Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Burkina Faso)

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (French: Comités de Défense de la Révolution, CDRs) were a system of local revolutionary cells, established in Burkina Faso by the Marxist-Leninist and pan-Africanist leader Thomas Sankara, President of the country from 1983 until his assassination in 1987. Committees were established in each workplace. They were inspired by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in Cuba, and functioned as "organs of political and social control."

Two decades after decolonization from France, the Republic of Upper Volta had suffered numerous military regimes and uprisings (primarily led by the strong trade unionist movement). In 1982 Major Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo overthrew the government of Colonel Saye Zerbo, instituting the rule of the Council of Popular Salvation (CSP). Factional infighting developed between moderates in the CSP and the radicals, led by Captain Thomas Sankara, a war veteran who was appointed Prime Minister in January 1983.

Sankara was arrested soon afterwards, which triggered a coup on 4 August 1983 organized by among others Captain Blaise Compaoré. Sankara was released, and made President. The National Council for the Revolution (CNR) was formed to rule the country. Within short he began implementing a radical programme of social, cultural, economic and political reform, which he dubbed the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (French: Révolution démocratique et populaire, or RDP).

The policies enacted by Sankara included the abolition of tribal chiefs' privileges, heavy advances in women's rights, anti-HIV/AIDS efforts, anti-corruption campaigns, a foreign policy based on anti-imperialism, land redistribution from feudal landlords to the peasantry, mass vaccinations of children, a nationwide literacy campaign, the promotion of reforestation, and so on. Upper Volta was renamed Burkina Faso, to promote a new national identity. In order to achieve this radical transformation of society, he increasingly exerted government control over the nation, eventually banning trade unions and the independent press. Corrupt officials, "lazy workers" and supposed counter-revolutionaries were tried publicly in the Popular Revolutionary Tribunals.

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