[From The Worker, #4, May 1998.]
EDITORIAL
DEVELOP GUERRILLA WARFARE TO NEW HEIGHTS
The historic People's War in Nepal based on the ideological-political foundations of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and as a part of the world proletarian revolution, is in its third year now. The experiences of the first two years of this war have not only verified the universal principles of the proletarian revolution but also brought out some of the specific features of the Nepalese New Democratic revolution. Based on the synthesis of these experiences, the CPN (Maoist) has advanced the slogan of "Develop Guerrilla Warfare to New Heights" in its Third Strategic Plan currently under implementation. The echoes of this slogan have been reverberating throughout the length and breadth of the country in the form of higher forms of guerrilla actions in recent months. It is, therefore, necessary to grasp the significance of this slogan more firmly and march forward towards greater victories in future.
Within the basic protracted nature of the revolutionary war in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country, the People's War in Nepal is found developing in a relatively faster speed, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The ever-expanding countrywide mass political support in favour of the revolutionary war, the virtual destruction of the state power of the reactionary classes in about one-quarter area of the country, the compulsion of the reactionary state to prepare for the deployment of army, on the one hand, and to make a public call for 'dialogue' with the revolutionaries, on the other, etc., and all this within two years of the initiation of the People's War testifies this. The objective crisis and contradictions brewing fast within the society and the reactionary state, and subjective preparations made by the Party of the proletariat in the light of the invincible ideology of Marxism-Leninsm-Maoism, are both responsible for this faster development of the revolutionary process.
However, in keeping with the universal law of development of every social process, in general, and that of war, in particular, there is unevenness in the level of development of different components of the total process of war, viz. political and military. Hence the Third Plan has emphasized the need to expedite the process of military preparations to bring it at par with the level of political development, while warning against both the deviations of militarism and political conservatism. In the present stage of development of the People's War, military development obviously means the development of guerrilla warfare. The significance of guerrilla warfare is all the more heightened when its strategic role in our context of protracted war is acknowledged.
The current Third Plan period (beginning with mid-August 1997) is envisaged as a transitional period leading to higher sub-stage of Guerrilla Zone within the stage of Strategic Defensive. (It may be recollected that, of the three strategic stages of protracted People's War, the first stage of Strategic Defensive is sought to be sub-divided into four sub-stages of Final Preparations, Initiation and Continuation, Guerrilla Zone and Base Area, and the current Third Plan is
within the second sub-stage of Initiation and Continuation.). Therefore the development of revolutionary war in this period would, in essence, mean the creation of a base for local organs of political power and raising the political, organisational and technical level of the people's guerrilla army so as to be able to contend with the rival army in the prospective Guerrilla Zones. The power vacuum created by the successful election boycott in more than one hundred Village Development Committees (VDC) in May 1997 and subsequent resignation of elected representatives on many more VDCs, have provided a good base to initiate the exercise of local people's political power. Some preliminary exercises of local people's power on the basis of revolutionary United Front have already started in some strategic zones. They need to be expanded and consolidated, and here the role of the people's guerrilla army becomes crucial. Because there is no political power without an army.
In recent months the process of formation of the people's army has got a shot in the arm. The declaration of the Central Military Commission on the occassion of the Second Anniversary of the initiation of the People's War has provided a good impetus to the process of army building. A number of successful guerrilla actions of high order are a testimony to this. The successful ambushes carried out against the state police force in Rukum, Rolpa and Gorkha have already raised the guerrilla warfare to new heights. The ideological committment, revolutionary zeal and sense of sacrifice of the people's guerrillas have been of the highest order. However, given the formidable military strength of the enemy there is much scope for improvement in the military spheres of the revolutionary forces.
As the great military strategist of the international proletariat, Com. Mao, has emphasized, the process of revolutionary army building must follow its basic laws. The simple but important principles of "learning war through war", "Party controls the gun", "fight with rifle and millet", etc., should be strictly complied with. And as the laws of war are developmental and different historical stages, different places and different stages of war bring in different problems, one should be able to apply the laws creatively and not mechanically. In Nepal, the reactionary state is going through a deep crisis and in its bid for survival it is preparing for a final showdown with the revolutionary forces. This poses both opportunities and challenges for the revolutionaries. Therefore the revolutionary forces must accelerate their politico-military preparations to convert the serious challenges into historical opportunities. To counter the enemy's imminent 'encirclement and suppression' campaign the revolutionaries have to mount 'break encirclement and resist' counter-campaign. Only going through a series of such campaigns and counter-campaigns that we would be able to develop guerrilla warfare to new heights. Armed with the invincible weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and backed by the support of the overwhelming majority of the toiling masses we will build an invincible people's army and we will triumph.
- Develop Guerrilla Warfare to New Heights !
- March Forward to Implement the Third Strategic Plan !