5 - The communist reforms and the repression, 1978–9

Summary

The Communist coup d'état is outside the limits of the present study. But after having studied the historical background of the Afghan resistance movement, we should analyse in greater detail the popular uprisings and the coming into being of the resistance. The prime cause of the uprisings was the authoritarian way in which the new regime imposed its reforms a few months after the coup of 27 April 1978.

The ideological framework of the reforms

The three major aspects of Khalq policy were agrarian reform, the elimination of illiteracy and the strengthening of the state machine. The communist leaders have always been conscious of the fact that they have been creating a revolution by proxy, faced with a nebulous working class and an apathetic peasantry. Obsessed by Amanullah's precedent, they thought that it was necessary to strike swiftly and ruthlessly before the “counter-revolution” was able to organise itself. To achieve this they adopted three means: repression, made possible by the existence of a loyal and well-equipped army; agrarian reform which, they thought, would win the support of the mass of the people; and the elimination of illiteracy, in order to rescue the people from the influence of the clergy and to spread the new ideology.

The Khalq are, at one and the same time, theoreticians and activists. The mistakes made by the government can be traced to “Khalq thought”.