Teach In: Politico-Economic Rationale of People’s War in Nepal

Tikapur, Nepal, photo: TMG

Politico-Economic Rationale of People’s War in Nepal

– Com. Baburam Bhattarai

“At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or – what is but a legal expression for the same thing – with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an epoch of social revolution.” – Karl Marx

1.0 Context and Theoretical Premises

An armed People’s War has been initiated in Nepal from February 13, 1996 under the leadership of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with the proclaimed aim of establishing a New Democratic socio-economic system and state by overthrowing the present socio-economic system and state. This should be understood under the background that Nepal has slided to the status of the second poorest country in the world in terms of physical and cultural developments; 71% of its population fall below absolute poverty level; 46.5% of national income is in the hands of 10% of the richest people; more than 60% of its total population is illiterate, more than 90% of its total population live in rural areas and 81% of the labour force is engaged in the backward agricultural occupation; 10% are fully unemployed and 60% are under-employed or in disguised employment. Similarly the growth rate of food grain production, the most important national production, has shown decline in the last 30 years; foreign debt constitutes more than 60% of the gross domestic product and its intensity is increasing as years pass. It is thus but natural for everybody to be eager to know how the People’s War and New Democratic Revolution is going to solve the above formidable problems. It is no secret that the present reactionary state for the last 50 years has been harping on various attractive slogans along with eight Five Years Plans in the name of solving these problems, but after each plan or campaign these problems have been further aggravated and the socio-economic position of the country has further slided down compared to other countries. In this context it is necessary to find out the root cause or the causative factor of this condition and provide a scientific solution, instead of merely looking at the outer symptoms of problem and solving it in a partial or isolated manner. For this, it is necessary to find out the solution by analyzing the problem with a historical materialist method, or the concept of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist political economy; and today in Nepal the Maoist People’s War is trying just that.