People’s war in Nepal


by Comrade Prachanda, Chairman CPN (Maoist)

Today, on 13 February 2002, it’s been six years and entering the seventh since the historic people’s war was initiated under the leadership of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). A period of merely six years is not a long one in the process of the revolutionary transformation of an entire society. But, when one looks at the great achievements accomplished, the grave challenges encountered and the national and international influences of the Nepalese people’s war during those six years, one may easily realise the intensity and grandeur of the developments.

Whether the rulers of Kathmandu like it or not Nepalese society is undergoing the ultimate birth pang of revolutionary transformation. It is in this context that the autocratic feudals and their stooges have imposed military dictatorship on the people in an imprudent bid to prevent the founding of democratic new Nepal. But ever since the palatial massacre scandals these killers, involved in a plot against country, people and people’s war, have been displaying their helplessness. By branding the Maoist movement as ‘terrorist’ the Nepalese feudal autocrats, with a vicious intention of taking advantage of the US campaign against ‘terrorism’, have branded two million Nepalese as ‘terrorists’. The experiences of the past three months have made it clear that the so-called emergency is targeted not only against the Maoist movement but mainly against the nominal rights of parliament and parliamentary parties.

Despite rendering parliament and the parliamentary parties totally useless, strangling the press, repealing the fundamental rights of the people, treasonably begging with foreign forces for military aid in order to kill the patriotic Nepalese and setting world records of state terror and false propaganda, the feudal autocrats have failed to face the forceful resistance of the people and people’s war and are now heavily engaged in stabilising the ’emergency’ and military dictatorship.

At this juncture all the political parties, both inside and outside of parliament, intellectuals and distinguished personalities of the country, along with every conscious Nepalese, should not forget the bitter lesson taught by Nepalese history: that feudal autocrats have consistently taken advantage of contradictions between parliamentary political parties to maintain their dictatorial rule. History teaches us that as long as the army, the principal organ of the state, is in the grip of the palatial feudals then parliament and all parliamentary politics are nothing but hapless and powerless institutions. History also shows us that no democracy or human rights can be guaranteed in Nepal until the army is brought into the hands of the people. In essence, the Maoist people’s war is the great historical process that aims to fulfil this task.

Now in Nepal no force in the world can impose feudal autocracy on the people. Millions of people have been prepared to sweep away the feudal killers and their military regime forever, even if it means shedding a river of blood, Now the people have developed their invincible People’s Liberation Army, consisting of thousands of revolutionary warriors guided by a scientific ideology for their own liberation. During the struggle, the people have been exercising an alternative state in huge rural areas of the country for quite some time. These millions of fighters and toilers are not bin Laden and the Taliban, they are great revolutionary fighters guided by a scientific ideology, and they are fighting for the revolutionary transformation of society in the 21st century.

Reproduced from a letter published in Frontier, 28 April 2002, with thanks.