On Developments in Nepal and the Stakes for the Communist Movement
Jay
(from http://www.revcom.us - Revolution newspaper, voice of the
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. Visit the website for the complete
exchange of letters.)
An Exchange With Historic Stakes
“Many people in the world today are wondering how to evaluate the
recent developments with the revolution in Nepal—where, after 10 years
of an inspiring People’s War led by the CPN(M), that war has come to
an end, the CPN(M) is now the leading Party in the recently elected
Constituent Assembly and the Party’s Chairman, Prachanda, is the Prime
Minister of the government. Does the current trajectory in Nepal and
the course taken by the CPN(M) represent an historic new thing, a
victory and breakthrough in advancing the communist revolution in the
21st century, as some have claimed; or—as many others fear—does this
represent a setback and betrayal of the goals of the revolution and of
the heroic struggle waged to achieve them, and a serious departure
from the communist cause that the CPN(M) claims to be fighting for?”
So begins the article which is featured in this issue of Revolution:
ON DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL AND THE STAKES FOR THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT:
LETTERS TO THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (MAOIST) FROM THE
REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY, USA, 2005-2008 (WITH A REPLY FROM THE
CPN[M], 2006).
This article is an introduction to a sharp polemical exchange between
the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP, USA) and the Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN[M]) over a period of several years
between October 2005 and November 2008. This represents one of the
most important two-line struggles which has taken place in the
international communist movement in many years. There are four letters
from the RCP, USA to the CPN(M) and one reply which are now being made
public.
These letters address vital differences of line and a struggle which
has been unfolding for a number of years. These differences center on
three questions: in brief, 1) the nature of the state, and
specifically the need to establish a new state led by the proletariat
and its communist vanguard; 2) more specifically, the need to
establish, as the first step, upon the overthrow of the old order, a
new democratic state which would undertake the development of new
economic and social relations in the nation free from imperialist
domination and feudal relations; and 3) the dynamic role of theory and
two-line struggle vs. eclectics, pragmatism and realpolitik. The
outlook and orientation, strategic conception and method which any
Party takes up—that is, their line—guides its political activity in
one direction or another. In two-line struggles like this, the stakes
are very high: which line wins out can lead to advance, setback—or
even betrayal.
Digging deeply into this article—and the letters from the RCP, USA and
the CPN(M)—is serious, and necessary revolutionary work. This two-line
struggle requires an approach which comprehends the life and death
stakes of its outcome. The approach of our Party, the RCP, USA has
been to proceed from communist goals and basic principles of the
science of communism, to go into the questions in a thorough and all
sided way. Not only does the future of the revolution in Nepal hang
ever more precariously in the balance, but only by drawing the lessons
from this ideological and political struggle and more deeply grasping
what genuine communism is can the revolutionary forces go forward on a
correct basis and advance the cause of emancipating all of humanity.
We urge all our readers to study the introductory article and dig into
the letters posted on line—and to engage in deep, informed discussion
with the Party and others concerning these vital questions of
ideological and political line. Come to the presentations which will
be sponsored by Revolution Books*—and organize discussions...with your
comrades and friends.
This article and the letters need to find their way into the hands of
many people– from revolutionaries in the U.S. and others who have been
following the developments in Nepal, to immigrants and students from
abroad, including from South Asia, to the international communist
movement. It needs to get out into the areas of the cities—from the
ghettos and barrios to the campuses and scenes of intellectual ferment—
and among people of all strata where the revolutionary and communist
movement is developing. It needs to reach all those who are searching
for a way out of this horror—and the path to real liberation. And, it
is an opening for those who are searching for such answers to find out
what communism really is and how human society could be organized in a
whole different way. This issue of Revolution needs to reach these
people and more—and this article and the letters it introduces need to
spread throughout society and the world on the Internet.
This line struggle further underscores the historic importance of the
Manifesto from the Party, Communism: The Beginning of a New Stage. As
that Manifesto says, the international communist movement is at a
crossroads. It confronts the question of whether to be, as the
Manifesto puts it, “a vanguard of the future or residue of the past?”
The line struggle which is carried out in depth in these letters is
both situated within this larger world context and is also a
concentration of it. And it is vital for all to engage with this
Manifesto...as they study and wrestle with the two-line struggle in
relation to the revolution in Nepal. As this issue of the paper gets
distributed among all kinds of people, this Manifesto needs to
accompany it. With the defeat of the revolution in China and the
restoration of capitalism in that country, the first stage of
communist revolution in the world ended. And Bob Avakian, Chairman of
the RCP, has led in scientifically summing up that experience,
building on the monumental achievements and critically summing up the
shortcomings—and, on that basis, bringing forward a new theoretical
framework for carrying forward communist revolution in the world. This
synthesis, as concentrated in this Manifesto, urgently needs to be
engaged by all who see the horror of the world the way it is and burn
for a different future, free of exploitation and oppression. It
represents a source of hope and daring, on a scientific foundation—for
masses the world over.
* For events in New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area:
http://www.revcom.us/revbooks