The following is the full text of the speech made on April 23, 2008 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. The speech was delivered to a group of Iranian model workers.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Dear brothers and sisters, model workers, representatives of working classes, and government officials in charge of labor, welcome. Undoubtedly, the meetings that comprise of men and women who make efforts and chant labor as their slogan are the most favorite meetings before Allah the Exalted. Work and labor have a high status in our Quranic and Islamic literature. Of course, labor is not limited to working in factories, on farms or other such sectors. However, the scope of righteous deeds, which have been stressed so much in the Holy Quran, includes this aspect of labor as well. That is to say, it is a righteous deed when you do something which is accompanied by conscientiousness, sense of responsibility, diligence, and innovation and which is in line with financially supporting a family. "Except for believers and those who do righteous deeds" [Quranic verse]. The scope of righteous deeds also includes these aspects. What else could one desire? What else is better than being busy doing something out of which one makes a living? At the same time, what they do constitutes a righteous deed, which has been placed next to faith in Quranic verses: "Believers and those who do righteous deeds." That is what we mean when we talk about the value of labor.
It is not idle talk or a ceremonial act when the officials of an Islamic community express their appreciation and praise for labor and laborers. It is a fact that there are some people in the world who may pay lip service to laborers. But there is a difference between a person who shouts a slogan in order to drum up the support of a social class and the person who genuinely considers labor - that is, labor as a righteous deed - to be of divine and spiritual value. The Islamic thought supports the ideology of the latter person. This means that, according to Islamic thought, laborers are involved in an act of worship. Laborers' work constitutes an act of worship.
In addition to this divine, Islamic and spiritual value, there is another critical secret behind the value of laborers in society: The autonomy of a country is dependant upon labor. No nation will ever get anywhere by indulging itself in laziness and in disregard for labor. Relying on a divine or non-divine resource - such as oil or other such resources - a nation may earn a living and lead a superficially good life by making excessive use of foreign products. But such a nation will never achieve independence. An independent nation will not attain grandeur except through working. That is what makes labor so valuable. This is the way we look on workers. Considering things from this perspective, we think of kissing the hands of workers as an act rewarded by God. The person who kisses the hand of a laborer has done something appropriate. This is because he or she has expressed his or her appreciation for one of the means of achieving independence for the nation and the country. That points to the extent of the value of labor.
The working classes of our country enjoy one more merit that does not exist in most other counties - maybe this merit is present in some other countries as well which I may be unaware of, but I have seen it in our country with my own eyes. The merit is that our working classes, in the great test of the Revolution and during the Sacred Defense Era, showed that they were brimful of the national and religious sense of responsibility. They showed that other portions of society were not ahead of them - and that they were most probably even ahead of the others in this regard. At least they were in the vanguard. Laborers assumed an influential role during the Revolution. Particularly during the Sacred Defense Era, laborers from all over the country supported the Iranian nation during this great test. They proved their sincerity by offering their lives, bodies, and jobs to the Sacred Defense. This is the merit that our working classes enjoy.
These are realities. Idle talk is done by those who do not believe in these realities. The Iranian nation must appreciate its working classes. In the realm of our religious and social concepts, we must hold the word 'laborer' sacred. The laborer is sacred. The laborer is one who works so that his country and his nation achieve the grandeur of independence. This must turn into a firm belief for us all. We must all know how important laborers are. The word laborer applies to all those work for the country's progress, the improvement of working conditions, and an increase in the production capacity of the country. These are one of the things that have to be taken into account regarding laborers and the respect they deserve.
There is something else that has to be taken into account. As the honorable Minister of Labor and Social Affairs said, government officials have some responsibilities towards the laborers. There are various responsibilities in this regard. Fortunately, one could see and feel that the Administration is hard-working. The fundamental elements of the present Administration are, in the true sense of the word, working like laborers. They are active, and they work tirelessly. They are doing important and valuable work. Detecting the problems of the working classes of the country and trying to solve them is one of these responsibilities. Unemployment is definitely one of these problems. Improving employment, encouraging the entrepreneurs, and establishing labor agencies are the necessary things that have to be done. This shows that, in the ideology of the Islamic Republic, there is an entailment relationship among these elements.
This is not the case in the mentality of materialistic governments. Their mentality holds that in capitalist countries the laborer is just a tool in the hands of his or her employer. According to the mentality of those extinct schools of thought, which claim to support laborers, there is a war between laborers and their employers. They wanted to make a living out of this war while calling themselves the supporters of laborers. The same capitalism, extravagance, and various types of financial corruption, which existed in the name of supporting the working classes, also plagued the so-called socialist government of the U.S.S.R. Their school of thought was the school of contradictions and inconsistencies.
Islam and the Islamic Republic do not believe in either of these two schools. We believe that these two factors - that is entrepreneurship and the establishment of employment and entrepreneurship agencies - form one arm, while the existence of a workforce forms the other arm. These two arms must both be there, and they must cooperate with one another. The government's duty is to strike a fair balance between the two in order to facilitate their cooperation and to prevent injustice. The government must be there to ensure that neither of the two transgresses on the rights of the other or avoids doing its reciprocal obligations.
Fortunately, we are not suffering from a lack of efforts and endeavors today. All those working in the production sectors have made efforts and have progressed. But there is still a long way to go. There is a lot of room for progress. We must work hard. We need both conscientiousness on the part of the production sectors - that is, laborers and those who work - and attention and carefulness on the part of government officials so that this movement remains an appropriate and unbiased process. As I said in the beginning of my speech, appreciation of labor and reverence for laborers must be the top of the agenda, and everybody must know that laborers are to be respected. Using their hands, minds, and spiritual and physical energy, laborers lead the country towards independence.
Dear brothers and sisters, independence is the main issue facing our country today. The Revolution brought autonomy to us. It gave our nation the courage to stand up to the unjust system of global domination. However, if this nation is to retain its autonomy and its cultural influence in the face the global domineering powers, it must strengthen its economic foundations. This will cause our independence to set its roots in the country, which is itself dependant upon production, labor, flourishment of labor, and innovation in various labor sectors. This innovation must be everywhere, from research centers and laboratories to workshops and farms. If we do these things, then all our bloodthirsty enemies who want to take away our national independence will shut their mouths in despair and will retreat into a corner.
As it was mentioned, the problems of the working classes - their insurance, their housing, their relationship with employers, and the reciprocal rights and obligations of workers and employers - must constantly be followed, and the importance of conscientiousness and sense of responsibility must be underlined. There are good prospects in this regard, and these are all aimed at a certain goal. This nation is a hard-working nation.
Our nation has proven that hard work for Allah's sake will not exhaust it, and this is the factor that makes the enemies disappointed. Today the hopes of our enemies - that is, the arrogant Americans and the evil and dangerous global Zionist network - and their greed to conquer the Iranian nation are far less than they were 20 years ago. That is because they can observe the dynamism with which the Iranian nation is moving ahead. Of course, they have their propaganda machines. In spite of the crimes that they are currently committing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, and in spite of America's crimes and disgraceful practices - such as torture and similar acts - they claim to support human rights and democracy with utmost impudence. They level fanciful allegations against the Islamic Republic. This is propaganda. When they fail to defeat us in practice, they use their tongues and broadcast propaganda against us. These are all because of the Iranian nation's progress. You must make more progress. This nation must keep moving ahead. By the favor of Allah the Exalted, the enemies will shut their mouths. Allah the Exalted has promised to grant success on the nation that is determined to achieve its ideals.
I would like to tell you a couple of things about the election that is going to be held two or three days later. This election is very important. In the first round of the election, the Iranian nation did an undeniably magnificent job. They broadcast negative propaganda against our nation, and they caused uproar throughout the world in the hope that they would somehow manage to make the election dull and prevent the Iranian nation from going to ballot boxes. However, their efforts backfired, and the Iranian nation took part in the election with more motivation and more enthusiasm. The presence of the public at polling stations will have a great contribution to increasing the international reputation of the brave Iranian nation.
But the task is unfinished. I wish the elections never went into second rounds so that neither the costs nor the troubles of the public were doubled. However, the competition was tight. As a result, the election went into the second round. A number of the representatives have not been elected yet. The parliament is not complete.
In my opinion, there are two critical points that the Iranian people must take into account. The first point is their mere presence in the arena. The Iranian nation must act in a way that its inexhaustible motivation is revealed to the enemies. This is what makes the enemies disappointed. If the enemies think their uproar and propaganda may undermine the nation's motivation, their hopes will be boosted, and they will step up their aggression. The enemies must be made to feel that the nation's motivation is inexhaustible, and this must be demonstrated in the second round of the election. This will be actualized by Allah's favor, grace and might and through the influence that He exerts on the people's hearts. The Iranian nation will emerge victorious out of this challenge as well.
The second point is the election of qualified representatives, or rather "most qualified representatives". People must vote for those who are sympathetic towards the public and those who are ready to join forces with other officials in the Administration, in the Judiciary Branch and in various government departments to do a great job in a unified effort. The country will not progress unless we are unified. It will not progress if there are splits and quarrels among us. As you saw, when there is a slight problem among our government officials, foreign radios cheer up and start interpreting the problem and causing uproar, while the problem itself is not important. Suppose that there is a difference of opinion or interpretation between two government officials or between two groups of government officials, which is not important for the normal course of events. But the enemies want to take advantage of these small disagreements as well. They cheer up and start causing uproar. They talk and write about it, and foreign radios start churning out various interpretations on it. Those who are well-informed hear and see how they cheer up when they find out that there has been a slight problem among our officials. All these things point to the importance of the role of solidarity and unanimity in the country.
This country will progress if the officials are unified, if the nation and the officials are unanimous, and if the nation is unified. During the last ten years of his blessed life when our magnanimous Imam was in charge of the Islamic Republic, all his efforts were aimed at this goal - that is, unity and unanimity among the people. We are pursuing the same goal today. We and the Iranian nation must try to create unanimity among our officials. We must try to prevent splits, confrontations and needless fault-finding.
Everybody must move on the same path. Thankfully, the Iranian nation is a unified and vigilant nation. The Iranian nation is truly vigilant. I have observed cases in which for the sake of unity our people have refrained from expressing their genuine feelings, thereby rendering the enemies' provocations ineffective.
I have heard that our working classes were constantly provoked in some eras with the aim of distressing the society. But the working classes were vigilant and knew what was happening. They did not give in. The enemies could not provoke them. This bears testimony to the Iranian nation's vigilance, which is one of Allah's greatest blessings.
I hope that you and the entire Iranian nation will enjoy the prayers of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) and his attention. I hope that Allah the Exalted will increase the grandeur of the Iranian nation and this country's independence on a daily basis. I hope that Allah the Exalted will bestow increased blessings on the working classes and all those who work for this country.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.