Page:Documents from the Den of Espionage.djvu/3



BT

CONFIDENTIAL TEHRAN 25930

E.O. 12265: ?DS 6/7/85 (MCGAFFEY, DAVID C.) OR-P

TAGS: PINT, IR

SUBJ: KHOMEINI EXCLUDES SECULARS FROM HIS REVOLUTION

REF: TEHRAN 5785

1. (C - ENTIRE TEXT: REPORTING CABLE)

2. SUMMARY: IN SPEECH ON JUNE 5, COMMEMORATING 16TH ANNIVERSARY OF ABORTIVE UPRISING WHICH, FOR KHOMEINI, WAS START OF REVOLUTION, KHOMEINI CONDEMNED AS "DEVIATIONISTS" ANTONE OUTSIDE HIS BRAND OF REACTIONARY ISLAM, GIVING "OUTSIDERS" CHOICE OF TOTAL CAPITULATION OR DESTRUCTION. END SUMMARY.

3. SINCE THE SUCCESS OF THE REVOLUTION IN FEB 1979, AUTHORITIES IN IRAN HAVE BEEN ANXIOUS TO DISCOUNT ITS LARGELY SPONTANEOUS NATURE. SEEING ITS ORIGINS IN (AND CLAIMING ITS CONTINUITY FROM) HISTORICAL EVENTS. MOST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE PGOI, AND MOST SECULAR POLITICAL GROUPS. TRACE ITS BEGINNINGS TO 1953 AND THE MOSSADRGH PERIOD. THE EXTREME-LEFT FEDAYEEN-I-CHALQ TRACE IT BACK PARTLY TO THEIR ORGANIZATION'S FOUNDING IN THE LATE ???. ?????? (JUNE 5) A DAY OF NATIONAL MOURNING, AND SPECIFICALLY IN HIS SPEECH ON THAT DAY, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI NOT ONLY CLAIMS JUNE 5, 1963, AS THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION, BUT EXPLICITLY EXCLUDES THESE OTHER GROUPS FROM PARTICIPATION IN "HIS" REVOLUTION.

4. JUNE 5, 1963 MARKED AN A?ORTIVE UPRISING OF A COALITION OF BAZAARIS, ELEMENTS BACKED BY LAND HOLDING INTERESTS, AND PIOUS MUSLIMS, LED BY THE CLERGY INCLUDING KHOMEINI, PROTESTING THE SHAH'S "WHITE REVOLUTION" WHICH HAD BEEN PROCLAIMED THE PREVIOUS JANUARY AND INCLUDED LARGE REFORM AND RATIFICATION OF A LAW WHICH PROVIDED FOR