PDK declared its overt activities in 1979 in a public meeting held in Mahabad.

PDK was founded in Mahabad, Western Azarbaijan, Iran, on August 16, 1945. Just 159 days after its foundation, on January 22, 1946, the party, availing itself of expedient circumstances in a section of Iranian Kurdistan (a Soviet occupation that had began in 1941), established the Republic of Kurdistan, also referred to by historians as the Republic of Mahabad after its capital, under Soviet patronage. The Republic of Mahabad lasted not more than 11 months; following a pact signed by the Iranian government and the Soviet Union, the Iranian army launched a vast offensive into the region, destroying the Republic on December 17, 1946. The Republic having collapsed, a great number of PDK leaders were imprisoned, of whom about 20 people including Qazi Muhammad, head of the party and president of the short-lived republic were executed. The Kurdish people in Iranian Kurdistan and PDK played an active part in the Iranian people's uprising against the Shah's dictatorship. The uprising of the Iranian peoples having succeeded, PDK declared its overt activities in 1979 in a public meeting held in Mahabad.