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The Development of Left-Wing Political Thought and Organisation in Afghanistan

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The Development of Left-Wing Political Thought and Organisation in Afghanistan RSP • No. 42 • 2014 ORIGINAL PAPER The Development of Left-Wing Political Thought and Organisation in Afghanistan Darren Atkinson* Abstract Communist rule in Afghanistan (or rule underpinned by some tenets of communist thought) ran from 1978 to 1992, when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was the party of government. One of the many outcomes of the Saur Revolution of April 7th 1978 was the belief that organized leftist, socialist and communist political parties were initially formed through grassroots political organization that took place on the university campuses in the major cities during the 1960s. However, with the involvement of Afghans in the Baku Congress of the Peoples of the Eastand the formation of underground parties in the 1950s there is evidence to suggest that the antecedents of left-wing thought in Afghanistan go much further than the foundation of the PDPA in 1965. This paper will aim to explore the history of left-wing political thought in Afghanistan and will attempt to provide an overview of the long-history of class division and political organisation.The paper will look at how leftist thought developed before, during and after the PDPA regime and will conclude by providing a sketch of the current situation of left-wing political thought and organisation that can be seen in Afghanistan today. Keywords: Afghanistan, Left-Wing, Communism, Socialism, Revolution, Reform * Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Politics, University of Otago, Email: [email protected] 157 Darren Atkinson Introduction Afghanistan is often presented as a place of kings, clerics and warlords with the Afghan people relegated to insignificant bit-part playersor referred to in quasi-mystical terms as noble people of indomitable spirit and will.* This view is misguided for a number of reasons including its ignorance of the many examples of quasi-colonial domestic and external domination that have characterised Afghanistan since, at least, the 18th century as well as being and out of step with the study of history as seen in other more politically significant countries.†The majority of the literature on Afghanistan, as the Afghan scholar HafizullahEmadi (1997: xv-xvi)) writes,‘…lacks analysis of socio-economic and political developments and fails to note the class- character of the state’. One of the outcomes of this view of political history in Afghanistan is that there have been noticeably few attempts by scholars writing in the English language to explore the development of indigenous revolutionary movements in Afghanistan and to explore how and why they developed in a country of such seemingly religious and conservative people.‡This paper will look at the development of left-wing political thought in Afghanistan and will argue that far from emerging from a vacuum of Soviet control in the 1970s its roots are can be taken back to at least the early 1920s as a result of the rapidly changing external geo-political and domestic socio-economic realities. The paper will be split into five sections and will examine the development of left- wing political thought and organisation in Afghanistan from the beginning of the 20th century to the current day. First, it will begin by exploring the ground for political change that was laid in the period of AmirHabibullah Khan (1901-1919) that eventually led to the anointing of the reformist King Amanullah Khan (1919-1929). Second, the paper will look at the implications of the Russian October Revolution, including early Soviet involvement in Afghanistan and will examine the evidence of proto-Communist or Socialist movements. Third, the paper will look at the impact of the end of the Second World War and the development of national liberation movements across the world and will attempt to place the growth of radical leftist movements within this framework of global political change. Fourth, the paper will review the history of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) (Hezb-e-Demokratik-e-Khalq-e-Afghanistan) from its formation in 1965 up to and including its eventual demise as the party of government in 1992 and will explore this in conjunction with the Maoist opposition. Lastly, the paper will look at the role of left-wing political groups in Afghanistan after 1992 and will show that left-wing ideas and organisation have not become totally obsolete in this period but have reformed and adapted to the political situation and still operate, albeit from a position of farless influence than the previous decades. * See, for example, the letter from Phillips Talbot to American Universities Field Staff (1940:1) in which he describes Afghans as “…a well-built, sturdy man who is defiant, he is so independent”. † For example, understanding of the history of Nazi Germany has developed to such an extent that the idea of merely focusing on the elite-level decision making of Hitler or Goebbels was discredited many decades ago. ‡ The work of Thomas Ruttig and HaifizullahEmadi are noticeable exceptions to this. 158 The Development of Left-Wing Political Thought and Organisation in Afghanistan Antecedents of Left-Wing Thought It was with the accession to power of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan (1880-1901) that Afghanistan first became recognisable as a “modern” state with defined boundaries with British India, the Russian Empire, the various Khanates of Central Asia, China and Persia. Afghanistan’s history in this period is indelibly linked with that of the British Empire. While not a direct colony of the United Kingdom, Afghanistan was long within the remit of British India and, due the internalisation of British ideas about what it meant to be “Afghan”, the legacy of understanding Afghanistan through the British colonial lens has become the dominant conceptual framework (Hanifi, 2009). When Amir Habibullah came to the throne in 1901 it was amidst a backdrop of elite reformulation across the Muslim world that saw the rise of constitutional movements in the Ottoman and Persian empires, the growth of pan-Islamic movements, the burgeoning power of workers’ movements in Russia and the progress of independence movements in British India. It was during this period of historical tumult that the first clearly defined reform movement began to take root in Afghanistan. The constitutionalist movement or mashrutiat (1903-1909) should be seen as the first organised political movement focused on institutional and political reform in Afghanistan. Its organisation was based on constructing a new political systemaround reforming the absolutist qualities of the Afghan Amir, removing British control of foreign policy and establishing a constitutional monarchy that invested power in Afghan elites outside of the Royal Court(Ruttig, 2006: 3). Throughout this period the intellectual callfor reformcame from within the hierarchical Pashtun elites andthere is little evidence to suggest that popular social movements had the capacity to develop outside of these circles due to the lack of national unity and low socio-economic development of the geographical space known as Afghanistan. This period led to significant elite discord and certain members of the Pashtun elite,based around the Afghan nationalistMahmud Beg Tarzi, began to formulate a process of modernisation of the Afghan state though the creation of its first newspaper (Saraj-ol-Akhbar-e-Afghaniyah(The lamp [or torch] of the news of Afghanistan) (Dupree, 1964). Saraj-ol-Akhbar was the first attempt by Pashtun elites to establish an “Afghan” identity that, for the first time, attempted to ‘redefine the term “Afghan” on a geographicand religious, rather than merely ethnic, basis, implying the equalityof all the inhabitants of the country’ (Gregorian, 1967: 349). Newspapers have great power in helping to create a sense of national-belonging through their ability to create a sense of simultaneous understanding of the existence of other people with the same national identity (Anderson, 1983: 30). It was with the establishment of newspapers in Afghanistan that the first seeds of national identity were sown – something that is vitally important for the establishment of left-wing political movements. After World War I and the October Revolution TheBolshevik takeover of Russia in the October Revolution of 1917 had a significant impact on domestic politics in Afghanistan. For the first time in its history Afghanistan was now bordered by a state with a declared interest in assisting other states in seeking “liberation” from imperialism and domination from external 159 Darren Atkinson powers.*One of the key concerns for the Bolsheviks in the period following 1917 was the establishment of ties with liberation movements and independent governments across Asia. This took many forms including the subjugation of Islamic independence movements such as the so called“Basmachi” movement and the attempt to develop closer ties with independent countriesand liberations movements such as in Afghanistan and India. In 1919, Pravda wrote that ‘Comrade Lenin met the Ambassador in his private office with the words, “I am very glad to see in the red capital of the worker and peasant government the representative of the friendly Afghan people, who are suffering and fighting against imperialist oppression”’ (‘Interview with Mohammad Wali-Khan, Ambassador Extraordinary of Afghanistan,October 14, 1919’, 1919). Following this a series of letters were exchanged between Amanullah and Lenin which outlined the respective positions of the two states. It was clear from Amanullah’swords, where he stated that Lenin was ‘…the humane defender of civilization, the sincere protector of Eastern peoples and the friend of the free Afghan State and nation’that he saw the pre- Stalin USSR as the main guarantor of Afghan independence (Amstuz, 1986: 11-13).In addition to what was happening in the USSR the situation in British India also provided external context for the ability of the Afghan monarchy to establish Afghanistan’s independence. Since, at least the Indian Mutiny in Bengal in 1857, political stability in British India was beginning to founder amidst calls for Indian unity and independence.
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