The guerrilla movement addressed three groups with its declaration. First, it made it possible for the people or the people (their preferred term) to know that reality was not what the Shah portrayed it to be and that opposition to the Shah’s rule had not only not stopped but had also renewed its strength; the second was the Shah’s regime, and that its claimed stability and peace were nothing but a deception; The third audience was the older generation of nationalists, Islamists, and Marxists who believed in the old way of opposition. The guerrilla movement warned them that a new, violent phase had begun, simply because the regime had left no other path for political activists to take.
Long before the guerrilla movement began in 1960, resorting to violence had been part of Iranian policymaking. Before the 1970s, many political groups had used violent methods to advance their goals. (including the military organization of the Tudeh Party of Iran, the activities of the Fedayeen of Islam, and the Islamic Coalition). However, the use of violence for political purposes in all of these cases was random, chaotic, and disorganized, and was considered a tactical rather than a strategic move. The guerrillas’ goal was not to conduct simple, isolated, violent operations that would expose them to SAVAK and cause possible casualties. Other experiences in the 1960s had shown the futility of such operations. The fact that overt or underground political activity seemed impossible, made it all the more urgent to find a solution. The goal was to strike from the ground up and sustain the movement under conditions of severe repression. The guerrilla movement’s use of violence was strongly influenced by the development of the international freedom movement as well as by the socio-political developments in Iran. Hence, we use the term “armed struggle” to distinguish between the use of violence by guerrilla movements and the violence that had already taken place.
