Memorandum of Dzhemal Pasha to Lenin and Trotsky

From the book; Stalin's Afghan War. Battle of Central Asia

I. Importance of the Indian Revolution in terms of the World Revolution

I am convinced that the key to the world revolution lies in India. I think that taking India away from the British, who are an unbearable scourge for the whole world, peoples and even [individuals] and who rob them of everything, including the freedom to act and think outside of what constitutes the sphere of [British] desires and interests, will give other peoples advantages that you don't need to be a great diplomat to understand.

To cut off India from the body of the British Empire would have meant breaking its spine, and a paralytic England would be deprived of the opportunity to harm other peoples.

If, on the other hand, we look at this event from the point of view of revolutionary thinking, we can see that the loss of India, which is the lifeblood of 30-40 million people in Britain, dooms them to terrible hunger. The British government, which already [now] does not know what to do to feed two million unemployed, [will feel] grabbed by the throat and strangled by the 10-12 million unemployed who will join them, and humanity will thus be freed from one from their greatest enemies, from this sinister government, the ruthless and indisputable sovereign of the imperialist and capitalist world.

As a consequence, there can be no more significant issue and duty for revolutionaries now than the implementation of the Indian revolution. [40] To give up this duty just for a moment would be, perhaps, committing an irreparable mistake.

II. Significance of Afghanistan in terms of the Indian Revolution

One can work in two different ways to bring about the Indian revolution:

A. Inside India.

B. Outside India.

A - Since Ambassador Surits in his report to the Soviet government described in detail the work currently being done in India, its essence, its organization, its power and the propaganda activities of Indian revolutionaries, I will speak in this memorandum about the work ahead outside India.

B - Outside India, Afghanistan is [exactly that] center of activity that is necessary for the implementation of the Indian revolution.

In addition, Afghanistan is the only and most natural of the strategic bases for any military operation against India, it is also seen as forming the only territory where all the work of leading and strengthening the revolutionary movement in India can be concentrated.

A revolutionary who had as his goal the realization of an event such as the Indian Revolution, which has the significance of a turning point in the history of mankind, and who had everything necessary, would be absolutely sure of achieving his goal. It would be difficult to find a more comfortable corner of the world than Afghanistan to work [against the British authorities] outside of India.

III. Afghanistan: friend or foe

Based on the geographic and political situation of Afghanistan, there can be no more significant duty for an Indian revolutionary than achieving friendship with this country. Friendship with Afghanistan can provide any assistance to the Indian revolutionary. It will make it possible to create points of contact with India in order to summon the right people from there and send funds for sabotage there. In short, it will help to quickly carry out [all] revolutionary action [in India]. At the same time, the hostility of Afghanistan can paralyze any actions of the Indian revolutionary and can erect an insurmountable Chinese wall between him and India. As a consequence, our most important task is to constantly maintain friendship with Afghanistan and resort to any means to strengthen it every day. I believe that not only dislike,

IV. Frontier tribes

The country, mostly known as Yaghistan and located on the border between Afghanistan and India, is inhabited by a very brave and warlike Muslim people, almost entirely of Afghan origin. [41] For many years he was at war with the British and thanks to this he was able to maintain some independence. In the north there are Chitral [tribes] and in the center - Corum, belonging to the Shiite sect, who are friends and supporters of the British, while all other [tribes] in the full sense of the word are their enemies.

If at the moment the Afridians and Momands are calm, on the contrary, the Wazirs and Masuds continue to fight against the British. Haji Abdul Razak, a Muslim scholar, mature and unusually intelligent, with an extremely strong character stands at the head of this tribe [Masud] and, despite the fact that he was deprived of all means, uses every opportunity to attack the English convoys. Afridia, Momandy and further to the South, the Baloch tribes are waiting only for substantial [funds] and a sign from our side to start a joint action.

Trasnlated by the contributer of ML Blog