On Saturday, the University of Toronto hosted a talk by Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first post-revolutionary Chancellor of Tehran University. In a gathering attended by Iranian students and residents, Dr. Maleki, who is spending a few days in Toronto, delivered a speech on “The History of Cultural Revolution in Iran.”

In the beginning, Dr. Maleki noted, “One of the problems of the current generation is that it receives its history, in a heavily censored form, from the Islamic Republic.”

Dr. Maleki added, “Starting from 1943, the university was involved in all of the country’s crises and developments. Prior to the revolution, the University of Tehran was attacked six times by the previous regime. In the period in which the Tudeh Party [Iran’s Communist Party] had a monopoly on intellectual activities, Toudeh members were most active in the university. The Islamists arrived later and became active when Reza Shah had left the country.”

“What the Islamists did,” continued Dr. Maleki, “was try to restore the things that Reza Shah had taken from them. For instance, Reza Shah banned the chador, and they wanted to reinstate it; or they wanted to observe religious ceremonies on the streets. The Islamists were not much politically active.”

With respect to the involvement of the clergy in the revolution, Dr. Maleki noted, “I believe and can show that, even if we are very optimistic, the clergy played a 20 percent role in the victory of the [1979] revolution.”

“Unfortunately,” said Dr. Maleki, “some students and many of the youth have suffered so much under this regime that they are angry and ask the United States to attack Iran and overthrow the government. This is exactly the mistake that we made back then. We wanted the Shah to leave, without knowing who should replace him. Now, our youngsters are committing the same mistake, because they are not attached to history and do not rely on their historical memory.”

Responding to a question about the failures of the revolution, Dr. Maleki said, “Our big problem in those days was our lack of knowledge. In my prison journal, which is about 600 pages, I have criticized myself on 16 counts and the examples are: why I failed to listen carefully to Ayatollah Taleqani’s words, which repeatedly warned of the coming to power of clerics and the establishment of a theocratic autocracy. We have to inform the new generation of these things. Those events will not be repeated if this generation is informed.”

A young woman, who had recently left Iran, asked Dr. Maleki, “Why do you belittle the opposition outside Iran?”

Dr. Maleki responded, “I never belittled the opposition outside Iran. I was talking about those who are agents of the regime. The regime is building an opposition outside the country. I believe that if someone really wants to fight, he or she should do it inside Iran and pay the price.”