Speech [Stress on the main problems of the Revolution; the need to crush the internal enemies and small groups]

I pray to God for the success and happiness of all sections of the nation as well as you the men and women present in here.

At present, you have attended to the secondary issues before attending to the principal issues. «1» The principal issues that are amongst us need to be resolved prior to resolving the secondary problems. It is like when we cry out for the need to unite together in order to break down the firm barriers that the foreigners and their stooges have erected for us, you instead talk of setting right the universities or setting things right at the seminaries. This talk is inopportune at that instant. Now too it is the same. At present, you are faced with such problems that if those are not resolved, these problems cannot be resolved. At present, you are faced with deviations that they are inciting in order to lead our country astray and revert it to its previous condition. Unless these deviations and these betrayals are not stopped and destroyed, the secondary issues will not be resolved. The issues that you now mentioned and explained are for a time when we have triumphed over the outsiders and have driven them out. Now we are in the middle of our way; we have not reached our destination, the poison still lingers; separating the nation from religious scholars is one of them. The issues that you mentioned are useful at the appropriate time but for now they are harmful. If we pursue these issues now, some of them will result in conflict among the people. We want to solve these issues at the appropriate time. Now, it is the time for us to resolve the main issues, which is to sever the hands of the stooges of the foreigners who are present in large numbers among the nation. We must now think on this issue. Other than that, to ponder on other issues is nothing other than reflecting on a secondary issue that will not be settled until the main one is settled.

You can see that they are creating difficulties now that we wish to correct all the problems that we inherited from the era of the corrupt former regime. They are causing disturbances in schools; they are preventing our youth from pursuing their education. Everyday on one pretext or the other they take them to the streets. They will not allow farming; they will not allow the agriculture to realize its potential; they cause trouble and prevent farming. They do not allow our economy to remain healthy. They do not let our workers to work and our factories to hum with activity; who are these people? Are they being sympathetic to our nation that they do not wish to see the restoration of peace in this land? Is development possible without peace? Is it possible to solve our affairs and difficulties while being in a nervous strain and fighting an alien power and turmoil? Is it possible to engage in development with all the corruption and destruction that these people have wreaked all over the country, at times in Kurdistan, sometimes in Balouchistan and at times in other parts? Is it possible to set right an issue that has been a problem for fifty odd years? Or is it possible for a country that has been on the path of destruction for the past fifty-plus years to be rectified immediately? Is it possible to settle these problems in an instant? They, the stooges of the foreigners, do not give us time; they will not give us the time to find the intellectual individuals to accomplish the tasks. In various guises, with negative propaganda, they hinder the restoration of peace. And unless there is peace, no development is possible; unless there is peace, our factories will not hum with activity; unless there is peace, our agriculture will not improve; unless there is peace, our culture will not be reformed; unless there is peace, our clergymen will not be reformed. Putting forward these issues at this stage will only cause disunity and nothing else. Try to put forward the main issue.

O my dear youth! O my beloved! Ladies! Gentlemen! Be aware that the hands of conspiracy are at work. They get their inspiration from outside and are hell bent on not allowing this country to live in peace, and on not allowing reforms to take place. In your opinion, is the construction of homes for farmers and workers an anti-national activity? They are even opposing this. They are opposed to this house-construction. Was the referendum an anti-national matter? Was it a concept related to foreigners? Was any government involved in it? Was the hand of any power involved in it? Why were not they allowing the referendum to take place? Why did they boycott the referendum? Why did they set fire to ballot boxes in certain places? «2» Because they do not want the nation to be in peace, they do not want the nation to decide its own fate. If the nation was to decide its own fate it would not allow America to plunder all its resources; the Soviet Union on one side, America on another side, and England on the other side. The nation would not permit the power of our youth to be wasted, whereas they want this to happen.

Now, all our thoughts must be concentrated on severance of the hands of these traitors; and the activities they are engaged in around the country under different names, under different excuses- these are what we must remove. After we have redressed this, it would be the time for us to redress the secondary issues and engage in other activities. As long as the roots of foreigners are present here, and as long as the corrupt roots of the former regime are present here, you cannot undertake any revolutionary activity. We are in the midst of the Revolution and we must exterminate the roots of these people. We have not attained victory; and only after we have attained it those issues will crop up. We are now in the middle of the path; we are at present engaged in a struggle. Moreover, gentlemen, be aware and take care that your minds are not misguided by them toward secondary issues under the pretext of working for the benefit of the laborers or schools. These are the things that they do not want to see happening, but now they would like to expound them in various forms deliberately to prevent peace from being restored in Iran. Otherwise, we want to start house-building, but they hinder it; the government wants to set agriculture in motion, and to start the factories, but they are a hindrance. You must first destroy these obstacles. First, the enemy must be wiped out and then plans must be put forward.

I pray to the Blessed and Almighty God to help all the men, all the students, and all the respected women of the country. I request everyone to desist from sowing the seeds of discord and do not allow such individuals in their midst; individuals who show a reformist face, whereas in reality seek to sow the seeds of discord among them.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.