On the 28th of May this year, Nepal became a republic after 240 years of monarchy. This momentus occasion was the result of ten years of People's War fought by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN (M)) and the people's movement it led in April 2006. The events of the last 12 years have been a continuous revolutionary process. The declaration of the republic is only the latest stage in this process, albeit a very important one. The next stage of the revolution will come when the people, under the leadership of the CPN(M) take power and build a new type of state and a new type of democracy. Some misunderstandings about the tactics adopted by the CPN (M) have been caused by the continuous nature of the process and the need to avoid uniting the revolution's enemies against the CPN (M).
Hopefully, this article can help provide a real perspective on the road travelled by the CPN (M) over the past twelve years and provide a better understanding about its future course. It is impossible to understand the means by which the CPN (M) hopes to achieve its goals without understanding the specific nature of the Nepalese revolution's progress,the specific situation of Nepal and the relation of the revolution to the global situation. The character of the revolution is different in nature from other revolutions such as the revolution that took place in Russia in 1917 or China in 1949. Especially from 2005, the CPN (M) has stressed the need to act in alliance with the bourgeois parties such as Nepal Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist), which are reactionary parties. It is the strategy of the CPN (M) to discover the principal contradiction in any situation and focus efforts on overcoming this contradiction. Thus, up to now the CPN (M) has focused principally on overthrowing the King as the pillar of feudalism and has done so in alliance with the bourgeois parties.
The alternative would have been to fight the bourgeois parties at the same time as the King, which would have forced them into alliance with each other against the people's revolution. This tactic was worked out by the CPN(M) on the basis of the Nepal's objective situation and the world political situation. Nepal is a small semi-feudal land-locked country. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and It's economy is currently, very reliant on trade with the outside world. For example, it heavily depends on imported oil, as it has not been able to develop energy sources of its own to a sufficient degree. A revolutionary state is responsible to provide basic needs of the people along the tortuous path of transforming productive and social relations.
US imperialism will not tolerate a communist led state in Nepal. It will strive to strangle Nepal's weak economy and starve the people. It will attack the country militarily most probably using the Indian expansionist' s army. Thus, CPN(M) has to find ways to develop the revolution now and prepare to sustain it in the event of enemy's open attack. Internationally, there is no socialist country in the world to provide assistance to Nepal. Contrary to certain interpretations of history, it must be pointed out that the People's Republic of China received a great deal of help from the USSR in the years leading up to the revolution and economic and development assistance up to 1960. Nepal will not have such advantages. There is not one state in the world today supporting revolution in Nepal and therefore, CPN (M) cannot rely on any state for military assistance or economic development. In addition Nepal is a very under-developed country.
It's economy can be described as semi-feudal rather than capitalist. Therefore it must undergo a two-stage revolutionary process. The first stage is a democratic revolution which will create New Democracy. This is a joint dictatorship of all anti-feudal and anti-imperialist classes, including the national bourgeoisie. In this stage the intention is to build up national and independent economy by developing capitalism and sweeping away feudalism. Nepal has not been able to develop capitalism due to the nature of imperialism. British imperialism kept the whole region under-developed. Post-war US imperialism has now relegated South Asia to the status of a exporter of goods produced with cheap labour. Lacking India's economies of scale, Nepal has not been able to compete with cheap Indian goods. It's economy has become dependent on the Indian expansionists who use economic pressure to insist Nepal takes their exports and does not protect and nurture its own industries. Semi-feudalism means that farmers have been oppressed by landlordism and money-lenders. Caste oppression and gender oppression run throughout Nepal's society.
Only when Nepal has broken free of the political and economic chains put on it by US led imperialism, Indian expansionism and outmoded social relations can it develop its industry and agriculture and move forward to the socialist stage of the revolution. One can see clear empirical proof in Nepal of the wisdom of the two stage New Democratic revolution. The CPN (M)'s struggle for New Democracy originated with disappointments following the 1990 Democracy Movement. This movement swept away the so-called partyless 'Panchayat' system. However, the King retained the right to call and dismiss parliament at will. In addition frequent changes of government, patronage and corruption undermined people's faith in the system. Continuing political and economic stagnation and oppression led to the initiation of the People's War led by the CPN(M) in 1996.
The revolution has rapidly progressed from the establishment of People's Power in the countryside in the years following the start of the People's War to the stage of strategic offensive and encirclement of the towns in 2004, to the People's Movement against the monarchy in 2006, to the electoral victory of the Maoists in 2008 and the declaration of the republic. Some ask why the CPN (M) did not seize Kathmandu in 2006. The problem at this point was that the CPN (M) had support in the countryside but had not been able to organise sufficient forces in the towns to defeat the enemy. Simply fighting their way into urban areas and suppressing their enemies could have led to military defeat or the crushing of the revolution by foreign intervention.
The CPN(M) realised that its mass support in urban areas was not enough to carry out an insurrection. It could become too weak to sustain the revolution in the whole country, which could have provoked the bourgeois parties and the King to appeal for foreign intervention. The question of making revolution not only involves seizing the political power but also sustaining power.
Instead the CPN (M) utilised the growing unpopularity of the King to form a United Front with the bourgeois parties-the 12 Point Agreement of 2005. This followed a coup in which King Gyanendra dismissed the government and parliament and declared a state of emergency. The ceasefire of 2006 and the successful People's Movement allowed the Maoists to enter the towns and win support through political and trade union organising. The Maoist victory in the elections of 2008 outflanks the imperialists, making it harder, though certainly not impossible, for them to openly seek the overthrow of the Maoist led government. The different nature of the two armies in Nepal is clear for the people. The People's Liberation Army has served the people and carried out revolution whereas the National Army has murdered people and tried to crush the revolution. The new task of the Maoists is to democratise the army. This will take a certain form of the integration of the Maoist People's Liberation Army with the National Army, which could serve the people. The new army will be substantially reduced in size (by over half) and will participate in public works schemes alongside the people.
A substantial part of the responsibility, at least, for national defence will then pass to a new people's militia in line with the CPN (M)'s strategy of arming the people. The army is the backbone of the state. In Nepal the subject of the army is very controversial, as certainly those with real power over the army will be the ones that hold state power. However, the CPN (M) is striving to restructure Nepal's armed forces in the manner planned then it is the people who would be the masters of the army rather than the state and its army being the masters of the people. In conclusion we can say that this is a stage of transition. The CPN (M) has declared that at the creation of the Republic, the bourgeois parties will strive to create a bourgeois republic wheras the people under the leadership of the CPN(M) will strive to create New Democracy.
When and how revolution will move forward to the next stage mainly depends on the people of Nepal and their revolutionary leaders. Today, we need to deepen our understanding of the achievements of this massive revolution and the party's strategy and tactics. Understanding the advances and problems of revolution in Nepal will enable us to build a world-wide support for the people's struggle there and help us to build our struggle against our common enemy, imperialism.
This article was written by a member of World People's Resistance Movement (Britain)
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