Revolutionary Worker #1017, August 8, 1999
On February 13, 1996, a new People's War was launched in Nepal, led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), aimed at sweeping away imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. Thousands of men and women participated in coordinated armed raids and attacks throughout the country. And for over three years now, the revolution in Nepal has continued to spread, sink roots and accomplish a lot. All this is a truly inspiring and significant development in the world and for the international proletariat. But it has remained a hidden story for most people in the United States and around the world. And for those of us who have been following the people's war in Nepal, there has been precious, but far too little news of this important struggle.
Now, the Revolutionary Worker has an exclusive story. RW reporter Li Onesto recently returned from several months in Nepal, where she traveled throughout the country with the people's army, meeting and talking with party leaders, guerrillas, activists in mass organizations and villagers--those waging this genuine Maoist people's war and beginning to exercise new people's power. The RW would like to give a "lal Salaam" (red salute) to all the people in Nepal who made this trip possible.
This is the fourth article of a new series of dispatches from this exciting trip. (See RW #1014, #1015 and #1016 for Parts 1, 2 and 3.)
*****
When the People's War was initiated two categories of armed groups were organized--fighting squads and defense squads. In the beginning, these fighters were inexperienced and armed with only some single-shot local guns and khukuries (the traditional curved-bladed knife used by peasants). But in the course of three years of People's War, a qualitative development in army building has been achieved. Now the military forces of the People's War are classified into three categories--main force, secondary force and basic force. The people's militia, operating in the local areas, are the basic forces. Guerrilla squads with about nine members, which are to be developed into platoons, are the secondary forces. And the main force at this stage of the People's War is the platoon, comprised of about 27 guerrillas. Efforts are well underway to develop these platoons to the level of companies.
One of the platoons in this Eastern Region will be holding a mass meeting near the village where we are staying. They are scheduled to arrive late tonight and Shiva, my translator, and I will get a chance to talk with them.
A couple of hours after our evening meal someone comes to tell us it's time to go and we set off, single file. Soon, I see a crowd of people on the right side of a house in an area illuminated by a single, bright lantern. When we get close, someone motions for Shiva and me to go around the house, to the left. And everyone else peels off to directly join the gathered group. We are moving at a very fast pace, not quite running, but my heart is pounding from excitement. We come around the side of the house and right before us is a platoon of the people's army, their backs to us, lined up in formation.
As soon as we appear a voice rings out a command and the guerrillas snap to attention, their rifles smartly raised to their shoulders. The platoon is standing in two lines and we walk down the aisle they have formed, up to where several people are waiting for us underneath the bright lantern. When I reach the front, the comrades greet me, one at a time--putting garlands of flowers around my neck and handing me presents. Each one grasps my hands firmly and gives me a "namaste" (traditional Nepali greeting) and a "lal salaam" (red salute). A young woman, a party leader in this district, draws me quickly to her and gives me a strong embrace. The platoon commander also gives me a big hug. All the while, a platoon member darts around snapping pictures with a small flash camera.
We go inside the house, take off our shoes and enter a small bedroom that has been prepared for the meeting. A table has been set up in between two beds, decorated with a bright cloth and two vases of flowers. Shiva and I sit on one side of the room on the bed and everyone else piles onto the other bed. Most of the platoon members remain outside, but two of them follow us into the room--a young man and young woman, who stand to my left, guarding the door with rifles up on their shoulders. The party district leader comes in and sits to our right. The platoon commander takes his revolver out of his waistband, places it on the table in front of us, and sits down next to her.
There are formal introductions and I find out that the 10 or so comrades scrunched together on the bed opposite us are mainly local party leaders. The two guerrillas at the door are also introduced and they each give me a warm handshake. I greet people, expressing solidarity and proletarian internationalism on behalf of the masses and comrades back in the United States, and the district party leader also makes some brief initial comments. Everyone stands for a minute of silence for the martyrs. And then three platoon members come in to sing us a revolutionary song. Shiva whispers the words of the song in my ear:
There is no certainty in life
We may die today or tomorrow
We may depart and hope to meet again
There are so many martyrs
We are proletarians and have rifles and a great vision
And we do not like to leave each other
In war there is bloodshed and insecurity
We tell the fathers and mothers
Don't weep, there is the sound of a bullet
and people are falling and there are martyrs <
We are internationalists
Fighting to free the whole world
History will be victorious for the people
To those who die, following the path,
To those who die, fighting the enemy.
Since we have a limited amount of time I ask the comrades to focus on three things: 1) What it was like in this area at the time of the initiation; 2) The kind of government repression they have faced; and 3) The current efforts here to move towards establishing base areas.
The district leader tells me that before the initiation the party was already very strong here and they were able to carry out the party's First Plan of initiating armed struggle with much success. She explains:
"The party made preparations to launch the armed struggle and at the same time we were doing open mass work and making people aware of the political situation. There was a lot of good political work done among the cadre about the need to pick up the gun and this helped us to make the leap from mass struggle to armed struggle.
"When the party came up with the plan to go to armed struggle we targeted the symbols of the enemy--the police, feudalistic landlords, compradors, and imperialism. The party has a long history of fighting against revisionist forces who want to keep putting off the armed struggle and instead work within the government. The party synthesized and analyzed the economic and political situation of the people and saw that there is no way to get freedom for the proletariat and the poor except by going forward to the armed struggle. The class struggle demanded that the oppressed pick up the gun. Because of government repression, the masses have no alternative but to pick up the gun. Now there is a sharp demarcation between, on the one hand, those waging the armed struggle, and on the other hand, all the revisionist forces. The kingship has ruled for 200 years in Nepal and for 200 years the people have been fighting against this oppressive rule. So now we are in the forefront of the struggle to continue that history.
"At the time of the initiation there was a raid on a police post and sabotage of landlords who had exploited the people. We completed the First Plan of starting armed struggle and the party gave us the next plan. This Second Plan was to wage guerrilla warfare, so our plan was to seize weapons. We successfully raided the police force in Bethan and in that action two police were killed and we seized 200 bullets and some rifles. Three brave comrades were killed--including Tirtha Gautam* who was a district committee secretary and the commander of a squad. The party has noted this incident as one of the leading incidents of the Second Plan. With the Third Plan, aimed at `developing guerrilla warfare to new heights,' we were able to raid another police post where we seized two rifles and 200 bullets, and no guerrillas were killed."
For the last couple of months the party has been implementing the Fourth Strategic Plan of developing selected areas toward becoming base areas. The district leader talks about how this plan is being carried out in this area:
"Now in the Fourth Plan, we raided a police post in this district in which one police was killed and we were able to seize four rifles, one made in the USA. We were also able to raid a police post where three police were killed and four rifles were seized, with no harm to our side. This action was done in the memory of the martyrs in Bethan. In all, we have lost some squad members and political leaders--25 martyrs in all. But at the same time we have been able to take out 14 of the enemy--spies and bad elements, six of whom were police.
"We have designated certain areas as proposed base areas. The first thing we have to do in these areas is wipe out the enemy. If there are police posts we try to remove them, raiding them, taking guns and running the police out. The second thing is if there are spies and informers we will remove them also, which can mean elimination. And the third thing is to remove the feudal landlords. In the main zones we will do all these things. The other thing is we have asked all the leaders of the government Village Development Committees (VDCs), who have been elected, to resign. And we have appealed to all the masses to boycott the elections.
"We have done all this with support from about 75 percent of the people. We went to the VDC chairmen and asked them to take part in the new forms of people's power, and none of them has refused to resign. We are centralizing and concentrating our forces to constitute and manage new forms of power. In these areas we are making different forms of mass organizations--among women, farmers, students, and children--in order to organize everyone."
Next I talk to two groups from the platoon. Most of them are young, either teenagers or in their 20s, but there are a few older comrades, even two or three in their 40s. Just about all of them are from very poor peasant families and have experienced or witnessed a lot of police repression and brutality. Several first got involved in the revolutionary struggle as students. Two young men are from an oppressed ethnic nationality, and they talk about how the suppression of their culture and language was a big factor in them joining the revolution. Many of the guerrillas reiterate the point that they picked up the gun because there is no other alternative for someone who really wants to get rid of the reactionary government. One young man says, "This is our duty, as youth, to fight this war." A 34-year-old man sitting next to him explains what had compelled him to join the people's army:
"I became interested in the party and the people's army when I came to analyze the situation in our country--that there is no health care, jobs, etc. Even the youth who leave the countryside and go to the city can't find jobs. And I asked, why does this situation exist? I came to see that it's because of the reactionary state power that is exploiting people in many different ways. And I came to see that there should be class struggle and that the poor will be able to win out because our numbers are big and we should be able to overcome all difficulties in organizing the masses of poor people.
"Then I met the party, it started the People's War and I joined the people's army. The second reason I came to join the People's War is that the reactionary government couldn't give us a chance to have a peaceful movement. When people went to them with their demands the government repressed the people and didn't even follow their own laws. In this way the reactionary government gave us no way but to start the armed struggle. So for the freedom of the oppressed masses, I took part in the 1996 initiation of the People's War."
There are only a few women in this group, but they are very eager to talk about how they came to join the people's army. They tell me they have been attracted to the People's War because they see that the Maoists are fighting for women's liberation. One of the first to speak is a young 18-year-old woman who says:
"I began to work with the people's army at the beginning of the initiation. Before this I was active in the student movement. I come from a very simple family with a small plot of land. I have a great feeling that there is no other option, if we want to wipe out inequality, the great oppression of women, expansionist India taking over our land. All this cannot be solved unless we fight the reactionaries. So in my heart I came to the conclusion that I had to pick up the gun.
"The conditions in society are such that there is inequality between men and women. Sons can get the property of their fathers, but daughters cannot. If we get married and go to live in our husband's household there is suppression, so we can't be free. As far as the People's War and the party are concerned--they are working for equality between men and women. Women are not denied any aspect of the revolution and I'm convinced that the new democratic system we're fighting for will provide equality for women."
Several guerrillas mention how they had been inspired and emboldened by the bravery of the martyrs. One 40-year-old platoon member says: "I am from a poor farmer's family in Bethan. I did not get a chance to get an education, so I went to the city to work. When I was in Kathmandu I came to know about communism and I talked with many revolutionaries and became convinced that I should become a communist. So I got involved in the student movement, met some of the leaders and then joined the party's youth organization.
"I joined the people's army on the day of the raid on the Bethan police post. The main reason I joined was not only economic repression, but being from an indigenous ethnic group, we can't speak our language, read our mother tongue and are repressed by the Hindu government. So now I have great hope and determination that we will be able to establish a new democratic system that is for equality and will wipe out all the discrimination being done by reactionaries."
One 18-year-old woman recalls the impact of the raid at Bethan on her decision to join the war: "I was at home and in the revolutionary student movement, when the People's War was initiated. I was in 8th grade and was working as a member of a people's militia. I was very close to one of the martyrs who was killed in the Bethan raid. She was a friend in the revolutionary student movement, and when the People's War started she felt she had to take up more responsibility. When my friend went to go raid the Bethan police post she thought that if she became a martyr it would be a sacrifice to the women's movement and that this was her duty."
An 18-year-old man, also deeply affected by the raid at Bethan, says: "I have a duty to fight for the oppressed masses--to make a new situation in the country where the people are not exploited. So with this commitment we have to overthrow this system and establish a new democratic system and I'll be fighting up to that time, as long as I have a drop of blood in my body. I have been inspired by the martyr Tirtha Gautam, who said it is better to be a martyr and be alive forever than to be alive but not be known by the people. I am following this same principle and I will live forever if I fight for the freedom of the masses."
It is getting already way past 3:00 a.m. and, too soon for everyone, we have to end. The district leader and platoon commander clasp my hands and draw me to their chests--conveying through this brief physical contact the utter seriousness and life-and-death nature of their struggle--and our connection to one another. They leave quickly and quietly.
After cups of tea are passed around we wait a bit and then we too head out into the darkness. At this hour we can't use our flashlights and we have to walk quickly in the dark. A comrade offers me his arm and guides my steps. We are going quite fast and I have to surrender myself completely to his skill, my feet moving swiftly over terrain that surprises me with each step. I stumble a few times and walk into some branches along the narrow path, but my guide seems to know exactly how to show me the way with the slightest movement of his arm and I am surprised how I can move so fast without seeing where I am going.
When we arrive at our next shelter, an older man lets us in and motions us to lay down on two beds which have been vacated for us. Shiva falls asleep immediately--by now it is past 4:30 a.m. But I can't get to sleep for a long time.
A few hours later, we get up and I thank the father of the house for giving us a place to sleep. He tells me, "No, it is nothing...whatever I can do to help the struggle." The family prepares a meal for us and then soon after this, someone comes to take us up the hill to where we will catch the bus. As we start out I look around and for the first time see the terrain I had traveled in the dark. We start off weaving through the small village, going past women sitting outside working, piles of wheat lying outside to dry and oxen and goats lying about munching grass. Then we head out into the vast fields of grain, where the paths are very narrow, just enough room to walk along the rows of precious food.
I look out in the distance across the green, terraced landscape and see a big group of people who are working on the land. It's the platoon we met last night and they are clearing an area to build a memorial to the martyrs.
Incredibly, just as we reach the road at the top of the hill, the bus pulls up and we clamber on. There is only a brief moment in which I get a chance to look back and wave goodbye and then we are off.
| To be continued |
* See RW 1015 for the story of Tirtha Gautam.
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