پرچم (Parcham, Banner) , حوت 1346 (Hut) 23 - حوت 1347 (Hut) 26, (1968 March 13 - 1969 March 17)

Scope and content:

No. 1 through no. 52 (complete first year). 52 issues (circa 4 pages each, with duplication of no. 49), comprising what appears to be a complete run of the first year of Babrak Karmal's Parcham communist party (PDPA) newspaper, edited by Sulaiman Laiq and alternately issued in Dari and Pushto, covering cultural and political life in Afghanistan, largely text, illustrated with a few photographs. Significant mold and mildew damage, which, according to a source, occurred due to the volume's burial in a cellar during Taliban times when ownership of Parchamite political materials was illegal. Published in Kabul, Afghanistan from 1968-1969 (1346-1347).

Founded by Babrak Karmal, the Parcham party and its newspaper promoted a more democratic version of socialist ideology than other factions of the PDPA, focusing on women's rights, social justice, youth participation, and broad economic interests. This serial was published during the transitional years between Mohammad Zahir Shah’s rule and the establishment of Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan’s revolutionary government; the party and its serial promoted wider unity between Afghanistan's ethnicities. The newspaper continued for four additional months, through July 1969; those issues are not present in this collection.

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