The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

survived.Other, more entrepreneurial types took advantage of their tours in Afghanistan toenrich themselves through dealings in the black market. These dealers would buy scores ofshearling coats to sell at home and use the profits to buy a highly desirable Zhiguli. Goodssuch as cars, tape recorders, jeans, lingerie, high-quality fabrics, semi-precious stones, andelectronic watches that were difficult to obtain in the USSR became items of speculation.However, in truth most Soviet advisers were hard working, honest, and diligent.They could hardly be blamed for having treated their assignments according to the Sovietblueprint. What other blueprint could they apply? Many were second- or third-generationSoviet citizens who were aware of only Soviet approaches to life, be it a party, Komsomol,trade union, working, or military life. They tried to convince the peasants to createsomething similar to collective farms not because they had evil intentions, but because theydidn’t know any other way to organize agricultural production. They established “Lenin’srooms” in military barracks because every Soviet military detachment had such a room,filled with propaganda and images of Soviet leaders. They proudly reported their progressto their bosses in Moscow, as they had in the Komsomol or trade union organizations wherethey worked back home. It was impossible for the advisers to imagine the existence of anyparty or political organization outside of the PDPA because they had been raised within thesingle-party structure of “democratic centralism.” This meant a rigid vertical powerstructure. It was understood that any deviation from this principle would be punishedmercilessly.Many of the Soviet specialists sincerely believed in the ideals of the AprilRevolution: freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Back in the Soviet Union, revolutionary347