Eyewitness to Nepal's revolution (with video)

March 26, 2010
Issue 
Video: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepal revolution, Part 1. YouTube/SocialistWorkerNZ.

Ben Peterson is an activist with the socialist youth organisation Resistance and the Socialist Alliance who spent four-and-half-months in Nepal last year. In New Zealand for a March 21-26 speaking tour, Peterson spoke to UNITYblog, run by Socialist Worker New Zealand, about his experiences in Nepal — where a mass movement brought down a centuries-old monarchy, established a republic in 2008, and the poor continue to struggle for genuine democracy and social justice.

* * *

Why did you visit Nepal?

I was in Nepal last year from the beginning of March to July. I went to Nepal to see the social and political transformations taking place.

I'd first come into contact with the revolutionary process there in 2006, but didn't really start to study what was happening there until 2008 when the Maoists [Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M)] won the constituent assembly elections.

The more I read what was happening there the more excited I was. But it was really hard to find good and reliable sources of information, particularly from a progressive point of view.

So I decided that to really get a handle of what's happening there, I should go and see it for myself.

Were you surprised by what you experienced there?

Yes. It's one thing to read about mass struggles going on, but it's totally another to go and actually see it, to meet the people involved and to see this sort of process playing out in front of you.

The level of popular engagement with politics, and how widespread the process was, was mind-blowing. Every little village had a union office, or a party organisation or something.

It was amazing to see real revolutionary changes happening before my eyes, I couldn't really be prepared for that. No amount of reading lets you really understand these sort of processes until you see them.

The UCPN-M won the 2008 elections, but resigned from government last year. Why did they do that?

The UCPN-M didn't so much leave as were forced out. It is very important recognise it as a coup. When the Maoists took government, they embarked on a very ambitious program, a revolutionary one.

They started to try to provide employment opportunities and relief to the poor. They started to build up new state structures and to attack the old.

This brought fierce resistance from the established elite, who are ingrained into the existing state. This came to a head over the continuation of the peace process that ended the decade-long armed conflict between the Maoist-led People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the royalist Nepalese Army.

The Maoists attempted to push the process, part of the peace accords, of dismantling the royalist army and create a new national army out of it and the PLA.

The military chief refused to implement this process and questioned the very right of the government to have control of the military. In the name of civilian supremacy and democracy, the Maoist government sacked the chief — which they had every right to do.

However, the president (from the conservative Nepali Congress) went outside of his constitutional powers and reinstated the army chief of staff.

The Maoists resigned in the name of democracy and civilian supremacy. They left because the key institutions of the state proved not to be democratic. The institutions didn't answer to the people of Nepal, but to a tiny elite in Kathmandu and the ambassadors of foreign countries.

Who is in government now?

The current illegitimate government is an unprincipled alliance of supposed "communists", nationalists, royalists, ethnic chauvinists and bureaucrats. The only commonality between them is that they are not revolutionaries and are against any real changes — particularly to the state and the military.

The current prime minister is Madhav Kumar Nepal. He was defeated not once but twice in the elections (he ran separately in two constituencies) and only got into parliament through an after-election nomination.

The entire government is a farce. It's unelected, unwanted and has no common program or aims except to try and stop the revolution.

What does Maoism mean to the Nepalese communists?

It's important to view the Nepalese Maoists as revolutionaries in their own right. You achieve nothing by putting a historic analysis of [the failings of] the Chinese communists on a situation in a radically different time, place and party.

Maoism in Nepal is pro-people and very conscious of developing a fighting base. It is open, democratic and has a strong criticism of bureaucracy. It champions the rights of women, oppressed nationalities and castes.

It's a revolutionary movement challenging the state and trying to build one that is qualitatively different. In a word, it means revolution.

What does communism mean to them?

The liberation of human society — ultimately a classless and stateless society. What is important is what they think about how to get there.

They know that the masses of people in Nepal must be mobilised. They actively involve and organise the masses of Nepali society into trade unions, student unions, peasants unions, women's associations and youth associations.

They are taking up peoples' day-to-day struggles, distributing land to the landless etc.

Also, they are conscious that they need to develop a new and fundamentally democratic state to protect the rights of people in the transition. They recognise the important mistakes made in the former USSR and China. They are aware that it is important for a new state to be developed, not just for their party to take power, but to find ways and avenues to increase popular participation in society, especially in any new revolutionary state.

Do they see the goal of the revolution as "socialist" or are they following some sort of "stages theory" where capitalism and democracy is established first?

This is a broad mass party and there are differences of opinion about what the revolution can achieve at the present time. The economic and political reality of Nepal places very real limitations as to the pace that they can move towards "socialism", at least until there are real changes in India or they were able to link up with broader successful revolutionary movements internationally.

Most importantly there is universal agreement within the UCPN-M that a new pro-people state must be created and the class nature of this state must be based on the proletariat and the peasantry.

There are differences of opinion, however, among revolutionaries as to what the tasks of this state will be and how it will have to operate while imperialism is still dominant internationally.

Video: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepal revolution, Part 2. SocialistWorkerNZ.

Video: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepal revolution, Part 3. SocialistWorkerNZ.

Video: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepal revolution, Part 4. SocialistWorkerNZ.

Video: Ben Peterson speaks on Nepal revolution, Part 5. SocialistWorkerNZ.

 

 

You need Green Left, and we need you!

Green Left is funded by contributions from readers and supporters. Help us reach our funding target.

Make a One-off Donation or choose from one of our Monthly Donation options.

Become a supporter to get the digital edition for $5 per month or the print edition for $10 per month. One-time payment options are available.

You can also call 1800 634 206 to make a donation or to become a supporter. Thank you.