Anniversary of Habibullah Kalakani’s Execution: A Class-Based Reassessment of the Revolt Against King Amanullah’s Reforms
Introduction: The Confrontation Between Productive Forces and Reactionary Relations
In examining the contemporary history of Afghanistan, writing history without taking class movements and the destructive role of colonialism into account leads to a distorted analysis. History is a struggle between progressive forces and the old relations of production. The Amanullah movement, despite its bourgeois-liberal character and class limitations, represented a step towards breaking away from feudal relations and achieving national independence from the yoke of British colonialism. In contrast, the uprising led by Habibullah Kalakani was not a “popular movement”, but rather an expression of feudal-religious reaction and a clear regression in the development of productive forces.
A Class Analysis of King Amanullah’s Reforms
The reforms introduced by King Amanullah Khan constituted a historical response to the backwardness of Afghanistan’s feudal structure. Changes to taxation laws, the abolition of slavery, the drafting of the first constitution (Nizamnama-ye Asasi), the promotion of public education and women’s right to education all carried an anti-feudal character.
Nevertheless, due to the absence of an organised proletarian class and the failure to implement a profound land reform that could fundamentally bind the peasantry to the state, these reforms were directed from above and failed to establish a strong and broad class base among the rural masses. This structural weakness created conditions that reactionary forces and international imperialism could exploit.
The Role of British Imperialism: Conspiracy from British India to Kabul
British imperialism never forgot the blow it had suffered on the front of Afghan independence. Through establishing diplomatic relations with the revolutionary Soviet Union and adopting an anti-imperialist foreign policy, the Amanullah government had placed the security of the Indian subcontinent—Britain’s most important colonial possession—at risk. Consequently, from the earliest days of Amanullah’s reforms, British colonialism set its machinery of psychological warfare and conspiracy into motion.
British intelligence agencies employed economic sanctions, arms smuggling across the border to dissatisfied tribes, and the deployment of their secret service agents under various disguises—including Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia—to fuel unrest in the northern and eastern regions. British India not only provided an extensive propaganda platform against King Amanullah, but also, through the distribution of inflammatory posters and the financial and military arming of reactionary insurgents, turned Habibullah Kalakani into an operational instrument for overthrowing Afghanistan’s independent government.
The Class Character of Habibullah Kalakani’s Revolt and the Destructive Role of Reaction
From a Marxist-Leninist perspective, the uprising under Habibullah Kalakani’s leadership must be assessed as a counter-revolutionary campaign by an alliance of reactionary forces:
Social and Class Base: This movement represented the interests of khans, reactionary feudal classes and the backward clerical stratum, whose economic interests and social influence they believed were threatened by modern reforms.
Alliance with Imperialism: Kalakani’s objectives were entirely aligned with British strategy. By dismantling newly established administrative structures, repealing anti-feudal laws and closing schools, he sacrificed Afghanistan’s national interests in pursuit of the objectives of the British Empire.
Destruction of Cultural and Economic Infrastructure: Kalakani’s brief period in power was accompanied by the closure of schools, the repeal of progressive laws, the plundering of the national treasury and a return to old social relations. These actions dealt a severe blow to the foundations of social awareness and the development of productive forces.
Kalakani’s Fall: The Reproduction of Feudal-Colonial Rule
Kalakani’s period of rule demonstrated that illiterate, British-influenced and politically directionless elements cannot effectively govern a state. His defeat and execution by Nader Khan did not constitute a popular revolution; rather, it was an intra-class transfer of power between factions affiliated with the feudal-colonial system. Nader Shah came to power with the direct financial and military assistance of British imperialism, ensuring that Afghanistan would never again move towards Amanullah’s anti-imperialist policies and modernisation programme.
Conclusion: Historical Lessons for the Class Struggle
The execution of Habibullah Kalakani marked the end of a reactionary nightmare. Yet it also demonstrated that, without a vanguard proletarian organisation and class consciousness among the masses, bourgeois-liberal reforms remain extremely vulnerable to imperialist conspiracies and domestic reaction. A critical examination of history shows that any movement opposing structural reforms under the banners of tradition, religion or blind peasant uprisings—and serving the restoration of feudal relations or dependence on imperialism—is destined to face defeat and be crushed beneath the wheels of history.