Akram Yari | |
|---|---|
 Akram Yari | |
| Progressive Youth Organization | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1940 |
| Died | 1979 (aged 38–39) |
| Occupation | Politician School teacher |
| Known for | Revolutionary leader in Afghanistan |
Akram Yari (Dari:اکرم یاری) was aHazaraMaoist political organizer inAfghanistan. He was the leader and founder of theProgressive Youth Organization (PYO), aMarxist–Leninist organization which was formed on October 6, 1965.[1]
Akram Yari was born inJaghori,Ghazni Province, Afghanistan and belonged toHazara ethnic group. He was the son of a monarchist landowner.[2] Later he moved toKabul where he studiedphysics andmathematics.[2] After graduating, he became a teacher at Naderya School in Kabul, where he engaged in a politicalpropaganda campaign among his students. As a result, he was fired from his job and he returned to Jaghori. Upon returning to Jaghori, Yari decided to hand over his family's possessions to the peasants.[2]
Akram Yari was the founder and leader ofProgressive Youth Organization (PYO), aMaoist organization, founded on October 6, 1965. PYO published a magazine calledShola-e-Jawid (Eternal Flame) which was circulated among students and youth.
Akram Yari opposed themonarchy ofKing Zahir Shah, the Islamic fundamentalists, and the pro-SovietPeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). PYO adhered toMarxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong thought, and rallied for the overthrow of the incumbent order in Afghanistan by means ofcivil war. Yari was additionally anatheist, reportedly once saying “they say God created man, but who created God?” during a religious studies class he hosted while being a teacher.[3]
Under Akram Yari's leadership, PYO had strong support among the masses of workers and students in the cities of Afghanistan. Among the people of Afghanistan, the movement that PYO led is famous by the name ofShola-e-Jawid and its members were commonly known as theSholayis (Flamists), after the name of their journal.
Akram Yari was a teacher and propagator of Marxism and introduced Marxism to a large number of intellectuals and political activists in Afghanistan, among them Dr.Faiz Ahmad, founder ofAfghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO).
In 1978 the pro-Soviet PDPA came to power througha military coup. The PDPA government began a crackdown on PYO cadres. Akram Yari was arrested at his home inJaghori, transferred toKabul and later killed by the PDPA government. The exact circumstances surrounding his death are not known.
