AFGANISTAN: Honor the Martyrs Day of Afghanistan’s Maoist Movement

The Martyrs Day of the Communist (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) and the New Democratic movement of Afghanistan is coming at a time when the oppressed people of the country are destitute and suffocating under the yoke of the Taliban regime. The economic crisis and the collapse of the banking system are further pauperizing the masses. This coming winter the terrible catastrophe of famine, the rising cost of living, and cold are ominously threatening the masses of the workers, peasants, and the huge army of the unemployed. Nearly 22 million people (out of an estimated population of 33 million) are facing hunger and famine, and it is predicted that if this situation continues, one million children will die of cold, hunger, and poverty. The suffering that the imperialists and the Islamist reactionaries have imposed on the people of Afghanistan is indescribable.

On 28 November 1978, Comrade Akram Yari and several of his comrades were brutally killed in the prison of the puppet regime of Soviet social imperialists after months of torture. In the years 1978-1979 the PDPA regime killed thousands of revolutionaries, communists, progressive elements, and ordinary people that filled many mass graves across the country.

A document listing the victims of this heinous massacre of many communist militants and committed and progressive intellectuals and other forces of the opposition at the hands of the PDPA regime was first made public years later, in 2013 by the "Independent Human Rights Commission" of the puppet regime, that the Dutch police had first discovered from a member of the PDPA. The publication of this list, in which the names, political affiliations, and the date of the murder of the victims of the PDPA were documented, provoked numerous reactions inside and outside the country. It was with the publication of this list that we learned the date of the murder of comrade Akram Yari and many other comrades. The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, under comrade Zia’s leadership, named 28 of November, the day of the execution of Comrade Akram Yari and his comrades, as the Martyrs Day of the Maoist and new democratic movement of the country. Every year since then, we honor November 28 as the Martyrs Day of the Maoist and the new democratic (Sholajawid) movement.

Akram Yari was the key leader and architect of the Maoist line in the Progressive Youth Organization [PYO], which was the first communist organization in the country. Therefore, we consider comrade Yari the main founder of the communist (Maoist) movement in the country. The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan has waged a constant struggle to recognize and defend the historical role of the PYO and comrade Akram Yari against revisionist and opportunist assaults and distortions.

Our Party has honored November 28 as Martyrs Day since 2013. On the Martyrs Day of 2013, our party declared: "We must honor the memory of martyrs and pioneers of the Maoist and new democratic movement of the country and study and learn from their positive and negative experiences, set their spirit of sacrifice as our model and hone the weapons of revolution." The communist movement in Afghanistan, as part of the international communist movement, has paid immense sacrifices in the class and national struggle against imperialism, social-imperialism, and bourgeois comprador feudal classes. Today, more than ever, as our party's declaration reminds us, we must learn from the positive and negative experiences of our pioneers and emulate their revolutionary and communist courage.

It has been 56 years since the start of the activities of the Progressive Youth Organization. During this time the country's communist movement has gone through many ups and downs. In summing the experiences of half a century of communist struggle in the country and absorbing and learning from the experiences and latest achievements of the international communist movement, our party now has better ideological and theoretical clarity. But the revolutionary struggle is suffering from the decline of the revolutionary spirit compared to fifty years ago in the world and in Afghanistan. The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan is determined to instill revolutionary enthusiasm and tirelessly organize proletarian class struggle by organizing workers, peasants, women, and youth in the ranks of revolutionary struggle. In the aftermath of the withdrawal of the occupying imperialists’ forces from Afghanistan and the collapse of the puppet regime and the rise of the Taliban to power, the liberal delusions of many are further fading, enhancing combative morale among the masses. Moreover, the suffocating Taliban tyranny will drive more people towards struggle because the Taliban rule leaves no choice but to stand up and fight for the masses of the people. This situation is already developing and strengthening the spirit of unity and coordination among the left, revolutionary and communist forces. Mass anger and wide dissatisfaction with the Taliban's rule have persuaded some progressive intellectuals and leftist forces to overcome their sectarianism and egoism and to sympathize with communist and revolutionary struggle. We must be able to put this revolutionary rage and hatred of reaction, which is deepening and spreading among the masses, revolutionary militants, and progressive intellectuals, in the right direction of coordination and unity between the revolutionary and communist forces and use the current situation in favor of strengthening the communist struggle and revolutionary current in the country.

The second half of the 14th century AH was the era of imperialist domination and aggression and the rise of Islamist reaction. The 15th century AH [the current year is 1400 AH], however, must be the century of the triumph of revolutionary and communist struggle, and the century of liberation for the oppressed peoples of Afghanistan from the barbarism of imperialism and reaction. If revolutionary communists fail in organizing and leading the people's struggle and uniting the workers and toiling classes under the leadership of the proletarian vanguard party, imperialism and reaction will concoct a worse catastrophe for the country and humanity. The liberation of humanity from the terror of imperialism and reaction can only be possible by advancing the struggle and the new democratic and socialist revolution in Afghanistan and the world. If communist revolutions do not save all of humanity from the horror of capitalism, capitalism will lead to the destruction of all.

Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan

28 November 2021 (7 Qaus 1400)