All Eyes on the CC

By Hisila Yami

Every central committee (CC) meeting of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or the UCPN (Maoist), is always carefully scrutinized both within the country and outside. This is understandable considering that the party had fought a war for 10 years and is now stepping in and out of government even while the peace process is yet to reach a logical conclusion. At present, the UCPN (Maoist) is holding a full central committee meeting for another round of democratic exercise to discuss the draft document presented by the politburo meeting. It is important to know what the UCPN (Maoist) represents for those who are sympathetic to the party and, more importantly, for those who oppose it. This is important for the UCPN (Maoist) too for letting foe and friend know what the party stands for and what it is not. First of all, this party or the movements associated with it have not been implanted from outside. It is a homegrown affair unlike the Jhapa movement (1970s) which was a direct outcome of the Naxalite movement in India.

In the course of the 10 years of the People's War and peace, the party has avoided extremes. During the war, it carefully avoided militarism by putting a political commissar above the military commanders and by looking for peace options besides war. During the peace period, it has carefully avoiding capitulationism by resorting to all forms of struggles (be it street struggle, struggle in the Legislature House or struggle within the government) when reactionary decisions were taken. The party is also avoiding being sucked into a vicious circle of deadlocks during the transitional period thereby preventing reactionary forces from strengthening themselves. Hence, the decision to resume the Legislature House was taken recently (to allow the budget to be passed) even though the question of civil supremacy and the president's unconstitutional move has not been addressed.

The second aspect is that its outlook is holistic. This was true during the war as it waged total war by mobilizing all the instruments of war: the party, the army and the united fronts. It mobilized internal and international forces. Even today during the peace process, it is looking at the restructuring of the state holistically, hence the question of restructuring the Nepalese army is being taken seriously while the other parties have shown no interest in it.

The third point is that the UCPN (Maoist) is not dogmatist like the Masal Party which talks about class struggle but does not go for it when the situation demanded it. Nor is the UCPN (Maoist) a reformist party like the United Marxist-Leninist (UML) which talks of being communist but is mired in reformism only to preserve the status quo. Remember they joined the royalist implanted government in the name of half-rectified retrograde move in 2005?

The fourth aspect is that the UCPN (Maoist) believes in defending, using and developing the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism ideology. In today's world where the communist ideology is under attack especially after the fall of socialist states, some communist parties have become dogmatist in the name of defending the ideology, while other parties have become pragmatist in the name of survival. There are also anarchic parties which, in the name of modernizing Marxism, are nullifying the essence of Marxism. The correct approach is to defend, use and develop it. Hence, the UCPN (Maoist) is prepared to tread un-treaded roads daring to make mistakes and rectifying them earnestly in the course of its development.

The fifth aspect is that there are always vibrant democratic exercises taking place within the party. It is only on the basis of internal democracy that centralism within the party can be achieved. Among other reasons, it is lack of internal democracy that has led to splits within the communist movement and the failure of socialist states. The specificity of the UCPN (Maoist) is that it allows all the tendencies prevalent in Nepalese society to be expressed within the party while leading them through ideological supremacy using the method of unity struggle and transformation. It respects minority views as it is aware that the minority may have truth too. This is one reason there has been no splits in the party during the 10-year-long People's War and the present peace process. In fact, many left forces are today joining this party despite its being in the opposition.

Sixthly, the UCPN (Maoist) earnestly believes in competition among anti-feudalist and anti-imperialist forces. This is important not only for the masses but also for self-rectification of the party. The counter-revolution within the party can only be checked through periodic competition with other parties. Seventhly, the party always differentiates between the main and secondary contradictions. Hence, it is able to use an effective united front to isolate the main enemy while keeping at bay the secondary contradiction. It targeted the monarchy as the main source of contradiction as it was upholding feudalism which was responsible for the backwardness of the country.

The monarchists had been accusing the political parties fighting for democracy as being anti-nationals. It is important to note that the question of democracy in the communist movement has been wrongly associated with pro-expansionism and the question of nationalism with monarchism. Such concepts had led to allegations and counter-allegations thus bringing a split in the communist movement. The UCPN (Maoist) broke this vicious circle by asserting that it was internal democracy and internal nationalism which would ultimately save the country from being in the hands of a dictator and being sold to foreign countries. Hence the party was aware of the importance of holding the Constituent Assembly election to prepare the ground for a republican multiparty system (strengthening internal democracy). It prepared the ground for federalism on the basis of ethnicity, region and languages for national integration of the country (strengthening internal nationalism). Last but not the least, the party is aware of the dialectics of success and failure. Every success carries seeds of failure. Likewise, every failure carries seeds of success. It is important to avoid being conceited while succeeding and being hopeless while losing. In both the cases, one should be holistic. Hence, those who are speculating about the outcome of this central committee meeting may relax and wait for the final result.

Posted on: 2009-07-15 23:16:53 eKantipur.com