Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan (حزب كمونيست (مائوئيست) افغانستان), previously known as Communist Party of Afghanistan is an underground political party in Afghanistan. The party is the continuation of the line started by Sholaye Javid (Eternal Flame) movement and its leader Akram Yari. C(M)PA is a member of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
In order to understand the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan we have to through a glimpse on the history of the communist movement in Afghanistan. The first communist organization in Afghanistan, Progressive Youth Organization (PYO) was formed in 1965. The 1960s was decade of revolutionary uprisings all over the world. From China to Latin America and to the ghettos of the Blacks in America the wretched of the earth were fighting for a better world and for social justice. In Afghanistan the breeze of these world-wide struggles had ignited a political storm for democracy and social justice. There were daily demonstrations, and street fighting between students, workers, and social justice activists and police and armed forces of the then King Zaher Shah of Afghanistan. These struggles led to the formation of Progressive Youth Organization. A few circles of intellectuals and political activists came together to form the first communist organization to answer the needs of daily struggles of the country and work for the ultimate goal of the revolution in Afghanistan. Akram Yari, a Maoist, was the leader of one these circles, who played a prominent role in the formation of PYO.[1]
PYO remained an underground organization. The PYO leaders published a magazine called Sholaye Jawid. Sholaye Jawid claimed to be a new-democratic journal, which was widely and openly circulated. After publishing 11 issues, Sholaye Jawid was seized by government and banned its publication. Though the publication of these 11 issue had a huge impact on Afghan politics. It politicized tens of thousands of people and stirred up a huge mass movement all across Afghanistan, unseen of before in the history of the country. The government of the time used repression to crush this movement but was clearly failing to achieve its goal. The government also used the Islamic fundamentalists against Sholaye Jawid supporters. These government tactics led to physical confrontation between the Maoists and the Islamic fundamentalists, that resulted to the death of a prominent Maoist student leader Saydal Sokhandan, who was assassinated by Gulbadin Hekmatyar himself on Kabul university campus. Gulbadin Hekmatyar later became the leader of Islamic Party of Afghanistan, who has been a key ally of the United States in the past.
When Peoples Democratic Pary of Afghanistan (PDPA) came to power in a military coup, the PDPA regime declared their number one to be the PYO led Maoist movement. All people belonging to the Maoist movement were arrested and killed indiscriminately. Thousands of Maoists and their progressive allies were killed. The Maoist movement got weakened under Polpot style killings. The leaderless remnants of the Maoist movement formed several organizations to fight the PDPA regime and resist Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During the war of resistance against Soviet invasion, the Maoist influenced organizations played a crucial role at mobilizing the people. But at the same time they made big mistakes. Some of these of organizations even accepted the concept of Islamic revolution. In other words, these organizations under assault from PDPA regime and the US backed Islamic fundamentalists turned their back on communism (Maoism).
Under such circumstances the communist (Maoist) circles within these organizations continued their struggle against the right-appurtunist deviations and upholding the banner of communism started by PYO. In late 1980s one of these circles broke from that right-apputunist tradition and formed Revolutionary Communist Cell of Afghanistan. RCCA along with others formed Revolutionary Communist Organization of Afghanistan. Which in 1991 proclaimed the establishment of the Communist Party of Afghanistan. CPA started publishing Sholaye Jawid again. This gave the message that CPA was re-establishing and grasping the Maoist line of PYO. As a matter of fact CPA declared in the first issue of the second round of publishing Sholaye Jawid that they are going to continue the path started by PYO and its founder Akram Yari.
In the wake of invasion of Afghanistan by United States and its allies, the CPA called on the Maoist organizations to unite in a single-united Maoist party. For that purpose the CPA with 4 other Maoist organizations formed the Unity Committee of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Movement of Afghanistan. The Unity Committee after 3 years of ideological and political struggle went for the Unity Congress of the Communist (MLM) Movement. The Unity Congress was concluded in May 1 2004 and the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan was formed.
The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan is an under ground organization. The stated goal of the Party is to start a Peoples National War of resistance against the occupying forces and the United States of America and establishing a New democratic society and struggling towards establishing socialism in Afghanistan.[2]