The historic initiation of people's war in Nepal on February 13, 1996, was
an epoch - making event in the history of the country and was hailed as having
significant implications internationally as well by the revolutionary forces
the world over. On the occasion of the first anniversary of this historic
event, it would be appropriate to make a brief review of the whole process
of class struggle in the country leading to this people's war, experiences
of one year of the war, and its multifarious implications, lessons and future
perspective.
Nepal is a semi-feudal & semi-colonial country, as nearly ninety percent
of the population is engaged in backward agriculture (with only ten percent
of urban population !) and the country is fettered by various semi-colonial
unequal treaties with foreign powers (particularly India). The present
centralised state was founded two and a quarter century ago under the leadership
of a feudal chieftain of Indo-Aryan stock (Prithvi Narayan Shah, the forefather
of the present king) by subjugating different tribal states mostly inhabited
by the Tibeto-Burman (or Mongoloid) and Austro-Dravidian stocks. Since 1816
the country was absorbed into a semi-colonial bondage with the then British-lndia
(though it was never colonised by any foreign power) and since 1950 into
semi-colonial relations with 'free' India and neocolonial relations with
a number of other imperialist powers. As bureaucratic capitalism has been
growing steadily within the wombs of feudalism over the years the external
form of the reactionary state has undergone several changes to the present
constitutional monarchial multi-party parliamentary system since 1990 but
retaining the essential hegemony of the feudal and comprador & bureaucratic
capitalist classes. Hence the society and state are constantly beset with
a set of irreconcilable contradictions in class, national & regional
terms that have given rise to a cycle of crisis one after the other.
Currently this crisis is manifest in different forms and is seen getting more acute every passing day. Total stagnation of society and absolute low level of productive forces is reflected in a mere 180 U.S. dollar per capita of GDP (second lowest in the world !), a pathetic 1.25 percent of labour force engagement in industry, 71 percent of population below absolute poverty line, 60 percent of illiteracy rate, etc. Amidst this low level of social development the extremely high degree of class polarisation and inequality is marked by 10 percent of landlords & rich peasants owning 65 percent of cultivable land against 65 percent of poor peasants owning a mere 10 percent of the land, the richest 10 percent of the society gobbling up 46.5 percent of national income, etc. Similarly, whereas even according to the IMF standards a country's position is regarded as 'critical' when its foreign debt is more than 200-250 percent of its export trade or its debt servicing exceeds 20 percent of its export trade, in the case of Nepal the respective figures had exceeded 600 percent and 35 percent in 1994/95 and they are rising further every passing year. This is an unmistakable sign of crisis engendered by imperialist/expansionist domination and attendantly burgeoning bureaucratic capitalism. Thus it is no doubt that the contradiction of the general masses of the people with feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism assume primacy in the social dynamics of Nepal.
Moreover ever since the days of formation of the centralised state more than
a dozen nationalities mostly of the Mongoloid and Austric races (e.g. Magar,
Tamang, Tharu, Newar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Danuwar, Sherpa, Sunuwar, Rajbansi,
etc.), who constitute a combined majority of the total population, have been
subjected to political, economic and cultural domination by the ruling Arya-Khas
nationality. In recent years the contradictions of the state with the oppressed
nationalities have sharpened further. Together with this, as a result of
the dynamics of polarised development inherent in bureaucratic capitalism
vast mountainous regions and remote areas (eg. the Karnali region in Western
Nepal) have been turned into sorts of 'internal colonies' of the centralised
state. This process of regional uneven and unequal development is giving
rise to sharp regional contradictions in the country.
The reactionary state has been increasingly failing to manage these multifarious
class, national and regional contradictions within the ambits of its old
structure. Rather the state itself has been progressively sliding into deeper
crisis as manifest in the 'hung' parliament, frequent change of governments,
pervading environment of instability and increasing recourse to naked fascist
measures against the people. This calls for and provides an apt objective
basis for the New Democratic restructuration of the society & state through
revolutionary means.
These objective conditions for the revolutionary transformations of the society and state had been generally prevailing for quite a long time. What was essentially lacking was the conscious subjective efforts of the vanguard Party of the proletariat. Though the peasant masses and isolated revolutionary individuals had at times spontaneously revolted against the exploitation & oppression by the feudal rulers, it could not have led into any meaningful revolutionary change in the absence of an organised leadership of the most advanced class of the society. Particularly there was strong anti-colonial and patriotic sentiment against the Britishers amongst the people, as the brave Gorkha fighters had never reconciled with their defeat against the British colonialists leading to the ignominous semi-colonial treaty of 1816. But there was no effective leadership to channelise that sentiment.
The founding of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) in 1949 paved the way
for generating such a leadership for an anti-feudal and anti-imperialist
New Democratic revolution in the country. But the Party leadership that was
stuck in the quagmire of one or the other form of reformism miserably failed
to chart out the basic path of the revolution, not to speak of leading the
masses in a people's war. Consequently the occasional spontaneous armed revolts
of the masses or small breakaway factions could not be sustained for long
and the first four decades of the communist movement in the country were
frittered away in mere squabbles over inconsequential issues.
Only the Unity Congress held in December, 1991 of the then reconstituted
CPN (Unity Centre), which was later rechristened as CPN (Maoist), adopted
for the first time a clear-cut political line of protracted people's war
for carrying out the New Democratic revolution in the country with a
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideological perspective. However, when the question
of implementation of the political line within the party came up there ensued
a vicious two line struggle against a right liquidationist clique, which
was finally defeated and expelled from the Party in May 1994. After the
consolidation of the Party along the revolutionary line, the Third Central
Plenum of the Party held in March 1995 chalked out a detailed politico-military
policy and programme outlining the strategy 8 tactics of people's war in
the country (see, "Strategy & Tactics of Armed Struggle in Nepal" in
this volume) and made a final decision to launch the war. This was followed
by six months of hectic preparations primarily to remould the old organisational
structure into a fighting machine. Then a Central Committee meeting of the
Party held in September, 1995 adopted the "Plan for the Historical Initiation
of the People's War", which defined the theoretical basis & goal of the
war and formulated detailed plan and programme for the final preparation
and initiation of the war. As part of the final politico-ideological preparation
(while organisational-technical preparations continued underground) a series
of countrywide mass meetings under the banner of the popular united front
organisation, United People's Front-Nepal, (UPF) were held to be crowned
by a massive public ralley attended by more than 50 thousand people in the
heart of the capital city of Kathmandu on December 7, 1995. Meanwhile a vicious
armed police operation, code-named 'Romeo Operation', launched by the reactionary
state against the rural class struggle going on for some time in Rolpa district
in Western Hills and a countrywide public outcry against this state repression,
provided a perfect setting to initiate the people's war. In this light the
Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party that met briefly in
January 1996 made the final selection of the date of the historic Initiation
for February 13 (i.e. the first day of the month of Falgun according to the
Vikrami calendar followed in Nepal).
Thus had the vanguard Party of the Nepali proletariat, steeled from years
of inner-party struggle and class struggle, made the final big leap to create
history by leading the Initiation of the armed people's war on the day of
February 13, 1996.
As outlined in the Third Plenum document "Strategy & Tactics of Armed
struggle in Nepal", there would be three strategic stages of protracted people's
war, namely Strategic Defense, Strategic Stalemate and Strategic Offense.
And within the Strategic Defense, there would be several tactical stages,
namely Final Preparation for Initiation, Development of Guerrilla Zones,
Development of Base Areas, etc. Hence after the completion of the phase of
Final Preparation for Initiation, a plan for the Initiation was worked out,
which was again visualised to be implemented and develop in sub-phases. The
First Plan, envisaged to cover the actual Initiation of the first day and
the continuation for some time thereof, say about a month or so. The basic
objectives of the first plan, as outlined in the "Plan for the Historical
Initiation of the People's War" were to make a practical leap into and establish
amongst the masses of the people the politics of armed revolution for capturing
political power and to initiate the process of making the people's army as
the principal form of organisation and the armed activities as the principal
form of struggle. Hence with a clarion call of "It is right to rebel" the
emphasis was placed on arousing the masses to rebel against the oppressive
system and the state, and the selection of targets and the forms of actions
were designed to give correct political message and derive maximum political
propaganda rather than to make any material gain in the very beginning.
As planned, on February 13, one police outpost each in Rolpa and Rukum in
Western Hills, an Agricultural Development Bank and a distillery factory
in Gorkha in Central Hills, a police outpost in Sindhuli and the house of
feudal-usurer in kavre in Eastern Hills and the factory of a multi-national
company (Pepsi Cola) in the Kathmandu Valley, were systematically attacked
by the armed squads (accompanied by the supporter masses at several places)
with great precision to herald the historic Initiation. These seven targets
in different districts and regions were selected purposefully in keeping
with the geo-physical and socio-political specificities of Nepal and not
to allow the enemy to concentrate its repressive armed forces on any particular
area. On the same evening hundreds of thousands of revolutionary leaflets
& posters issued by the Party were distributed all over the country to
spread the political message of the people's war among the masses.
From the morrow, also as planned, ensued a wave of guerrilla actions, sabotage
and propaganda actions all over the country in continuation of the Initiation.
Within three weeks about 5000 actions, mostly of propaganda nature, had taken
place in the far & wide corners of the country. National media was agog
with the 'ghost' of people's war. All the political forces and politically
minded persons were forced to take a position vis-a-vis the new politics.
Thus the politics of revolutionary armed struggle was firmly established
in the country within a very short span of time.
As the basic objectives of the First Plan were already fulfilled, the Party
issued an inner circular to restrain further actions of offense but permitting
the defensive actions. This step was deemed necessary and important as otherwise
the initial 'rebellion' could be misunderstood as 'insurrection', and the
essential protracted nature of the people's war had to be emphasized and
grasped firmly from the very beginning.
A severe tremor & shock wave had rocked the reactionary ruling classes
and their state by then. Hence after an initial vacillation the reactionary
state went into a mad frenzy and let loose its armed might upon the revolutionary
forces and the masses. Scores of persons were shot dead in Gorkha, Rukum,
Jajarkot and Rolpa; thousands were taken into custody and brutally tortured;
arson, looting, rape of the peasant masses knew no bounds.
At the end of March, the PB of the Party met to take stock of the situation
and charter the future course of actions. It was resolved that the initiation
was a tremendous success and the emphasis now would be to mobilise the masses
in favour of the people's war and continue the war in a planned manner.
Accordingly overt and covert programmes were launched throughout the country
to mobilise the masses and to build public opinion against the government
repression and in favour of the people's war. As the reactionary state, as
expected, virtually obstructed the open mass activities of the various front
organisations, new methods and forms of organisation were devised to carry
out open activities. In this context open denunciation by leading human rights
organisations and prominent public figures of state terrorism and widespread
human rights violations contributed significantly to take winds off the sails
of the repressive state. Meanwhile armed squads continued carrying out selected
guerrilla actions and propaganda campaigns. Soon the reactionary state was
caught up in such a pitiable situation that the Prime Minister himself went
on record to call for a dialogue with the revolutionary forces and formation
of a committee to pursue the dialogue was announced in the Parliament. The
Party rightly saw through the conspiracy in the whole exercise and exposed
it as such through various means.
At the end of the month of June the CC of the Party made a final summation
of the successful conclusion of the First Plan and drew out the second Plan.
The basic objective of the Second Plan was to develop guerrilla warfare in
a planned manner so as to prepare grounds to convert specific areas into
guerrilla Zones in the near future. For this the emphasis would be on creating
radicalised (or militarised) mass base in specific areas and upgrading &
expanding the fighting capability of the armed detachments. Accordingly,
broad categorisation and identification of Principal Zones, Secondary Zones
and Propaganda Zones were made and the forces and activities were sought
to be channelised and centralised in keeping with the envisaged roles of
different zones. As earlier a short period of preparation would precede the
launching of the Second Plan, and by the very objective & nature of the
Plan it would not commence on a fixed date but would follow an approximate
time frame.
There was a slight set-back in the beginning of the Plan, as the enemy managed
to sniff it and the important element of 'surprise' had to be partially
compromised. However, by October the execution of the Second Plan had started
in right earnest, and gradually it unfolded in such a manner and scale that
the reactionary camp was again caught in a surprise. A set of military and
non-military actions were sought to be judiciously blended from the beginning;
and this plus the gradual phasing of the major actions over time and space
provided the key to the successful launching and progress of the Second Plan.
Of the major military actions so far, daring guerrilla actions to seize arms
have been the most notable ones. Armed guerrilla squads raided police outposts
at Lung in Pyuthan on December 14, at Triveni in Dolpa, on December 15 (both
in Western Hills) and at Bethan in Ramechhap (Eastern Hills) on the January
3 and the state-owned Nepal Bank Ltd. at Duradanda in Lamjung (Central Hills)
on November 14. Out of these the Bethan raid was the most successful and
was rightly hailed as the best example of daring military exploit and supreme
sacrifice so far. Arms of local tyrants were also seized in different districts
like Sallyan, Dolakha, etc. Also during this Plan period selected annihilation
of local tyrants, police informers and policemen were carried out. Of these
the annihilations of a police Sub-lnspector (responsible for killing Com.
Ram Brikshya Yadav) in Dhanusa (Eastern Terai), a village committee chairman
(responsible for the arrest of Com. Dev Gurung) in Gorkha and several police
informers in Rolpa, Rukum & Sindhuli were highly appreciated by the masses
and were of immense political significance. Similarly, a large number of
sabotage actions including the ones against the Agricultural Development
Banks (in Kavre & Baglung), INGOs (in Baglung & Mygdi), premises
of comprador capitalists (in Kathmandu & Kapilvastu) and others were
carried out all over the country. The instance of setting fire to the house
of the Home Minister in Kathmandu on December 10 had sent chills down the
spines of the ruling classes and was a favourite topic of media coverage
for several days. Armed propaganda actions in the form of marches, corner
meetings, etc., have been organised regularly all over the country.
Apart from these military forms of actions, other non-military (or political,
economic, social & cultural) actions have also been organised either
in overt or covert manner in large numbers for mass mobilization or propaganda
purposes. In this context the highly successful Kathmandu Valley Bandh (or
general strike) on August 21 and Nepal Bandh on December 12 under the banner
of a generated organisation, National Mass Movement Coordination Committee,
helped to mobilise the masses in hundreds of thousands in favour of the
revolutionary politics. Similarly, various village development programmes,
people's cooperative schemes etc. have been launched at the local level under
the aegis of the UPF with a view to prepare grounds for the local power in
future. Different front organisations have been organising open & legal
activities to mobilise different classes and masses of the people Particularly
in urban areas new forms of organisations have sprung up to propagate
revolutionary politics and expose the reactionary slate.
During the Second Plan period the reactionary slate has let loose its armed
might against the revolutionary forces with greater vengeance. The instances
of outright massacre and shooting have multiplied (see
Table - 1). So have the instances of police brutalities
in the name of combing operations, etc. Villages have been set on fire,
properties looted, women raped! The Western & Eastern regions have been
the worst affected. More than a dozen persons have been shot by the police
in one village, Mirul, alone in Rolpa. Including Com. Dev Gurung and a number
of important leaders of the front organisations, thousands of people are
arrested & kept behind bars in inhuman conditions. Leading national &
international human rights organisations have decried the gross violation
of human rights by the state.
The PB of the Party met in December and made preliminary evaluation of the
implementation of the Second Plan. The progress was found quite satisfactory
despite some limitations. The meeting formulated additional programme to
celebrate the first anniversary of the Initiation in a grand & fitting
manner. The Second Plan is still in the process of Implementation.
The qualitative leap in the social development process of Nepal marked by
the historic initiation and continuation of the people's war has had important
political implications in the country. The past one year of the people's
war was accompanied by faster degeneration of the old reactionary forces
and rising up of new revolutionary forces, thus hastening the process of
socio-political polarisation.
During this period the crisis of the old state was further aggravated and
the contradictions within were seen more sharpened. As the problems of poverty,
unemployment, price rise, corruption, foreign domination, etc. grew more
acute and the state managed by a weak coalition of extreme rightist forces
increasingly failed even to offer a patchwork solution, a situation of all-round
instability, anarchy and total breakdown was created. Particularly there
was a great patriotic surge among the masses against the abject surrender
of the mainstream parliamentary parties, including the renegade UML clique,
to Indian expansionism and the ratification of the Nepal-lndia 'Mahakali
River Integrated Development Project Treaty' by the puppet parliament. Later
on a farcical attempt to bring about a new change in the coalition realignment
of the government and the naked horse-trading of MPs, thoroughly exposed
and discredited the parliamentary system as a whole. All this prompted even
the BBC radio service to comment that 'the ultimate winners and gainers in
the national politics were the Maoists and the people's war'.
The initiation of the people's war has hastened the process of polarisation
in the Nepalese Communist Movement as well. The attitude towards people's
war has served as a good acid test to differentiate revolutionaries from
the opportunists and revisionists. Whereas the renegade UML clique has further
degenerated into reaction and attempted to endear both the king and the Indian
expansionists to ride to power within the present dispensation to check the
revolutionary process, a significant number of its leaders and cadres at
different levels have crossed towards the revolutionary camp. Similarly two-line
struggles have developed within the neo-revisionist Mashal and right
liquidationist 'Unity Centre' over the question of support to the people's
war. A large number of independent Intellectuals and others have overtly
or covertly extended their support to the people's war. Thus, at least
politically if not organisationally, the CPN (Maoist) has emerged as the
rallying centre of all genuine communist revolutionaries in the country.
One year of people's war has had a very positive impact in the development
of the three instruments of revolution, i.e. the Party, the Army and the
United Front. The Party, long used to legal forms of struggle & organisation,
has had a marvellously quick & smooth transition into a fighting underground
organisation to lead the armed people's war. Except for isolated instances
of revolutionary impetuosity or capitulationist tendency, there has been
virtually no differences or inner struggle within the Party to implement
the revolutionary line. Rather the people's war has significantly improved
the ideological-political level, brought about unprecedented monolithic unity
and given birth to a reliable hierarchy of revolutionary leadership from
top to the bottom. Similarly on the question of the formation of the Army,
the past one year has seen a meteoric rise, both quantitatively and
qualitatively. Starting from the lowest and simplest formations speedier
upgradations to higher levels and qualities of armed guerrilla formations
have been achieved. Particularly the emphasis placed on militarisation of
the whole Party and development of symbiotic links with the masses has had
a very important bearing on the rapid and qualitative development of the
armed formations. And lastly, on the question of the development of the
revolutionary United Font, the initiation of the people's war has prepared
a material ground towards building such a Front under the leadership of the
proletariat, and new initiatives have been taken in this regard during the
past one year. Taking into account the historical experiences and specificities
of Nepal, building of United Front has been attempted simultaneously at two
levels. At the local level, where class struggle has developed to a significant
height, clandestine United Front committees under the leadership of the Party
have been formed to exercise embryonic local political power and sustain
the people's war. At the central level, the already existing and high-profile
United People's Front, Nepal, (established in 1991 as a loose front of different
Left and democratic forces and since some time later on operating as an open
forum of the Party till the initiation of the war) has been reorganised as
an embryonic revolutionary United Front by incorporating representatives
from different progressive classes, oppressed nationalities and depressed
regions primarily to carry out propaganda & agitations in favour of the
New Democratic revolution. Enthusiastic responses to the people's war from
different Organisations for the Liberation of Nationalities and from prominent
individuals has brightened the prospects of building such a Front.
Experiences of one year of people's war have provided significant lessons
both positive and negative, but mostly positive, which should prove valuable
for the development of the war to higher levels in the future.
The pace and nature of development of the people's war in different phases
from the Initiation as a general 'rebellion', through the continuation with
a judicious blending of armed actions and mass mobilisations plus the open
propaganda, to the Second Plan of 'Development of Guerrilla Warfare in a
Planned Manner' - has brought out some of the specificities of Nepal and
has highlighted the need to be creative while applying the basic
politico-military and organisational tenets of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. While
the basic nature of the war would be protracted and the strategy would be
that of encircling the city from the countryside, it seems that in the specific
historical and geo-political case of Nepal the pace of development of the
war could be faster and it would have to be waged, though in varying degrees,
throughout the country or at least at several places at a time.
Valuable lessons have been learnt about the dialectical relationships between
military and non-military forms of actions (though the former would be
principal), between offensive and defensive actions, between centralisation
& decentralisation of forces & activities, between open & clandestine
activities, between people's war and mass movement, etc. Similarly, the Maoist
formulation of decisiveness of 'people' over 'weapons' In the war has been
experienced in practice, and the process of development of the people's war
from the simple to the complex and from the lower to the higher levels has
been observed in a significant scale. Also the strategic role and importance
of guerrilla warfare in the overall military campaign has been well understood
and a number of basic tactics of guerrilla form of warfare has been practiced
quite successfully. Some experiences have been gained in discerning &
utilising contradictions within the enemy camp.
The importance of constantly practicing mass line and devising ever newer
forms of organisation and struggle to mobilise the masses in favour of the
armed struggle has been grasped from the beginning and effectively put into
practice. Due attention has been paid to organise propaganda and publications
and expand international relations in favour of the people's war, though
further efforts and proficiency in this domain is desirable.
The all important role of the Party in leading the people's war and crucial
significance of preservation of the leadership particularly in the initial
phase of the war has been correctly grasped and inculcated among the cadres
and the masses.
Apart from these, certain shortcomings and limitations have also been
encountered, but quite naturally at that and not of any formidable nature
or degree. The arrests of some responsible comrades and deaths of some others
have occurred due to certain avoidable lapses mostly derived as a legacy
from the past legalist work styles. Some erroneous thoughts about the
relationship of people's war and mass movement, distinction between a national
war and a civil war, the role of weapons in war, etc., have cropped up in
between at some places but have been corrected subsequently.
In sum, the achievements of the past one year have been primary and the short-comings are relatively negligible. Building upon the foundation of this initial success and firmly grasping the invincible weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the people's war in Nepal should scale greater heights in future and move towards an inevitable victory.