Nur Muhammad Taraki



Nur Muhammad Taraki (15 July 1917 – 8 or 9 October 1979) was General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, who served as the leader of the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Quotes

 * I congratulate my fellow countrymen, gallant soldiers, my Pashtun and Baloch brothers and the workers of Asia, Africa, Europe and the US on the first birthday of the Saur Revolution. The Saur Revolution is not limited to the workers and soldiers of Afghanistan. It is the revolution of the workers and oppressed masses of [the] whole world. This revolution, which was carried out by armed soldiers under the leadership of the Khalq Party, is a great success and a victory for workers all over the world. The great October Revolution of 1917 shook the whole world. That revolution is a source of guidance and inspiration for our revolution, which once again has begun to shake the planet.
 * Speech in Kabul on first anniversary of Saur Revolution.


 * We want to create a society in which our workers and farmers can afford to appear in handsome attire and enjoy a good life and health; we want this kind of society.
 * Speech August 1, 1978.


 * When our party took over political power, the exploiting classes and reactionary forces went into action. The only rusty and antiquated tool that they use against us is preaching in the name of faith and religion against the progressive movement of our homeland... They ought to be uprooted as a cancerous tumor is from the body of a patient in a surgical operation.
 * Speech August 1, 1978.


 * The course of reform is in progress thanks to Decree No. 6 of the Revolutionary Council-one of the monumental achievements in the eyes of the regime. Under this decree, farmers with little or no land have been freed of the debts they had incurred to landlords and moneylenders. You have sharpened the class struggle in Afghanistan. The class struggle which we awaited for many long years is now gaining in intensity. Previously, nothing material existed for our people to awaken their political awareness and to make them rise against the feudal lords.
 * Speech August 1, 1978.


 * Let me conclude by urging you strongly, comrades, to couple your studies and knowledge with action; find good, clean and pious comrades. You should not only be an example of political, social and moral piety in the army but throughout the country so that everyone will say that the Khalqis are truly honorable and trust worthy people to be proud of. Our comrades set such an example even before the revolution... Before the revolution, whoever wanted to punish one of our comrades would accuse him of being a Khalqi, for he had good morals and would not take bribes. It was on the basis of this piety, that is political and social piety, that we took over power.
 * Speech August 1, 1978.
 * I am proud that for the first time in the history of Afghanistan, I am raising the flag of such a people, who are producing all material and immaterial equipment necessary for the life in this country and who make all efforts for prosperity and serendipity of the society. This glorious and magnificent red flag is the symbol of the greatness and pride of these people.
 * Speech during the presentation of the new national symbols, October 19, 1978.


 * Now we are proud that the government has moved from the class of the exploiters to the class of the people who were being exploited. And in the great name of the same class, I raise this nation's flag which is a strong symbol of this transfer.
 * Speech during the presentation of the new national symbols, October 19, 1978.


 * I noticed long ago that Amin has the tendency to concentrate power in his own hands but I did not attach any particular significance to this. However, recently this tendency has become dangerous.
 * As quoted in Rodric Braithwaite (2010) Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89, page 65.


 * Everything will be all right. I know this room. Soldiers used to be quartered here. Now it's our turn.
 * Said to his wife in the Presidential Palace, shortly before his assassination, as quoted in Rodric Braithwaite (2010) Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89, page 67.

About

 * You are the one who should quit! Because of drink and old age you have taken leave of your senses.
 * Hafizullah Amin, as quoted in Nabi Misdaq (2006) Afghanistan: Political Frailty and External Interference, page 125.
 * "Do you have support among the workers, city dwellers, [and] the petty bourgeoisie?" Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin demanded of Afghan Prime Minister Nur Mohammed Taraki in a top-secret telephone conversation. "Is there still anyone on your side?" Taraki's response was chilling: "There is no active support on the part of the population. It is almost wholly under the influence of the Shiite slogans—follow not the infidels, but follow us." It was a meaningful moment in the history of Marxism-Leninism: an ideology that had claimed to know the path to a world proletarian revolution found itself confronting a regional religious revolution for which its analytical tools were wholly inadequate.
 * John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (2006)