[From The Worker, #8, January 2003]
Time to Push the Wheel of Revolution Forward
It is the universal characteristic of the reactionary ruling classes to raise a big rock against the people, but only to drop it and crush their own dirty tri feet with it. The genocidal feudal-bureaucratic ruling classes of Nepal have proved even worse than their counterparts elsewhere in this matter. Last year around this time, (i.e. on November 26,2001) they declared a countrywide state of Emergency and imposed the most brutal royal military dictatorship, butchering more than five thousand revolutionary masses and cadres in a single year; but by the end of the year they have dug their own grave ever deeper and enabled the historic People's a War (PW) to mature to the stage of strategic equilibrium. The revolutionary PW in the lap of the Himalayas, part and parcel of the world proletarian revolution, has made such a tremendous stride in the past year and reached such a crucial & exciting phase that the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionaries have to summon their greatest revolutionary acumen to guide it to the pinnacle of ultimate victory.
Equipped with the invincible ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and Prachanda Path and a correct politico- military line of the Party, the heroic cadres and masses have successfully turned the initial adversity into an excellent opportunity to develop the PW in leaps and bounds to the stage of strategic equilibrium. Keeping in mind Engels exhortation that,"....in revolution, as in war, it is always necessary to show a strong front, and he who attacks is in the advantage....", the Party adopted an offensive tactics from the beginning and prepared appropriate military plans, which were very ably and heroically implemented by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). A series of daring and successful military raids by the PLA, starting with the capture of district headquarters of Achham in February, through the highly fortified royal military camp in Gam (Rolpa) in May, to the district headquarters of Arghakhanchi, Sandhikharka, in September and the zonal and district headquarters of Jumla in November, were instrumental in blowing up the false halo of the mightiness of the mercenary royal army and qualitatively altering the character of the civil war. These were accompanied by thousands of small and big raids, ambushes, sabotages and annihilations all over the country and throughout the year. Similarly, continuous mass mobilization programmes were chalked out to rally the masses of oppressed classes, castes, nationalities, regions and gender against the royal military dictatorship. Among these, the 5-dayNepal bandh (general shut-down) in April and 3-day Nepal bandh in November were very effective to channelise the mass ire against the reactionary state and to spread the flames of revolution to every nook and comer of the country. The Party also made concerted efforts to counter the vicious disinformation campaign and malicious propaganda war of the reactionaries through the national and international media with reasonable success. As a result the desperate attempts of the reactionaries did not cut much ice with the overwhelming majority of the population and a large section of the international community.
The reactionary state, on the other hand, kept on sliding into deeper-crisis every passing day. The inherent contradiction between the monarchist and parliamentarist factions of the ruling classes got furthermore aggravated with the advancement of the revolutionary PW. The apparent quarrel over the issue of further extension of the state of Emergency led to the untimely dissolution of the spineless parliament in May. Subsequent failure to conduct mid-term parliamentary elections in November in the midst of ever rising revolutionary upheavals in the country resulted in direct take over of executive power of the state by the King and virtual disbanding of the parliamentary system and constitution. This is, however, interpreted by the Party as the culmination of the inevitable process of centralization of the old reactionary state authority in the autocratic monarchy, which was initiated with the infamous palace massacre of June 2001. The fratricidal and regicidal Gyanendra-Paras (i.e.father-son) clique with its stranglehold over the royal army and the most reactionary feudal-autocratic political persuasion is least inclined to share state power with the parliamentary forces. Hence, unless a dramatic turn-around takes place under the aegis of the international imperialist and expansionist forces, the widening hiatus between the monarchist and parliamentarist forces is not likely to be abridged soon and with ease. The Party has, therefore, rightly appealed to the parliamentarist forces to fight jointly against the autocratic monarchy for a common minimum programme of round-table conference of all the political forces, an interim government and election to a constituent assembly.
The international reactionary forces, particularly LJS imperialism and Indian expansionism, are naturally perturbed by the ever-rising spectre of revolution in their traditional neo-colonial and semi-colonial backyard. The first ever visit to Nepal by a US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in January, followed by the first ever reception to a Nepalese Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, at the Oval Office in May, amply prove the level of concern of the sole imperialist super power USA towards the revolutionary PW. The British imperialists have taken the initiative to organize an international consortium to provide military and financial aid to the tottering reactionary regime. The role of Indian expansionists has been the most conspiratorial and obnoxious. After the first ever foreign visit of genocidal ring-leader Gyanendra to India in June, the Indian expansionists have pumped in massive military aid to the counter-revolutionary forces and carried out a series of treacherous activities against the revolutionary forces, with the evil intentions of Bhutanisation and Sikkimisation of Nepal. However, a timely and resolute exposure of their evil designs by the patriotic and revolutionary forces seems to have compelled them to retreat a bit at the later phases and tone down their level of overt interference, Still the unholy alliance between US imperialism and Indian expansionism constitutes the most potent external danger to the revolutionary prospects. The other international forces including China, European Union, too, have expressed their concern to the ever-rising PW. The recent offer of the UN to mediate in the future negotiations, if requested by both the warring sides, speaks volume about the wider significance of the rising revolutionary tide in the country.
The qualitative leap in the PW during the period has been accompanied by its horizontal expansion to all the 75 districts of the country. Whereas the old reactionary state authority is confined to the district headquarters and large cities, the revolutionary authority rules the roost in rest of the country. Revolutionary people's power in the form of elected people's committees are exercised in the large stretches of base areas and coordinated at the central level by the United Revolutionary People’s Council (URPC). A host of independent and international observers have verified this ground reality, and a British Defence source is widely quoted to have reported that," Unless some things dramatic happens, is only a matter of time before they (i.e. the Maoist) win". The Central Committee of the Party has made an objective evaluation of the whole situation and concluded that the PW has effectively attained the stage of strategic equilibrium.
However, the heroic leaders and cadres of the CPN (Maoist) and the PLA and the revolutionary masses in general have made a tremendous sacrifice for this revolutionary advancement. In an average, about a dozen persons every day have been martyred by the reactionary hangmen in fake encounters. Of these around eighty percent have been general unarmed masses. Several very important and promising leaders and cadres have also sacrificed their lives in the altar of revolution. Com. Rit Bahadur Khadka an alternate Central Committee Member (CCM) of the Party, has been the most high-ranking member to be martyred during the past year. About a dozen Regional Bureau Members of the Party, some Company Commanders of the PLA and several Chiefs and Vice- Chiefs of the District People's Committees have also attained glorious martyrdom. Five CCMs of the Party, including Com. Rabindra Shrestha (also alternate PBM), Rekha Sharma, Krishna Dhwaj Khadka, Bam Dev Chhetri and Mumaram Khanal, have been captured by the enemy in the meantime. Several hundred revolutionary prisoners of wars have been 'disappeared' and thousands kept in captivity. Reports of inhuman torture, rape, arson, looting and all-round terrorization of the masses by the royal mercenaries where ever they go, at times tend to put even Hitler to shame. International human rights groups and even the state sponsored National Human Rights Commission have heavily censured the genocidal royal regime for its heinous crimes. Nevertheless, all these sacrifices and white terror seem to have all the more strengthened the resolve of the masses and cadres to resist and carry forward the revolution to final victory. This is corroborated by the ever-increasing number of people from the basic classes and masses joining the Party, the PLA and the Revolutionary United Front. Moreover, the core leadership of the Party, the PLA and the URPC is safely preserved and active in the revolution.
As Mao has said, this phase of strategic stalemate is the "transitional stage of the entire war" and "it will be the most trying period but also the pivotal one". A host of military and non-military factors, including an objective assessment of balance of power between revolution and counterrevolution and also international factors, given the specific geo-strategic position of the country sandwiched between two huge states of India and China, will have to be taken into consideration while pushing the wheel of revolution forward to the next stage of strategic offensive. As of now both the national and international situations are turning in favour of the revolutionary forces; though there are some important hurdles to be surmounted particularly in the international sphere. If the Party correctly pursues the basic policy of strategic firmness and tactical flexibility there is no reason why all the apparent hurdles should not be surmounted successfully. Also, it would be worthwhile to keep in mind the following exhortation of Rosa Luxemberg: "The 'golden mean' cannot be maintained in any revolution. The law of its nature demands a quick decision; either the locomotive drives forward full steam ahead to the most extreme point of the historical ascent, or it rolls back of its own weight again to the starting point at the bottom; and those who would keep it with their weak powers halfway up the hill, it but drags down with it irredeemably into the abyss."
As long as ours is a just war and the masses are with us we will definitely win the war; but the most important point, as Lenin and Mao used to hammer again and again, is, we must "dare to win". •
"Even if a revolution has started in a situation that seemed to be not very complicated, the development of the revolution itself always creates an exceptionally complicated situation.A revolution..... is the incredibly complicated and painful process of the death of the old and birth of the new social order."
-V.l. Lenin, "Can the Bolsheviks
Retain State Power?"