Strategy and Tactics of Armed Struggle in Nepal
(Document adopted by the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
When analysing Nepal's history from historical materialistic perspective, it can be easily inferred that the Nepalese people have been struggling against the complexities of natural forces and various man-made problems for their own survival & development. Modern Nepal was evolved through the struggle between and intermingling of, on the one hand; simple, innocent people struggling to live peacefully in steep slopes with their natural economic system and tribal culture, and at the other, the Hindus who had periodically intruded into this country from the south specially about 1000 years back with their superior technology of production and art of war after they were defeated by Muslims. In this historical process the rise of princes & chieftains and the struggle that kept pursuing between them has forced the people to be trained in violent struggle, which has been proved by the history. The Nepalese people who had acquired military & fighting prowess in the course of their historical development were able to fight bravely against the Britishers in the south & the Chinese in the north who were well equipped with modern knowledge, technique & weapons, during the later period. In the battles fought for their own sovereignty the children, old men, women, youths have demonstrated unprecedented sacrifices, bravery & cleverness on the basis of arms & equipments made in their own country. This had frightened & terrorised even large imperialist armies and their commanders and established the Nepalese (Gorkhali) people as one of the greatest fighters of the world. Even today any independent Nepalese would feel proud when they remember the fighting prowess, bravery and sacrifice of the Nepalese people in the past history. It is a matter of no lesser pride that even Karl Marx, the proponent of communist ideology & the leader of the world proletariat, too, had appreciated the sacrifice, bravery and skill shown by the Nepalese people in those wars.
However from the point of view of the leadership, even yesterday & today the foreign imperialism and its running dog, the domestic reactionary ruling class, have conspiratorially turned the brave Nepalese into mercenary soldiers. For us it is necessary to pass this historical legacy to the people through the struggle and encourage them to take their fate in their own hands.
Here, even after the development of the centralised Nepalese state, the Nepalese people have been fighting & opposing in their own way against the atrocities let loose by the ruling classes, specially the Ranas and the Shahas. Notable among these are many clashes within the different ruling classes and the rebellion of Lakhan Thapa against the Ranas. Under the background of the growing people's consciousness & rebellion worldwide around the period of second world war, the Nepalese people too began to fight violently against the oppression perpetuated by the ruling classes. In this process, the Communist Party took birth in Nepal and Nepal entered into a stage of New Democratic revolution against feudalism & imperialism. The people from different parts of the country rose to fight with arms against the Indian expansionist ruling classes, their stooge the Nepal Congress, and the feudal king, who had conspired to crush the people's movement through the Delhi accord. In this connection the armed rebellion that took place in Bhairahawa area is notable. Even after that the people continued to be involved in small or big struggles breaking the reactionary law & administration. Armed conflicts against the local feudal tyrants in different places started taking place.
Among this kind of armed rebellion against feudalism & expansionism, armed rebellion that took place under the leadership of Bhim Datta Pant in Western part of Nepal is historically important. In the year 1952-53 itself the way Bhim Datta Pant made hundreds of armed squads, the way he was able to annihilate corrupt government officials, the way he was able to capture grains from the government granaries & other essentials and distribute amongst the poor and famine-striken peasants, the way he was able to attack the feudal tyrants one after the other, it was of no less importance. The very tact that it was beyond the capacity of Nepalese government to quell this rebellion itself proves clearly how popular & powerful it was. Thousands of Indian troops were called inside to quell this rebellion and the leader was killed in a most gruesome & inhuman manner. It was from that period onwards itself the present ruling class had shown its anti-national, capitulationist and fascist nature.
During this period peasants in league with the Communist Party start fighting against feudal exploitations in different districts of the country. Amongst them the peasant rebellion developed in Bara, Parsa and specially in Rautahat has special importance. Thousands of peasants defied the law and administration to destroy the bond papers of local feudal tyrants, to break their granaries, to start cultural movement to snub the pride of the feudals, thus spearheading the violent struggles. The peasants nearly captured local political power, leading to the panic flights by feudal landlords. However, it is a matter of sad concern that the then leadership of the Communist Party instead of analysing the peasant class war & armed rebellion that were taking place in different parts of Nepal and without exploring the potentiality of waging a guerrilla war, condemned them as extremism, and went to surrender before the king. It tried to limit itself into legal, peaceful struggle and to work within the parliamentary system. This was a historical betrayal in the direction of revisionism that would have a long - term impact in the Nepalese communist movement.
Even after that the people's rebellion went ahead. Peasant's rebellions of different kinds continued. In this period, peasant's long struggle against the feudals in Khaniyavas of Dhading and that of Dang are worth mentioning, illegal struggles of small & big nature continued against signing of Gandak treaty by the so called elected Nepali Congress government in the year 1959 and against the bootlickers of Indian expansionists. Incidences of violent struggles in different places against the Royal coup of 1960 and against the partyless Panchayat system were also seen. In this period leftist youths and students movement continued despite imprisonment, repression and terror unleashed on them.
The armed struggle of 1972-73 in Jhapa in line with the protracted people's war waged in rebellion against right revisionism prevalent in the Communist movement is the most note-worthy struggle. That rebellion certainly represents the revolutionary trend and the spirit. Those who have been martyred in the process of consciously establishing New Democratic republic are immortal martyrs. Although there were deep shortcomings in the leadership in terms of petty-bourgeois mechanistic and 'leftist' adventurist tendencies, it was however an important far-reaching rebellion against the autocratic feudal rule of the king and against the rightist reformist tendencies that had entrenched deeply into the Nepalese Communist Movement. In the armed struggle to pursue New Democratic revolution, the martyrs of Jhapa rebellion will remain in the forefront.
Around this time, the intense struggles pursued against the feudals and exploiters in the Eastern Terai consisting of Sarlahi, Mahottari, Siraha, Dhanusha and Sindhuli have established a new record in the history of peasant movement. In this process, too, hundreds of thousands of farmers under the leadership of the Party were involved in the class struggle resulting into a kind of power vacuum in the villages. It can be clearly seen that there was a possibility of initiating the process of guerrilla war from the foundation of peasant's struggle of that period. However, because of reformist line and the petty bourgeois pretensions of the party, the peasants became helpless under the onslaught of reactionary military operation. During that time many brave sons of Nepalese revolutionary movement got martyred.
Amidst this, in Chitawan, the peasants struggle including the Jugedi struggle took place. Even in that rebellion many peasant youths got martyred. The historic student's movement of 1979 took the form of people's movement throughout the country. In this process development of countrywide violent peasant struggle took place. This brought the waves of big peasant struggle in the Eastern Terai districts mentioned above and others including Chitawan, Dang and Bardiya. Different sections of people including peasants got involved in the countrywide struggle against the Panchayat and the monarchy by defying the reactionary law & administration. The king was forced to concede an alternative choice against the so-called choiceless Panchayat because of the strength of violent struggle of people's power. Although behind it there was an inherent conspiracy plotted by the king & the monarchical forces. Even after that the trend of people's struggle forged ahead by becoming stronger day after day for the sake of nationalism, democracy and the livelihood of the people.
The historical people's movement of 1990 became the central expression of all these movements. Here along with the countless violent conflicts in all over Nepal including the capital city, the movement began to forge ahead to end the monarchial system. In this historical struggle, hundreds of brave sons & daughters of Nepal had to lose their lives. However the domestic and foreign reactionaries including the rightist reformists in order to get limited reforms went ahead to compromise with the king against the (high) level & the spirit of the movement and succeeded in their conspiracy to derail the movement. It is clear that the end of the partyless Panchayat and the establishment of multiparty system under the leadership of the king is also the result of people's violent struggle.
Even after the establishment of multiparty system, lakhs of people are still in the process of struggle for the nationality, democracy and the livelihood of the people. In this period we have also clearly seen in the course of the general legal movements under our leadership that people are willing to extend them full help and support with great enthusiasm when there are direct attacks against the reactionary state and there are violent clashes. Within a short period of the establishment of multiparty system hundreds of Nepalese have lost their lives for the sake of liberation & their rights, in which an important leader of our Party from Dhanusha and other cadres throughout the country also fall in.
The conscious peasant class struggle developed in the western hilly districts, particularly in Rolpa & Rukum, represents the high level of anti feudal & anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle. Despite severe reactionary repression and terror the movement not only remains sustained, but also it is going ahead as a resistance movement with the qualitative leap. That struggle has given birth to some new substances in the Nepalese Communist movement which have inspired us to be more serious about the business of armed struggle.
From the above historical review it can be concluded that: