(Bolshevik) in March 1921 – that at which the famous theoretician
Bukharin observed that ‘the revolution is hanging by a thread’ –
V. I. Lenin had forced the adoption of a resolution entitled ‘On the
Unity of the Party’ (O edinstve partii), which was designed to out-
flank the so-called ‘Workers’ Opposition’ and secure the domin-
ance of the position which Lenin wished to see adopted. The
resolution was deployed in 1957 by Khrushchev against his oppon-
ents in the ‘Anti-Party’ group, and hung heavily in the air if ever
fundamental policy divergences threatened to surface within the
Soviet leadership. Of course, it was essentially a tool in the hands
of whichever group in a divided Politburo could muster enough
support in the Central Committee to come out on top. Harington’s
famous epigram on treason – Treason doth never prosper, what’s
the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason– applied
perfectly to the rule which the resolution on party unity formulat-
ed. However, it also helped fuel a distaste for open factions, as
inimical to the interests of effective party functioning.
The PDPA was faced by a severe problem of factionalism
throughout the Karmal period. As noted in Chapter 2, the Khalqis
were simply too important a component of the Afghan Army offi-
cer corps for a ‘clean’ purge of the faction to be successfully
accomplished. However, too much blood had been shed for the dif-
ferent factions to coexist comfortably at the elite level, and
Arnold’s reference to ‘Afghanistan’s Two-Party Communism’ was
more than apposite (Arnold, 1983). Episodes of factional strife
were many and varied: the flavour of what was involved can be
brought out by reference to the career of just one figure, Abdul
Qadir, the non-Pushtun Parchamiwhose crucial role in the April
1978 coup was noted earlier. Qadir had been appointed Defence
Minister in the aftermath of the coup, but was purged with other
Parchamis, and given a death sentence, commuted to 15 years’
imprisonment in October 1979, doubtless as a result of Soviet
pressure on Amin. Released following the Soviet invasion, he was
wounded by a Khalqigunman on 4 June 1980, but survived to be
reappointed Defence Minister in 1982. However, he was assaulted
in May 1983 by the former Commander of the Kabul City
The Karmal Period, 1979–1986 93