On May Day, international workers’ day, a huge demonstration of between 500,000-1 million people took place in Kathmandu. Called by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), people came from all over Nepal to make their voices heard. It was the largest demonstration since the fall of the centuries-old monarchy and was the culmination of a growing series of mass demonstrations and strikes aimed at restoring civilian supremacy and democracy.

Despite right-wing rumours and slanders, the marchers were unarmed and there was no violence. The demands of the demonstration were for the illegitimate government of Prime Minister MK Nepal to resign and allow a government based on the will of the people to take its place. MK Nepal, who has never won an election, has refused to stand aside. In response, an indefinite general strike began on May 2 that aims to continue until the demands of the people’s movement are granted. In the 2008 constituent assembly, the Maoists won the largest number of seats — more than twice their nearest rivals.

The Maoists have pushed for a transformation of the Nepalese state inherited from the monarchy to grant previously unheard of rights for the poor, workers, peasants, national minorities, lower castes and women. They have carried out widespread popular consultations to seek to create a genuinely pro-people constitution.

The elite, terrified of the growing power of the poor majority, sabotaged the Maoist-led government. The heads of the Nepalese army, supporters of the deposed king, refused to implement the peace accords that ended Nepal’s armed conflict. The army chiefs, backed by the parties of the status quo in the assembly, refused to subordinate themselves to the elected government. Unwilling to accept military rule, the UCPN-M was forced to leave government — in violation of the people’s will. The UCPN-M has now received two powerful mandates: the 2008 constituent assembly election results and the massive May 1 demonstration. The deadline for a new constitution is May 28, which the existing government says it will not meet. Through the general strike, the people are fighting for the key demand of the pro-democracy movement that overthrew the king — a new, democratic constitution. Having overthrown a king and won a republic, the Nepalese people are now fighting for a “New Nepal” that advances their interests. The signatories to this statement: • Support the struggle, led by the UCPN-M, to restore civilian supremacy and democracy, and to continue the process of creating a pro-people constitution, and seek to publicise and build solidarity with Nepalese people’s struggle. • Call on the Nepalese army and the parties in government to abide by, and implement, the peace agreements that ended Nepal’s armed conflict.

The people’s will should be respected; there must be no violent suppression of the people’s movement fighting for democracy and social justice. • Call on all foreign powers, especially the United States and India, to cease interference in Nepal’s internal affairs. The Nepalese people must be allowed to determine their own fate. The long-oppressed people of Nepal are making their voices heard. The red flag is flying in Kathmandu. A new revolutionary front is developing in one the world’s poorest nations, with Asia’s lowest life expectancy. As the posters by Nepalese unions calling for the mass demonstration on May Day declared: “Workers of the world unite!” If your organisation would like to endorse the statement, please send an email to international@socialist-alliance.org.

Signed by:

Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses, Philippines)

Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party, Philippines)

People’s Democratic Party,Indonesia (Partai Rakyat Demokratik – PRD)

Resistance Socialist Youth Group, Australia Socialist Alliance,

Australia Socialist Aotearoa,New Zealand

Socialist Party of Malaysia (Parti Sosialis Malaysia – PSM)

Socialist Worker, New Zealand

Workers Party of New Zealand

Working People Association, Indonesia (Perhimpunan Rakyat Pekerja – PRP)

Ben Peterson

In 2009, Ben Peterson, a young Australian member of Socialist Alliance, spent four and a half months in Nepal, spending much of his time there with the Maoist revolutionaries and speaking to them about the revolutionary process taking place there. He had been reading everything he could find on the Nepali revolution while still in Australia but, frustrated by the lack of accurate information in the media, decided to go to Nepal to see and experience the revolution for himself.

This March Ben made a speaking tour of New Zealand in a visit organised by the Workers Party and Socialist Worker, with support from the Alliance in Christchurch and the International Socialist Organisation in Dunedin. The tour was organised to promote awareness of the revolutionary process in Nepal, especially as the revolution moves towards a critical phase there. We interviewed Ben at the beginning of the NZ speaking tour.

The Spark: What inspired you to go Nepal?

Ben: I had been studying about the situation in Nepal for some time but was frustrated by the lack of reliable info on Nepal so headed up there to see for myself what was happening.

The Spark: How long did you stay and which parts did you visit?

Ben: I stayed in total for 4 1/2 months. I saw a fairly broad cross section of the country. I spent a lot of time in Kathmandu but went to the Western Hills and Rolpa, as well as the Southern plains, the Terai area.

The Spark: What are the major political issues in Nepal?

Ben: At the moment the major issue is how to build a new Nepal after overthrowing the monarchy. The fundamental question has become building a new state and developing new structures. There are things such as poverty and land reform that are major issues, but the building of a new state is the essential question, as that relates to how the government will respond to these questions, and in whose interests.

The Spark: We understand you stayed with Maoist party people; as a westerner how were you treated and how did you find that experience?

Ben: Staying with the Maoists, as a Red Westerner, it was great. There’s a real hunger for solidarity and international links. They definitely see themselves as internationalists. They are generally good cooks too, so it was good!

The Spark: What was the most challenging part of the trip/exposure for you personally?

Ben:

1. Getting sick all the time, so not being able to see as much as I would have liked to have seen.
2. The language barrier was frustrating, I couldn’t have as in depth discussions as I wanted.
3. It was their revolution, as much as I was there and trying to play a part, it wasn’t mine, it was the Nepalis’.

The Spark: How did you find the student movement in Nepal?

Ben: Interesting because it is different at different schools. At the bigger public institutions the Maoists are very strong. At some of the smaller private institutions the bourgeois parties are stronger. It reflects the class nature of Nepal, and the poor until recently have had limited opportunities for education. The Youth Movement is amazing (and radical students are part of it). For instance they play roles in community development, in keeping a community clean. Or if there is domestic violence people turn to the Youth Movement to look after the woman. Education, organizing people collectively, helping peasants with redistributed land, they are consistently championing the cause of the poor.

The Spark: Why are you doing a speaking tour in New Zealand?

Ben: I had some pretty amazing experiences in Nepal and if I can play a role in popularizing and getting information out that is my way of supporting what is happening in Nepal. I hope I can spread that message around.

The Spark: Do you feel that events in Nepal are under-reported in western countries?

Ben: Under-reporting is less of an issue than poorly reporting. When there is reportage in the Western media it is just a repeat of what the Nepali elite are saying. It’s never representative of what is happening on the ground, an example being in the lead up to the elections the media kept reporting that the Maoists would lose. And most of the commentary was about ‘how would the  Maoists cope with their inevitable defeat’. That turned out to be the opposite of the reality. That shows how completely out of touch they are. The media just serves the agenda of the Kathmandu elite.

The Spark: What about the Maoists, do they have an alternative media network themselves?

Ben: Absolutely. They’ve got a daily national paper, a weekly paper, plus countless radio stations and local newspapers and a couple of magazines and journals. They even have a TV station.

They built their own media during the people’s war. Some of the stuff they’d publish out of caves, carrying printing presses into the countryside. They’d hear the military were coming and they’d strap it to their backs and march for days to a new safe area. They had a real emphasis on building their alternative media. Alternative radio stations; they’d go to the top of a hill, string a wire up a tree, dig a hole, put the equipment in that and sit in the hole and broadcast.

The Spark: Did you have any contact with the union movement in Nepal?

Ben: Yes, in different sorts of ways. You can’t stay in a hotel in Nepal, or travel on a bus without meeting union activists. The restaurant workers in all the tourist areas are unionized. They are all Maoist unions. I did get to meet some of the leaders. They are all extremely busy because there is so much going on. There are always stories about strikes going on, or plantations being occupied by workers.

The Spark: How did the Maoists develop their union strength in Kathmandu so quickly as they have only been able to work openly there since 2006?

Ben: Militancy. Going in winning wages and conditions, involving people, being democratic unions and avoiding bureaucracy. It became known that when you join a Maoist union you win big increases by taking part in struggles. People flocked in droves to join. I was told that it was something like 10% increase, on average, that the Maoist unions were winning. So naturally people were flocking to those unions – success breeds success.

The Spark: You were there on May Day 2009, how was that?

Ben: Amazing to see so many people come out, from mechanics to chefs, to clerks or nurses. All sorts. To see people from every trade represented. Hundreds of thousands strong, that was pretty special. It was all organized by the Maoists.

The Spark: Did other political parties organize May Day rallies?

Ben: Yes, but they were tiny. I heard that the UML rally had just a couple of hundred people at the rally they organized.

The Spark: It sounds like the Maoists have made progress in getting rid of the monarchy, and bringing in democratic processes. But have things changed for women there, where they have for centuries been second class citizens?

Ben: Absolutely. It’s immediately noticeable in the villages that some women carry themselves with confidence, and actively are involved in village life, while others aren’t. The former will without fail be revolutionaries. The revolutionary movement has made a constant and conscious effort to attract and fight for women, and it’s very noticeable.

The Spark: By the end of May the new constitution should be written. How is it going?

Ben: There is a lot of general agreement, and it seems to be progressing well. Such as what the country will be called, the national anthem. But there is a lot of stuff that the Maoists want that hasn’t been agreed on. I can foresee the NC stalling. The Maoists are building protests; if the current government fails to have a constitution by May 2010 they will mobilize protests and take the question to the people.

The blog Ben maintained during his time in Nepal can be viewed here: http://maobadiwatch.blogspot.com

Ben on 95bFM

Hear Ben’s interview where he talks about the revolutionary changes  in Nepal  http://www.95bfm.co.nz/assets/sm/195354/3/BenPeterson.mp3

Ben was kind enough to answer some questions for UNITYblog about his experiences in Nepal.

 When did you go to Nepal? How long were you there for?

I was in Nepal last year from the beginning of March to July, about four and half months in total.

Why did you go to Nepal?

I went to Nepal specifically to see the social and political transformations taking place there. I’d first come into contact with the revolutionary process there in 2006, but didn’t really start to study what was happening there until 2008 when the Maoists won the Constituent Assembly elections. The more I read into what was happening there the more excited I was. But all the time it was really hard to find good and reliable sources of information, particularly from a progressive point of view. So I decided that to really get a handle of what’s happening there, I should go and see it for myself.

 Were you surprised by what you experienced there?

Well, yes I was. Its one thing to read about mass struggles going on, or about a peoples’ army, basically about a revolution, but its totally another to go and actually see it,  to meet the people involved and to see this sort of process playing out in front of you. The level of popular engagement with politics, and how widespread the process was, was mind-blowing. Every little village had a union office, or a party organisation or something. It was amazing to see real revolutionary changes happening before my eyes, I couldn’t really be prepared for that, no amount of books can make you *really* understand these sort of processes until you see them.

 The UCPN(M) won the elections a few years ago, but then resigned from government. Why did they do that?

They didn’t so much leave as were forced to. It is very important to recognise the Maoists leaving government as a coup. When the Maoists took government, they embarked on a very ambitious program, a revolutionary one. They started to try to provide employment opportunities and relief to the poor, but as revolutionaries and inline with the “New Nepal” process they started to build up new state structures and to attack the old. This naturally brought fierce resistance from the established elite, who are ingrained into the state as it stands. Particularly this came to a head with the continuation of the peace process and the Maoists legitimate attempts to dismantle the royalist military and create a new national army out of it and their People’s Liberation Army.

The military chief was repeatedly insubordinate, made public political pronouncements and protests, and questioned the very right of the government to have control of the military. In the name of civilian supremacy and democracy, the Maoist government naturally sacked the head of the military, which they had every right to do.

At this point however the President (from the conservative Nepali Congress Party) went outside of his constitutional powers and reinstated the Army Chief of Staff.

The Maoists resigned in the name of democracy and civilian supremacy. They left because the key institutions of the state proved not to be democratic, and didn’t answer to the people of Nepal, but to a tiny elite in Kathmandu, and the ambassadors of foreign countries.

Who is in government now?

The current illegitimate government is now an unprincipled alliance of supposed “communists”, nationalists, royalists, ethnic chauvinists and bureaucrats. The only commonality between them is that they are NOT revolutionaries, and they are against any real changes, particularly to the state, and specifically the military.

The current Prime Minister is Madhav Kumar Nepal. He was defeated not once but *twice* in the elections (he ran separately in two constituencies) and only got into parliament through an after-election nomination. The entire government is a farce. It’s unelected, unwanted, has no common program or aims, except to try and stop the revolution.

What does Maoism mean to the Nepalese communists?

It’s important to view the Nepalese Maoists as revolutionaries in their own right. You achieve nothing by putting a historic analysis of the Chinese communists on a situation in a radically different time, place and party.

Maoism in Nepal is pro-people and very conscious of developing a fighting base. It is open, democratic and has a strong criticism of bureaucracy. It champions the rights of women, oppressed nationalities and castes.

It’s a revolutionary movement challenging the state and trying to build one that is qualitatively different. In a word, it means revolution.

What does communism mean to them?

Well, the same thing as revolutionaries everywhere, the liberation of human society, ultimately a classless and stateless society.

What is important is what they think about how to get there. They know that the masses of people in Nepal must be mobilised. They actively involve and organise the masses of Nepali society into trade unions, student unions, peasants unions, women’s associations and youth associations etc. They are taking up peoples’ day to day struggles, distributing land to the landless etc.

Also, they are conscious that they need to develop a new and fundamentally democratic state to protect the rights of people in the transition, and they importantly recognise some of the mistakes of the USSR and China in doing so. They are aware that it is important for a new state to be developed, not just for their party to take power, and they are very conscious of the need to find ways and avenues to increase popular participation in society, especially in any new revolutionary state.

 Do they see the goal of the revolution as “socialist” or “communist” or are they following some sort of “stages theory” where capitalism and democracy is established first?

This is a broad mass party, so there are differences of opinion about what the revolution can achieve at the present time. The economic and political reality of Nepal places very real limitations as to the pace that can move towards “socialism”, at least until there is real changes in India, or they were able to link up with broader successful revolutionary movements internationally.

Most importantly there is universal agreement within the UCPN(M) that a new pro-people state must be created in Nepal, and that the class nature of this state must be based on the proletariat and the peasantry. That’s the most important thing and there is no question around that. There are differences of opinion however amongst revolutionaries as to what the tasks of this state will be and how it will have to operate while internationally imperialism is still a reality.

Since the resignation of the Maoists from government earlier this year, Nepal has been engulfed in political turmoil. Maoist members of the Constituent Assembly have been protesting and preventing the parliament from operating. Rallies, strikes and clashes between supporters of different parties have become a part of everyday life, and the leadership of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has been making increasingly loud and frequent threats of a ‘people’s revolt’.

The Maoists continue to alternate demands for a national government to be formed under the leadership of their party with threats of revolt if this does not happen. They also assure that the formation of a new national government will be a means for them to move towards full-blown popular revolt. Vice-Chair of the party (which has recently adopted a system of multiple vice-chairs and a more collective form of leadership) Baburam Bhattarai stated that there is “no alternative” to a Maoist-led government. He said that if this does not happen, it will be impossible to move forward with the peace process and the drafting of a new constitution.

However, he also stressed that the formation of such a government will be impossible unless President Yadav is “corrected” for blocking the previous Maoist-led government’s move to fire General Katawal, the head of the army. The Maoists have described Yadav’s blocking as unconstitutional and anti-people, and it led them to resign from the government.

The Maoists have recently issued the government with a set of 45 demands, in a move echoing the Maoist’s issuing of 40 demands shortly before they launched the People’s War in 1996. So far there do not appear to be any concrete details about what these demands are, but the very fact that they have been issued is significant. In a recent speech to a Maoist rally, Bhattarai reportedly made a statement reminding the current government that when the Maoist’s original 40 demands were ignored, the People’s War began and the monarchy was destroyed, and therefore “If they ignore our fresh 45 point demands it is certain that the fate of the parties will be akin to the institution of monarchy.” A major political struggle is also beginning in Nepal over how the judiciary will be organised once the constitution is written.

The Maoists have successfully sought the support of the Madhesi parties to win a majority vote in a committee set up to put together a document proposing how the judicial system should operate in the New Nepal. In their proposal, they have put forward “parliament as the final interpreter of the constitution besides also proposing appointment of the chief justice by parliament from outside the judicial service.” Various reactionary parties are aghast at this, claiming that an “independent” judiciary is necessary and that this would open up the judiciary to political manipulation.

However, this is a move to ensure democracy. In a nation of extreme poverty very few people are able to attain the education and experience necessary to qualify as a lawyer, let alone a judge, and therefore the judiciary is overwhelmingly made up of people from a privileged, upper class background.

By allowing for the elected representatives of the people to appoint (and presumably recall from their position) judges, the Maoists are struggling to ensure that the nations laws and the application of these laws will reflect the will and class interests of the working masses, not the privileged few. There is also a major internal struggle unfolding within the conservative Unified Marxist-Leninist party.

It should be kept in mind that what knowledge The Spark has of this struggle has been gained through scattered, unclear reports translated into English and filtered through the bourgeois media, but from what it is possible to gather, the struggle appears to be between, on the one hand, a grouping gathered around party Chairman Khanal and Vice-Chair Gautam, who are both seen as being relatively friendly to the Maoists, and on the other hand, senior party leader Oli, who is closer to the reactionary Nepal Congress party and bitterly hostile to the Maoists.

There has been a round of purges and reorganisations as Khanal tries to undermine Oli’s faction, and there is the possibility of a split between those UML leaders and cadre who lean towards supporting the Maoists and their revolutionary agenda, and those UML leaders and cadre that do not. The major struggles in Nepal at the moment would appear to be over the writing of the country’s new constitution and integration of the Maoist armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army, with the Nepal Army.

Senior Maoist leader Kiran has said that his party is fundamentally opposed to the capitalist parliamentary system and will ensure that the new constitution does not adopt it. Kiran was quoted as saying “Parliamentary democracy is merely the platform for people to chat… We won’t accept the system and will write the constitution to establish the people’s federal republic instead.” He concluded by saying that “Maoists are for establishing the rights of the oppressed rather than those of the ruling class. Our model of constitution will include revolutionary land reforms, national economic management and state restructuring on the basis of ethnicity with right to self-determination.” As for the PLA, senior Nepal Army generals have said that they will not allow integration to take place. Army integration was a key part of the peace agreement between the Maoists and the capitalist parties, and if it does not take place the Maoists are not likely to take it lying down.

The current government has declared that the PLA is now under its control and is moving to ban Maoist flags, logos and so on from the cantonments in which the PLA fighters are currently living. It remains to be seen whether the revolutionary army will allow the state to succeed in its obvious attempts to disconnect the Maoist party from the people’s army. Maoist leaders have repeatedly stated that after the upcoming festival of Tihar, a “final and decisive” revolt will begin that will, in the recent words of Baburam Bhattarai, “sweep away all the reactionaries”.

The Spark will be following events in Nepal as they unfold – what we are witnessing may be the birth of the first communist revolution of the 21st century.

 The last time The Spark carried news from Nepal, the story was positive. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had been elected to government with just under forty percent of the seats (more than the next two parties put together). Its leader Prachanda was Prime Minister. Previous to this, it had waged a decade long People’s War that liberated eighty percent of the countryside and radicalised the workers and peasants of the country in support of revolutionary change. Under the slogan of a new Nepal, the Maoist-led government attempted to bring about land reform, build national industry, empower and improve the lives of workers, and fight against the domination of foreign imperialism, and Indian expansionism. However, this article describes events of a much less positive nature.

Over the past months, the Maoist government has been almost completely unable to advance its revolutionary programme due to the resistance of its coalition partners. At every turn, it found its progressive efforts blocked by the non-revolutionary parties it had formed a government with.

Confrontation and conflict

One of the main areas of conflict was the question of army integration. Under the terms of the peace process the People’s Liberation Army and the Nepalese Army were to be merged. The head of the army, Army Chief of Staff General Rookmangud Katawal, refused to cooperate with this process, and continued the tradition of the army operating as a law unto itself free from civilian control. In several cases, he defied the democratically elected government. In direct violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreements, Katawal oversaw three recruitment drives to the Nepalese Army, all of which were tolerated by the courts. When the PLA carried out a similar recruitment drive in retaliation, it was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court! When the Maoist-led government refused to extend the terms of eight generals who had reached mandatory automatic retirement age, Katawal ignored the Defence Ministry’s orders and reinstated the generals. Katawal also withdrew the army from the National Games, held between branches of the security forces, because of the PLA’s participation – a move obviously designed to provoke the government.

The major struggle however is over Katawal’s opposition to the integration of “politicised” PLA fighters into the regular army. He has stated bluntly that he will not allow army integration to take place.

In April the Maoist-led government formally requested Katawal to provide “clarification” over the illegal army recruitment, the extension of the general’s terms and the boycott of the National Games, as well as his generally insubordinate attitude. He chose not to reply within the 24 hours provided to him, and two weeks later the Cabinet voted to sack him. Katawal refused to accept the letter informing him of this.

Prachanda resigns

However, despite the legitimacy of the government’s action even by capitalist legal standards, President Ram Baran Yadav used his position, which was supposed to be largely ceremonial, to override the sacking and ordered Katawal to remain in his position. President Yadav is from the opposition Nepal Congress Party, chief party of the reactionary feudalist forces in Nepal.

Outraged at this, Prachanda resigned as Prime Minister on the 4^th of May, labelling Yadav’s move a “presidential coup.” Prachanda said he “will quit the government rather than remain in power by bowing down to the foreign elements and reactionary forces”. The Maoist government was over. A new Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has been endorsed by a precarious coalition of almost every single party in parliament, but he has so far been unable to name a Cabinet due to internal conflict within this alliance.

What next for Nepal?

The Maoists have not taken these events lying down. They have pledged to wage struggle “in the parliament and in the streets”. Maoist Constituent Assembly members have staged protests in the parliament to prevent it from sitting since the presidential coup. There have been massive protests nation-wide, and there are reports that Maoist cadre are again taking an increasingly hostile approach to the cadre of the feudalist parties.

The presidential coup, the refusal of the military to submit to civilian control and the conniving of the reactionary parties all threaten to see the dream of a New Nepal die before it was ever truly realised. But the Maoists and the working masses remain committed to this goal, they remain committed to revolution. There are also reports that the Maoists have reactivated the parallel government, People’s Committees and People’s Courts that they operated during the war.

Maina is based on the real story of a 15 year old girl from a remote village in Nepal. She was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army and brutally killed. Maina Sunar’s case got attention because of the struggle of her mother, Debi, to find out what had happened to her daughter. Debi’s single-handed fight for justice when she found out Maina had been tortured and murdered got full media attention. The Nepali Times describes the film as “gritty in its cinematography, portraying the stark reality of rural Nepal in a time of war”.

The premier showing of this moving story was inaugurated by Nepal’s new Prime Minister Prachanda.

‘I began thinking of making the film in 2006, (after the fall of King Gyanendra’s army-backed government),’ said Pathak, who, as a communist filmmaker took part in the anti-king protests that rocked Nepal in April 2006.

‘Even after the restoration of democracy, the killers got away scot-free, impunity flourished and there was still no rule of law. I made the film to pressure the government into punishing Maina’s killers, to serve as a reminder to the political parties how things are during a dictatorial regime.’Nepali filmmaker K.P. Pathak chose Maina’s story among the tens of thousands of wrenching tales of torture, executions and disappearances to make ‘Maina’, the first Nepali film to look at the conflict in Nepal and its legacy through the eyes of the victim’s family. (sulekha.com)

scene where army seize Maina at her home

English subtitles

Screening at Blockhousebay Community Hall Sunday 1 March 2009. Show will start at 6:45pm 524 Blockhouse Bay Road, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland . Fundraiser: $10 entry

Ever since the destruction of the Soviet Union, the capitalist class has told us that communism is dead. We are expected to believe that this is as good as it gets, that the inequality and oppression inherent within the capitalist system will be with us forever and there will be no more revolutions. The ruling class declared the end of history. Unfortunately for them, the people of Nepal have decided not to listen.

The red flag flies from Mt Everest

A communist revolution is unfolding in Nepal, a small Himalayan country just to the North of India. Led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the workers and peasants of Nepal are rising up and challenging the feudal oppression they face in their daily lives, and the neo-colonial domination they face as a nation.

The last time the Spark published news of the revolution in Nepal, the results of the Constituent Assembly elections had just come in. Despite the corporate media predictions that the Maoists would come in a dismal third place, the Maoists shocked the world by winning a landslide victory, taking 220 out of 575 seats, making them by far the largest party in the Assembly, with more seats than the next two largest parties combined! The elections revealed the level of mass support the Maoists have amongst the people.

A history of struggle

The revolution began in 1996, when CPN (M) fighters carried out a number of armed attacks on police stations, government offices and foreign-owned factories. These actions began the People’s War, which in just ten years liberated 80% of the countryside, effectively expelling the government and its police forces from the countryside. In the liberated zones, society was radically transformed. Land was seized from the parasitic landlords and distributed amongst the peasants, women were freed from their inferior status and given the equality and respect they deserved, People’s Committees were set up to involve the masses in direct democracy and the making of decisions that affected their lives.  The Maoists began with one .303 rifle, and ended with control of the country.

Eventually the situation reached a critical point. King Gyanendra (who in February 2005 dissolved parliament and declared an absolute monarchy) and his forces controlled the cities, major roads and scattered strongholds throughout the country, while the Maoists controlled everything else. Neither side  had the strength to destroy the other, and the situation had reached what Maoists call “strategic equilibrium”.

The Maoists did not feel that they had the strength to defeat the Royal Army in battle and conquer the capital, Kathmandu, but they knew they could not just sit still. So they began looking for ways to move their revolution forward, to move into the cities and connect with the urban workers, to move from strategic equilibrium to strategic offensive.

The Maoists took the initiative and began negotiations with various now-outlawed political parties, including the two major bourgeois parties, the Nepal Congress Party and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), a phoney communist group. These two parties had been in government during the People’s War and had offered rewards for the heads of Maoist leaders, but now they were forced to align with the Maoists against the monarchy. After much negotiation, in December 2005 the Maoists and the parliamentary parties signed a 12 Point Agreement to struggle together for the restoration of democracy and civil rights, and declared a Seven Party Alliance.

Fall of the monarchy

In 2006, the Seven Party Alliance called a nation-wide general strike between April 5 and April 9. The urban masses responded with massive enthusiasm, and the strike quickly grew into a mass movement, with over a million people taking to the streets of Kathmandu, a city with a population of just under two million people! The monarchy put troops on the streets and threatened to crush the protests with tanks and guns, and a tense situation developed. Then, on April 21, the King caved in and declared that he would return political power to the people, calling for elections to be held as soon as possible.

The Maoists had brought down the monarchy. Although the King was not dragged from the palace at gunpoint by PLA soldiers, the success of the People’s War was nonetheless responsible for the King being forced to hand over power. The citizens of Kathmandu received enormous courage from the knowledge that the Maoist army was right outside the gates of the city, and that if the Royal Army did attack them the revolutionary forces would take a terrible revenge. With the confidence that only comes from ten thousand rifles at your back, the people of Nepal took to the streets and won their freedom.

The Maoists participated in the Provisional Government formed after the restoration of democracy, the PLA confined itself to a number of cantonments throughout the country, and after a great deal of arguing and tension elections were finally held in April 2008. The people voted for their liberators, and the stage was set for the first communist revolution of the 21st century to begin.

Forming a government

The Maoists had won by far the largest number of seats and the largest popular vote, but they didn’t win an outright majority. This led to huge problems trying to form a government, as they had to work out a common agreement with parties they went to war against only a few years previously and who were not especially keen on the radical Maoist agenda and the transformation of Nepal. This contradiction has caused the Maoists headaches from then right up to the present day, as on the one hand they cannot afford to alienate their coalition partners to the point that they pull out and the government collapses, but on the other hand the Maoists refuse to abandon their goal of radical social change and the improvement of the people’s lives.

After a long period of indecision, a coalition government was eventually hammered together consisting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Madeshi People’s Rights Forum, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), the People’s Forum Nepal, the Nepal Sadbhawana Party and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist). This coalition contains everything from parties based on ethnic chauvinism (the Madeshi Forum) to phoney communist parties, and of all the parties the only ones interested in radical social change are the Maoists.

The Maoists originally aimed to have their leader Prachanda become the first President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, but the reactionary parties banded together and prevented this. Prachanda instead became Prime Minister, and the Presidency went to Ram Baran Yadav of the Nepal Congress, which chose to remain in opposition to the government.

Under a Maoist government ­ struggle and compromise

The Maoists are faced with an incredibly difficult situation. They are constrained by their coalition partners, who resist every radical move. But even if the Maoists had complete and unrestricted power, the situation would still be difficult. Nepal is a severely underdeveloped country with little or no industry and very poor infrastructure.  Of its 26.4 million people, 80% are peasants. The material basis for an immediate transition to socialism does not exist, and the Maoists must seek foreign investment to help them develop the country and improve the living standards of the people. This obviously carries great dangers, and the Maoists will have to walk a very thin line between encouraging foreign capital to invest in Nepal and moving to advance workers and peasant’s power.

The Maoists plan to rapidly modernise Nepal. A major part of their plan is the development of electricity. Nepal is a mountainous country with countless rivers, lakes and waterfalls, and the government plans to exploit these resources through dams and massive hydro-power projects, with the stated goal of producing 10,000 Megawatts of electricity within 10 years. If the Maoists succeed in their goal, electricity can be extended to the poor peasants and workers, and it can also be exported abroad to put Nepal’s economy on a sound financial basis.

There are also plans for land reform to be carried out nationwide, with the government talking about its plans for “scientific land reform”. The land question has already led to conflict, with the Maoist Land Reform Minister Matrika Yadav causing an uproar amongst the reactionary parties when he led armed PLA soldiers out of their cantonment to drive off police who had retaken land seized during the People’s War. Squatters had set up residence on the land, and Matrika personally oversaw the reconstruction of the squatter’s homes. In order to placate the other parties he resigned from his position in the Cabinet, but the land seizures continue and Matrika talks of developing a massive land reform movement.

The formation of a Maoist-led government has also led to increased levels of working-class militancy. In response to their bosses’  refusal to negotiate with the union for a better pay deal, workers on Gurash Tea Estate, Kuwabashi Tea Plantation and Joon Tea Garden seized control of the tea plantations and factories and started running them under workers control! The workers’  union is affiliated to the CPN (M), and the workers are confident in the knowledge that the government will support them when they take these actions.

This illustrates how difficult and complex the task ahead is for the Maoists. Even as Prachanda was abroad seeking foreign investment in Nepal, the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation Revolutionary forced the closure of Indian medical giant Dabur’s subsidiary in Nepal, shutting down its main factory, demanding a 10% bonus for the workers and other benefits. Addressing a meeting in Kathmandu, senior Maoist leader Khim Lal Devkota said “It is futile to talk about industrial security until the workers’ rights and welfare are guaranteed.”

Despite the endless deadlocks caused by the resistance of its coalition partners, the Maoist government has still managed to enact some progressive social change. It has abolished slavery, banning the Haliya system of bonded agricultural labour.

It has also given formal recognition to Third Gender people, with a 21 year old lesbian woman receiving the first identity card stating her gender as “Third” in early September. This is an extremely radical move considering how dominated Nepal is by its feudal culture, with all the backward ideas that entails. Nepal’s first openly gay MP has been elected to the Constituent Assembly, representing a minor communist party separate from the Maoists. Despite the fact that he is not in the CPN (M), the conditions for his election only exist because of the new, revolutionary culture the Maoists are trying to create.

Revolution far from over

The situation in Nepal is complex and rapidly changing, with new developments springing up almost every day. The Maoists face enormous challenges, and the outcome of this process remains undecided. But the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has shown a remarkable ability to adapt its tactics and continuously move forward over the past decade, and it has achieved huge things against grave odds.

There are still issues that urgently need to be resolved in Nepal. The burning issue of land reform becomes more important by the day. A new, democratic constitution that enshrines the rights of the people must be written. The most controversial issue of all, the integration of the Maoist army with the former Royal Army (now just called the Nepal Army) still needs to be carried out, and every major party apart from the Maoists has declared opposition to this happening, as have the generals of the former Royal Army itself. This is understandable, as the massive influx of committed, passionate Maoist militants into the army should at the very least make it extremely difficult for the army to stage a coup in the future, and could perhaps lead to the reactionary army being taken over by the revolutionary army! The Maoists have spoken of the need for the PLA to be “professionalised”, and the former Royal Army to be “democratised”.

As well as this, there are increasing divisions and internal struggle within the CPN (M) itself, with the Party reportedly having fierce arguments about how and at what pace to move forward towards a People’s Republic, and ultimately socialism. But these internal struggles are not a bad thing, and it is extremely positive how the leaders of the Maoist party have spoken about how “a party without debate and disagreement is dead”, and how the right to criticise and the responsibility to accept criticism are essential to maintaining a healthy, democratic organisation. The Maoists have rejected the dogmatic approach that so many revolutionary groups have adopted over the years and have boldly taken new positions and put forward new ideas about how to carry out a communist revolution in the 21st century. They have proposed the very new and radical idea of continuing multi-party competition even under socialism, and Chairman Prachanda has publicly stated that they see themselves as continuing in the tradition of Lenin, not Stalin, who they see as having made severe errors.

It’s too early to say how things are going to turn out, but we can be sure that things are going to be very interesting over the coming years . The victories of the working people of Nepal are victories for the working class in every country, and any defeats they suffer are our defeats too. The revolution in Nepal needs our support and solidarity – Lal Salaam.

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