An Overview of the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas “Fadaiyan-e-Khalq”
Irdc: The People's Fedayeen Guerrilla Organization is one of the guerrilla groups in the late 1960s and 1970s that was able to carry out operations by recruiting passionate youth and make its name in the history of Iran's armed movements.
This organization was formed in 1971 from the union of two smaller communist groups (Jazni-Zarifi group and Ahmadzadeh-Pouyan group). The Fada'i Guerrilla Organization has carried out various operations, including assassinations, bombings and bank robberies. SAVAK and the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee killed or arrested a large number of them to counter the group's operations, most of whom were sentenced to death. After the escalation of the group's operations in 1974, SAVAK killed high-ranking members and ideologues of the organization who were in prison, outside the judicial process. Also, a few months later, with the death of the leader of the organization during the SAVAK attack on a team house, the organization began its decline. With the height of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian guerrillas were able to resume limited activities. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, this organization stood up Against the revolutionary people and suffered from internal crises. Also, after the Islamic Revolution, there were divisions in it and it was divided into two groups, minority and majority. This split deprived them of the opportunity to reactivate. Under the new circumstances, the People's Fedayeen Guerrilla Organization tried to unite with the Tudeh Party, but was forced to leave the country after the party's betrayal was exposed, and it lost its influence.
Introduction
In the second half of the 1950s, the world was moving towards national and liberation movements, Also, due to the issues raised in communism, such as the oppression of the capitalist class, the class struggle, the army of the masses, the class interpretation of society, etc., this thought was welcomed in the third world countries, Iran was no exception. Some students and intellectuals who did not like the economic, social and political conditions of the society gradually became attracted to this ideology. The brutal repression of protesters by the Shah's regime caused the opposition to become politically frustrated, deeming cultural and political measures ineffective, and resorting to armed action to get rid of the situation, which left no room for reform. Just as the revolution was successful in China, North Vietnam, Cuba, etc. In Iran, some leftist groups put the same policy on their agenda. Armed operations in cities, assassinations and bombings were among the measures taken in Iran to overthrow the Pahlavi regime, and in the process, they received heavy blows. But the Shah's security and police measures backfired, creating new opposition organizations that were too radical. These organizations formed the primary nuclei of guerrilla groups and organizations that aimed to overthrow the Pahlavi regime. The Shah devoted an important part of his security system to identifying and destroying them.
The People's Fedayeen Guerrilla Organization was one of these Marxist groups that originated from students and radical workers and was the product of the regime's bloody repressions and the reduction of the activities and influence of the Tudeh Party (traditional communism) in Iran.
Background of the People's Fedayeen Guerrilla Organization of Iran
The People's Fedayeen Guerrilla Organization of Iran was formed from the joining of the remaining two guerrilla groups (Jazni-Zarifi group and Ahmadzadeh-Pouyan group) in April 1971. This organization became famous for defending its armed policy and especially supporting the Siahkal operation. Masoud Ahmadzadeh, one of the main leaders and founders and strategist of the organization, describes how and why.: "... no one wanted to trust the slogans of the past and the old ways of struggle and abandoned forms of organization. The Tudeh Party, which in its lifetime could not even for a moment be an example of a communist party, is now disorganized ... This party could not even provide a theoretical background for the next stages of the struggle. Thus, in the suffocating conditions of terror and in the conditions of struggle ... the work had to start again. "So the communist movement started."
Formation of forest group
In the winter of 1970, Ali Akbar Safaei Farahani established contact with Ghafoor Hassanpour and, on Hassanpour's recommendation, settled in the house of Nasser Seif Dalil Safaei. He had talks with Ghafoor Hassanpour and Hamid Ashraf and discussed the conditions for forming a new group. This situation exceeded his expectations. Safaei Farahani's initial meetings and talks with Hassanpour and Hamid Ashraf led them to conclude that the ground was ready for guerrilla activity. Recognizing the opportunity for this, it was decided that Safaei Farahani would go to Jordan and bring as many weapons into the country as possible.
Communication with Ahmadzadeh - Pouyan group
Safaei Farahani, who was staying at Seif Dalil Safaei's house, met Abbas Moftahi, a member of the Ahmadzadeh-Pouyan group, and they agreed to hold talks so that they might reach unity. At the beginning of the negotiations, they realized that they had differences over the priority of the struggle in the city or in the mountains, However, negotiations between the two groups continued during the fall of 1971. Finally, they found the mountains of Gilan and Mazandaran suitable for operations.
Siahkal incident
During the Shah's regime's activities against opposition groups, SAVAK discovered a group left in the city and arrested its members. By arresting the members of the city and interrogating them, SAVAK found out about the forest group and their plans. Despite the arrest of members of the city group and Hamid Ashraf's proposal to postpone the operation, Safaei Farahani insisted on carrying out the operation on time, which was agreed. The group went to the mountains and prepared to attack. On Monday, the 9th of January, Hadi Bande khoda Langroudi was sent to go to the village of Shab Khasbolat and bring Iraj Nairi with him. They collect the weapons of the checkpoint and escape, By the order of the Shah, auxiliary forces including three helicopters, two officers and eighty experienced people were sent to Gilan and started their work on February 11th. Until the agents, with the help of the villagers, managed to arrest them. By February 23, 1971, other members of the group were gradually arrested by the agents, and the forest group disappeared without a single member being rescued. The trial of these people was held on Wednesday, 1971-3-10 and all 13 defendants in that case were sentenced to death. The forest group was not successful in this operation and did not achieve its goals. One of the reasons for the failure of this operation is the unknownness of the guerrillas among the local people. The locals considered these people rioters and even cooperated in arresting them.
Formation of the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas