EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S WAR & THE QUESTION OF IDEOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS

The current fifth year of the historic People's War (PW) in Nepal has been marked by a heightened armed collision between the newly created Red political power in large areas of the countryside & the moribund White political power in the form of a parliamentary monarchy. This qualitatively new development in the revolutionary process of the country has given rise to a number of crucial issues of both theoretical & practical nature related to the defence, strengthening & expansion of the Red base areas. One of the most significant of these issues is the question of ideological synthesis of the experiences of the creative application of the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) in the concrete condition of Nepal, particularly in the light of the preparation, initiation & development of the PW so far, which the Party Central Committee has tentatively synthesised as the "Guiding Thought of the Party" (GTP). As this is a serious ideological question of epoch-making significance our Party has logically desired to have a vigorous national & international debate over it before a final decision is made.

The hallmark of the PW in Nepal has been its relatively fast pace of development. During the current year new advances of qualitative nature were made in several fields, as against some serious losses, too, The most significant development has been the near open exercise of political power by People's Committees in areas spanning tens of thousands of square kilometres and encompassing a population of several millions, particularly In the Western region. The enemy's armed police forces have been virtually wiped out from those areas & the class enemies have been practically confined to the district headquarters in several dozen districts (out of a total of 15 districts). However, because of the lingering contradiction between the parliament & the monarchy, which effectively controls the army, it has not been possible for the enemy to use its army directly against the revolution so far. In the absence of having the enemy's army defeated by the people's guerrilla army, the local people's power cannot be said to be relatively stable & safe. Hence the situation in those strategic areas can be termed as that of temporary base areas, which is no mean achievement by any standard in the present-day world beset with all-round counter-revolution. It is axiomatic that the temporary base areas (surrounded by concentric circles of guerrilla zones & areas of guerrilla actions in an onion-like formation) have been won through the proportionately growing people's military might & the , revolutionary mass base under the leadership of the Party, Thus almost a phenomenal growth of the people's guerrilla army to the level of company formation and a mass scale recruitment of people's militias, has been the other hallmark of the development of PW during the passing year. Similarly highly successful guerrilla raids against the police outposts & other forms of guerrilla actions have been a common phenomenon throughout the country, and some daredevil guerrilla raids like the ones in Ghartigaon in Rolpa & Takshera in Rukum in March-April 2000 did shake the whole country. Last, but not the least, the rectification campaign launched within the Party exposed "Alok* tendency" as the meanest form of right opportunism masquerading in a "left" cloak, and ascertained new revolutionary unity on a new basis within the whole Party. On the negative side, the enemy did manage to capture two more Central Committee Members (Com. Dinesh Sharma & Com. Matrika Yadav) & some important cadres of the Party, and the number of heroic martyrs of PW has reached to about two thousand so far. Nevertheless, the sum total of all these developments has been a great leap forward to the creation of Red base areas, and a tremendous mass upsurge in favour of the PW throughout the country. It may sound a bit of an exaggeration & a manifestation of "quick victory" mentality, but the ground reality as of now is that the reactionary ruling classes are inextricably caught up in the quagmire of their own historical contradictions & the national politics & the activities of al1 the parties are increasingly forced to revolve around our Party, the CPN (Maoist), & the PW spearheaded by it. Though the severity of the internal & external challenges to the revolution cannot, & should not, be underestimated or overlooked, the largely favourable condition prevailing so far offers a rare opportunity to advance the PW in great leaps to a near unassailable position through timely subjective efforts.

It is in this very context that the question of ideological synthesis & its concretisation as "GTP" has been presented by our Party with full proletarian revolutionary earnestness. Though a detailed exposition on the subject in the form of an official resolution is still being worked out by the Party leadership, a broad sweep on the question is provided by General Secretary Com. Prachanda in his article "The Nepalese People's War & the Question of Ideological Synthesis" (see this issue in pp.4 ). Naturally, such queries as these may be made: Why do we want to add something specific on the already existing universal science of MLM? Are we in the process of creating a separate "Thought" or "ism"? What do we think of the role of individual leadership on this? And, so on.

Anybody familiar with materialist dialectics would concur that science embodies the system of knowledge of the law of motion of universe, both natural & social, and hence is bound to develop itself in the process of change of the material world, which is unceasing & never ending. As per MLM, the science of proletarian revolution & the most advanced science of all sciences, it demands constant application to change the concrete world & in the process it also has to undergo continuous changes. This is what is implied when Frederick Engels said: "A system of natural & historical knowledge, embracing everything, & final for all time, is a contradiction to the fundamental law of dialectical reasoning. This law, indeed, by no means excludes, but, on the contrary, includes the idea that the systematic knowledge of the external universe can make giant strides from age to age." (Socialism: Utopian & Scientific) , However, it would be too naive & against the very law of dialectical reasoning to suppose that every development in the system of knowledge would constitute a "giant stride", or a qualitative change of universal import. But a quantitative development there has had to be, when the universal science of MLM is correctly applied to change any concrete social world. Without such a quantitative development, or a creative application of science, the revolution in a particular country teeming with its own historical & other specificities cannot be successfully guided or led. Moreover, in particular historical junctures, like the one prevailing during the time of the opportunist Second .International, or the one now after the death of Com. Mao & the Chinese counter-revolution in 1976, when the basic revolutionary tenets of MLM are distorted & vulgarised by the revisionists & Opportunists of all hues, the very act of reaffirming, grasping & applying the revolutionary doctrines itself constitutes a form of "development" of the science. Our Party, therefore, harbours no illusion that we have as yet "added" anything qualitatively new or of universal nature to the proletarian science of MLM, but the successful preparation, initiation & development of the PW so far has definitely brought out some new experiences of revolution which need to be synthesised correctly & tactical principles generated there from, so as to be of use in furthering the revolution. This is what we have sought to do, & termed it tentatively as the "GTP".

As to the question of creating a new "Thought" or "ism" this is a serious theoretical issue, which needs to be probed deeply & debated thoroughly amongst the international proletarian revolutionaries before arriving at a correct & scientific position. Since the question is already in debate among the revolutionaries within the RIM & outside it, we would like to be more enlightened over the issue.

And finally, as regards to the question of the role of individual leadership in the revolution our Party has had a known Marxist-Leninist-Maoist position on the issue. The well known formulation of Engels on the clash between collective will & individual will & factor of "necessity" & "chance" in the historical appearance of a leader, & further development on it by Lenin & Mao, has been our ideological & political guide on the question. Accordingly, we have repudiated both the anarchist & bourgeois liberal positions of undermining the role of individual leadership, on the one hand, and the Lin Pioist position of exaggerating it, on the other, and firmly upheld & grasped a true Marxist-Leninist-Maoist position of acknowledging the necessary role of the individual leader within the revolutionary. collective, operating under a correct system of democratic centralism. In our particular historical case the process of new democratic movement of the past half century & the PW of the past five years has generated a group of revolutionary leaders under the supreme leadership of General Secretary Com. Prachanda. In fact emergence of Com. Prachanda as the overall leader of the revolutionary collective amidst a fierce storm of two-line struggle & class struggle in the past decade, particularly after the reunification of the Party & the preparation & initiation of the historic PW, has itself been a vindication of the law of dialectically interactive relations between the line & the leader. Although the rebelling masses are the ultimate creators of history & the supreme sacrifices of thousands of martyrs of PW can in no way be undermined, the role of the leadership of the Party in general & that of General Secretary Com. Prachanda in particular, in successfully leading the revolution & generating the "GTP", needs to be acknowledged & established correctly.

Let us, therefore, forge the "GTP" as a mighty weapon for advancing the PW & consummating the revolution from a correct Marxist-Leninist-Maoist perspective. Let the international proletariat treasure it as a precious reference material for advancing revolutions in their respective countries.

..'Alok' was an alternate member of the politburo & in-charge of the Eastern region, when he committed serious crimes like ordering physical liquidation of opponents within the Party. indulgence in adultery. embezzlement, factionalism" etc He was expelled from the Party & sent to labour camp.

The Worker (No-6) # October 2000 [Scanned and formatted by INSOF]