[The following article appeared in the June 8 issue of the London weekly Socialist Challenge, sponsored by the International Marxist Group, British section of the Fourth International.]
For centuries Afghanistan was ruled by monarchs and religious divines. During British rule in India, the Afghan King Amanullah, who resisted British political and military incursions, was replaced by the Yusufzai dynasty. This family ruled Afghanistan till the April 27 upheaval.
The last ruling monarch, Zahir Shah, was removed from office in 1973 by his brother-in-law, Sardar Daud. Daud pledged democratic reforms. He stated that the preceding regime had been a "corrupt and effete government, with its pseudodemocracy based on personal and class interests which had taken Afghanistan to the edge of the abyss."
Daud promised to convoke an elected Loi Jirga (Grand National Assembly), but nothing happened. The Jirga was the same old combination of divines and feudal notables (most of them provincial governors).
Daud imposed a one-person rule and ruled, in everything but name, like a monarch. He imposed an equally repres. sive regime and resisted three attempts to topple him.
Then in early April this year a popular trade union leader was assassinated. His murder provoked a wave of angry protest demonstrations and meetings, in open defiance of Daud's ban on all political assemblies. The funeral procession turned into the largest antigovernment demonstration seen in Afghanistan since the 60s.
Daud ordered large-scale arrests and was preparing a bloody purge of all leftists in the country.
The response was sharp and well. prepared. The tank corps (a leftist stronghold) and the air force overthrew the Daud regime.
The scenes which followed were reminiscent of Portugal in 1974. The masses celebrated without inhibitions. Soldiers were garlanded with flowers.
Radio Kabul announced that this was not a traditional military coup, but a "national democratic revolution."
A revolutionary Council was created consisting of eighteen civilians and three army officers.
Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Council is Noor Mohammed Taraki. Vice chairperson and deputy Prime Minister is Babrak Karmal.
The significance lies in the fact that both men were leaders of two different factions of the People's Democratic Party (the public factions were called Parcham and Khalq). The April incidents saw a reunification.
The PDP is a political party which contains all Afghanistan's pro-Moscow Communists as well as a layer of independent intellectuals.
Every member of the new Revolutionary Council is a member of the PDP. This is different from other countries where Communists have participated in governments: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Indonesia, Bangladesh are the most obvious examples.
The program of the new regime is democratic. It calls for the end of landed estates through a sweeping land reform, and the abolition of feudal and pre-feudal relations.
If implemented this would mark a radical shift in Afghanistan's agrarian struc ture. At the moment the landowners (comprising 2 percent of the population) have more land than that owned by 81 percent of the peasants.
Forty thousand families own 73 percent of the cultivable land, while 1.5 million
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peasant households are landless. Any real change would unleash new struggles and pose the question of a total abolition of existing social relationships.
The new program states that it will ensure "equality of rights of women with men in all social, economic, political and cultural and civil aspects." This, coupled with the promise of a "democratic solution of the nomads' issue" reflects real revolutionary democratic positions.
The decrees on equal rights for women would make Afghanistan the most advanced Muslim state, a striking contrast to its barbaric neighbour, Pakistan.
The events in Afghanistan have created consternation in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. The Pakistani dictator Zia is worried about the impact it will have within the army. Furthermore in the event of former Prime Minister Bhutto being hung, the ensuing instability could further complicate matters.
For the Iranian butcher, matters are even worse. The new Afghan regime will become a rallying point for Iranian dissidents. Radio Kabul can be heard and understood in Iran. The language in both countries is similar and radical measures in Afghanistan will have their impact in Iran.
It is reported that the shah considered a military intervention against Kabul, but was overruled by his superiors in the US State Department. They saw more clearly than their short-sighted client that a military intervention might well be the final blow to bring the shah down.
Socialists must follow the events in Afghanistan carefully in the coming months. If the new regime carries out the measures it has promised, class struggles will intensify in the medieval, tribalist state. The result could well prove yet again the origi nality of the historical process.
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