Communist Movement in Nepal

Author(s): M. D. Gurung
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 12, No. 44 (Oct. 29, 1977), pp. 1849-1852
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4366057
Accessed: 22-12-2015 14:49 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Economic and Political
Weekly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 141.117.125.76 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:49:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY October 29, 1977

NEPAL movement, a conference of the NNC

was hurriedly called at Varanasi in
Communist Movement in Nepal June 1946. But at Varanasi, the rank
and file revolted against the withdrawal
M D Gurung of the movement and the feeling
against the leadership was so strong
THE commurnnist movement in Nepal hii Calcutta. It was Nepal's first- that M P Koirala thought it prudent
can be broadly considered under two niational political organisation. Three not to attend the conference. After
heads: first, the spread of Marxist trends were represented in the Nepali a great deal of heated discussion, the
ideas in Nepal: and second, the forma- National Congress: Liberal-Feudal; Varanasi conference agreed on a com-
tion of the Communist Party of Nepal Constitutional Monarchist; Communist. promise formula on the question of
(CPN) itself in the year 1949. It elected Tanka Prasad Acharya, who reforms and new office bearers and a
was undergoing life imprisonment in new central committee were elected.
SPREAD OF MARXIST IDEAS Nepal, as its President. But nio sooner this patchwork unity
It was around the year 1930 that The formation of the Nepali National was achieved than M P Koirala, with
revolutionary forces in Nepal began to Congress inspired the Nepalese revolu- the help of some liberal feudals, called
come into direct contact with Marxist tionaries to fight the Ranashahi. Within a meeting of sorrme of the CC members
literature. A person named Bihari used months of the formation of NNC, on of the NNC and caused a new split
to smuggle revolutionary books into March 4, 1946, the workers of Jogbani- in the Congress. The Royalists and
Nepal particularly Kathmandu, the Biratnagar, the only industrial town in the liberal feudals took the advantage
capital of the kingdom. Among these Nepal, went on a strike to press for of this rift and tried to widen it in
books, Ralf Fox's "Communism" and their immediate economic demands such a way that both the groups would
Gorky's "Mother" were very popular. and better living conditions. The NNC get discredited in the eyes of . the
Among the four popular martyrs of supported the struggle; but the strike people. To achieve this, on the one
this period, two, Desharath Chandra was crushed and the leaders of the hand they financed both the groups
and Ganga Lal, used to read those movement
- B P Koirala, Man Mohan separately and, on the other, tried to
hooks. Adhikari, Bal Chandra Sharma among win over the revolutionaries of promi-
During the Second World War Stalin others
- were arrested and sent to nence to their side by heavily bribing
was very much talked about in the Kathmandu. them. The result was a new political
capital and he was highly praised. The Hurriedly a conference of the NNC organisation - Nepali Democratic
building of Socialism was also much was called at Jogbani in India. The Congress- whose president and gene-
talked about. The Nepalese revolu- conference decided to launch a satya- ral secretary were, respectively, Mahen-
tionaries were highly impressed parti- graha movement throughout Nepal dra Bikram Shah and P B Kansakar.
cularly by the land reforms that had with the following demands: release Dissatisfied with 'this state of affairs,
taken place in.Russia. They organised of political prisoners; civil liberties, other prominent NNC leaders tried to
the Prajatantrin Sangha (1943-44) and political rights and freedom and bring about unity between the two
accepted a socialist song as their legalisation of the Nepali National groups. These-efforts failed which led
Marching Song. Congress. For the first time in the to leaders like Pushpa Lal resigning
During and after the Second World political history of Nepal the Nepalese from the NNC and devoting themselves
War the conflict between 'Socialist' people staged a political demonstration to a study of Marxist literature.
and 'Communist' formulations in India with political slogans like "Down with Pushpa Lal in fact translated the Com-
also had their impact on the communist Ranashahi"; "Long live democratic munist Manifesto into Nepalese and it
movement in Nepal, though there was rights and liberties"; "Release all was published with a long introduction
always a strong tendency within the political prisoners", throughout the dealing with the then current political
Nepalese communist movement which country. The whole Kathmandu Valley situation in Nepal in April 1949.
maintained that it had to unitedly turned out against the' Ranashahi; the It is clear fromnthe above that many
make a common cause against the houses were empty, and the streets be- Nepalese revolutionaries were familar
common enemy, i e, feudalism. The came a sea of human heads. with Marxist ideology, and consequent-
Nepalese students and political exiles It is noteworthy that many of the ly, they were dissatisfied with the com-
in India were in contact with the satyagrahis later joined the Communist promising and conciliatory politicians
various political trends prevailing then Party of Nepal. Under the pressure of of the NNC leadership. The Nepalese
in India - Congress, Socialists, Com- the people's movement, the Ranas were revolutionaries were in search of an
munists, Royists. It is noteworthy that forced to release the political prisoners, alternative path for the democratic
the Congress and Royist trends could and, playing the usual tricks of thr movement in Nepal. The path could
not find their political counterparts in ruling class, the Rana rulers proclaimed not be any other than the Marxist-
Nepal; only the Communist and Social- that they intended to introduce some Leninist path. The birth of the Coin-
ist trends did. Among the Socialists. 'reforms' in Nepal. The need of the inunist Party of Nepal was thus a
B P Koirala and among the Commun- hournwas to press the enemy hard historical necessity. The Communist
ists, M M.,Adhikari became prominent while it was at bay; but the leadership Part' of Nepal came into being at a
in Nepal. of the Nepali National Congress, certain stage of democratic movement
After the Second World War, the headed by M P Koirala, made a secret when its leadership, at the cost of the;
Nepalese revolutionaries of all views deal with the Ranas and withdrew the people's movement, started to sese
wvorkingseparately in various parts of movement on the ground that the compromises with the common enemy
Nepal united under the banner of demands were anyway going to be of the people .of Nepal - the feudal
Nepali National Congress (NNC) which fulfilled. autocracy then headed by the Rana-
came into being on January 26, 1946, To justify this withdrawal of the shahi.

1849

This content downloaded from 141.117.125.76 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:49:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
October 29, 1977 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

BIRTH OF THIE PARTY of Inidia by offering Nepalese soldiers Hle also did not fail to advise him not.
Soon after the publication of the to crush the Telengana peasants move- to appoint his kith and kin in the ad-
Communist Manifesto in the Nepali ment and to guard the Indo-Pakistani ministration. This advice of Lohia
language, the Communist revolutiona- border. But the Government of India went against the compromising policy
ries of Nepal started meeting. They riefused to indulge in such deals and, of the leadershrip of the Nepali Con-
began to chalk out a plan to give an taking into account the people's anger gress and was rejected. But the
organised shape to the Communist against the century-old Ranashahi, it Nepali Communists regarded Lohia as
idea inl Nepal, which meant a concrete tried to brinig about a compromise a true friend of the Nepalese demo-
analysis of the historical conditions of among the three forces: the King, the cratic movement. It was the CPN
the Nepalese society, The Communist Bania Prime Minister's- family and which came out in support of Lohia's
revolutionaries had to discover the the Nepali Congress (which had been advice. The CPN supported the armed
laws of Nepalese society and move the formed after the merger of the Nepal struggle of the Nepalese people, and
entire masses according to these laws Democratic Congress and the NNC called upon- the people, particularly the
to bring about a radjcal change in Koirala group in the later part of 1949). peasants, to arm themselves, confiscate
Nepalese society. The Government of India knew that the lands of the landlords and distri-
if the Ranashahi remained in power as bute them among the peasantry. It also
They discussed, among themselves,
before, the people of Nepal might make appealed for strengthening the peo-
three possibilities for giving the idea
a revolution as would be beyond its ple's revolutionary army. All over the
an organised shape-: work as a Left
control. But the Government of India country, the peasants, the radical wing
group inside the Nepalese Congress;
wrongly equated the democratic move- of the Nepali Congress and the Com-
organise as a workers-peasants party; with anti-communism and munists made common cause to distri-
ment
form a communist party itself in
hence extended support to it, hoping bute the lands to the peasants and
Nepal. Ultimately, it was decided to
thus to contain possible revolutionary punish the landlords and culprits
form an organising committee of the through people's courts. The landlords
changes in Nepal.
CPN which came into being in April
The Ranas, however, refused to had no alternative, but to run away
1949, with Pushpa Lal as its Secretary.
make any such deal. They sought to from their areas where they had ruled
An appeal wvas drafted in the name of
strengthen their position by winning supreme.
the CPN and ptublished. It asked the
over international allies, namely, the Alarmed at this rising tide of the
people - the peasants, workers, youth
British and American imperialists. anti-feudal movement, the ruling Ranas,
and students, the national bourgeoisie
Nepal under Ranashahi applied for the the ki'ig and his family and the leaders
and the entire democratic people of
membership of the UN; but the USSR of the NC made a deal at Delhi under
Nepal - to make a common cause to
came to the support of the democratic the mediation of the Indian leaders.
fight for civil liberties. It appealed to
movement in Nepal and used its veto The deal is known in Nepal as Delhi
the people to form underground civil
to deprive Rana Nepal from UN mem- Compro-mise. It made the safe return
liberties committees and use legal and of King Tribhuwan possible. He
bership.
illegal means to win civil liberties
Meanwhile, the people of Nepal, was declared the sovereign and he, in
without wvhichno section of the Nepa-
inspired by the victory of the Com- ,turn, promised to hold elections for
lese people could progress.
munist Party of China and the transfer the constituent assembly by the end of
A large number of democratic youth of power in India, were restive to 1952. A coalition ministry consisting of
and students were attracted towards launch a movement against the Rana- the Ranas and the Congress under the
the CPN's appeal. The Central Orga- shahi. Spontaneous movements broke premiership of Mohan Shamsher was
nising Committee of the .CPN decided out in various parts of the country. formed; B P Koirala was made Home
to work among the youth and students, The leaders of the Nepali Congress Minister.
workers, peasants and intellectuals. It were thus compelled to launch a move- Some units of the liberation army
decided to publish 'Communist Pachhik ment hgainst the Ranashahi although refused to lay down arms. Ram Prasad
Prachar Patra' in Nepali. The first they still hoped to bring about a com- Rai in the east, Ek Dev Ale in the
issue came out on September 15, 1949, promise. central region, K I Singh in the mid-
with the Manifesto of the CPN- the It was thus that armed struggle Terai region, Chitra Bahadur Gurung
first document which studied the under the leadership of the Nepali in the far west were the leaders of
Nepalese history from a historical Congress began on November 11, 1950. these u-nits. They continued the
materialist outlook. The date is sym- The runaway King Tribbuwan support- struggle. The Nepal army and the
bolic; and is of great historical impor- ed the struggle from Delhi, where he police were incapable of disarming
tance. It was on September 15, 1848 was with his ftimily staying as a guest them. In violation of the initernational-
that Jung Bahadur Rana, with the help of the Government of India. border, the Indian army then marched
of the British imperialists, had staged Special mention has to be made here inside Nepalese territory and with their
a coup which is known in Nepalese of Ram Manohar Lohia, the Indian superior force cordoned off the Nepa-
history as Kot Pa'rbha(Court Massacre), Socialist'leader, who helped the Nepa- lese rebels and started disarming them.
by massacring the entire anti-British lese revolutionaries to get organised Under various pretexts and coyers, the
nobles, usurping royal power and and give a fatal blow to feudalism in Indian army units were stationed inside
establishing the Rana dynasty. Nepal. He advised the leaders of the the country or just near the border.
Nepali Congress, particularly B P The CPN strongly opposed the hated
ROLE OF CPN IN THE 1950-51 Koirala, to distribute the lands of the Delhi compromise and condemned the
REVOLUTION landlords to the peasants in course of - Indian intervention. All the nationalist.
Instead of introducing the protnisedI the armed-struggle. He also advised and radical democrats rallied under the
reformls-,3theRana ruling class tried to himn to prepare the ground for the CPN banner. The CPN took a lead of
secure the support of the Government election of the constituten.t assemnbly. the people's struggle for defence 'of

1850

This content downloaded from 141.117.125.76 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:49:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY October 29, 1977

national sovereignty and the extension
of democratic rights and freedlonm. It
dlemanded the exclusioni of the Ranas
trom power and pun1]ishmlenitof those
responsible for the Indliani interventionl.
It deman(led the callinig of a coniferenice
of all the political parties, mass orga-
nisation and(l otitstan(liIIg individuals
to form an- interim parliamnent anid
elect an interim government to conduict
elections for a constittuenit assemrbly
within the proclaimed- (late. The party
wvas dletermined to dlefeat the conspiracy
of the king who was benit upon con-
,solidating his position.
The king for his part continued
to conspire to take away all the rights
achieved by the people through their
struggle. The king was for postponing
the elections for the constittuent
assembly under this or that Wpretext.
He was also consolidating his positioni
in the army and in administration.
Naturally, the feudals and nobles of
hiigh ranks and the priests were muster-
ing under the leadership of the king.
He was also winning over the leaders
of small parties to his side by offering
the ministerial office. The NC, instead
of supporting the current line of the
CPN, entered into a secret deal with
the king and agreed to the proposal to
put off the elections for the constituent
assembly. It agreed for the elections
of parliament under the constitution
given by the king. The right of the
people to frame the constitution of the
land was thus bartered away by the
NC.
DIFFERENCES INSIDE CPN
Differences arose inside the CPN
long before the split in the interna-
tional Communist movement took place.
These were mainly related to the con-
duct of the agrarian movement and the
identification of the main enemy. Since
its birth the CPN was advocating the
line of a united struggle against the
main enemy. After the change of
1950-51, as the feudal forces were get-
ting organised under the leadership of
the king, the party made a sharp
attack on the . Royal conspiracy and
conducted mighty peasant struggles.
Retaliating against the attack on the
party from the Nepali Congress leader-
ship, a section of the CPN leadership
regarded the NC as the main enemy.
The faction wrongly equated the Com-
munist 'movement in Nepal with an
anti-Congress an(I anti-Indian move-
ment. In the name of saving the
nation from Indian domination, it ad-
vocated that the party should give up
the line of militant peasant struggle.
The king and the Royal party saw their
allies insicle the Communist Party and(
promiiptly mnade a secret deal with this
faction which was headed by Majjhi, a
l)ig feuidal from Nawalpur (Parasi). The
line was (lefeated at the Second party
Congress which took place in 1954.
The differences again came to the
suirface immerliately after the dissolu-
tion of parliament lhy the king on
December 15, 1960. The Majjhi faction
shamielessly supported the Royal take-
over on the plea that the king intended
to save Nepal from Indian domination
as the Koirala ministry iwas selling the
country to India. The faction led by
Pushpa Lal opposed this line and
advocated the line of a united struggle
against the Royal takeover. The
central plenum of the party, held in
Darbhanga immediately after the Royal
takeover unanimously passed the line
advocated by Pushpa Lal. The Majjhi
faction could not mislead the rank and
file for long. They revolted against
the Majjhi faction and convened a
meeting of the inter-zonal committees.
This meeting openly denounced the
Majjhi faction as a Royalist faction. It
accepted the political resolution passed
by the Darbhanga plenum and appealed
to the entire rank and file to make the
Third Party Congress a success. It
elected Tulsi Lal as its Secretary. As
Pushpa Lal wag in the capital, he could
not attend the meeting, but he support-
ed the decision. All this was in the
year 1962.
In the meantime, the split in the
international communist movement be-
came more and more open and conten-
tious. In violation of the decision
reached at the international conference
of 1960, the CPSU took more and
more to the line of split in the inter-
national communist movement. As the
Majjhi faction had been thoroughly
discredited in the eyes of the Napalese,
the revisionist leadership of the Soviet
and Indian party wanted to win over
Pushpa Lal and Tulsi Lal to their
side. Pushpa Lal rejected the barter
move and demanded that they should
support the line of the CPN to struggle
against the king. Tulsi Lal accepted
the revisionist programme, thereby
causing yet another split in the Ne-
palese Communist movement. But Tulsi
Lal's acceptance of the revisionist
programme was in vain. The entire
rank and file deserted Tulsi Lal and
the historic 3rd conference of the CPN
took place in May 1968 and elected
Pushpa Lal as ihe General Secretary
of the party. It adopted a review of the
party in which the emphasis was on
building the party on the basis of its
owvn experiencel. It advocated frater-
nal relations with all the parties on the
I)asis of e(qutality. It supported the
line advocated by the Communist
party of China as the correct line of
creatinig uinity in the international
comuinist movement and condemned
the Soviet line as a line of split. It
adopted a niew democratic programme,
Nvhich was the elaboration of the first
party programme, published on Sep-
tember 16, 1949. It also elected a
central committee.
In the meanwhile, Mahendra was
forced to release B P Koirala and
Ganesh Man Singh, leaders of the NC,
owing to Indian and international pres-
sure. At the same time, the king enter-
ed into negotiations with Man Mohar.
Adhikari, Shambhu Rain and Mohan
Bikram while they were in jail through
the mediation of Tanka Prasad Acha-
rya. It was obvious that the aim of the
negotiations was nothing but to win
over these Communist leaders to his
side to counterbalance the leadership
Congress which had
of the Nepali
issued a statement against the grow-
The
ing Communist danger in Nepal.
three Communist leaders were duly
preaching
released and they started
their theory that the king was a 'Siha-
nouik'. They glorified the king, the
usurper of the rights of the people, as
"a national hero fighting against In-
dian expansionism". They did it under
They regarded
the cover of Maoism.
the Nepali Congress as an agent of
Indian expansionism and they condem-
ned Pushpa Lal as the agent of the
Nepali Congress. Their line was to
take the king to the point of no return
on the national question - alas, minus
the peasantry. Meanwhile, the anti-
Communist statements issued by
Subarna Shanmsher on the eve of
Koirala's release, aggravated tensions
between Congress and Cornmunist
workers. On the release of the Com-
munist leaders (M M Adhikari, Sham-
bhu Ram and Mohan Bikram), the
tension took a violent turn and Cong-
ress-Communist riots, confined mainly
to youth and students occurred in all
the towns, particularly in the capital,
Biratnagai in the east and Dang in the
Nvest. The CPN condemned these riots
as a part of the Royal conspiracy to
keep the democratic movement divided.
It reiterated its appeal for united
struggle against the panchayat system
and for democratic rights and liber-
ties. The impact of the party's appeal
was so great that B P Koirala too had
to give an open statement condemning

1851

This content downloaded from 141.117.125.76 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:49:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
October 29, 1977 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

the CommunlJoist-Congress riots. The
game of the three so-called communist
leaders was foiled and they were iso-
lated from the militant youth and
student masses.
A section of the Communist militant
youth and students then saw a correct
lite in the annihilation campaign
launched by the CPI(ML) in India.
Without any mass base and mass mobili-
sation of the militant cadres, under the
illusion of one area, one unit, one squad.
annihilation and then revolution, they
merely imitated the line of the Naxa-
lites and practised it in Jhape district
in East Nepal, bordering Naxalbari.
The CPN appealed to them to give up
their line as it could not bring about
revolution in the country. It appealed
to them to join the party and prepare
mass bases in the tribal and rural
areas, for this was the only way to
prepare the people for a decisive strug-
gle against feudalism and foreign do-
mination and to build a new democra-
tic Nepal under the leadership of the
working class.
and students and intellectuals -under
the central leadership of the party.
The domiciled Nepalese also support
the stand taken by the party. The
Congress-Communist division among
the youth and students has beeii
eroded. These groups have realised
that the Communist-Congress riots
only weakened the camp of democracy
and strengthened the camp of counter-
revolutionaries.
Owing to all these facts, the Com-
munist Party of Nepal has regained
its formal position and has emerged as
one of the important national political
forces. Neither the enemy nor the
allies of the democratic revolution can
ignore the party. It is becoming more
and more clear to the revolutionaries
that the leadership of the Nepali Con-
gress seeks only some adjustments with-
in the panchayat system, whereas the
CPN boldly advocates an alternative
programme to the panchayat system.
But still there are certain people in
the communist as well as democratic
camp who refuse to see reason. Some
of the communists wrongly think that
the king and the Nepali Congress are
equally the main enemy. There are
also people in the democratic camp
who think that it is not the panchayat
system but the communists who are
the main enemy.
The CPN for its part is of the opinion
that there is now no time for empty
slogans and sentiments; what is
necessary is a radical, democratic alter-
native to the panchayat system. For
this the party directs its rank and file
to make a thorough study of the con-
crete conditions and find out solutions
to the problems. The habit of looking
beyond the world or beyond the border
for guidance has to be given up.
Marxism is after all based on the laws
of social development. Hence, it is
the imperative task of all the Nepalese
revolutionaries to find out the laws of
the Nepalese social developments, so
that we are not distracted from the
correct path.

THE TASKS AHEAD

From their experiences most of the
youth and students have now realised
that the line taken by them was wrong.
They have realised the correctness of
the party line of buildng a unitee
struggle of all social and political forces
against the common enemy, i e, the
panchayat system headed by the king.
The differences which arose in the
party regarding the main enemy of the
revolution and its allies have been
settled in favour of the party line and
now it is universally accepted that the
feudal-dictatorial panchayat system,
headed by the king, is the main enemy.
"Unite, consolidate and strike the
enemy" should be the guiding line,
and hence, the party has given the
slogan: keep the separate identities
of various political parties and groups;
unite in the common cause for the
restoration of democratic rights and
liberties.
The correctness of the party line has
also been proved by the fact that, more
and more, the radical wing of the
Nepali Congress, specially youth and
students, have begun to realise the
compromising politics of their leaders
under the cover of anti-communism.
This wing has refused to equate the
democratic movement with anti-com-
munism.
The party has been able to work in
12 zones out of 14 zones and in 50
There
districts out of 75; districts.
are three central fronts -kisan, youth
INDIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAI SCIENCE
RESEARCH
Fellowships for Young Social Scientists
The ICSSR has instituted Junior Fellowships for Young Social
Scientists who satisfy the following conditions:-
i) Scholars who have completed their Ph.D. or have equivalent
research work of merit to their credit.
ii) Who are in service and below the age of 35 years.
iii) Who have shown potential for social science research.
The purpose of the Fellowship is to provide opportunities for
scholars to engage themselves on a whole time basis in important re-
search schemes in which they may be currently interested and to
provide facilities for social scientists to write books about their re-
searches or significant studies.
As remunerationthe Fellow will get the same pay as he would
have drawn from time to time in his parent Institution. In addition
he would be entitled to allowances available for employees of similar
categories in the Institution of his affiliation. He will also be entitled
to a Contingent grant of upto Rs. 5000/- a year.
Eligible social scientists may apply for the award of a fellowship
with the following:
1. A detailed note on the research scheme of about 3000 to
4000 wordE. (4 copies).
2. Bio-data (4 copies)
3. Scale of pay, actual pay, date of next increment.
4. Name of the Institution to which the social scientist wishes
to attach himself.
Applications may be submitted through proper channel so as to
reach the Member-Secretary, Indian Council of Social Science Research,
IIPA Hostel Building, Indraprastha Estate, Ring Road, New Delhi
110 001, by 30th November 1977.

1852

This content downloaded from 141.117.125.76 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:49:51 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions