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Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
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The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is a political party in Nepal, founded in 1994 and currently led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, more popular with the nom de guerre Prachanda. Following massive popular demonstrations, supported by most major political parties of Nepal, and a prolonged "People's War" against the monarchy, the CPN(M) became the largest party in the Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, 2008. At present, this party is the major ruling party in Nepal, leading a coalition government, comprising of the next largest communist fraction, CPN UML.
Following a merger with Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre-Masal), its full current name is the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
CPN(M) was formed following a split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and it used the name 'CPN (Unity Centre)' until 1995.
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Encyclopedia
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is a political party in Nepal, founded in 1994 and currently led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, more popular with the nom de guerre Prachanda. Following massive popular demonstrations, supported by most major political parties of Nepal, and a prolonged "People's War" against the monarchy, the CPN(M) became the largest party in the Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, 2008. At present, this party is the major ruling party in Nepal, leading a coalition government, comprising of the next largest communist fraction, CPN UML.
Following a merger with Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre-Masal), its full current name is the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
Overview
The CPN(M) was formed following a split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and it used the name 'CPN (Unity Centre)' until 1995. On February 13, 1996 the party launched the "Nepalese People's War", and it controlled rural areas of the country's territory before the agreed ceasefire.
In 2001, the Nepalese Army began a military campaign against the Maoists, especially in the western areas of the country, although there were intermittent ceasefires. Fighting was roughly continuous through 2005, when the CPN(M) was at the height of its military power.
In 2005, the CPN(M) sought a different strategy of seeking permanent peace accords while forming an pro-democratic alliance with several other mainstream political parties against the dictatorship of King Gyanendra. Following massive popular uprisings (involving over a million people at moments) and a prolonged general strike in 2006, the monarchy finally capitulated, after several violent attacks and killings of peaceful protesters by the Nepalese Army had already occurred. Following the international legitimacy bought at the cost of laying down arms and participating in the new electoral process, several western European powers were persuaded to remove the CPN(M)from their government's terrorist lists.
In early 2008, the CPN(M) won the largest voting bloc in the Nepalese Constituent Assembly. International observers, like the Carter Center said that the election were held in a "peaceful, orderly" manner and were "satisfying" The other major political parties of the country such as the pro-democratic Nepali Congress Party and CPN-UML Party however, accused the Maoists of use of use of force and fraud during the elections.
Objectives
The Maoists announced a ‘People's War’ on February 13, 1996, with the slogan "let us march ahead on the path of struggle towards establishing the people's rule by wreaking the reactionary ruling system of state." They strongly believe in the philosophy of Mao Zedong that "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." They also draw inspiration from the ‘Revolutionary Internationalist Movement’ and Peru's left wing guerrilla movement, the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). The radical communist parties from different parts of the world have provided ideological sustenance for the Nepali Maoists.
The ‘People's War’ aims to establish a ‘People's Democracy’ in Nepal and constitutes an "historical revolt against feudalism, imperialism and reformists." The immediate reason given by the Maoists for declaring the ‘People's War’ was the failure of the Nepalese Government to respond to a memorandum presented by its representatives to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on February 4, 1996. The memorandum listed 40 demands related to "nationalism, democracy and livelihood". These included among others the abolition of royal privileges and the promulgation of a new constitution, and the abrogation of the Mahakali treaty with India on the distribution of water and electricity and the delineation of the border between the two countries.
Organisational structure of the CPN-Maoist
| Party | People’s Liberation Army | United Front |
|---|
| Standing committee | Central military commission | United people's district committees | | Politburo | Regional military commissions | United people's area committee | | Central committee | Sub-regional military commissions | United people's village committees | | Regional bureaus (five) | District military commissions | United people's ward committees | | Sub-regional bureaus (in some places special sub-regional bureau) | Included in this are: Temporary battalion | | | District committees | Companies | | | Area committees | Platoons | | | Cell committee | Squads (separate people's militias also exist under united village people's committees) | |
Cadre
A considerable number of retired Gurkha soldiers of the British and the Indian Army inhabit many of the Maoist-controlled areas and Nepalese security agencies have suspected that these former soldiers along with those retired and deserters from the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) have been or are involved in training the insurgents. Government estimates provided in early 2003 on the CPN-M strength indicated that there are approximately 31,500 combatants, 48,000 militia, 150,500 active cadres and 100,000 sympathizers. The main fighting and support forces consist of groups like Magars, Tharus, Limbus, Tamangs, Dalits, Brahmins and Chhetris, the last two also providing the political and military leadership). These communities are also an important vote-bank for the CPN(M) Among the Maoist fighters – about 60 per cent – are deployed in the mid-west and west in their strongholds. Another 10 per cent are in the far west with around 10 percent in Gorkha, the rest is located in Kathmandu valley and east of it.
Prachanda Path, a new doctrine
In second conference of the CPN (Maoist), a post for chairman was created for Prachanda. Until then, the chief of the organization had been its general secretary. A report titled “The great leap forward: An inevitable need of history” was presented by the Maoist chief Prachanda. This report was in serious discussion in the central committee and the top leaders of the party. Based on this report, the CPN (Maoist) adopted Prachanda Path as its ideology. After five years of armed struggle, the party realized that none of the proletarian revolutions of the past could be carried out on Nepal’s context. So moving further ahead than Marxism, Leninism and Maoism, the party determined its own ideology, Prachanda Path.
Having analyzed the serious challenges and growing changes in the global arena, the party started moving on its own doctrine. Prachanda Path in essence is a different kind of uprising, which can be described as the fusion of a protracted people’s war strategy which was adopted by Mao in China and the Russian model of armed revolution. Professor Lok Raj Baral, in his writing about Prachanda Path says that this doctrine doesn’t apparently make an ideological break with Marxism and Leninism but finds that these doctrines aren’t able to be replicated in Nepal as it was done in the past. Most of the Maoist leaders think that the adoption of Prachanda Path after the second national conference is what nudged the party into moving ahead with a clear vision ahead after five years of ‘people’s war’.
Senior Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran says, ‘Just as Marxism was born in Germany, Leninism in Russia and Maoism in China and Prachanda Path is Nepal’s identity of revolution. Just as Marxism has three facets- philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism, Prachanda Path is a combination of all three totally in Nepal’s political context.’ The adoption of Prachanda Path was inspired truly from the Shining Path. In fact, the bringing up of new doctrine worked out with the concept of giving a new identity to Nepal’s revolution. Talking about the party’s philosophy, Maoist chairman Prachanda says, ‘The party considers Prachanda path as an enrichment of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.’ After the party brought forward its new doctrine, the government was trying to comprehend the new ideology, Prachanda Path. Meanwhile CPN Maoist intensified their armed operations against the security forces.
Women in the party
Women have been prominent in the recruiting profile. Available reports indicate that one-fifth to one-third of the cadre and combatants may be women. Reportedly, every village has a revolutionary women’s organization. According to a Jane’s Intelligence Review report of October 2001, there are usually two women in each unit of 35-40 men, and they are used to gather intelligence and act as couriers. Baburam Bhattarai was quoted as saying in Spacetime on April 18, 2003, that fifty percent of cadres at the lower level, thirty percent of soldiers and ten percent of members of central committee of the outfit were women. Durgha Pokhrel, then Chairman of National Women’s Commission, who visited more than 25 Maoist controlled districts, stated on July 3, 2003, during a talk delivered at the Nepal Council of World Affairs that percentage of women cadres could be as high as forty. A women’s group, the All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary), is alleged to be a front outfit of the CPN-M.
Areas of operation
The guerrillas operate to varying degrees in 68 of the 75 districts that comprise Nepal. Their influence varies between moderate to very strong in these districts. In the districts of Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot, Salyan, Pyuthan and Kalikot in mid-western Nepal, Government presence is limited to the district headquarters with the rest of each district under Maoist control. The Nepalese Home Ministry has designated these districts as 'sensitive class A'. Nine districts, namely Dolakha, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, Dang, Surkhet and Achham, are classified as 'Sensitive Class B', while 17 'Sensitive Class C' districts are Khotang, Okhaldhunga, Udaypur, Makwanpur, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Dhading, Tanahu, Lamjung, Parbat, Baglung, Gulmi, Arghakhachi, Bardiya, Dailekh, Jumla and Dolpa. The Maoist insurgency initially commenced in the three districts of Rolpa, Rukum and Jajarkot and eventually spread throughout Nepal. Maoists have very strong bases in Western and mid-Western region and partially in Eastern region.
The Chunbang meeting
The meeting that took place in Chunbang is, to this date, one of the most important to have occurred in the history of the 'people's war'. Though several details remain undisclosed, two significant outcomes were brought about: the party was salvaged from a likely split, and the new decision of joining mainstream politics with updated strategies was made. Prachanda saved the day when he threatened, as quoted by Bhojraj Bhat in Nepal, "Give me the rights to revolt inside the party. If the party does not go through purification, I will start revolting from this meeting. I will lead the counter-revolution from here." Badal admitted to his wrongdoing in forming a panel and conspiring against the Chairman, asked for forgiveness, the exchange culminating in a hug between the two. Similar exchanges occurred with Baburam, who claimed his hurt for having been "slapped" not once, but twice by the Chairman, according to the article. He admitted guilt, nonetheless, and differences were mended, and Baburam was reinstated. Thus, the meeting was believed to have put an end to the internal conflict, but discord appears to have been rekindled.Senior leader Kiran wasn't involved during the party's disasterous decision making time.He was languishing in the jail in Jalpaigudi in India. So,even today Kiran opposes the party decision in Chunbang,saying it needs to be revised.The party decided joining the 'mainstream' politics as according to Dr.Baburam Bhattarai's perception.The party before decided joining hands with the king and fighting against the parliamentary parties.But the desicion was in mess when the king came forward with a step for direct rule.The party leaders including Dr. Bhattarai, Hisila Yami, Devendra Poudel and others were released from their anguish. Rabindra and Anukul,central committee members had called upon the "new generation" within the party to carry out a "revolution within the revolution." Accusing the party of adopting nepotism at top-decision levels, apart from "ideological deviation" and other things, they brought up a six-point political agenda, demanding that Prachanda and Bhattarai go through self-criticism publicly. Prachanda's erroneous direction was also blamed for the defeat in the Khara attack in an article published last week. The conflict was supposedly confined within the party, they having appealed to sister organizations like All Nepal National Free Student Union (Revolutionary), All Nepal Teachers Organization (Revolutionary), etc., as well as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for an open discussion, according to the joint appeal.
As indicated by various news sources, dismissing the "so-called" appeal, Rabindra and Anukul were released from the Central Committee some time ago, but after their joint appeal came out Prachanda banished them from the party itself. In his statement, the renegades were termed "deserters of the revolution, and servants of the autocratic monarchy and the counter-revolution." He refused to respond to the specific allegations, stating, "There can be no serious discussion with them on the 'theoretical' questions raised in an extremely mechanical, offensive and distorted manner."
End to the 'people’s war'
After holding the 'People’s War' for ten years, the CPN (Maoist) sat down for peace talks after the successful accomplishment of the people’s movement in 2002/03. The twelve point agreement held between the then seven party alliance and the Maoist rebels in Delhi created a path for peaceful agitation against the direct rule of the king. The another important point of the twelve point agreement was to end the autocracy in Nepal. The people’s war conducted by the CPN(Maoist) created a basement for the establishment of a republic in Nepal. It also created political consciousness among the people at the grass root level and to some extent awareness for socio-economic transformation.
After the declaration of the king to reinstate the parliament, the CPN (Maoist) insisted that the declaration was a betrayal to the people. Instead the king should bring down his institution for his deeds. But there was no hearing from the other parties in the alliance. Maoist chairman Prachanda appeared at the prime minister’s residence, Baluwatar for the peace talk and said that he was there to establish a new modal of democracy in Nepal, rather he didn’t reveal the new modal of system that was going to be established in Nepal.
After the peace talk held between the CPN (Maoist) and the government of Nepal, the Maoist rebels were ready to put an end to the ten years long People’s War. Signing the peace accord, Maoist chairman Prachanda said that the people’s war was given a stop and a new revolution is to be performed from the reinstated parliament. The peace accord was signed in September 21,2006 after which the Maoist revolution was ended. However, Prachanda was able to provide legacy to the nineteen thousand people’s liberation army that was kept in the cantonment under the supervision of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).
The interim constitution of Nepal 2063, gave a constitutional position to the nineteen thousand Maoist cadres. There was a provision for providing monthly allowance for the Maoist armies staying at the cantonment. The Maoist leaders doesn’t think that the revolution has not ended just here but only the form of struggle was changed.
The Kharipati meeting
The national conclave of the Maoist cadres held recently in Bhaktapur, Kharipati has ended up happily.Opposing chairman Prachanda's document,another senior leader Kiran produced a document contrary to it.The conclave ended up when a consensus was made to incorporate the spirit of both the documents and produce a new one.The cadres were split up into groups and then discussions were held about the documents produced. Majority groups supported Chairman Prachanda's document. Senior leader Kiran was shocked where he believed that a majority fraction was on his side. Leader Kiran produced a document which claimed that a suitable time has come for popular uprising and setting up a people's republic.Chairman Prachanda's document analyzes the fact that the party should move ahead creating a new statute in the favour of people and a tactical slogan for people's republic.
The conclave held several level of discussion where some disputes regarding the team leader had arisen. The team who supported Kiran's document had a leader who favoured Prachanda's document and vice-versa.The meeting ended up compromising both documents which will again be presented in the National Convention.The groups supporting Kiran's document blamed Prachanda's group for betraying the spirit of people's war and being more into luxury after holding the power.The conclave is most awaited after the Chunbang meeting which decided the party's slogan of 'Federal democratic republic'.
Linkage with fraternal parties
According to available information, the Maoists of Nepal have well-established linkages with Indian revolutionary communist organizations, primarily with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), currently leading a protracted "people's war" throughout the subcontinent. The first signs of contacts were reportedly registered during 1989-1990, when the two groups started collaborating in order to expand their influence. According to Indian government analysis, they began the process of laying a corridor, which is now widely referred to as the Revolutionary Corridor (RC) extending from Nepal to across six Indian States, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. This entire area has been identified in Maoist literature as the Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ). The CRZ was organized by the Nepal and Indian members of the Naxalite movement, in a meeting at Siliguri in the Indian State of West Bengal during August 2001. Indian Maoists are known as Naxalites (or Naxals) in reference to a popular uprising that began decades ago centered in the town of Naxalbari.
Nepalese Maoists had sent their delegates to the March 2001 Congress of PWG held at Abuz Marh in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The establishment of CRZ gave a wider space and platform for all the proscribed Nepal and Indian Naxalite organizations to strengthen their bases in both the countries.
The CPN(M) is a participating organization of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM), a global association of revolutionary communist parties. In July 2001, ten regional Maoist groups formed the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organization of South Asia (CCOMPOSA), in which the Nepalese Maoists, PWG, MCC, Purbo Banglar Surbahara Party (Bangladesh), Communist Party of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and other Indian communist parties became members. The appearance of graffiti in remote villages in Naxalite-strongholds, in Rayakal and Mallapur mandals (administrative unit) of Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, hailing CCOMPOSA points the spread of the idea of a common front of revolutionary communist groups in South Asia. Moreover, the Central Committee of the Maoists, in late-January 2002, passed a resolution stating that it would work together with the PWG and the MCC in fighting the ban imposed on the latter two organisations in India, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. A year earlier, in 2001, the Maoists had sent a senior leader named Gaurav as a fraternal delegate to attend the 9th Congress of the PWG. Reports indicate that the Maoists and the PWG have also formed the Indo-Nepal Border Region Committee to coordinate their activities in North Bihar and along the India-Nepal border.
During the people’s war, the Maoists also gathered a lot of support from organizations in South Asia, which was very important in carrying out the struggle with certain pace. Having visited several districts in India, Maoist chairman Prachanda studied the challenges of launching an armed struggle. Chairman Prachanda drafted war policies and tactics staying in India. Chairman Prachanda says, “First and foremost, there was the RIM Committee. There were important ideological and political exchanges. From the RIM committee we got the experience of the Communist Party of Peru, the two line struggle there, and also the experience in Turkey, the experience in Iran and the experience in the Philippines.” The CPN Maoist also participated in a South Asian Conference where they held discussions with the people’s war group and Maoist communist Centre groups. The party believes in achieving a lot from this meet about conducting a people’s war.
Having realized the necessity of spreading the party’s message to the world, the party came up with a decision to host a website which was to spread the knowledge about Nepalese revolution. Thus, www.cpnm.org was hosted with the help of some of the fraternal Maoist organization in Europe. The CPN Maoist currently after the jump into the ‘mainstream’politics played an initiative role in introducing a Maoist Communist Party in Bhutan as well. The new party in Bhutan is said to have greatly inspired from the Nepalese People’s War and want to have a same practice there.
Split of groups
In 2004, a small group split from the CPN(M) to form Janatantric Terai Mukti Morcha.Till today this group has split up into more than five groups and said to have no specific ideological destiny. The group accused the CPN(M) of not guaranteeing the autonomy of the Terai region[2]. The name is in Nepalese which means "Terai Peoples Liberation Front"[3] in English.The Jwala Singh faction of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM-J) was formed by Nagendra Kumar Paswan a.k.a. Jwala Singh in August 2006 after he broke away from the Jaya Krishna Goit led JTMM. Jwala Singh is a former CPN-Maoist cadre and had joined Goit when he floated the JTMM. Later, he developed differences with Goit over the strategies to be adopted for the liberation of the Terai and establishment of an independent Terai state.
Recent activities
- June 16, 2006 - The CPN (M) signed a 12 point agreement with the Seven Party Alliance in order to further the Loktantra Andolan. Following this, a three month ceasefire was declared yet the process of 'forced donations' is alleged to be continuing.
- January 14, 2007 - The new 330-seat parliament, including 83 Maoists, was sworn-in after the cabinet approved an interim constitution.
- March 21, 2007 - 29 people were killed and more than 40 were injured in a deadly clash between the Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) and Maoist-aligned Madhesi Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (MRMM) cadres in Gaur. The clashes broke out over a meeting ground in Gaur which both sides wanted to use. The Interior Ministry ordered an investigation into the incident.
- April 1, 2007 - A new government was sworn in, with five Maoist ministers and one junior minister. The Maoists were placed in charge of the ministries of information, local development, planning and works, forestry, and women and children.
- September 18, 2007 - The CPN (Maoist) ministers resigned from the government due to the rejection of its demands, which included the declaration of a republic prior to the Constituent Assembly election then planned for November and an electoral system of proportional representation.
- December 31, 2007 - After agreements were reached providing for a partial proportional representation system and the abolition of the monarchy after the election, five Maoists were sworn in as ministers again. The Maoist ministers were: CPN(M) spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara as Minister of Communication and Information, Dev Gurung as Minister of Local Development, Hisila Yami as Minister of Physical Planning, Matrika Yadav as Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation, and Pampha Bhusal as Minister for Women and Social Welfare. The first four had already been members of the government appointed in April.
- April 10, 2008 - The CPN (Maoist) participates in the 2008 Constituent Assembly election. The party gained around 30% of the vote, giving them 220 of the 575 elected seats (38%) and were nominated for 9 additional seats by the council of ministers, giving them a total of 229 of the 601 seats overall.
See also
External links
- Washington Times December 14 2002
- World Politics Watch, April 6, 2007.
- , The Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 2008.
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