Maoist plenum has begun

[Saorsa]

This is the most significant internal debate since the decision to enter the peace process. The party is debating whether to go for an immediate seizure of power, or to continue attempting to push the struggle forward through the Constituent Assembly.

Needless to say - this is big.

Maoist extended CC meeting beginning today

The sixth extended Central Committee (CC) meeting of the Unified CPN (Maoist), viewed with much importance within and outside the party, is beginning Sunday afternoon in Palungtar of Gorkha district.

Some 6,000 delegates from across the country have arrived in Palungtar for the important extended CC meet. The delegates include over 1,000 People's Liberation Army (PLA) members staying in various cantonments.

Maoist leadership decided to include the PLA members in such large numbers despite objection from other parties, Nepal Army and the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) - monitoring the peace process in Nepal.

Central leaders including chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vice chairmen Mohan Baidhya, Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, among others reached the plenum venue Saturday evening.

The extended CC meet will begin after a Central Committee meeting approves the agenda set by the standing committee this morning.

Three separate political dossiers prepared by chairman Dahal and vice chairmen Baidhya and Bhattarai will be presented at the plenum. This is the first time three separate dossiers are being presented at a Maoist plenum.

The extended CC meet is viewed with importance as it is taking place at a time when the party is going through grave internal differences and the nation's peace process is going through a critical juncture.

Extended CC is the highest body in UCPN (Maoist) as it does not hold a general convention. This is the sixth extended CC meeting of the party and the second after the beginning of the peace process in 2006.

The fifth extended CC meet had taken place in Balaju, Kathmandu three years ago. There were fewer participants in the previous meet.

Logistics and Security

Tamuwan State Committee of the UCPN (Maoist) has taken charge of arranging the logistics for the plenum.

It has constructed over 500 huts from local materials equipped with water and electricity to house the delegates. Half the delegates will be housed at the huts, while the other half will be accommodated at the houses of local people.

Food will be served through 44 different places. A private catering company has been contracted to feed the delegates and the volunteers. The party is paying about Rs 10 million to the catering for the service.

A Hall with capacity to accommodate about 6,000 people has also been constructed.

A health centre with 50 health personnel including eight doctors has been established to take care of the health of the delegates.

About 1,500 volunteers including cadres of Young Communist League and the student wing of the Maoists have been deployed.

YCL has taken charge of the security of the meeting Hall, while Nepal Police and Armed Police Force will guard the plenum venue from outside the meeting hall and the accommodation huts. nepalnews.com




http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/10947-maoist-extended-cc-meeting-beginning-today.html

[Saorsa]

Dahal defends his political line at plenum POST B BASNET

PALUNGTAR, GORKHA, Nov 21: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday said that his party cannot remain complacent with the political achievements made so far and that the ongoing plenum would chart a concrete policy to complete the "revolution" in Nepal.

"We cannot remain complacent. The course of the revolution must be taken ahead until we create a society free of all sorts of oppressions and realize the martyrs´ dream. We will not stop until we achieve peace and constitution as desired by the people," said Dahal addressing the sixth plenum that kicked off at Palungtar, Gorkha.


Dahal has taken a "vague centrist ideological line" between the two opposite extreme lines floated by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai respectively, and gave a long speech defending his own line.

In his speech, Dahal stressed on four things: Safeguarding the political achievements made so far, charting the further course of revolution which he thinks is the continuous process, attacking the two extreme lines floated by Baidya and Bhattarai respectively, and his unquestionable leadership of the party.

Over 5,500 party cadres were seated cross-legged in the emotionally-charged meeting hall as Dahal continued his speech attacking "ultra-leftist" ideological line of Baidya and "revisionist" line of Bhattarai. While Baidya is for preparing grounds for an immediate revolt to seize state power and impose a one-party dictatorship, Bhattarai has pushed for the institutionalization of the political achievements made so far before taking another stride toward realizing the communist goal.

"Gorkha is a place where the party line of revisionism had received a blow in 1978. So we will get a new energy from the event against revisionism," Dahal thundered attacking the party-line of Bhattarai. And he was not less severe in his criticism against "ultra-leftist" line of Baidya.

"We should ditch the mindset that republicanism, federalism, secularism and the agreement on social justice achieved through the force of the decade-long People´s War and the 19-day mass movement are nothing," he said attacking the hard-line camp led by Baidya.

The former rebel leader, however, said that the Nepali brand of revolution would be different from those seen in other countries. "The method of revolution doesn´t repeat; it only evolves. The October Revolution was different from that used during the Paris Commune. So we won´t copy other countries´ models," said Dahal.

In his speech, Dahal repeatedly emphasized the importance of "party unity", and said that the "enemy of people" who are expecting splits in the Maoist party would be disappointed. "Our party will emerge more vibrant and lively through the method of struggle, unity and transformation at the end of the meeting," Dahal thundered.

He said he sees the country sliding into a deep crisis and called on the cadres to be ready to fight it and achieve victory. He accused other political parties of being involved in the conspiracy hatched by "reactionaries" against the Constituent Assembly (CA) and the peace process. The Maoist chairman also attacked "foreign intervention" in Nepal, though he did not pronounce the name of India as in the past.

"The country´s own leadership should be able to decide the fate the country. But this has not been happening. So we will also chart the course of our struggle for national independence," he said.

Dahal also defended his leadership of the party and said, "Ideology and leadership cannot be created overnight. It develops through the process of continuous transformation," he said.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25434

[Saorsa]

If this is true, and we have no evidence beyond the bourgeois media that it is... it's a major development.


Dahal asks Baidya to join forces against Bhattarai POST BAHADUR BASNET

PALUNGTAR,GORKHA, Nov 22: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has held several rounds of talks with Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya asking the latter to join forces against another Vice Chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai in the party plenum that began on Sunday here in Palungtar, Gorkha.

According to party sources, Dahal has already held several rounds of talks with Baidya in this regard. "But Baidya has not so far responded positively to Dahal´s call for unity against Bhattarai," said a Maoist leader close to Baidya.


With his relationship with Bhattarai souring, Dahal needs the support of Baidya, who has a strong hold among the party rank and file, to make his party line prevail in the plenum.

Party insiders say Dahal will talk to both vice-chairmen and make another attempt to accommodate their views in his "synthesized" political paper to be presented on the fourth day of the plenum.

Earlier, Dahal had tried to convince both Bhattarai and Baidya to allow him to present his new political document which accommodated the views of both vice-chairmen just ahead of the plenum. But both vice-chairmen disagreed saying if Dahal presents a new document, each of them should also be allowed to prepare new documents.

At the end, the leaders agreed that Dahal would present his synthesized document on the fourth day of the plenum, let both vice-chairmen register their dissenting opinions, and leave the issues to be resolved in the general conventions.

The top three leaders of the Maoist party are scheduled to present separate documents with explanations in the jumbo party plenum on Monday.

"It will be clear how things will shape up on Monday," said a senior Maoist leader.

As per the Central Committee decision, each of the state committee and department will hold discussion on the three separate papers and three members close to each of the top three leaders will present their opinion in the plenum for the next two days.

PLA participate in the plenum

Despite serious objections from other political parties, more than a thousand members of the Maoist People´s Liberation Army (PLA) are participating in the plenum. Other political parties had objected the Maoist move saying that the participation by the PLA, who have formally come under the Special Committee, would violate the code of conduct.

"Yes, the PLA members are participating in the plenum, and we had also apprised other political parties about this. They are not practically under the Special Committee and we cannot suddenly detach them from us," Maoist vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha told Republica.

According to sources, over 1,000 PLA and 500 YCL members are participating in the plenum. The PLA members who represent the seven divisions of the PLA form the numerical strength equal to seven Maoist state committees.

Party insiders say Dahal has proposed that one PLA member from each of the seven PLA divisions speak during the meeting. But Baidya and Bhattarai have opposed the proposal.
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25457

[The Vegan Marxist]

I'm sorry, but isn't Bhattarai the left-wing leader of the three? If so, why the hell is Dahal trying to propose a unity attack against him with Baidya?

[DaringMehring]

Baidya is the left-wing leader of the three.

[Saorsa]

It all depends what you mean by left-wing TVM. I think the lines of each leader should be evaluated based on their own merits and their own unique place in history, rather than with increasingly meaningless terminology we've borrowed from the French Revolution and the polemical struggles of 1920s and 30s Russia.

Bhattarai is saying a seizure of state power should be indefinitely postponed until the international situation is more favourable. Baidya/Kiran is saying a seizure of power through a 'People's Revolt' should take place as soon as possible. Prachanda is wavering between the two positions - who he sides with could prove to be decisive.

The main thing to keep in mind is that while Bhattarai's line is the more cautious of the three, that does not imho make him a counter-revolutionary, a rightist, a revisionist or whatever. Any more than in 1917 Kamenev and Zinoviev were counter-revolutionaries. For all we know, he may be right - perhaps now isn't the correct time to seize power? We really don't have enough information to say, and it isn't our lives on the line.

That said, a revolution cannot be indefinitely postponed without problems emerging. Just as in Venezuela a Boli-Bourgeoisie has emerged within the PSUV, privilege and corruption is becoming an increasingly large problem within the UCPN (M), and it is uncertain how long the grassroots support base will be prepared to wait without becoming disillusioned.

Hopefully the party cadres vote wisely, and hopefully they turn out to be correct in their choice.

[Saorsa]

Baidya threatens revolt against party POST BAHADUR BASNET

PALUNGTAR, Gorkha, Nov 23: Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has threatened to revolt against the party if the official party line is not implemented.

"If the party doesn´t become revolutionary and gets bogged down in revisionism, we will have to raise the red flag for revolution," a party leader quoted Baidya as saying while presenting his separate political document in closed session on Monday, the second of the plenum being held in Palungtar, Gorkha district.


Baidya warned that he would not remain in the party if it slides into revisionism.

On Monday, Baidya and Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai presented their political documents at the jumbo meeting that kicked off on Sunday.

Baidya was aggressive against Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal for not implementing the official party line of "People´s Federal Democratic Republic" and achieving the goal through a people´s revolt, as decided during the Khariparti national conclave in 2008.

"The time has ripened for a revolt. We can capture state power through the fusion of a People´s War and a people´s revolt," the source quoted Baidya as saying further while presenting his paper.

He said he shares many things with Dahal, but argued that such similarities in ideology alone are not enough. "The party line has not been implemented. "Saying one thing in theory and doing quite the opposite in practice doesn´t lead the party anywhere," he said in his nearly two-hour long paper presentation.

He stated that he was presenting the separate political document to warn the party leadership against revisionism and to show a red flag to guide the party toward revolutionary goals. He argued that he doesn´t have any intention to snatch the party leadership.

Baidya also severely criticized Bhattarai for his argument that "domestic feudalism" alone, not India, should be declared the party´s principal enemy. "Both domestic feudalism and India have joined hands in the present context. So both should be declared the party´s principal enemy," Baidya argued.

He said that he doesn´t disagree with Bhattarai that the Maoists should push peace and the constitution, but ruled out the possibility of the country seeing the completion of the peace process and a new constitution due to the "regressive mindset" of other political parties, mainly Nepali Congress (NC).

"Other parties are against formulating a constitution in favor of the people; they are batting strongly for issues like pluralism in the new constitution. If we agree with them, we will be dragged into revisionism; we will follow the path of the CPN-UML," he said.

Ruling out the possibility of achieving People´s Federal Democratic Republic through the ongoing peace process, Baidya has demanded that the party complete "four types of preparations" -- technical, ideological, organizational and political -- and launch a people´s revolt. It may be recalled that the Maoists had completed "four types of preparations prior to declaring "People´s War" in 1996.

Similarly, another vice-chairman, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, attacked Dahal, saying the latter doesn´t have any ideological line and vacillates between the party lines of the two vice-chairmen. "Both Baidya and I are clear about our lines, but the chairman is not. So he should clarify his line," Bhattarai said, speaking for more than two hours.

He also criticized Dahal for giving the impression in the party that he himself is its headquarters. "Headquarters means collective leadership, not the chairman alone," Bhattarai said.

Bhattarai pushed strongly for his party line of institutionalizing the political achievements made so far and completing the peace process and constitution drafting before taking another stride toward realizing communist ideological goals.

He also claimed that his line would ultimately prevail in the party. "History has proven that the line floated by me has always been correct," he stated.

The Maoist vice-chairman also argued that the party cannot fight effectively by declaring both India and "domestic feudalism" as its principal enemy.

He argued that the nature of imperialism and expansionism has changed in the globalized world. "Imperialism has spreads its wings through the international finance system. There is no direct intervention by foreign countries. If any country directly intervenes in Nepal, I will be the first person to go to the battlefield," Bhattarai stated.

Dahal is scheduled to present his document on Tuesday. Leaders close to the Baidya and Bhattarai factions said that they would decide their further move after listening to his synthesized document on the fourth day of the plenum. Party insiders say one of the two vice-chairmen is likely to register a dissenting opinion in the plenum.

The top leaders have agreed to pass a single document accommodating the similar views, let the two vice-chairmen register their dissenting opinions if any, and take up broader ideological disputes at the general conventions.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25497

[Saorsa]

Party ready to take on India: Dahal POST BAHADUR BASNET

PALUNGTAR, Nov 24: Presenting his political document at the ongoing party plenum, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said Tuesday that the party should be ready for any type of struggle against India and formulate a comprehensive strategy to that end.

"Compradors, foreign stooges, domestic feudalism and Indian expansionism have become our class enemy today. We should be ready for a people´s revolt and also chart out a plan to fight possible foreign interventions," a central leader quoted Dahal as saying during the party plenum being held at Palungtar, Gorkha district.


Dahal was of the view that India will intervene militarily in Nepal when the party launches a people´s revolt to seize state power; so the party should be ready to resist Indian intervention.

Dahal and Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya held the same view that "domestic feudalism" is being protected by India and that the party while launching its revolt will have to ultimately fight India, which is likely to intervene in Nepal. Baidya has also argued that the party should develop solid links with the Indian Maoists and that will help the Maoists of both countries fight against the ruling class.

Another vice-chairman, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, has however argued that "domestic feudalism" should be declared the principal enemy of the party.

While arguing that India has become the principal enemy of the party, Dahal said India is planning to finish off the Maoist party.
Dahal argued that the fall of the Maoist-led government was masterminded by India, and the country has not seen a new government now due to Indian intervention.

He also objected to the allegation that the Maoists have links with international criminal organizations. "India has been conspiring to finish off our party," he said at the plenum, which has seen participation of over 5,500 cadres.

Dahal criticized Bhattarai for his argument that the party should not sour its relations with India at this juncture. "It is wrong to argue that we should develop positive views about India. India is responsible for the current plight of the nation," a leader quoted Dahal as saying.

Dahal defends self

Defending himself against serious allegations from the two party vice-chairmen, Chairman Dahal said he alone should not be blamed for the current disarray in the party and all sorts of deviations.

"As the party chairman I am largely responsible for where the party is currently. But I alone should not be blamed for all sorts of deviations. We have a collective leadership," a Maoist leader quoted Dahal as saying during the plenum.

Presenting their separate political documents on Monday, Senior Vice-chairman Baidya and Vice-chairman Bhattarai had accused Dahal of giving protection to "corruption and illegal trade and conducting financial transactions opaquely" and giving rise to a new class of rich in the party.

But Dahal argued that he has been conducting financial transactions transparently and maintained scientific accounts. "Other comrades should also show the accounts of their income and expenditures," a party cadre quoted Dahal as saying at the closed session of the plenum.

Dahal also objected to allegations that he doesn´t have any ideological line of his own and vacillates between the "revisionist line" of Dr Bhattarai and the "ultra-left line" of Baidya.

"It is you who gave me the leadership in the past and ´deified´ me and now you say I don´t have any ideological line of my own. This is ludicrous" one leader quoted Dahal as saying.

Dahal criticized Baidya and Bhattarai for claiming that they were the patrons of the tactical lines endorsed at the Chunwang plenum and Khariparti national conclave. "They were documents passed by the leadership collectively. They don´t belong to any single individual," Dahal argued.

Dahal refuted Baidya´s allegation that he doesn´t want to implement the official line of the party and is mainly responsible for taking the party toward revisionism. "The party line is not implemented overnight; it is in the process of implementation," he said.

Dahal seems closer to Baidya, going by what Dahal has written in the document. He has been seeking Baidya´s support to attack Bhattarai. But the alliance could not materialize after influential leaders close to Baidya, including Netra Bikram Chand, went against it.

They questioned Dahal´s sincerity in implementing the ideological line, adopted at the 2008 Karipati meeting, that the “people´s federal democratic republic” should be achieved through a people´s revolt if it is not possible in a peaceful way. Given the experience of the past, including Kharipati, they were convinced that Dahal could not implement the line agreed upon between him and Baidya.

Responding to Bhattarai´s allegation that Dahal took action against him for his views on India and the palace, Dahal shot back that he had to take action against Bhattarai for "leaking information to media".

In his clarification speech, Dahal conceded that the party leadership made many mistakes after joining the peace process, and that dissolving the party´s "people´s government" and kangaroo courts were some of the mistakes. At the end of the meeting, Dahal emphasized party unity and call on other leaders to conduct a healthy two-pronged struggle.

Dispute over allowing comments on documents

Dahal sparked controversy at the plenum after he told the gathering that only one PLA participant from each division would be allowed to comment on his, Bhattarai´s and Baidya´s political documents. As per the set plan, three participants from each division were supposed to comment on the political documents.

But Bhattarai and Baidya objected to Dahal´s ruling demanding that all three PLA representatives from each combatants be allowed to express their views on the documents, according to sources.

While Dahal argued that it was not good to have three PLA men from the same division holding contesting views on the paper, Dahal and Baidya held the view that the PLA representatives should not be deprived of their rights to express their opinion and political views though discipline should be strictly enforced in the PLA.

Leaders said that they will further hold talks to sort out the differences on the issue after consensus could not be reached till late evening Tuesday. Meanwhile, plenum representatives from Darchula walked out of the meeting protesting factionalism in the party. Most of those from Darchula were Dahal supporters.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25500

[Saorsa]

UCPN (M)'s closed session put off for Wednesday; cadres discuss docs in separate groups Tuesday, 23 November 2010 16:29

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/images/stories/news_photo/2010_nov/maoist_team.jpg(From left) Unified CPN (M) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vice chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
Though the second day's closed session of the ongoing extended plenum of the Unified CPN (Maoist) was put off for Wednesday, leaders have been discussing the proposed three political documents.

Discussions in various 30 groups will continue until closed session resumes at 8 am the next morning, a party's source informed Nepalnews over phone from the venue.

"Each group has three leaders who will coordinate opinions tabled by chairman Puspha Kamal Dahal and two vice-chairmen, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidhya, in their political documents separately," the source disclosed.

Earlier today, presenting his political document, chairman Dahal claimed that Indian intervention is not the only problem the country has been facing, but that even domestic reactionary forces are actively engaged in "demoralizing and paralyzing" the democratic achievements. nepalnews.com

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/11018-ucpn-ms-closed-session-put-off-for-wednesday-leaders-discuss-docs-in-various-30-groups.html

[Saorsa]

Dahal charges deputies with graft


Added At: 2010-11-24 12:11 AM
Last Updated At: 2010-11-24 12:11 AM


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Tika R Pradhan
"Dahal must have come up with solutions after objectively analyzing the issues raised by the leaders"
PALUNGTAR: On the third day of the sixth extended meeting of the Unified CPN-Maoist that began here on Sunday, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal accused both the vice-chairmen of financial irregularities.

“I have received reports that Dr Baburam Bhattarai had spent lots of money in Tarai region to woo party cadres towards his line,” a participant quoted Dahal as saying. He also accused Dr Bhattarai of hob-nobbing with several industrialists when he was finance minister. He even accused another vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya of accruing financial gains from his links to several influential people. He claimed that none of the two leaders ever reported the financial gains to the party.

On Baidhya’s threat to stage a revolt against the party if it tilted towards rightist revisionism, Dahal wondered who he was threatening. He expressed unhappiness over such comments from Baidhya. Baidhya had announced yesterday that he, along with other revolutionaries in the party, would abandon the party if it decided to toe the rightist line and adopt parliamentary system.

On Dr Bhattarai’s query why action was taken against him during Chunbang plenum, Dahal claimed Dr Bhattarai was punished not for presenting differing views but for not maintaining secrecy. During the deliberations that stretched beyond two hours, Dahal said there was no alternative to the party’s transformation, unity and revolution.

Dinanath Sharma, spokesperson for the party, said during his address Dahal accepted the party had shortcomings and stressed the need to transform it. He added that all the leaders should be held responsible, and not just him.

Dahal said the party should use democratic methods to resolve differences. Sharma quoted Dahal as saying there was a need to groom his successor. He added that intra-party wranglings could be managed easily if the youth leaders were taken into confidence during the planning stage.

Talking about the youth leaders, including Netra Bikram Chand, who has been toeing Baidhya’s line, Dahal said he had committed a mistake by not taking along the youth leaders in the government and other parliamentary processes.

Vice-chairman of Unified CPN-Maoist Mohan Baidhya said he was not hopeful that chairman Dahal would incorporate his political line and implement it. “I have not seen any indication that Dahal would implement his political line.”

Another vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai claimed that Chairman Dahal could not clarify what he wanted to say. “He contradicts himself," Dr Bhattarai claimed.

He added that Dahal didn’t address all the queries put to him by the leaders and cadres. “Dahal must have come up with solutions after objectively analyzing the issues raised by the leaders,” he argued.

He claimed that the plenum would pass his political line.

“If anyone tries to plot against the peace and constitution they would be swept away by the people’s revolution,” he added.


http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Dahal+charges+deputies+with+ graft&NewsID=266822

[Saorsa]

CA could be on verge of dissolution: Dahal

Blames foreign powers for PM debacle
Added At: 2010-11-21 5:06 PM
Last Updated At: 2010-11-21 7:26 PM


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UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ addressing the inaugural session of the sixth plenum of the party being held at Palungtar of Gorkha district on Sunday, November 21, 2010.




Various reactionary forces are raising their ugly heads to prematurely dissolve the Constituent Assembly.

RABI DHAMI
PALUNGTAR: UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ warned that the Constituent Assembly (CA) could be on the verge of dissolution, saying various reactionary forces are raising their ugly heads to prematurely dissolve the supreme lawmaking body.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the party’s plenum at Palungtar, in Gorkha today, the Maoist chairman claimed that his party’s extended meeting would come up with some concrete plans and policies to foil any bid to abort the CA.

“Itis never enough if you only go for protecting the achievements so far, there should be plans in place to realise the dreams of martyrs,” he said, suggesting that the Maoists should take a more radical political approach in coming days.

On the occasion, Dahal warned that the country’s sovereignty has currently been precariously pitted against foreign interference and expressed his hope that the plenum would take major decisions to take ‘the battle of independence’ to newer heights.

He also accused foreign hands of bringing about the failure of the House to elect a new Prime Minister and said the plenum would open avenues for contradicting trends of giving in to foreign powers.

Dahal further stressed on the need to forge a unity, mutual trust and co-operation within his party and expressed his optimism that the plenum would decide on the right ideological line and leadership to bring the chaotic situation of the country to an end.

Besides Dahal, party general secertary Ram Bahadur Thapa and party secretary CP Gajurel had delivered welcome speeches. The closed session of the plenum will now begin at 8:00 am Monday.

Dahal and vice chairmen Mohan Baidhya and Baburam Bhattarai are scheduled to present their political documents separately in the closed session, which is again divided into three segments.

The trio are scheduled to put forth their proposal for deliberation in the first segment, while suggestions and comments on the documents would be collected from the participants in the following segment.

In the last segment, the three leaders are slated to offer their responses to the queries and comments of the participants of the session before the plenum draws to a close.


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[Saorsa]

Maoist plenum Day 2 (photo feature)

Closed session put off till tomorrow 8:00 am *Bhattarai for preserving hitherto achievements * Baidhya for prompt people's revolt * Prachanda to present document tomorrow
Added At: 2010-11-22 4:09 PM
Last Updated At: 2010-11-22 10:44 AM


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THT ONLINE
PALUNGTAR: The closing session on the second day of the ongoing sixth plenum of the UCPN-Maoist on Monday has been postponed till 8:00 am tomorrow morning.

In today's session, party chairmen Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidhya 'Kiran' presented their separate political documents. Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' will now put forth his document Tuesday morning.

According to plenum representatives, Dr Bhattarai's document had a major thrust on preserving the achievements the party had made so far, while Baidhya laid primary stress on the party needing to promptly go for people's revolt.



http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/Baburam_bhattarai.jpg

UCPN-Maoist vice chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai presenting his political document during the closed session today.(NAVESH CHITRAKAR)







UCPN-Maoist vice chairman Mohan Baidhya 'Kiran' presenting his political document during the closed session today. (NAVESH CHITRAKAR)


http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/mohan_baidhya.jpg


Plenum representatives from various state committees of the UCPN-Maoist taking part in the closed session on the second day of the party’s extended meeting. (NAVESH CHITRAKAR)

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/plenum_participants.jpg

Top Maoist leaders taking part in the closed session on the second day of the party's sixth plenum meeting today. (NAVESH CHITRAKAR)

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/Maoist_plenum.JPG

Maoist vice chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai returning after presenting his political document in today’s closed session. (RAJENDRA NEUPANE)

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/bhattarai.jpg

A sick plenum participant getting medical attention on the second day of the UCPN-Maoist plenum today. As many as 300 participants are estimated to be suffering from various diseases at the extended meet. (NAVESH CHITRAKAR)

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/userfiles/image/sick_plenum_participant.jpg

[Rusty Shackleford]

so, how long will it take for a decision to be implemented once the vote is completed?

[Kiev Communard]

Bhattarai is saying a seizure of state power should be indefinitely postponed until the international situation is more favourable. Baidya/Kiran is saying a seizure of power through a 'People's Revolt' should take place as soon as possible. Prachanda is wavering between the two positions - who he sides with could prove to be decisive.

The main thing to keep in mind is that while Bhattarai's line is the more cautious of the three, that does not imho make him a counter-revolutionary, a rightist, a revisionist or whatever. Any more than in 1917 Kamenev and Zinoviev were counter-revolutionaries. For all we know, he may be right - perhaps now isn't the correct time to seize power? We really don't have enough information to say, and it isn't our lives on the line.

In that case I would still side with the Left of the parties. The immediate seizure of power is the last method left to Maoists now. They have exhausted all the attempts at compromise with the "right-wing communists" of CPN (UML) and disingenious bourgeois nationalists of Nepali Congress, and it its evident that these parties can't be trusted. The seizure of power by Maoists in Nepal could lead to its international isolation, that's true. But it might just as well lead to the strengthening of Maoist movement in India's eastern states, with the momentous consequences for the revolutionary process across the whole of South Asia.

[red cat]

The military question is more difficult than that. Revolutionary Nepal alone will not be able to hold out against China or India. Otherwise they would have seized power four years ago.

[Kiev Communard]

The military question is more difficult than that. Revolutionary Nepal alone will not be able to hold out against China or India. Otherwise they would have seized power four years ago.

China and India are unlikely to mount concerted attack against Nepal due to the differences between these two powers (and without this, neither of them would dare to alienate the other by invading Nepal and gaining strategic ground in Himalayan region). Besides, the terrain of Nepal is extremely hard from the point of view of conducting large-scale military operations, and the possibilities for guerilla warfare are large. In addition, I highly doubt that the Indian armed forces are too formidable - Indian government failed to destroy "Naxalite" movement, which is far weaker from the military point of view.

[red cat]

China and India are unlikely to mount concerted attack against Nepal due to the differences between these two powers (and without this, neither of them would dare to alienate the other by invading Nepal and gaining strategic ground in Himalayan region).

True, but there is a big possibility of both considering Nepal as a common enemy. Besides, China has its own comprador representatives in India.


Besides, the terrain of Nepal is extremely hard from the point of view of conducting large-scale military operations, and the possibilities for guerilla warfare are large.This is something that will go in favour of the Maoists. But still the Indian and Chinese regular armies might destroy their bases in the plains and urban regions.


In addition, I highly doubt that the Indian armed forces are too formidable - Indian government failed to destroy "Naxalite" movement, which is far weaker from the military point of view.India has nuclear weapons and an army of around 2 millions. The naxalites, though weaker, allegedly maintain a ground-force of comparable dimensions, and armed elite squads that can take on well-trained Indian infantry troops. Besides this, India is a huge country and it is impossible for the Indian army to corner even the urban naxalite units. Moreover, the influence of naxalites on the working class and peasantry is so great, that operation Green Hunt was not announced officially in fear of a revolt within the army. These conditions are specific to India and won't stop it from using its army as well as nuclear weapons on Nepal.

[RED DAVE]

Once the three leaders have presented their positions, what happens? Is there a vote? Are enabling resolutions entertained? Is a new central committee selected?

RED DAVE

[Palingenisis]

The military question is more difficult than that. Revolutionary Nepal alone will not be able to hold out against China or India. Otherwise they would have seized power four years ago.

This is a very important point.

Nepal is not militarily in the position that Bolshevik Russia was at the beginning and the Maoists there are on the US terrorist list. People here seem to forget that a real Imperialist threat hangs over them not just from India but the USA aswell....Its so much easier to throw around "left" and "radical" slogans against them from the comfort of your own impotence and hence safety.

[Sasha]

i dont tink there is any danger the US would directly intervene, supporting an chinese or idian invasion or proxy-war on the other hand

[DaringMehring]

This is a very important point.

Nepal is not militarily in the position that Bolshevik Russia was at the beginning and the Maoists there are on the US terrorist list. People here seem to forget that a real Imperialist threat hangs over them not just from India but the USA aswell....Its so much easier to throw around "left" and "radical" slogans against them from the comfort of your own impotence and hence safety.

India, China, and USA would indeed probably isolate & attack any revolutionary government.

Isolation could lead to a degenerated result on top of a deformed beginning.

But --- a state bastion of revolution, even deformed, would provide help to the Indian Maoists and also hopefully reach out its arms to Burma.

It is an important decision and it is good that it is being democratically decided by the cadres. They're the ones who will have to live with the suffering either way --- either under the yoke of velvet hand imperialism or against the strength of the iron fist.

[Saorsa]

Once the three leaders have presented their positions, what happens? Is there a vote?


Are enabling resolutions entertained? Is a new central committee selected?

What are enabling resolutions?

A new central committee will not be elected at this - this is technically an extended meeting of the existing central committee. A new central committee is elected at a general convention, something which is being planned to be held soon.



After the delegates from the state committees express their views, Dahal, Baidhya and Bhattarai will answer questions raised by the cadres and chairman Dahal will present an integrated dossier.


If the plenum does not approve the integrated dossier to be presented by Dahal at the end of the plenum, the contentious issues will be taken to a general convention.

[Saorsa]

Maoist plenum to be extended; cadres criticise leaders for extravagant lifestyle Wednesday, 24 November 2010 20:00

The Unified CPN (Maoist) plenum that started in Palungtar of Gorkha on Monday will be extended by at least two days from the initial schedule, Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said.


The plenum, initially expected to last for five days, is going to be extended as the proceedings have fallen behind schedule.


Discussion on three separate political dossiers presented by chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and vice chairmen Mohan Baidhya and Baburam Bhattarai started only on Wednesday, the third day of the plenum.


34 delegates from ten state committees, one each from a state committee supporting dossiers of Dahal, Baidhya and Bhattarai, and four independent cadres spoke at the plenum today.


Those speaking for a particular dossier spent most part of their speech defending the proposition they chose.


In general, the cadres speaking at today's plenum accused the leaders of having extravagant lifestyle and criticised them for neglecting the demands of the proletariat class.


Our correspondent in Palungtar said, most cadres speaking at today's closed session opined the party should stay prepared for a people's revolt if required while striving to conclude the peace process amicably.


The four delegates not supporting any dossier in particular stressed on the need for the transformation of the party to multi-post leadership in practice.


Representatives from ten state committees including Magarat, Seti-Mahakali, Bheri-Karnali, Tharuwan, Newa, Tamsaling, Tamuwan and Bhojpura spoke on Wednesday.


Thirty state committees or equivalent committees are represented at the plenum.


After the delegates from the state committees express their views, Dahal, Baidhya and Bhattarai will answer questions raised by the cadres and chairman Dahal will present an integrated dossier.


If the plenum does not approve the integrated dossier to be presented by Dahal at the end of the plenum, the contentious issues will be taken to a general convention.


The cadres speaking at the plenum strongly called for a general convention. The UCPN (Maoist) has not had its general convention since the past twenty years and is running under the leadership of Dahal.


Meanwhile, the All Nepal National Independent Health Workers Union – Revolutionary has refuted reports that a large number of plenum delegates had fallen ill.


The health workers clarified before journalists on Wednesday that the number was seen high as large number of villagers had also come for treatment at the health camp launched by the Union.


There were reports that almost a thousand delegates participating in the plenum had fallen ill. nepalnews.com

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/11051-maoist-plenum-to-be-extended-cadres-criticise-leaders-for-extravagant-lifestyle.html

[Saorsa]

Glimpses from around venue

Oranges worth Rs 1 lakh donated: Bodh Bahadur Adhikari, a local of Palungtar, has donated oranges worth Rs 100,000 to the participants in the meeting. He not only emptied his entire orange garden but also bought the citrus worth Rs 50,000 from other villagers and donated them to the participants. “I bought the oranges from the villagers worth Rs 50,000 because the oranges from my garden were not enough,” said Adhikari, who is a volunteer in the meeting venue. “As the Maoist has an agenda for the poor, I support this party,” said Adhikari, who is a Nepali Army retiree.

Scuffle flares up: A clash flared up among participants on Tuesday. About a hundred participants representing Mithila State Committee of the UCPN-Maoist engaged in a brawl over identity card distribution. The identity card allows participants to enter the meeting venue. “In-charge of the Committee Bishna Shah distributed the cards not to those who deserved but to those were close to him,” said a member of the Samiti. Another group also had locked samiti secretary Krishna Dev Singh Danuwar in a room for about two hours demanding cards for them.

Teachers in the meeting: More than 50 teachers from different government schools are taking part in the plenum absenting from their duties. Talking to The Himalayan Times Gunaraj Lohani, Chairman of the All Nepal Teachers’ Organisation said, “As many as 53 teachers from all the state committees are participating in the plenum and they will stay till the end.” With teachers at the party’s political meeting, thousands of children have been deprived of education.

Leftovers reeking: As more than 6,000 participants are dining every day, leftovers of food have started rotting and filling the entire area with stench. The organisers have dug trenches to bury the waste but they have been not of much use.

Stale foods: Stale foods have been served in the canteen, complained the participants. Shambu Ram Shrestha, a volunteer, complained that he was served dal today which was stinking. “I complained the concerned authority today following which the stale foods were disposed,” he said. Diarrhoea patients are increasing in the plenum venue, the cause of which has been attributed to distribution of stale foods.

Alcohol banned in vicinity: Alcohol selling has been banned in the vicinity of the meeting venue. The ban will be in force till the last day of the meeting. Deepak Shreshtha, who sells home-made liquor nearby the meeting venue, complained that his business was down due to the ban on alcohol. “We used to sell about 30 litres of alcohol everyday but since the plenum, my business has gone down,” said Shrestha. YCL cadres are patrolling the area to curb use and sale of alcohol in the area.

TV crew injured: ABC Television journalists, who are reporting the plenum, met with an accident, as the jeep carrying the crew collided with a truck near Turture. The van was carrying six ABC TV journalists. Three persons, including the driver, have received minor injuries. No one was seriously injured in the accident.


http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=UN+delegation+on+children+on +armed+conflict+meets+Dahal+&NewsID=266811

[RED DAVE]

What are enabling resolutions?Once a general strategy is decided on, enabling resolutions are resolutions to decide on how to implement the strategy.

RED DAVE

[Saorsa]

End uncertainty over our future: PLA men to leaders POST BAHADUR BASNET/MANOJ ADHIKARI

PALUNGTAR, Nov 26: Members of the Maoist People´s Liberation Army (PLA) have demanded that the party formulate a clear-cut policy on their integration and rehabilitation, and remove the existing confusion about their future.

Speaking in the ongoing party plenum on Thursday, they also expressed concern that the presentation of three separate documents by the top three leaders had added to the uncertainty over their future.


"They demanded that the leadership tell them unambiguously whether the party wants them to be integrated and rehabilitated," Maoist leader Barsaman Pun said quoting the PLA members as saying during the plenum being held at Palungtar, Gorkha.

According to him, the PLA members said the party leadership should immediately sort out the issue as they had become impatient.

Pun also dismissed allegations by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattari camps that Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal used threats and the "chain of command" to prevent the PLA members from speaking against Dahal. "They are participating in the plenum as political leaders, not in the capacity of PLA members," said Pun.

However, Sudip from fourth division who spoke in favor of Bhattarai stated that the Dahal and Baidya factions have not been able to openly put forward their views due to chain of command and threat.

The PLA members also stated that the party should not use the integration issue to lead the government only, overlooking the party´s revolutionary goals.

"We will strongly oppose if the integration issue is used to lead the government only," a leader quoted PLA member from fourth division Suresh as saying during the meeting.

The PLA members from the seven Maoist divisions were also sharply divided into three factions led by Dahal, Baidya and Bhattarai respectively, but most of them refrained from mudslinging and leveling serious allegations against the top three leaders.

As in the previous days, the PLA members close to Dahal and Baidya accused Bhattarai of deviating from communist ideology, while those close Bhattrai and Baidya accused Dahal of misusing power and running the party in a non-transparent manner. Similarly, those close to Dahal and Bhattarai accused Baidya of being an "ultra-leftist".

Chairman Dahal was the former Supreme commander-in-chief of the PLA and still commands a majority in the PLA.

As per the agreement made earlier, three PLA members close to each of the three top leaders from seven PLA divisions would be allowed to make comments in the meeting.

But there was none from the fifth and the sixth divisions to speak in favor of Bhattarai. Similarly, there was nobody from second division to speak in favor of Baidya and Bhattarai.

On Friday, the top three leaders would present their views on the questions raised by the participants. Chairman Dahal would then present the synthesized document, incorporating the views of Baidya and Bhattarai.

The party will hold a standing committee meeting Friday morning at Thanthi Pokhari where Dahal is putting up.

According to party spokesperson Dinanath Sharma, the meeting will evaluate the political situation and take some important decisions. Sharma said the meeting would also ask some standing committee members to speak during the meeting.

According to leaders, the party is taking the decision due to the demand from plenum participants to let Barsaman Pun and Netra Bikram Chand speak. Pun is close to Dahal, while Chand is an aide to Baidya.

Govt draws UNMIN´s attention to PLA participation

The government on Thursday drew UNMIN´s attention toward the participation of Maoist combatants in the UCPN (Maoist) plenum.

Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction wrote to UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren, asking the UN mission to take up the issue, according to a source. UNMIN has already objected to the participation, saying such a move violated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement for the Monitoring of Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA).

Earlier on November 19, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong had conveyed the government´s concern over the combatants´ participation to Landgren. Over 1,000 combatant are taking part in the plenum.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25565

[Saorsa]

Cadres demand clarification on tape scandal POST BAHADUR BASNET

PALUNGTAR, GORKHA Nov, 25: Commenting on the three separate political documents presented in the ongoing party plenum, Maoist cadres close to each of three factions headed by party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, senior Vice Chairman Mohan Vaidya and Vice Chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai leveled serious allegations against each other on Wednesday.

Questioning the integrity of party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leaders close to Baidya and Bhattarai demanded clarification from Dahal over the alleged horse-trading during the recent prime ministerial elections and the leaked audio-tape involving party leader Krirshna Bahadur Mahara.


"Today the leadership is buying parliamentarians, tomorrow it will buy the party cadres and the day after tomorrow it will certainly try to buy the people," a cadre quoted Maoist representative from Tamuwan state Devendra Parajuli as saying during the meeting. Parajuli, who is close to Bhattarai, also severely criticized Dahal for conducting the party´s financial transactions in a non-transparent manner and demanded that the chairman stopped misusing his power.

Similarly, Bandhu Chand from Abadha state demanded that Dahal furnish clarification over the audio-tape in which a voice, allegedly of Mahara, asks a man with a Chinese accent Rs 500 million to buy the votes of parliamentarians in favor of Dahal. "The chairman should furnish clarification over the tape scandal," a plenum participant quoted Chand as saying.

While leaders close to Baidya and Bhattarai accused Dahal of financial non-transparency, misuse of power and shaky ideological stand, those close to Dahal and Baidya accused Bhattarai of being a "bourgeoisie leader" who was trying to drag the party toward revisionism.

"The line floated by Bhattarai is revisionism and it will ultimately finish off the revolutionary ideology of the party," a cadre quoted leader Sarad Singh Bhandari from Seti-Mahakali as saying. He warned the leadership not to adopt the line floated by Bhattarai.
"Today the leadership is buying parliamentarians, tomorrow it will buy the party cadres and the day after tomorrow it will certainly try to buy the people," a cadre quoted Maoist representative from Tamuwan state Devendra Parajuli as saying during the meeting. Parajuli, who is close to Bhattarai, also severely criticized Dahal for conducting the party´s financial transaction in a non-transparent manner, and demanded that the chairman stopped misusing his power.

The cadres also accused Bhattarai of being submissive to "foreign imperialism" and "Indian expansionism" and fearing to declare India as the party´s principal enemy.

Similarly, cadres close to Baidya alleged Dahal of not being sincere toward implementing the party official-line, misusing power and money. "We can see the misuse of power and money by the chairman in this plenum to garner support to his document," a cadre close to Baidya said.

Likewise, supporters of Dahal and Bhattarai accused Baidya of overlooking the ground reality and pushing for a radical line. "Radical line alone cannot complete the revolution," a cadre quoted leader Ram Bahadur Bohora as saying. They also criticized Baidya for threatening to revolt against the party if it doesn´t adopt a revolutionary line.

The party cadres also came down heavily on the "bourgeoisie" lifestyles of the top leaders and expressed concern that such a trend will ultimately bring about the downfall of the party. They asked the leaders not to forget the "proletariat character" of the party. They said the leaders are using expensive cars and educating their children in expensive schools while the party whole-timers are struggling to make ends meet.

"Yes, the cadres have criticized the leaders for their lavish lifestyles. But it is positive. They must warn the leaders against deviating from the prescribed proletariat lifestyles," said Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma.

Despite their sharp criticism, the party cadres warned the leaders against any attempt to split the party. "There are contradictions in any live party, if not it is dead. We will go through the process of unity, struggle and transformation. The differences will not split the party," said Sharma.

The Maoist cadres were divided into 30 groups for discussion and three senior cadres from each group, close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai respectively, presented their opinion in the full meeting.

As of Wednesday, 34 leaders of 10 state committees put forward their views. Some of the cadres had taken neutral positions. According to Sharma, the plenum is likely to extend for two more days as three are many programs yet to be completed.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=25536

[Saorsa]

A bourgeois perspective.

Comprehensive Peace Accord

Is it a moribund agreement?
Added At: 2010-11-25 9:54 PM
Last Updated At: 2010-11-25 9:54 PM


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Prof. Birendra P Mishra
The whole politics is paralyzed as the Maoists are at the crossroads. If the Maoist plenum decides to go ahead with the peace process, sidelining the faction which is advocating the people's revolt, politics may come on the right track, otherwise, the CPA stands nowhere


In the context of the sixth plenum of the CPN-Maoist being held at Palungtar in Gorkha, the issue relating to strategic usefulness of the present peace process being questioned by a faction of the party led by one of the Maoist vice-presidents, has really brought to the forefront the controversy, which was brewing within the party for a quite long time. The Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), which provided the concrete foundation for the peace process, signed by the Maoist chairman and the then PM on November 21, 2006, had kindled hope in the people that not only peace would be restored but the country would also move ahead on the path of prosperity.The Accord was the outcome of the 12-point Understanding, which was signed by the seven- party alliance(SPA) and the Maoist chairman on November22, 2005, paved the way for the People’s Movement 2. It culminated in the surrendering of the sovereignty and the executive power of the state usurped by the then king, to the people on April 24, 2006. He restored the dissolved parliament and handed over power to the leader of the House. The Maoists declared ceasefire for three months on April 26, 2006, which was reciprocated by the newly formed government by declaring ceasefire on May 3, 2006. A 25-point Ceasefire Code of Conduct was signed between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on May 26, 2006. The national Monitoring Committee for Ceasefire Code of Conduct (NMCC) formed on June15. 2006, started functioning from July 6, 2006. It submitted three reports to the Maoists and the governments till the CPA was signed. During the period, the Maoists extended the ceasefire twice. While looking at the implementation of the CPA, one faces certain facts. First, both sides hardly seemed to have been fully prepared to embrace the situation and were moving ahead cautiously not to be caught unprepared by each other. Secondly, It seems that both sides were not fully prepared to accept the CPA, which resulted in delayed implementation of the agreements signed by them. Some of the main tasks were related to constituting commissions like the National Peace and Rehabilitation Commission, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a high-level Recommendation Commission for the Restructuring of the State, commission for scientific land reforms, commission for those who were made to disappear etc. Thirdly, they failed to envisage the need of an independent monitoring body to monitor the implementation of the CPA. However, it did provide for monitoring mechanism by the Nepal-based United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human rights and the National Human Rights Commission.(9.1&9.4), for the violation of human rights.. Fourthly, both sides were never serious about the conditions of those who were in their custody and were made to disappear. As per the Accord, both sides had agreed to make public the information about the real name, surname and address of the people who were disappeared by both sides and who were killed during the war and also to inform the family concerned about it within 60 days from the date on which this Accord was signed (5.2.3). Fifthly, there is lack of commitment on both sides, although they seem to be lacking faith for each other. For example, the most venerable part of the peace process was the management of the Maoist combatants still left unattended. As per the Accord, The Interim Council of Ministers could have taken up the work of supervision, adjustment and rehabilitation of the combatants.(4.4) Even after a lapse of four years, the combatants could not be brought under the government though it is meeting their monthly allowances. Similarly, the issue of democratization of the Nepal Army has never been taken up seriously. Lastly, Maoists appear more serious about their strategy.

Moreover, it seems that the CPA could not look beyond the then pressing needs of the country. Its primary ends were to engage the Maoists in the peace process and to have peaceful Constituent Assembly (CA) election. The selection of the Mixed (Parallel) electoral system spoilt the politics of consensus that was the basis for their forward march. The direct election for 240 seats forced them to fight election on the lines of parliamentary election not only against the Maoists but also against the partners of the SPA. The electoral system made the CPN-Maoist the single largest party in the CA.

The Maoist formed the government, but instead of institutionalizing the achievements of the CA, it started to concentrate on executing its own strategy by dismissing the Chief of the Army, which boomeranged. With the resignation of the Maoist government, the whole politics is paralyzed as the Maoists are at the crossroads. If the Maoist plenum decides to go ahead with the peace process, sidelining the faction which is advocating the people’s revolt, politics may come back on the right track, otherwise, the CPA stands nowhere.

Prof. Mishra was Coordinator, National Monitoring Committee, Ceasefire Code of Conduct (now dissolved)

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Comprehensive+Peace+Accord+&NewsID=267042

[Saorsa]

Maoist plenum: Discussion on political dossiers completes Thursday, 25 November 2010 15:53

Debate on the political papers presented by top three Maoist leaders - chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and vice chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr Baburam Bhattatrai - has completed in the extended plenum of the party being held Palungtar, Gorkha.

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/images/stories/news_photo/2010_nov/maoist_team.jpg(From left) Unified CPN (M) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vice chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
Discussion on the three dossiers completed Thursday evening after representatives of different state committees, bureaus, sister organisations and seven divisions of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) commented on them.

Altogether 92 representatives from 30 different groups gave their views on the documents following deliberations within their group.

Dahal, Baidya and Bhattarai will answer the questions raised by the plenum delegates on their respective papers on Friday.

With the discussion taking more time than expected, the 10-minute duration given to each speaker was reduced to 5 minutes.

According to Maoist spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma, most of those who commented on the papers today urged the party leadership to come up with a single paper by combining the different views.

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/images/stories/igallery/plenum_ven/nov_25_10_plenum_venue_a1.jpg (http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/photo-gallery/gallery/1715.html)Unified CPN (Maoist) foreign department chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara in a...The Maoist extended plenum, which started on Sunday, has seen serious dispute with the top leaders criticising each other while the cadres are also divided into three factions.

A number plenum representatives have taken serious exception to growing factionalism in the party.

Sources say party chairman weighs far heavier than the two vice chairmen with majority of the central leaders and commanders of the PLA supporting him. nepalnews.com

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/11070-maoist-plenum-delegates-decry-factionalism-within-the-party-as-debate-continues-over-political-papers.html

[Sentinel]

While I'd deem direct intervention from either India or China unlikely should the Maoists seize power (for the reasons outlined by Kiev Communard), I'm not sure it can be entirely counted out. The western powers, on the other hand, have more pressing issues to attend to, and their hands are still tied elsewhere (Afghanistan etc), so I highly doubt they'd take any direct military action.

Of course they can always be counted on to provide counterrevolutionaries anywhere with material aid, though. So if the Maoist revolution is successful, I'm sure we can expect to see the counter-revolutionary movement being largely organised and financed by the west.

[red cat]

The point is that, imperialists will probably see this as the biggest threat to themselves. Moreover, America had already sent full-fledged undercover military help to Nepal some years ago:


From `Nepal Royal` to `Nepal American Army`

Letter of the Nepal Maoists to the Old State Government
CPN (Maoist)
Negotiation team office
Date-2060/4/7
(23July, 2003)
R.F.
To the Negotiation team,
Old state Establishment (His Majesty´s Government)
Through: Facilitators Messrs Padmaratna Tuladhar, Damannath Dhungana,
Sailendra Upadhya and Karnadhwaj Adhikari.

Motion: About pre-bases (precondition-Tr.) for the third round dialogue.



Mr,
Received the letter that the Old state establishment (His majesty´s government) sent on 2060/3/29 (13 July 2003) urging, "to resume third round of dialogue with no delay." Having deeply studied and analysed the letter as well as over the result of the formal and informal dialogue between the representatives of the old and the new states, on the guidance of Chairman of CPN (Maoist) and the Supreme Commander of People´s Liberation Army (Nepal) Comrade Prachanda, we have sent the following reply about pre-basis for the third round dialogue.



1. The manifestation of strategic equilibrium as a consequence of seven long years´ vicious civil war in the country, the cease-fire announcement on 2059/10/15 (29 January 2003) is shortly going to be accomplished six months. It is well known that 22 point code of conduct had been issued to systematise the cease-fire and two rounds of formal dialogue took place in order to find forward going political exit. But, the credibility of the Old state has completely been lost by constantly committing a seer breach of the ceasefire and code of conduct from the Old state establishment and mainly by its Royal Army and till today by not practicing the decisions of the second round dialogue, agreed to limit the Royal army within 5 Km, perimeters, releasing the central level political prisoners, to make public the whereabouts of the disappeared. Further, on the latest stage, the abduction of office secretary Bharat Dhungana of our negotiation contact office and Gyanendra Tripathi, the member of the negotiation managing committee from within kathmandu, kidnapping our leader and cadres from Dolkha, Khotang and other parts of the country, mainly proves that the old state is fully adhered to break the negotiation process and push the country into the vortex of civil war. In this context, we will have nothing left except to come to the conclusion that the Old state has broken the negotiation process unilaterally and there is no meaning of the third round negotiation without immediate execution of decisions came out from the second round of peace talk.



1.2.It is well known to all that the old state has been run by the self-proclaimed king covertly since Royal carnage of 1st June 2001 (2058/2/19) and overtly since 4th October 2002 (2059/6/18). In these circumstances, it is evident that the present cabinet of His Majesty´s government and the negotiation team forged by it deserves executive rights equivalent to zero. There is no doubt that because of King´s monitoring and guiding from the back of the curtain and a unauthorised and miserable negotiation team appearing at the stage since the declaration of cease-fire and second round of negotiation including the important things caused hurdles in the negotiation process. In this reference, we have a firm opinion that in order to make third round negotiation meaningful either the king himself should participate at the negotiation process or he has to make his public commitment with clear and un-ambivalent statement, announcing that the negotiation team deserves full rights to negotiate all necessary aspect including forward going political outlet and he (the king) himself is fully committed to execute the negotiation.



1.3.The root essence of the cease-fire and peace negotiation is: both of the army remain at their respected controlled areas as it was at the stage of ceasefire situation, either of the party make no armed intervention to other´s areas and the army must accept unconditionally the decision of their respective political leadership. In our context, accepting the ground reality that the headquarters and big cities were under the control of Royal army of the Old state and rest of the vast countryside remained under the control of the people´s liberation army(PLA) of the new state at the pre-ceasefire position, it was mentioned on the code of conduct at article 4 as "both parties will abide by not to make any provocative activities at the sensitive areas of each others". But the Royal army of the Old state, having breached the objective reality of two state and two army, not only committed a heinous by intruding into the new state and the area of the people´s liberation army, it also adventured to penetrate everywhere in the name of campaigning so-called health camps and dared to directly ignore the decision of its own leadership about 5 Kilometre(which was purposed by old state). Through the view point of national independence and national sovereignty, the grave question is "Royal Nepal army" has objectively been turning out to be "Royal American army" by hiring hundreds of American army experts and advisers into the country and that situation has signalled a vicious conspiracy of imposing a foreign puppet regime by averting the peace negotiation process. In this situation, in order to create a credible atmosphere for the new step of negotiation, the Royal army must immediately stop its anti negotiation attempts and must declare a commitment to abide by fully and unconditionally the all decisions of all steps of peace negotiation and all the hired foreign army advisors and army experts should immediately be expelled from the country.



1.4.Today, the objective necessity and the willingness of the country and the people is not that "negotiation is for negotiation" but that "negotiation should be for forward going political solution". Having underlined these facts, we had presented the political agendas in a systematic and written form, addressing to the present objective reality of the power balance with central aspect of political outlet and its process and method at the first round of negotiation on 27 April 2003. It has been crystal clear in different ways in the meantime that there is a broad support of the broad masses including all section of people of all oppressed classes, nationalities, regions and sexes for the new types of democratic system to be instituted through round table conference, interim government and election of the constituent assembly, bearing the essence of making the people practically sovereign by giving accomplishment of capitalist multiparty democracy instead of debacle and hybrid monarchical parliamentarian system. But even after the three months have been passed by, the old state has neither expressed any comment over that proposal nor has dared to present separate political agenda. Rather, the changing persons at the chair of the changing puppet government on the sentiment of the newly proclaimed king and foreign pressure, have time and again been expressing in direct and indirect languages about holding parliamentarian election within the framework of the old system without obstacles by solving so called Maoist problem. The present problem of nationality, democracy and livelihood is the problem of century´s long structural crisis in the political, economic social and cultural arena, and are the contradictions of classes, nationality, regional and sexes; but no where is found on their saying and doing that the solutions of these problems are forward going political changes and progressive new constitution is the minimum necessity. In this context, in order to assure that the other step dialogue is not a game for buying time for a preparation of war, it has been necessary for the old state to declare its political position prior to the next round of dialogue.



1.5.Despite the conflict in the country between the Royal army of the old state and the people´s liberation army of the new state through a military point of view, the competition among three forces – the retrogressive autocratic monarchical forces, status quoist parliamentarian forces and progressive revolutionary people´s democratic forces is bitter truth through political viewpoint. But maintaining this tripartite conflict for indefinite period is not possible through scientific and practical point of view. Either this conflict could be solved through minimum forward going political outlet acceptable for all three forces through peace negotiation, otherwise, finally the status quoist force is obliged to be fragmented and divided or polarised between two arenas of the progressive and retrogressive forces. The hesitation of the parliamentarian to advance though election of the constituent assembly and the exercise of sticking on status quoism despite the broad wishes of the majority of their own cadres have made no less contribution for the obstacle in the negotiation process. It has been crystal clear that the monkey-hiccups of the leadership of the parliamentarian forces have become pretexts for the autocratic monarchists to linger the peace negotiation. In this context, we want to make them clear that the relevance of the new dialogue will be accounted only if they clarify their position shortly, having recognised that the revolutionary people´s democratic forces have come to today´s strong force by resisting the combined attacks of the monarchist and the parliamentarian forces in the past.



1.6.Truth is always solid and clear. Therefore, the unclear harping of negotiation by the old state so far deserves no meaning and importance. We are still in a position to favour forward going political outlet through negotiation. We are specifically sensitive on the question that let not the civil war in the country be intensified and let not the foreign military boots be stabbed on the chest of the patriotic Nepalese people. But if the …‘Royal Nepalese army´ turns out to …‘Royal American army´, we are committed to defeat that being Vietnamese liberation fighters of the 21st century. We urge that the let the old state come at sense and comply the second round negotiation including applying them immediately and make the favourable atmosphere for the third round of negotiation. Otherwise, we want to make it clear through this letter that we will be obliged to resist any attempts of violating against the code of conduct and the decisions of the second round negotiation. It is obvious that the old state is responsible for the consequences from that.



Baburam Bhattarai



Coordinator, Negotiation team



CPN (Maoist)

http://www.antiimperialista.org/en/node/2078

[The Vegan Marxist]

http://revolutionaryfrontlines.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/nepal-kiran-at-lectern-e1290760323865.jpg?w=250&h=164
UCPN (Maoist) Vice-Chairman Mohan Baidya "Kiran"

Maoist Party Plenum – Vice-Chairman Baidya Threatens Revolt against Party Leadership

Post Bahadur Basnet, Republica

Palungstar, Gorkha, Nov. 23: Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has threatened to revolt against the party if the official party line is not implemented.

“If the party doesn’t become revolutionary and gets bogged down in revisionism, we will have to raise the red flag for revolution,” a party leader quoted Baidya as saying while presenting his separate political document in closed session on Monday, the second of the plenum being held in Palungstar, Gorkha district.

Baidya warned that he would not remain in the party if it sides with revisionism.

On Monday, Baidya and Vice-Chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai presented their political documents at the jumbo meeting that kicked off on Sunday.

Baidya was agressive against Chairman Pusha Kamal Dahal for not implementing the official party line of “People’s Federal Democratic Republic” and achieving the goal through a people’s revolt, as decided during the Khariparti national conclave in 2008.

“The time has ripened for a revolt. We can capture state power through the fusion of a People’s War and a people’s revolt,” the source quoted Baidya as saying further while presenting his paper.

He said that he shares many things with Dahal, but argued that such similarities in ideology alone are not enough. “The party line has not been implemented. Saying one thing in theory and doing quite the opposite in practice doesn’t lead the party anywhere,” he said in his nearly two-hour long paper presentation.

He stated that he was presenting the separate political document to warn the party leadership against revisionism and to show a red flag to quide the party toward revolutionary goals. He argued that he doesn’t have any intention to snatch the party leadership.

Baidya also severely criticized Bhattarai for his argument that “domestic feudalism” alone, not India, should be declared the party’s principal enemy. “Both domestic feudalism and India have joined hands in the present context. So both should be declared the party’s principal enemy,” Baidya argued.

He said that he doesn’t disagree with Bhattarai that the Maoists should push peace and the constitution, but ruled out the possibility of the country seeing the completion of the peace process and a new constitution due to the “regressive mindset” of other political parties, mainly Nepali Congress (NC).

“Other parties are against formulating a constitution in favor of the people; they are batting strongly for issues like pluralism in the new constitution. If we agree with them, we will be dragged into revisionism ; we will follow the path of the CPN-UML,” he said.

Ruling out the possibility of achieving People’s Federal Democratic Republic through the ongoing peace process, Baidya has demanded that the party complete “four types of preparations” — technical, ideological, organizational and political — and launch a people’s revolt. It may be recalled that the Maoists had completed “four types of preparations prior to declaring People’s War” in 1996.

Similarly, another vice-chairmanm Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, attacked Dahal saying the latter doesn’t have any ideological line and vacillates between the party lines of the two vice-chairman. “Both Baidya and I are clear about our lines, but the chairman is not. So he should clarify his line,” Bhattarai said, speaking for more than two hours.

He also criticized Dahal for giving the impression in the party that he himself is its headquarters. “Headquarters means collective leadership, not the chairman alone,” Bhattarai said.

Bhattarai pushed strongly for his party line of institutionalizing the political achievements made so far and completing the peace process and constitution drafting before taking another stride toward realizing communist ideological goals.

He also claimed that his line would ultimately prevail in the party. “History has proven that the line floated by me has always been correct,” he stated.

The Maoist vice-chairman also argued that the party cannot fight effectively by declaring both India and “domestic feudalism” as its principal enemy.

He argued that the nature of imperialism and expansionism has changed in the globalized world. “Imperialism has spread its wings through the international finance system. There is no direct intervention by foreign countries. If any country directly intervenes in Nepal, I will be the first person to go to the battlefield,” Bhattarai stated.

Dahal is scheduled to present his document on Tuesday. Leaders close to the Baidya and Bhattarai factions said that they would decide their further move after listening to his synthesized document on the fourth day of the plenum. Party insiders say one of the two vice-chairmen is likely to register a dissenting opinion in the plenum.

The top leaders have agreed to pass a single document accommodating the similar views, let the two vice-chairmen register their dissenting opinions if any, and take up broader ideological disputes at the general conventions.

http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/nepal-maoist-plenum-%E2%80%93-vice-chairman-baidya-threatens-revolt-against-party/

[Monkey Riding Dragon]

Saorsa wrote:
It all depends what you mean by left-wing TVM. I think the lines of each leader should be evaluated based on their own merits and their own unique place in history, rather than with increasingly meaningless terminology we've borrowed from the French Revolution and the polemical struggles of 1920s and 30s Russia.

I use the term in reference to degrees of one's interest in and sincerity about communist revolution, personally. Most objectively, left and right wing are terms that correspond to one's interest in revolt against the existing order or radical defense of the existing order (respectively). The left at the time of the French Revolution corresponded to the achievement and consolidation of bourgeois right. Today it corresponds to the achievement of the class interests of the proletariat. Hence there is no such thing, for example, as a reformist "leftist" in my view. Bourgeois democracy today represents a centrist-to-right-wing view (depending on the degree to which you embrace it), now that the proletariat has come onto the stage of history. A far right position would be a radical bourgeois position, e.g. favoring a fascistic/military dictatorship, or a radical feudal position, such as the Taliban might take, since these constitute forms of radical defense of the old. At least that's the way I look at it. I think that's fairly close to an objective definition of the terms.


The main thing to keep in mind is that while Bhattarai's line is the more cautious of the three, that does not imho make him a counter-revolutionary, a rightist, a revisionist or whatever. Any more than in 1917 Kamenev and Zinoviev were counter-revolutionaries. For all we know, he may be right - perhaps now isn't the correct time to seize power? We really don't have enough information to say, and it isn't our lives on the line.

Here we once again see the failure to actually learn from history. Marx criticized the position of Hegel in part thus: "Hegel remarks somewhere that all facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as a tragedy, the second time as farce." The relevant point here being that the position of the above comrades at a certain point in 1917 was a mistaken one contextually. It was a mistaken position because no such revolution as the October Revolution had yet occurred in history at that time. That, quite obviously, is no longer the case. Instead, we have a reasonably extensive historical record at our disposal today to learn from. Thus what were mistakes in 1917 are a farce today. If even Prachanda is able to identify Bhattarai's position as revisionist and call it that, you should be able to as well.

The world must be such a mysterious, incomprehensible place wherein virtually everything is subjective and thus next to nothing can be learned in your obscurantist outlook.

One should not merely study history in order regurgitate 'favorable' facts. One should actually try learning the lessons therefrom. Too many comrades err in that they only participate in the former.


That said, a revolution cannot be indefinitely postponed without problems emerging. Just as in Venezuela a Boli-Bourgeoisie has emerged within the PSUV, privilege and corruption is becoming an increasingly large problem within the UCPN (M), and it is uncertain how long the grassroots support base will be prepared to wait without becoming disillusioned.

Chavez's essential problem is actually pretty similar to that of where the UCPN(M)'s line stands today. As a representative of Venezuela's native bourgeoisie, he seeks out "socialism" in order to get a better deal on the sale of the nation's oil reserves to foreign monopolies. This being the level of his objective, he finds it entirely possible to unite with the nation's comprador political elements toward the achievement thereof. It is precisely this unity that, above all else, prevents him from being a genuine revolutionary. It is this unity that motivates him to avoid civil war like the plague in "consolidating socialism". Not that there isn't room for nuance in Venezuela's case. After all, the popular committees and so forth do have revolutionary potential if they can be placed under corresponding leadership. Even Chavez himself may even be won over to support that if communist leadership does come forward in such a fashion. (Here it is worth remembering that, as a representative of the national bourgeoisie of a third world country, Chavez falls within the block of four classes with objective revolutionary potential.)

Not that any of that is directly relevant to the subject at hand, but it is indirectly related in that the UCPN(M) for years has been, in practice anyway, pursuing the achievement of a 'people's revolution' by way of forming a united front with the nation's comprador elements, like the Nepal Congress. Therein lies a core failure to correctly identify who is an ally of the proletariat and who is the enemy.

If I may provide my own interpretation of the various class orientations behind the lines in question, the Kiran line is (roughly) a proletarian one, while the other two correspond objectively to the interests of the two bourgeois factions: the comprador (Bhattarai's) and the national (Prachanda's). Much of this is in flux at present, but point is that I see the UCPN(M) as potentially becoming a bourgeois party. Again, I identify this by line, not narrowly by the party's class composition. In a situation of perpetual "stagnation", bourgeois ideologies are inevitably making advances and gaining effective representation and influence at the highest levels of power in the party, and yes the emergence of corruption therein is symptomatic of that.


red cat wrote:
The military question is more difficult than that. Revolutionary Nepal alone will not be able to hold out against China or India. Otherwise they would have seized power four years ago.

This is nonsense. The masses themselves are the most important and decisive factor in any war: a basic fact which is the theoretical foundation of the concept of people's war. Whether or not victory against a foreign aggressor is possible is hence not a matter of, as Stalin once wrongly put it, "whoever has the most tanks and planes". Rather, it is a matter of whether the party successfully rallies the domestic masses against the said enemy. Just as it was possible for the Viet Cong and North Vietnam to reunify Vietnam despite being at a huge material disadvantage for most of the time, so too is it possible for the people of Nepal to ultimately repel any foreign invader. One must have faith in the power of the human spirit rather than deterministically deciding that victory is impossible just because you are at a material disadvantage! Lin Biao, a top leader of the PLA during China's people's war (including the substantially successful people's war of resistance against Japan), once wrote that "The spiritual atom bomb that the people possess is far mightier than the physical atom bomb." This captures the point.

Kiran has laid out some fundamental principles that would help in the formation of a battle plan in the (yes likely) event that India did invade in such a situation: he has proposed namely that the UCPN(M) should directly and openly support the people's war of their comrades in India, thus bringing to any such conflict a multi-front, multi-national character. I would go as far as to argue that the situation in much of that part of South Asia reinforces itself and can possibly even be compared to the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia "domino effect". If a people's revolution could win out in any of the following countries -- India, Bangladesh, or Nepal -- there could very conceivably be a "domino effect" to that wherein one or even both of the other two are swept up in revolution, given that there are various levels of revolutionary struggle going on in all three countries already and that they are all tied together to some degree by the central relevance of India.

(On a secondary note, I will add that we at the P.I.C. journal (see the link in my signature) regard the people's war in India to be the revolutionary struggle with the greatest chance of victory at present and have come to be of the view that it is the primary duty of American communists to provide material and even yes direct, physical support to that revolutionary war effort. Accordingly, we aim to do exactly that upon the establishment of a new, authentically Maoist party in this country. [/shameless self-promotion])

[red cat]

This is nonsense. The masses themselves are the most important and decisive factor in any war: a basic fact which is the theoretical foundation of the concept of people's war. Whether or not victory against a foreign aggressor is possible is hence not a matter of, as Stalin once wrongly put it, "whoever has the most tanks and planes". Rather, it is a matter of whether the party successfully rallies the domestic masses against the said enemy. Just as it was possible for the Viet Cong and North Vietnam to reunify Vietnam despite being at a huge material disadvantage for most of the time, so too is it possible for the people of Nepal to ultimately repel any foreign invader. One must have faith in the power of the human spirit rather than deterministically deciding that victory is impossible just because you are at a material disadvantage! Lin Biao, a top leader of the PLA during China's people's war (including the substantially successful people's war of resistance against Japan), once wrote that "The spiritual atom bomb that the people possess is far mightier than the physical atom bomb." This captures the point.

Nepal cannot be compared to China or Vietnam. Unlike China, it is a very small country, and unlike China and Vietnam both, it has no neighbouring socialist state to rely on. Lin Biao's quotes won't help much if there is a full-fledged military assault from India.


Kiran has laid out some fundamental principles that would help in the formation of a battle plan in the (yes likely) event that India did invade in such a situation: he has proposed namely that the UCPN(M) should directly and openly support the people's war of their comrades in India, thus bringing to any such conflict a multi-front, multi-national character. I would go as far as to argue that the situation in much of that part of South Asia reinforces itself and can possibly even be compared to the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia "domino effect". If a people's revolution could win out in any of the following countries -- India, Bangladesh, or Nepal -- there could very conceivably be a "domino effect" to that wherein one or even both of the other two are swept up in revolution, given that there are various levels of revolutionary struggle going on in all three countries already and that they are all tied together to some degree by the central relevance of India.

The UCPN(M) has always been voicing support for the Indian people's war, and they can continue to do so without openly seizing power. Nothing could be more utopian than hoping for a domino effect while totally neglecting the internal situations of the countries involved. The UCPN(M) had support of only a third of the Nepalese masses a few years back. Hopefully now they have direct support of more than 95%, but whatever their condition is, they will not seize power until they are fully militarily prepared to deal with a foreign invasion and have played off India and China against each other to a large extent.




(On a secondary note, I will add that we at the P.I.C. journal (see the link in my signature) regard the people's war in India to be the revolutionary struggle with the greatest chance of victory at present and have come to be of the view that it is the primary duty of American communists to provide material and even yes direct, physical support to that revolutionary war effort. Accordingly, we aim to do exactly that upon the establishment of a new, authentically Maoist party in this country. [/shameless self-promotion])

Idea appreciated. But in case you contact the Indian CP, it will probably advise you to primarily organize for revolution in your country and help the third-world revolutions.

[RED DAVE]

Fascinating how the various factions of Maoism still can't deal with the fact that the UCPN(M) does not have a base (as opposed to support – I am correcting my former statement) in the working class.

And, of course, none of the Maoists here on this board can honestly come to grips with this as it represents a hole wide enough to drive a truck through in Maoist ideology (as opposed to Maoist rhetoric – but in Nepal most of the time the working class doesn't even enter into their rhetoric).

As Marxists, we stand for the working class leading any revolution in any country! Not the peasantry, not the petit-bourgeoisie (especially as embodied in the party leadership) and certainly not the national bourgeoisie. The revolutionary potential of all these latter two classes is ephemeral, and the revolutionary potential of the peasantry is such that for a successful socialist revolution , it must work under the leadership and guidance of the working class.

Note that none of the factions of the UCPN(M) are calling for a deepening of the parties roots in the working class as a preparation for revolution; instead, at best, they are calling for a renewal of he tactics that led to a stalemate four years ago. At worst, elements of the UCPN(M) are overtly class-collaborationist.

RED DAVE

[red cat]

Fascinating how the various factions of Maoism still can't deal with the fact that the UCPN(M) does not have a base (as opposed to support – I am correcting my former statement) in the working class.

I hope you won't "correct" your statement further if it is proved that the UCPN(M) has a working class base. Btw, what do you think can be a convincing proof of a political party in such a situation having a base in the working class ?

[Monkey Riding Dragon]

red cat wrote:
Nepal cannot be compared to China or Vietnam. Unlike China, it is a very small country, and unlike China and Vietnam both, it has no neighbouring socialist state to rely on. Lin Biao's quotes won't help much if there is a full-fledged military assault from India.

See those are what I like to call secondary, non-fundamental differences. They may affect the particular application of resistance, but these sorts of differences do not alter the fundamentals. For example, overall self-reliance in making revolution is a basic Maoist principle...so since when was a socialist neighbor required for the defense of a proletarian revolution? If the comrades in these respective countries can band together to some more significant degree in their respective struggles then I see no reason why a hypothetical invasion by India cannot be defeated. Likewise the fact that India is large and Nepal is small is compensated for in the existence of a people's war of liberation inside India itself. If India diverts too much of its military force to other countries, that will also serve to open up new windows for advancement in the Naxalite people's war in India's borders in that fewer government troops will be stationed on the home front, most likely. I can definitely see a multi-front war against India in the event of an Indian invasion of Nepal, such as Kiran has proposed, as capable of victory on at least one of those fronts, if not more than one.


The UCPN(M) has always been voicing support for the Indian people's war, and they can continue to do so without openly seizing power. Nothing could be more utopian than hoping for a domino effect while totally neglecting the internal situations of the countries involved. The UCPN(M) had support of only a third of the Nepalese masses a few years back. Hopefully now they have direct support of more than 95%, but whatever their condition is, they will not seize power until they are fully militarily prepared to deal with a foreign invasion and have played off India and China against each other to a large extent.

Actually, they've generally been denying that they're providing material support to the Naxalite people's war of late. The shift from more or less strictly ideological support for the Naxalites into more open and direct support is a distinctive idea that Kiran is putting forward and which I support.

Regarding your description of the UCPN(M)'s support levels, what measure are you using here, election results rather than liberated zones? Well, in any case, the basic thing I think you're failing to recognize here is that the party line is a decisive factor. Even if the party did actually have 95% popular support, it would mean nothing if the party had lapsed into revisionism in order to gain that level of support. Lenin once described the economist outlook thus: "The movement is everything, the final goal is nothing." I highlight that in connection to the basic-level ideological struggle going on in the party right now. If Kiran's outlook is correct, for example, that might imply that as much as two-thirds of the party is already lost because that two-thirds has abandoned popular revolution as the goal they're striving for, either in theory (as in the case of Bhattarai) or in practice (as in the case of Prachanda). So if that's true, then what advantage to the proletariat is it if even 95% of the population is rallied around such a party? It means nothing! In fact, it probably means a net loss, if anything.

Being military prepared primarily means having a mass-based strategy of revolutionary resistance developed. That's one of the key things that this plenum we're discussing has brought up as an important, urgent topic for discussion. It does not mean toning down the revolutionary message and practice!


RED DAVE wrote:
Note that none of the factions of the UCPN(M) are calling for a deepening of the parties roots in the working class as a preparation for revolution; instead, at best, they are calling for a renewal of he tactics that led to a stalemate four years ago. At worst, elements of the UCPN(M) are overtly class-collaborationist.

This, Red Dave, is what is called opportunistic bullshit. The first thing we note about your brilliant commentary above is that you regard "tactics"...not fundamental orientation, not even strategy, but tactics...as a decisive question. The second thing we inevitably notice is that you seem to pretend that Kiran's line does not exist, as if no one is calling for making the immediate preparations for the seizure of power. These two things, especially combined, amount to a strong measure of dishonesty and cynical determination to oppose the party in question, regardless of its line. Perhaps your thinly-veiled hope that the revolution in Nepal will suffer a major defeat will indeed be realized. As for those of us who are sincere and serious about the need to change the world for the better, your comments above and the corresponding outlook can only be regarded with contempt.

(I have discussed your simplistic formulation of the need for a working class majority in the party many times before and see no reason to repeat myself on that point again here.)

[Dimentio]

This is the most significant internal debate since the decision to enter the peace process. The party is debating whether to go for an immediate seizure of power, or to continue attempting to push the struggle forward through the Constituent Assembly.

Needless to say - this is big.

Maoist extended CC meeting beginning today

The sixth extended Central Committee (CC) meeting of the Unified CPN (Maoist), viewed with much importance within and outside the party, is beginning Sunday afternoon in Palungtar of Gorkha district.

Some 6,000 delegates from across the country have arrived in Palungtar for the important extended CC meet. The delegates include over 1,000 People's Liberation Army (PLA) members staying in various cantonments.

Maoist leadership decided to include the PLA members in such large numbers despite objection from other parties, Nepal Army and the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) - monitoring the peace process in Nepal.

Central leaders including chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vice chairmen Mohan Baidhya, Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, among others reached the plenum venue Saturday evening.

The extended CC meet will begin after a Central Committee meeting approves the agenda set by the standing committee this morning.

Three separate political dossiers prepared by chairman Dahal and vice chairmen Baidhya and Bhattarai will be presented at the plenum. This is the first time three separate dossiers are being presented at a Maoist plenum.

The extended CC meet is viewed with importance as it is taking place at a time when the party is going through grave internal differences and the nation's peace process is going through a critical juncture.

Extended CC is the highest body in UCPN (Maoist) as it does not hold a general convention. This is the sixth extended CC meeting of the party and the second after the beginning of the peace process in 2006.

The fifth extended CC meet had taken place in Balaju, Kathmandu three years ago. There were fewer participants in the previous meet.

Logistics and Security

Tamuwan State Committee of the UCPN (Maoist) has taken charge of arranging the logistics for the plenum.

It has constructed over 500 huts from local materials equipped with water and electricity to house the delegates. Half the delegates will be housed at the huts, while the other half will be accommodated at the houses of local people.

Food will be served through 44 different places. A private catering company has been contracted to feed the delegates and the volunteers. The party is paying about Rs 10 million to the catering for the service.

A Hall with capacity to accommodate about 6,000 people has also been constructed.

A health centre with 50 health personnel including eight doctors has been established to take care of the health of the delegates.

About 1,500 volunteers including cadres of Young Communist League and the student wing of the Maoists have been deployed.

YCL has taken charge of the security of the meeting Hall, while Nepal Police and Armed Police Force will guard the plenum venue from outside the meeting hall and the accommodation huts. nepalnews.com




http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/10947-maoist-extended-cc-meeting-beginning-today.html

Idiots.

If you want to take power (by illegal means), you should give the impression that you are a pacifist and do it quickly and covertly. Not pre-announcing it with a giant conference.

Most likely, this is only a show of strength to persuade the government to... something.

[red cat]

See those are what I like to call secondary, non-fundamental differences. They may affect the particular application of resistance, but these sorts of differences do not alter the fundamentals. For example, overall self-reliance in making revolution is a basic Maoist principle...so since when was a socialist neighbor required for the defense of a proletarian revolution?

The fundamental, in this case, is the fact that Nepal will be socialist someday, sooner or later. That won't be altered.

If the movement concerned is too weak to defend its revolution against a very powerful enemy, then it will definitely require socialist neighbours.



If the comrades in these respective countries can band together to some more significant degree in their respective struggles then I see no reason why a hypothetical invasion by India cannot be defeated. Likewise the fact that India is large and Nepal is small is compensated for in the existence of a people's war of liberation inside India itself. If India diverts too much of its military force to other countries, that will also serve to open up new windows for advancement in the Naxalite people's war in India's borders in that fewer government troops will be stationed on the home front, most likely. I can definitely see a multi-front war against India in the event of an Indian invasion of Nepal, such as Kiran has proposed, as capable of victory on at least one of those fronts, if not more than one.This situation is definitely a possibility, but it will take at least five years to materialize. Those five years will be enough for the Indian army to crush at least a major portion of the Nepalese revolution.


Actually, they've generally been denying that they're providing material support to the Naxalite people's war of late. The shift from more or less strictly ideological support for the Naxalites into more open and direct support is a distinctive idea that Kiran is putting forward and which I support.The support I was talking was diplomatic and moral. They have always spoken for the Indian peoples' war.


Regarding your description of the UCPN(M)'s support levels, what measure are you using here, election results rather than liberated zones? Well, in any case, the basic thing I think you're failing to recognize here is that the party line is a decisive factor. Even if the party did actually have 95% popular support, it would mean nothing if the party had lapsed into revisionism in order to gain that level of support. Lenin once described the economist outlook thus: "The movement is everything, the final goal is nothing." I highlight that in connection to the basic-level ideological struggle going on in the party right now. If Kiran's outlook is correct, for example, that might imply that as much as two-thirds of the party is already lost because that two-thirds has abandoned popular revolution as the goal they're striving for, either in theory (as in the case of Bhattarai) or in practice (as in the case of Prachanda). So if that's true, then what advantage to the proletariat is it if even 95% of the population is rallied around such a party? It means nothing! In fact, it probably means a net loss, if anything.Popular support with a wrong line often leads to defeat. But a correct line without adequate popular support is no good either. In any case, they will not move directly against foreign powers until they have support and participation from the vast majority of Nepalese masses.


Being military prepared primarily means having a mass-based strategy of revolutionary resistance developed. That's one of the key things that this plenum we're discussing has brought up as an important, urgent topic for discussion. It does not mean toning down the revolutionary message and practice!

Being militarily prepared means much more than that. As of now, if the UCPN(M) advocates an openly radical military line against imperialist and expansionist powers, then it will have to leave the cities and re-start the war from villages.

[Saorsa]

Fascinating how the various factions of Maoism still can't deal with the fact that the UCPN(M) does not have a base (as opposed to support – I am correcting my former statement) in the working class.

Do explain what your distinction is between 'having a base' and 'having support'.

Basically, you are a liar. You know full well that the urban proletariat in Nepal overwhelmingly supports the UCPN (M), but out of sectarian dogmatism you are spreading misinformation about what is taking place.


Idiots.

It's because of people like you that I barely post on Revleft any more, except in this Nepal sub-forum. You've never accomplished anything that challenged the ruling class in your life. You have no idea at all about how to succesfully build an anti-capitalist movement in your own country. Yet somehow you think you have the right to call the Nepali Maoists idiots?


If you want to take power (by illegal means), you should give the impression that you are a pacifist and do it quickly and covertly. Not pre-announcing it with a giant conference.

This is bizarre. How many times have you organised an insurrection? What makes you such an expert? The Maoists have been very open for the past decade or more about their plans to take power, and I think the ruling class are well aware of it.


Most likely, this is only a show of strength to persuade the government to... something.

If they wanted to do a show of strength, they'd organise rallies of millions of people around the country. 6,000 people at a conference isn't a show of strength.

The party is divided over how to move forward. This conference has been called in order to democratically struggle between the various lines and (hopefully) come to a conclusion.

There appears to be an inverse relationship between how little people like Dimentio know about how to make a revolution in their own country, and how much they arrogantly presume to know about making a revolution in Nepal.

You people act like this is a soap opera that isn't moving fast enough to keep you amused. People's lives are on the line - this is an actual revolution. It does not move ahead according to your wishes and you don't have the right to make ignorant criticisms of it. Do your research and comment only after you've done that.

[RED DAVE]

Fascinating how the various factions of Maoism still can't deal with the fact that the UCPN(M) does not have a base (as opposed to support – I am correcting my former statement) in the working class.
Do explain what your distinction is between 'having a base' and 'having support'.The Democratic Party in the US has support in the working class. Many workers vote for it. But it does not have a base in the working class. It is not built as a party of the working class, so it does not express the interests of the working class.

Likewise, the UCPN(M) has support from the working class. But it is not based in the working class. It is not a working class party. It is a revolutionary party, yes, but it does not fight for socialism: the rule of the working class over the society, especially the economy.


Basically, you are a liar.Basically, like all Maoists, you’re a Stalinist with all the contempt for the working class that that implies.


You know full well that the urban proletariat in Nepal overwhelmingly supports the UCPN (M)[.]Of course they do. But does the UCPN(M) support the working class? In making a block with the bourgeoisie, and negotiating with bourgeois parties to for a bourgeois government, it obviously doesn’t.


ut out of sectarian dogmatism you are spreading misinformation about what is taking place.No, I’m telling the truth. The UCPN(M) is not leading a socialist revolution. It is not a Marxist party in spite of its rhetoric and pretensions and the lillusions of its followers.


It's because of people like you that I barely post on Revleft any more, except in this Nepal sub-forum.Why not? Because you can’t stand to have your politics scrutinized?


You've never accomplished anything that challenged the ruling class in your life.Sigh. Typical Stalinist/Maoist slander. You are unable to criticize the practice of revolutionaries in other countries, so you resort to slander.

You have no idea at all about how to succesfully build an anti-capitalist movement in your own country.Uhh, to the extent that such has been done in the current period, Trotskyists and independent socialists have been a lot more successful than the Maoists.


Yet somehow you think you have the right to call the Nepali Maoists idiots?We’ve been through this before. Any revolutionary has the right to criticize their own party or any other party. You are betraying your fundamental Maoist/Stalinist authoritarianism when you write thusly.


You people act like this is a soap opera that isn't moving fast enough to keep you amused. People's lives are on the line - this is an actual revolution. It does not move ahead according to your wishes and you don't have the right to make ignorant criticisms of it. Do your research and comment only after you've done that.Typical Stalinist/Maoist defensiveness and arrogance.

And note that you have answered none of the criticisms of the practice of the UCPN(M)

[B]RED DAVE