG). The Siahkal Incident (8 Feb 1971) involved an OIPFG attack led by Ali-Akbar Safayi Farahani on a gendarmerie post killing 3 police and freeing 2 guerrillas. In response the Government executed 13 men including Farahani. This is considered to have started Iran's "guerrilla era" which ended with the 1979 Revolution. There are several references to the OPC (Organisation of People's Combatants or Mujahedin) which was linked to Al-Fatah and went to Palestine for training; and reference to the National Liberation Front - Iran as a collective banner for a higher stage of the struggle. The OIPFG was formed in 1971 and quickly became a highly influential underground Marxist-Leninist group. In addition to Siahkal it attacked police stations, banks, US oil offices, important factories, pylons, and assassinated Major General Farsiu and Mohammad Sadeq Fateh Yazdi. It was formed from 3 groups including Marxist intellectual Bijan Jazani's group, Ahmadzade and A.P. Pouyan's student movement, and a group of Tabriz intellectuals co-founded by poet Ali Reza Nabdel. Its cells included urban, rural, and publication teams. (BULLETIN NO.2): 25pp; lengthy detailed list of guerrilla actions in Iran and abroad (bank expropriation, execution of former SAVAK Tehran head General Molavi, bombings, armed clashes etc); the oil concession; the Shah and Sultan Qaboos' opposition to Dhofar Liberation Movement; anti-Shah protests in Geneva and London; news. // (NO.3): 69pp; a series of articles on torture and executions including reports by Amnesty, UN Human Rights Committee, a French lawyer, and tribunals against OPC members. // (NO.4): 57pp; guerrilla actions listed; Baluchistan; news; Western press; oil; a French lawyer's visit to Tehran. // (NO.5): 25pp; news from the front (OPC military communique; attempt to sabotage Abadan refinery etc); uncensored news about Iran (arrests and torture, prisons and a prison break etc); protests over nuclear power stations; Iran and the foreign press. // (NO.6): 47pp; news from the front (young officers, underground publications, OPC communique, political prisoners wives etc); uncensored news from Iran (various strikes); Amnesty International on Iran; letters from prison; the struggle in Kurdistan; Western press. // (NO.7): 51pp; in 2 parts covering "oil, imperialism and Iran" and "the 'thoughts' of the mad Dictator of Persia". // (WHAT A REVOLUTIONARY MUST KNOW): 77pp. First written in Farsi in 1970 by the above-mentioned Farahani (named here as "Martyred Persian Guerrilla") it was aimed at Iranian revolutionaries and students of the Middle East. It analyses Iranian society and contemporary armed struggle referencing Siahkal as its starting point. Worldcat shows it was translated into other languages including Swedish. Farahani had fought in Palestine before returning to Iran in 1969. (References include: Neil Ascherson "Iran's Firing Squads Busy", The Observer, 19 Mar 1972; FCO file 8/1881 on AGDA "Terrorism in Iran 1972 Jan 01-1972 Dec 31" which reproduces Bulletin No.3).