reason is obvious. The Shah has left the country, envisaged by the Shah.
attempting to control the streets.
people in each of the major cities.
uncertain.
Iranians regard the Bakhtiar Bakhtiar will not last very long.
Bakhtiar falls the struggle will by no means be over.
of the press and political parties, are. being run by those who sustained the monarchy. The Bakhtiar government has turned out to be even weaker than was originally In reality it is the Iranian army which is attempting to rule the country. It has carried out new massacres, it has executed airforce members who were sympathetic to the mass struggle, and it is But it is not meeting with success. The only way in which it could immediately regain control is by massacring tens of thousands of This has no doubt been considered, but it is a path fraught with dangers. The single most important drawback is that it could lead to sharp splits within the army itself and provoke a civil war, whose outcome would be The Iranian masses have already shown that they are not going to accept any manoeuvres by the Army/Bakhtiar regime. Those in Washington who entertained hopes that the departure of the Shah might satisfy the masses must now be sorely disillusioned. For it is perfectly clear that the masses want to get rid of the entire apparatus which was built to protect and preserve the Shah's rule.
The main reason for Khomeini's popularity and stature in Iran at the present time is his uncompromising hostility to the Shah over the years. His refusal to accept the Bakhtiar government coincides with the instincts of those in the frontline of the struggle. No serious political commentator can now doubt that the majority of monstrosity manipulated from behind by the Shah's generals.
Khomeini's return to Iran cannot be postponed more than a few weeks at the most. His arrival will mark the end of the present phase and impel the masses towards institutionalising their demands for democracy by actions from below. For even after The need to organise workers committees to fight for a Constituent Assembly, the legalisation of trade unions, freedom will go hand-in-glove with purging the apparatus of all the Shah's filth. The generals and the torturers should be brought to trial, the Savak and the police should be disbanded, soldiers should elect their officers, etc.
Khomeini's reception party will include millions of people. Many of them will be expecting all their demands to be fulfilled. Socialists will fight to ensure that the struggle continues until they but it is still Nor is the establishment's