HISTORYAT A GLANCE |
THE REVOLUTION(Part 1.)
Bazargan and the Provisional Government
Mehdi Bazargan became the first prime minister of the revolutionary regime in
February 1979. Bazargan, however, headed a government that controlled neither
the country nor even its own bureaucratic apparatus. Central authority had
broken down. Hundreds of semi-independent revolutionary committees, not
answerable to central authority, were performing a variety of functions in major
cities and towns across the country. Factory workers, civil servants,
white-collar employees, and students were often in control, demanding a say in
running their organizations and choosing their chiefs. Governors, military
commanders, and other officials appointed by the prime minister were frequently
rejected by the lower ranks or local inhabitants. A range of political groups,
from the far left to the far right, from secular to ultra-Islamic, were vying
for political power, pushing rival agendas, and demanding immediate action from
the prime minister. Clerics led by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti established the
Islamic Republican Party (IRP). The party emerged as the organ of the clerics
around Khomeini and the major political organization in the country. Not to be
outdone, followers of more moderate senior cleric Shariatmadari established the
Islamic People's Republican Party (IPRP) in 1979, which had a base in
Azarbaijan, Shariatmadari's home province.
Moreover, multiple centers of authority emerged within the government. As the
supreme leader, Khomeini did not consider himself bound by the government. He
made policy pronouncements, named personal representatives to key government
organizations, established new institutions, and announced decisions without
consulting his prime minister. The prime minister found he had to share power
with the Revolutionary Council, which Khomeini had established in January 1979
and which initially was composed of clerics close to Khomeini, secular political
leaders identified with Bazargan, and two representatives of the armed forces.
With the establishment of the provisional government, Bazargan and his
colleagues left the council to form the cabinet. They were replaced by Khomeini
aides from the Paris period, such as Abolhassan Bani Sadr and Sadeq Qotbzadeh,
and by prot�g�s of Khomeini's clerical associates. The cabinet was to serve as
the executive authority. But the Revolutionary Council was to wield supreme
decision- making and legislative authority.
Differences quickly emerged between the cabinet and the council over
appointments, the role of the revolutionary courts and other revolutionary
organizations, foreign policy, and the general direction of the Revolution.
Bazargan and his cabinet colleagues were eager for a return to normalcy and
rapid reassertion of central authority. Clerics of the Revolutionary Council,
more responsive to the Islamic and popular temper of the mass of their
followers, generally favored more radical economic and social measures. They
also proved more willing and able to mobilize and to use the street crowd and
the revolutionary organizations to achieve their ends.
In July 1979, Bazargan obtained Khomeini's approval for an arrangement he
hoped would permit closer cooperation between the Revolutionary Council and the
cabinet. Four clerical members of the council joined the government, one as
minister of interior and three others as undersecretaries of interior,
education, and defense, while Bazargan and three cabinet colleagues joined the
council. (All eight continued in their original positions as well.)
Nevertheless, tensions persisted.
Even while attempting to put in place the institutions of the new order, the
revolutionaries turned their attention to bringing to trial and punishing
members of the former regime whom they considered responsible for carrying out
political repression, plundering the country's wealth, implementing damaging
economic policies, and allowing foreign exploitation of Iran. A revolutionary
court set to work almost immediately in the school building in Tehran where
Khomeini had set up his headquarters. Revolutionary courts were established in
provincial centers shortly thereafter. The Tehran court passed death sentences
on four of the shah's generals on February 16, 1979; all four were executed by
firing squad on the roof of the building housing Khomeini's headquarters. More
executions, of military and police officers, SAVAK agents, cabinet ministers,
Majlis deputies, and officials of the shah's regime, followed on an almost daily
basis.
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