Report on developments in Nepal

13 August 2007.
A World to Win News Service.
Events in Nepal have sparked a great deal of
interest among our readers. Following is a
slightly abridged and edited report on the
situation in Nepal given in June to the
Coordinating Committee of Maoist Parties of South
Asia (CCOMPOSA) by the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist). It appeared in issue no. 17 (July 2007)
of the Maoist Information Bulletin published by
the CPN(M) Central Committee International
Department. Go to: krishnasenonline. org/Bulletin

“To deal with the question of the ‘completion’ of
the bourgeois revolution in the old way is to
sacrifice living Marxism to the dead letter”
- Lenin (Collected Works, vol. 24)

The real importance of this precious teaching of
the great Lenin was seriously felt in the
practical sense in the communist movement in
Nepal as the People’s War led by the Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist) CPN(M) entered into the
stage of strategic equilibrium from the stage of
strategic defence. Though there are plenty of
instances of changes of tacks in the history of
our party, nevertheless, it had not become
imperative for the major tactical shift until the
people’s war reached the stage of strategic
offensive. By then we had chalked out a new way
and had been trying to advance revolutionary
practice through this labyrinth. Still the
concrete features peculiar to this historical
situation in Nepal are what led to this tactical
shift. It is doubtless that this situation was
borne as the natural consequence of these ten
years of heroic armed struggle led by our party.

On several occasions we have brought out our
assessment that the domestic situation in Nepal
is favourable and ripe to capture central state
power in the near future, but as all the genuine
communist parties engaged in revolutionary
practice know, the international situation is
quite unfavourable to accomplish new democratic
revolution and sustain it. It is obvious that we
should try to mobilize justice-loving people all
over the world in general and the peoples of
south Asia in particular to garner support in
favour of revolution, improving on the domestic
situation in the same spirit. For this we should
dare to abandon the course once selected and have
the courage to climb the unexplored mountain.

Lenin often quoted a letter written by Engels to
F.A. Sorge where the founder of scientific
socialism says, “Our theory is not a dogma but a
guide to action”. This we believe is valid for
any situation and any individual communist party.
It is easy to cling to dogmas and memorize some
revolutionary phrases without being engaged in
the revolutionary practice. But a genuine
communist party should never forget that Marxism
teaches us to become critical towards Marxism
itself, and that only revolutionary practice is a
laboratory to know whether one is upholding
Marxism or something else. In the dazzling light
of this Marxist principle, the C.P.N (Maoist) has
been applying Marxism to the concrete situation
of Nepal, which, we believe, will further develop
this science.

The historic Chunbang meeting of the CPN (Maoist)
Central Committee held in September-October 2005
has put an indelible mark in the history of the
party itself. Before this meeting, internecine
strife representing two lines was at its peak and
it was made public too. The revolutionary masses
were quite depressed, fearing that it might
threaten the very existence of the party, and the
reactionary forces were thrilled with ecstasy.
But the Central Committee under the leadership of
Comrade Prachanda devised the ways and means of
turning intra-party struggle into a motive force
that propelled the party forward. The meeting
resolved the intra-party struggle and achieved a
new unity applying the method of unity, struggle
and transformation and maintaining the
dialectical debate. One of the most important
decisions taken in this meeting was that the
party should forge an alliance with the agitating
parliamentary parties despite their unstable and
vacillating character in order to isolate and
abolish the monarchy.

The question of the abolition of the monarchy
comprises a different meaning in the context of
Nepal. It is the only reactionary institution
which is deep-rooted and well-organized, with a
more than one hundred thousand-strong army.
Because of this reality, external and internal
forces of reaction have joined hands to prop up
the crumbling monarchy and have been trying to
convince the vacillating parliamentary forces
that once the monarchy is gone there will be no
able force remaining to halt the ever-growing
march of the Maoist force. So the parliamentary
forces should break their ties with the Maoists
and try to save the monarchy with some change in
its form. It is because of the awareness of the
Nepalese people and the tactical movement of our
party against the monarchy that parties like the
Nepali Congress and United Marxist-Leninist were
forced to maintain conditional ties (even if
temporary) with the CPN(M).

The CPN(M), for one and a half years, has taken
this compromise. If we seriously study and
analyse the concrete conditions and the character
of this compromise, it becomes self-evident that
our policy is neither all alliance and no
struggle nor all struggle and no alliance, but
combines both. Grasping the teaching of Lenin, we
have avoided “give money and firearms to share
the loot”; instead we have given the bandits
money and firearms in order to lessen the damage
they can do and facilitate their capture and
execution. With this sole intention we had a
twelve-point understanding against the autocratic
monarchy on 22 November 2005. As expected, this
understanding proved to be a catalyst to boost
the morale of the struggling people all over the
country. The big uprising, unique in the
contemporary world, forced the otherwise
reluctant king to invite the seven party
alliances to choose a prime minister and form a
government. The governments of India, the US and
the UK lost no time in letting it be known that
they did not welcome this move. This bid to douse
the fire failed as the agitation uninterruptedly
moved forward with the clear goal of abolishing
the monarchy. Our strong presence and
participation was a matter of anxiety for the
self-proclaimed messiahs of democracy.

Finally, the governments of India, the US and
their lackeys in Nepal hatched a conspiracy and
had the king make another proclamation where for
the first time he accepted that the sovereignty
of Nepal lies with the Nepalese people. It became
clear that these interventionists had a tacit
understanding with the king and assured him that
they will secure his position and that the
institution of the monarchy will remain in the
future dispensation once the resentment of the
people recedes.

After the royal proclamation of 24 April 2006 we
tried to advance the movement denouncing the
proclamation and exposing the ill design behind
it. But there was already a division in the
movement since the seven-party alliances took it
as a victory and formed the government without
any delay. In its first meeting itself it passed
a resolution that there will be an election of an
assembly for a new constitution and called the
CPN(M) for parleys. That multiplied the illusion
and a large section of people expected that the
monarchy will be out in the near future.

The political scuffle with the reactionary forces
has been intensified during this period. A
political offensive has taken the place of the
military strike. The old parliament that was
re-established by royal proclamation was
dissolved and a new interim legislature is in
existence where 83 members are ours. An interim
constitution and the interim government have been
formed with our participation. If we look at
these happenings superficially it seems that the
CPN(M) has deviated from the revolutionary path.
But if we look back at the history of CPN(M) and
seriously study the undercurrent, it will lead to
another conclusion.

Before the initiation of people’s war a small
number of comrades were sent to the then
parliament and some of our revolutionary comrades
from fraternal parties vehemently criticized for
this. Subsequent developments in our party proved
that we could initiate the war by protecting
revolution from the revolutionary phrases that we
used to memorize in the early period. Now we see
every possibility to combine protracted people’s
war with insurrection. The second historic
conference of our party adopted a line that there
should be a union of protracted people’s war and
insurrection to accomplish the revolution. We see
the present development is leading the Nepalese
society to prove the correctness of our ideas
that we developed.

From the very beginning we were aware of the
roadmap charted by the domestic and external
enemies, especially the US and India. They
intended to bring fabricated changes to the
monarchy, tame the CPN(M) in parliamentary
politics, and enable a parliamentary party like
the Nepali Congress to become a dominant force in
the country. By hook or by crook they have been
trying to achieve this goal. But their every
effort has boomeranged because of the stand taken
by the CPN(M). Instead of being a parliamentary
puppet, the people’s revolutionary aspirations
are being centred in the CPN(M). Hundreds of
thousands of masses of people are being mobilized
and the party influence among the masses is
increasing everyday. The desperate activities of
slandering the Maoists in various media outlets
secretly funded by the CIA and the murder of our
cadres by their vigilante forces amply prove that
they are failing in their mission.

The enemy, who is attacking our party, especially
its youth wing, the Young Communist League, with
whatever they find in their hands, has generated
mass resentment against the enemies. And our mass
line, the discipline of our PLA and political
line have gathered momentum to prepare the ground
for the final insurrection. We are utilizing this
transitional phase to spread our mass base and
consolidate it, to get rid of our own
shortcomings and disintegrate the enemy camp so
that we can give a final blow and usher into the
country a new democracy.