[From The Worker, #4, May 1998.]
NATIONAL
HISTORIC 'NEPAL BANDH' ON APRIL 6
THE RENEGADE UML CLIQUE SPLITS
HISTORIC 'NEPAL BANDH' ON APRIL 6
Normal life came to a complete halt throughout Nepal on April 6, 1998, in response to a Nepal Bandh (general shutdown) call given by the United People's Front (UPF), a revolutionary united front of patriotic, democratic and leftist forces under the leadership of the Party. The Bandh was organized to protest against the state terror, genocide and repression unleashed by the fascist state throughout the country and to press for the 40-point charter of demands put forward by the UPF.
The Bandh was so total and all-embracing that even the national and international reactionary media was forced to acknowledge it as historic and unprecedented. As per the call of the organisers, factories, markets and educational institutions were closed and motor vehicles were off the roads. In the violence that erupted in many parts two persons were killed and hundreds injured. Under the headline "Strike disrupts normal life: 2 killed, many hurt in violence", the pro-establishment mass-circulation daily The Kathmandu Post conceded on April 7: "The strike paralysed most of public life in the capital and other parts of the kingdom.". Citing the anecdote of a famed Hindu temple in Pokhara, the most famous tourist destination in Nepal, the paper noted: "The temple was closed for the first time in history owing to threats from Maoists." (Obviously the organizers of the bandh would have never called for the closure of a religious place!). In other words, contrary to the usual white terror, ripples of 'red terror' were felt throughout the country on April 6.
As it was for the first time after the initiation of the People's War in 1996 that the UPF had given a direct call for the countrywide shut-down, there were general apprehensions of widespread armed clashes between the revolutionary forces and the reactionary state. An open call for "mass actions" as part of a series of month-long programmes on preparation for the bandh had ignited the flames of militant mass actions against local tyrants, corrupt officials, reactionary hirelings, etc., both in cities and rural areas. Also, April 6 ('Chaitra 24') symbolized a historical day of mass uprising against the autocratic monarchy during the aborted democratic people's movement of 1990. Hence, it was but natural that big clashes took place between the agitating masses and the police forces in different parts of the country, including Chitwan, Rupendehi, Nepalganj, etc. The house of a Minister was torched in Kathmandu and cars of ruling party M.P.s were destroyed by the irate masses. 'Petrol bomb' became a mass weapon everywhere. Armed encounters were also reported from several places. Militant, torch-light processions were brought out in almost every nook and corner of the country the preceding night, and black-outs observed in some places.
However, the bandh was found more 'peaceful' than expected by many. Firstly, because there was such a tremendous and spontaneous support to the shutdown call from the people that the reactionary forces and their state did not dare to intervene in a large scale. (Though about 2000 persons were arrested throughout the country). Secondly, because the consciousness effort was made from the part of the organizers to see to it that a proper balance be maintained between the open and underground, legal and illegal, armed and unarmed, mass-participatory and team-based forms of struggle, keeping in view the primary stage of development of the People's War.
The historic success of this Nepal bandh would be an important milestone in the liberation struggle of the Nepalese people, though many bandhs were earlier organized by the Party and the UPF. Firstly, this has provided a practical example of the correct relationship between armed struggle and mass struggle in the New Democratic revolution. That the armed struggle is the principal form of struggle and the mass struggle a secondary but necessary form of struggle, has been vindicated. This has decisively knocked down the fallacious positions of both the rightists and the ultra-leftists, who tend to divorce these two forms of struggle, or place undue stress on the one at the expense of the other. Secondly, valuable experiences have been gained to coordinate the two forms of struggle both in rural and urban areas and to expand the base of People's War all over the country. Thirdly, it has enhanced the image of the UPF as an instrument of struggle and widened the scope of formation of revolutionary united front at the central level. Fourthly, it has played an important, though a preliminary, role in the direction of the militarisation of the masses, which is so crucial for the ultimate success of the revolution. Fifthly, in the short term, it has thoroughly exposed the genocidal character of the fascist state, and put into national political focus the 40-point charter of demands related to nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood. In sum, the tremendous success of this Nepal bandh would give a big boost to the forward march of the People's War in greater speed.
THE RENEGADE UML CLIQUE SPLITS
The so-called United Marxist-Leninist (UML) party, the renegade clique that was practicing the worst variety of Millerandism and Bersteinism in Nepal, has finally split into several splinter groups on March 5, 1998. It may be useful to recollect that this revisionist clique, which was the single largest party in parliament and had participated thrice in the reactionary government during the past seven years of the so-called parliamentary democracy in the country, had been surprisingly successful in hoodwinking a section of the world public opinion to accept it as a 'communist party' and was proving the greatest stumbling block in the path of revolutionary People's War in Nepal. But under its own weight of counterrevolutionary revisionist filth accumulated over the years it has now burst asunder as a water bubble.
Whereas the central leadership and the parliamentary group has been divided into two as 'UML' and 'ML' groups, the lower level cadres have either organized themselves into a separate group as 'Coordination Center' or remained aloof from all. The breakaway 'ML' group does not differ a bit from the original 'UML' in its arch revisionist ideological, political line, though it professes to be slightly more vocal about Indian expansionism and American imperialism. The way these two revisionist groups have entered into a war of attrition against each other after the break-up, often ending in physical attacks of rival leaders, it will not be long before the common masses recognise the essentially reactionary character of the both. The relatively small group, the 'Coordination Centre', promises to be more revolutionary with its avowed adherence to 'Mao Thought', 'New Democracy' and 'People's War'. Apart from these splinter groups there are a large number of individuals, lower level cadres and sympathisers who have not yet taken any position so far, or are disillusioned with all, or have joined the Maoist camp.
Even though the rival groups have charged each other for engineering the split and have sought to invent certain 'conspiracy theories' for it, it is not difficult to conclude that it is an inevitable outcome of the ideological and political degeneration of the original UML. The worst form of modern revisionism crystallized as bahudaliyn janawad (or, 'multi-party democracy'), the official political line of the renegade clique, was beset with so much contradictions within it that it had to burst asunder sooner or later. So many non-proletarian elements, with such diverse vested interests, within one organization could not have managed to continue for long. Particularly the forces owing allegiance to the royal palace or to American imperialism, and those serving as loyal agents of Indian expansionism were bound to clash. Hence this split is seen by the revolutionary forces as an objectively necessary result of the process of decay of the historically outmoded object, i.e. the revisionist UML party, and thus an objectively positive event.
This process of decay was naturally accelerated by the rapid rate of development of revolutionary People's War in the country. Particularly a large number of revolutionary cadres at the lower rung were inspired by the People's War to revolt against the revisionist leadership. This is a vindication of the revolutionary ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Though it may be premature to write the obituary of the revisionist clique, since there is still the objective ground for the growth of revisionist weeds in the present day imperialist world, it can be safely surmised that the beginning of the end has set in. This has opened new vistas of revolutionary polarization in the country. The development of the People's War, on the one hand, and the conscious subjective efforts of the revolutionary forces, on the other, are needed to accelerate this process. Thus a heavy historical responsibility awaits the shoulders of the revolutionary forces in Nepal in the days to come.