On 8 February 1971, Marxist revolutionaries attacked the gendarmerie outpost at the village of Siyahkal in Iran&;s Gilan province. Barely two months later, the Iranian People&;s Fada&;i Guerrillas officially announced their existence and began a long, drawn-out urban guerrilla war against the Shah&;s regime. In Call to Arms, Ali Rahnema provides a comprehensive history of the Fada&;is, beginning by asking why so many of Iran&;s best and brightest chose revolutionary Marxism in the face of absolutist rule. He traces how radicalised university students from different ideological backgrounds morphed into the Marxist Fada&;is in 1971, and sheds light on their theory, practice and evolution. While the Fada&;is failed to directly bring about the fall of the Shah, Rahnema shows they had a lasting impact on society and they ultimately saw their objective achieved.