View source for Babrak Karmal

===Communist politics===
Imprisoned from 1953 to 1956, Karmal befriended fellow inmate [[Mir Akbar Khyber]], who introduced Karmal to [[Marxism]].{{sfn|Misdaq|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Zvm9dxavH-IC&pg=PA94 94]}} Karmal changed his name from Sultan Hussein to Babrak Karmal, which means "Comrade of the Workers'" in [[Pashtun language|Pashto]], to disassociate himself from his [[bourgeois]] background. When he was released from prison, he continued his activities in the student union, and began to promote Marxism.{{sfn|Rasanayagam|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5L8CnWkACQkC&pg=PA47 47]}} Karmal spent the rest of the 1950s and the early 1960s becoming involved with Marxist organizations, of which there were at least four in Afghanistan at the time; two of the four were established by Karmal.{{sfn|Rasanayagam|2005|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5L8CnWkACQkC&pg=PA47 47–48]}} When the [[1964 Constitution of Afghanistan|1964 Afghan Provisional Constitution]], which legalised the establishment of new political entities, was introduced several prominent Marxists agreed to establish a communist political party. The [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan]] (PDPA, the Communist Party) was established in January 1965 in [[Nur Muhammad Taraki]]'s home.{{sfn|Rasanayagam|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5L8CnWkACQkC&pg=PA48 48]}} Factionalism within the PDPA quickly became a problem; the party split into the [[Khalq]] led by Taraki alongside [[Hafizullah Amin]], and the [[Parcham]] led by Karmal.{{sfn|Rasanayagam|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5L8CnWkACQkC&pg=PA49 49]}}
{{History of Afghanistan}}
During the [[1965 Afghan parliamentary election|1965 parliamentary election]] Karmal was one of four PDPA members elected to the lower house of parliament; the three others were [[Anahita Ratebzad]] (whom he would later have an affair with according to [[Vasili Mitrokhin]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitrokhin |first=Vasili |date=July 2002 |title=The KGB in Afghanistan |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/WP40-english.pdf |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars |page=132}}</ref>), [[Nur Ahmed Nur]] and Fezanul Haq Fezan. No Khalqists were elected; however, Amin was 50 votes short of being elected. The Parchamite victory may be explained by the simple fact that Karmal could contribute financially to the PDPA electoral campaign.{{sfn|Arnold|1983|p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=cd85ioPsz6cC&pg=PA32 32]}} Karmal became a leading figure within the student movement in the 1960s, electing [[Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal]] as Prime Minister after a student demonstration (called for by Karmal) concluded with three deaths under the former leadership.{{sfn|Arnold|1983|p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=cd85ioPsz6cC&pg=PA33 33–34] }} In 1966 inside parliament, Karmal was physically assaulted by an Islamist MP, [[Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h&chunk.id=s1.4.4&toc.id=ch04&toc.depth=100&brand=ucpress;query=The%20Quiet%20Revolution&anchor.id=d0e2209|title=Afghanistan|access-date=4 August 2021|archive-date=4 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804215315/https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h&chunk.id=s1.4.4&toc.id=ch04&toc.depth=100&brand=ucpress;query=The%20Quiet%20Revolution&anchor.id=d0e2209|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1967, the PDPA unofficially split into two formal parties, one Khalqist and one Parchamist. The dissolution of the PDPA was initiated by the closing down of the Khalqist newspaper, ''Khalq''. Karmal criticised the ''Khalq'' for being too [[communism|communist]], and believed that its leadership should have hidden its Marxist orientation instead of promoting it.{{sfn|Arnold|1983|p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=cd85ioPsz6cC&pg=PA34 34]}} According to the official version of events, the majority of the [[Central Committee of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA Central Committee]] rejected Karmal's criticism. The vote was a close one, and it is reported that Taraki expanded the Central Committee to win the vote; this plan resulted in eight of the new members becoming politically unaligned with and one switching to the Parchamite side. Karmal and half the PDPA Central Committee left the PDPA to establish a Parchamite-led PDPA.{{sfn|Arnold|1983|p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=cd85ioPsz6cC&pg=PA35 35]}} Officially the split was caused by ideological differences, but the party may have divided between the different leadership styles and plans of Taraki versus Karmal. Taraki wanted to model the party after [[Leninism|Leninist norms]] while Karmal wanted to establish a democratic front. Other differences were socioeconomic. The majority of Khalqists came from rural areas; hence they were poorer, and were of Pashtun origin. The Parchamites were urban, richer, and spoke [[Dari (Persian dialect)|Dari]] more often than not. The Khalqists accused the Parchamites of having a connection with the monarchy, and because of it, referred to the Parchamite PDPA as the "Royal Communist Party".{{sfn|Gladstone|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aH_KCWVB6W0C&pg=PA113 113] }} Both Karmal and Amin retained their seats in the lower house of parliament in the [[1969 Afghan parliamentary election|1969 parliamentary election]].{{sfn|Gladstone|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aH_KCWVB6W0C&pg=PA114 114] }}