Defense of the Revolution was a generic term employed to designate the irregular paramilitary or popular militia units created by the
Communist government of Afghanistan following the 1978
Saur Revolution
The Saur Revolution or Sowr Revolution ( ps, د ثور انقلاب; prs, إنقلاب ثور), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) ...
, with the intent of mobilizing the population against
counter-revolutionaries and other enemies of the new state. These units were officially volunteer, and based on the "Cuban model";
they were armed by the government and employed to guard sensitive infrastructure and maintain public order.
Some reports indicate volunteers received incentives such as coupons for government stores.
Editorials in the Soviet journal ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
'' praised these defensive formations as early as mid-1979.
Bruce Amstutz documents DotR units composed of teenage urban males, numbering 20,000 on paper by the mid-1980s, who received US$162 per month for supporting the security forces.
Other academics have commented on the female members of DotR units.
Early organization
Hafizullah Amin
Hafizullah Amin (Pashto/ prs, حفيظ الله امين; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist revolutionary, politician and teacher. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghanist ...
, the General Secretary of the
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), ''Hezb-e dimūkrātĩk-e khalq-e Afghānistān'' was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 Afgha ...
(PDPA), had established in 1978 the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution – CDR, later reorganized into the National Organization for the Defense of the Revolution – NODR. Despite extensive coverage in Afghan media, all mention of the NODR disappeared following the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in December 1979.
Amin was assassinated in the takeover, and the core staff who had developed the CDR and NODR were arrested and executed or simply disappeared. Anthony Arnold suggests that the Soviets considered a loosely accountable body of irregular armed groups to be undesirable during their occupation.
See also
*
Sarandoy
*
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
References
Bibliography
*Antonio Giustozzi, ''War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978-1992'', Georgetown University Press 2000. , 0878407588
*Edgar O'Ballance, ''Afghan Wars, Battles in a hostile land - 1839 to the present'', Brassey's, London 1993 (revised edition 2002).
*David Isby and Ron Volstad, ''Russia's War in Afghanistan'', Men-at-arms series 178, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1986.
*Ken Guest, ''Afghanistan'', in ''Flashpoint! At the Front Line of Today’s Wars'', Arms and Armour Press, London 1994, pp. 9-37.
*Mark Urban, ''War in Afghanistan'', Palgrave Macmillan, London 1988. {{ISBN, 978-0333432648, 0333432649
Counterinsurgency organizations
Military units and formations of Afghanistan
Military units and formations established in 1979
Paramilitary organisations based in Afghanistan