The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan lost its chairman and co-founder, Comrade Zia in the end of June. He died of a heart attack at the age of 68. Comrade Zia played an important role in the revolutionary movement in Afghanistan and stood out internationally through his active participation in the ideological struggle. Comrade Zia's death is an important and painful loss for the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, for the oppressed masses of Afghanistan and a loss for the International Communist Movement.
In 1987 comrade Zia founded the Revolutionary Communist Cell of Afghanistan (RCCA), an organization to put up again the banner of communism in Afghanistan. After that in 1990, the Communist Party of Afghanistan (CPA) was formed under the leadership of comrade Zia. It was one of the first Communist Parties worldwide to recognize Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the third and highest level of proletarian ideology. With this, comrade Zia accepted the legacy and achievements of Akram Yari, the founder of the first organization in Afghanistan which follows the teaching of Chairman Mao Zedong and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, who was unfortunately murdered early by the revisionist reaction.
Comrade Zia was described as a productive writer and great thinker, who is an integral part of the country's history. He was described as a comrade who never cared for fame or personal gain, he dedicated his whole life to the revolution. Finally, comrade Zia distinguished himself by his persistent adherence to the political line and took part in the ideological struggles of the international communist movement. In recent struggles, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Brazil (Red fraction) wrote in it's letter of condolence , the C(M)PA took opposing positions to them as a sister party on a number of fundamental issues. An open and frank struggle was developed - with the aim of achieving a true unity of the international communist movement through the two-line struggle.
Comrade Zia's death is a loss for the international Communist Movement and especially for the C(M)PA , which lost its chairman. The struggling masses of Afghanistan are just today, in the deepening crisis and the coming powerful wave of revolts and uprisings, facing the need to solve the urgent tasks of the revolution and, like comrade Zia, to continue the way of Akram Yaris!
Comrade Zia: Forever etched in the hearts of the oppressed!
Below we publish the statement of the C(M)PA, on the occasion of the death of its chairman, Comrade Zia:
The Path of Comrade Zia Continues
The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan has lost one its founding leaders and chairperson; this is a huge loss for the party, the camp of revolution in our country, and the international Maoist movement.
Comrade Zia, as a true communist revolutionary, dedicated his life to the cause of communism and proletarian revolution. His life was one of defending and promoting the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He made an immensely important theoretical and practical contribution to the cause of revolution and communism. His name and legacy will be inscribed in the history of the Maoist struggle––not only in our country but in the international movement.
He was a prolific writer, a committed intellectual, and a great thinker, unparalleled in the communist and intellectual history of our country. Over the course of his revolutionary career, our comrade has penned hundreds of articles and left behind thousands of written pages addressing the different needs of the revolutionary and communist movement. However, comrade Zia never put his name on any document that was intended for external publication; as a true proletarian revolutionary, he was not interested in name, fame, and personal egoism; comrade Zia was single mindedly interested in the development and spread of revolutionary ideas and the struggle for proletarian revolution in Afghanistan and globally. To pay tribute to his invaluable intellectual labour, we call on the central committee of the party to publish selected works of comrade Zia. Publication of his work is essential for class struggle and strengthening the camp of revolution.
At a time when the camp of reaction was blaring the “death of communism” and “the end of history,” comrade Zia started the struggle for the formation of the Communist Party of Afghanistan. He proclaimed that delaying the formation of a communist party is nothing but an indication of not accepting our responsibility for the revolution in Afghanistan and global revolution. The first issue of the second round of Sholajawid as the central organ of CPA announced, “at a time when social-imperialists, imperialists, revisionists, and varieties of reactionaries are making resentful attacks internationally, in the region, and in Afghanistan against communism, drafting the program and founding the CPA is a principled and courageous and appropriate communist counter attack.” Under his leadership Sholajawid was launched with a masthead of the Mao Zedong quote: “To bring about a revolution, there must be a revolutionary party. Without a revolutionary party, without a party based on Marxist-Leninist-[Maoist] theory and the Marxist-Leninist-[Maoist] style, it is impossible to lead the working classes and large popular masses to victory in their struggle against imperialism and its lackeys.”
On the 7th of October 2001, when the American imperialist coalition invaded and occupied Afghanistan, the Communist Party of Afghanistan under comrade Zia’s leadership, took a stance against the imperialist occupation and its puppet regime. When opportunists and revisionists rushed in under the wings of the occupation, the CPA called for the unity of the MLM movement into one party to provide an MLM response to the imperialist invasion and occupation. Thus, the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan was founded. The third round of Sholajawid, as the central organ of the C(M)PA, started publishing with the masthead, “Sholajawid is the central organ of the C(M)PA, which is principally in the service of initiating and carrying forward the revolutionary people’s war of national resistance (the form of people’s war particular to the current situation).”
Comrade Zia paid significant attention to the Maoist theory of principal contradiction. He never missed an opportunity to highlight that the principal contradiction is between imperialism and the oppressed peoples and nations. In the context of Afghanistan, he emphasized that the principal contradiction is between the imperialist occupation and the puppet regime, on the one hand, and the peoples of the country, on the other.
In 1987 comrade Zia founded the Revolutionary Communist Cell of Afghanistan (RCCA), becoming the first organization to raise the banner of communism in the country, in its name. He made a rupture with the unprincipled tradition in the communist movement of the country where the banner of communism was hidden behind democratic, new democratic, and even Islamist slogans. He established the Revolutionary Communist Organization of Afghanistan (RCOA) in 1989, which led to the formation of the Communist Party of Afghanistan (CPA) in 1990. The RCOA under comrade Zia’s leadership became the third organization in the world to accept Maoism as the third and highest stage of revolutionary science and ideology.
Moreover, RCCA and RCOA, under his leadership, launched the Voice of Revolution as their organ, making another radical rupture from the deviationist tradition where organizations claiming to be communist were publishing journals (and some still are) with religious slogans. Later, by launching the second round of Sholajawid as the central organ of the CPA as a communist (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) journal, he took important steps forward in answering the theoretical and ideological needs of revolutionary struggle and communism in the country. Comrade Zia constantly strived for the unity of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement in the country. He constantly fought against sectarianism, individualism, petty-bourgeois egoism that were hurdles confronting the unity of the MLM movement in the country.
Comrade Zia continuously, criticized and exposed the capitulationist positions of revisionist and left-liberal forces and their hollow theoretical basis in Afghanistan. The persistence of the C(M)PA in this struggle forced some of the capitulationists to at least partially abandon their position and pay lip service to anti-occupation rhetoric. Our comrade firmly believed in and applied the communist principle of criticism and self-criticism, struggle-unity-struggle. The first issue of the second round of Sholajawid stated: “Sholajawid will carry forward the struggle against opportunism dominant in groups and forces, remnants of the new-democratic movement. However, it will strive to learn from the past mistakes and will not engage in futile verbal tirades and ad hominem attacks.” Comrade Zia and the party under his leadership remained committed to this. His legacy provides a positive model for future ideological and line struggles within our movement. He was a model revolutionary organizer, and a dear comrade for the true communists and revolutionaries.
Comrade Zia was an example of a true internationalist. It was under his theoretical and ideological leadership that the C(M)PA took a principled stance against deviationist and revisionist lines within the Revolutionary International Movement, which were responsible for the collapse of RIM. He paid immense importance to building an international Maoist organization, and saw it as imperative for the growth of the communist movement internationally and in Afghanistan. Therefore, Comrade Zia has penned over several dozen articles on important line issues of the international Maoist movement and towards struggle for the formation of an international Maoist organization.
Comrade Zia’s empty place would be felt in the struggle of our party and the international Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement. However, we continue comrade’s Zia path by harbouring revolutionary humility, grasping Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and applying the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist style of work and mass line in all our struggles. To this end, comrade Zia’s legacy provides us with a model of learning and improving; we should firmly uphold and apply the principals of criticism and self-criticism and learn from previous mistakes. Comrade Zia, like a true communist revolutionary, never stopped learning. He taught us to remain in close contact with the masses, learn from the masses, improve and learn in the trenches of class struggle and apply theory to praxis.
We pay our deepest condolences to the central committee of the C(M)PA, all members and supporters of the party, the international Maoist movement, and we particularly express our deepest sympathy with our comrade’s family and loved ones.
Comrades rest assured, the flag of struggle that has been kept flying by sacrifices of tens of thousands of Maoist and new-democratic militants in our country will not fall. The flame of struggle for Maoism will not be extinguished as highlighted in the preface of our party programme, “this flame is more ablaze than before and burning and is going to put fire on the life stock of enemies, a big fire, a mighty fire.”
Long Live Comrade Zia!
Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
Long Live the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan!
Long Live Proletarian internationalism!
Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, unit, #6
24 Jun 2020