Important development

[Saorsa]

This is fascinating. If you check the News from Nepal thread, you'll see that the Maoists have banned party leaders from commenting to the media 'against party policy' and of their own accord. The party is enforcing democratic centralism on its leaders and forming a powerful disciplinary committee to keep the leaders in line and prevent them from publishing opinion pieces etc in the media without party consent.

Guess who's in charge of this disciplinary committee?

Think about what this means in light of the recent factional struggles and various statements we've seen.


UCPN (Maoist) adopts stringent measure on information and opinion dissemination

Unified CPN (Maoist) has directed its leaders and various party affiliated publications not to publish any news items or opinion articles against the party policy on Tuesday.

A standing committee meeting of the party held at party headquarters, Koteshwar on Tuesday decided to adopt a stringent approach on information and opinion dissemination and form a powerful disciplinary committee led by vice chairman Mohan Baidhya to monitor articles published by party leaders in various newspapers and magazine.

Party spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said after the meeting, publication of articles against party policy will be controlled as the trend to express opinions against party policy had increased after the party joined mainstream politics.

According to Sharma, the standing committee has also decided to hold an extended central committee meeting on November 22 and the national conferences of various sister organisations affiliated to the party after that.

The standing committee has approved the three-point agreement done with UML on Friday and urged Nepali Congress to withdraw its candidacy for the post of Prime Minister to create an environment for consensus.

It has also decided to merge party's sister organisations Federation of National Industry and Trades and Industry Association. nepalnews.com

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/9338-ucpn-maoist-adopts-stringent-measure-on-information-and-opinion-dissemination.html

Kiran is now head of a commission that investigates and disciplines party leaders who have overly luxurious lifestyles. He's also the head of the commission which can discipline leaders for saying the wrong thing in the wrong place. Kiran is becoming extremely powerful within the party!

[Saorsa]

Maoist party to gag own leaders

POST BAHADUR BASNET

KATHMANDU, Sept 22: The UCPN (Maoist) has decided to take strict action against party leaders who speak publicly against the party leadership and spill the beans before media.

A meeting of the party Standing Committee on Tuesday took a decision to this effect.



“We will take strong measures against the tendency of arbitrarily speaking against the party’s declared policies and mudslinging against the leadership,” Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma told reporters.

The party decision comes at a time when ideological differences among the top leaders have increased and intra-party tensions heightened with leaders publicly attacking each other in popular media and in their own publications.

The party is vertically split into three factions -- led by Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and vice chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr Baburam Bhattarai who represent three different ideological lines.

Sharma acknowledged that the party has witnessed a surge in outpourings in the media against established policies and in lashing out at each other.

Just last Monday, in his interview with a Nepali weekly, Maoist leader Devendra Poudel stated that he was against the “deification and glorification of the party leadership as infallible”, adding that he has always pushed for “democratic centralism” in the party. Poudel, who is regarded close to Bhattarai, was lacerating Dahal, the “all-powerful” chairman of the Maoist party.

Reflecting the growing factionalism in the party, market is also inundated with publications, representing these different ideological lines and attacking the dissenting views. There are over two dozen such publications which are said to be patronized by the top leaders who can’t stand each other.

The last issue of the Lalrakshyak, which is close to Dahal, even demanded physical action against Bhattarai. “Running a ministry effectively and running a government are different things,” the magazine wrote attacking Bhattarai.

The magazine, edited by Deputy in-charge of Maoist Newa State, also attacked Baidya: “Now the Maoist leadership (read Dahal) has to make all these deviationists naked and force them to stand in the streets. Now it is not the time to accommodate all such deviations in the name of party unity; we should launch an intra-party struggle to differentiate between the true revolutionary and rightist deviationists and settle the matter from the battleground of struggle.”

The Rato Jhilko (Red Spark), which is edited by Bhattarai’s daughter Manushi, is focused on promoting the ideological line of her father than launching direct attacks on Dahal and Baidya. But the quarterly magazine dubs Baidya’s views as “left adventurism” and Dahal as a leader without any firm ideological ground.

There are more publications in favor of Baidya than Dahal and Bhattarai. The Communist Outlook and Samayabaddha, both Nepali magazines, promote the views of Baidya while denouncing those held by Dahal and Bhattarai. The magazine dubs Dahal’s views as “centrist” and Bhattarai’s as “rightist”.

Going by the principle of democratic centralism in a communist party, leaders hold the right to disagree with the establishment in the party meetings and can speak out their mind, but once decisions are taken, they cannot publicly speak against them.

“But the factionalism in the Maoist party has grown so much that leaders are freely attacking their rival factions in the media,” says a senior Maoist leader.

The meeting also decided to set up a disciplinary department to investigate the violations against the party’s code of conduct as well as speaking against the party’s formal decisions. The party had formulated such committees in the past too.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=23564

[chegitz guevara]

I believe this should tell us something big is coming.

[The Vegan Marxist]

This is great news! Baidhya is definitely gaining mass support within the party. Let's see where this'll lead the Maoists now. :thumbup1:

[maskerade]

this is great news! revolutionaries should not be playing politician, and this is a step in the right direction (or should i say left? harr harr...).

I was surprised that it has taken them this long to adopt democratic centralism though, with factions being so visible within the party, it would be an attempt to ensure unity.

[RED DAVE]

I have been following the events in Nepal for almost a year now, but I still get somewhat confused by names. Could someone post a list of the major leaders of the UNCP(M), their party names and nicknames and the tendencies they represent? A sentence or two on their personal backgrounds would also be cool. Eventually, this could evolve into a sticky.

RED DAVE

[chegitz guevara]

this is great news! revolutionaries should not be playing politician, and this is a step in the right direction (or should i say left? harr harr...).

I was surprised that it has taken them this long to adopt democratic centralism though, with factions being so visible within the party, it would be an attempt to ensure unity.

Yeah, cuz factions were never visible in the Bolsheviks before the revolution. :rolleyes:

BTW, this isn't democratic centralism. It's not even as aspect of democratic centralism. This is more about security in a period very likely leading up to a revolt.

[The Vegan Marxist]

I have been following the events in Nepal for almost a year now, but I still get somewhat confused by names. Could someone post a list of the major leaders of the UNCP(M), their party names and nicknames and the tendencies they represent? A sentence or two on their personal backgrounds would also be cool. Eventually, this could evolve into a sticky.

RED DAVE

The leaders' names & pictures are on the right. As far as distinct details on each leader, Comrade A's the best person to go to for that.

http://www.ucpnm.org/english/index.php

[Saorsa]

I believe this should tell us something big is coming.

I agree. I think this indicates the UCPN (M) is trying to prevent certain party leaders from doing what Zinoviev and Kamenev did in 1917. I think this also indicates that Kiran's line, as media reports suggested, is supported by most of the party.


I have been following the events in Nepal for almost a year now, but I still get somewhat confused by names. Could someone post a list of the major leaders of the UNCP(M), their party names and nicknames and the tendencies they represent? A sentence or two on their personal backgrounds would also be cool. Eventually, this could evolve into a sticky.

I think that's a great idea Dave, although it would take some time to do... I could put up a few of the most important leaders today.

Which names were confusing you in particular in this article?

[DaringMehring]

As a Baidya booster, all I can say is, hooray!