The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

the stage of advanced capitalism on the way towards socialism—such countries asVietnam, North Korea, and Cuba.”“Might this be your wish rather than reality?” asked Safronchuk.“Certainly not,” responded Amin firmly. “How can you put Afghanistan on the samelevel with Ethiopia, where the avant-garde party was created only after the seizure ofpower? Our Marxist-Leninist party appeared fourteen years ago.”“But you proclaim everywhere a leading role for the working class,” continuedSafronchuk. “Even your guests arriving at the Kabul airport are greeted with the sign‘Welcome to the capital of the country of the victorious proletariat!’ But when in March,during the Herat uprising, we recommended that you engage the working class to deter acounter-revolution, you responded that the number of workers is insufficient, and thatmost of them are not even particularly conscientious.”“It is true that during the revolution it was the army that fulfilled the role of theworking class in my country. But as the revolutionary process evolves, we are leaning onthe proletariat and the poorest peasants more and more,” responded Amin. “We learnedLenin’s theory very well. We know that one should treat it creatively. Lenin’s theory is not adogma. You will see yourself how, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, we will quicklymarch from feudalism to socialism. This will be our contribution to the development ofMarxist-Leninist theory.”Gradually Safronchuk realized that while considering himself the second-rankingperson in the PDPA, Amin displayed only a superficial knowledge of party theory. He was afan of sharp quotes and slogans. In Afghanistan, where there were few literate people, hecould easily pass for a major theoretician.426