On Developments in Nepal and the Stakes for the Communist Movement: Letters to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, 2005-2008 (With a Reply from the CPN(M), 2006) Revolutionary Communist Party, USA January 29, 2009 Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) November 4, 2008 Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) March, 2008 Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) October 2005 Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) July 1, 2006 Letter from the Central Committee, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to the Central Committee, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Appendices to October 2005 Letter from the RCP,USA to the CPN(M) “The Creative Development of MLM, Not of Revisionism”, excerpt from a talk by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. “Some Further Thinking on: The Socialist State as a New Kind of State”, excerpt from a talk given by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, to a group of Party members and supporters in 2005. Article from Revolution #160, March 28, 2009. On Developments in Nepal and the Stakes for the Communist Movement: Letters to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, 2005-2008 (With a Reply from the CPN(M), 2006), Editor’s Note: These letters are as they originally appeared with the exception of spelling and grammatical corrections and the deletion of a few citations internal to Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) publications. Editor’s Note: This letter is as it originally appeared with the exception of spelling and grammatical corrections and the deletion of a few citations internal to Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) publications. Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) January 29, 2009 Dear Comrades, As you know we have been following the developments in your country and within your party with great concern and interest. During the long years of the People’s War we consistently upheld and propagated your struggle within the revolutionary movement and among the masses of people in our country, and participated in doing so on an international level. We did so wholeheartedly, convinced that the struggle in Nepal was a blow not only against the reactionary ruling classes of Nepal itself, but could become an advanced outpost of struggle against the world imperialist system and that, under the leadership of a genuine communist vanguard party, this revolution had the basis not only for liberating Nepal but to contribute to the spread of revolutionary communism in the region and the world. We are writing this letter to inform you that we have come to the conclusion that it is now necessary to open up to the public the struggle that we have been waging with you for several years now over key questions of communist principle and the differences that have now sharply emerged. Ever since October 2005 we have been increasingly alarmed at the developments of line that your party has taken. Proceeding from what is our understanding of proletarian internationalism, we have made many efforts to carry out struggle over the crucial questions of ideological and political line involved. In particular we have written three major letters at key junctures presenting in a frank manner our understanding of the matters of principle that have emerged in relation to the development of the revolution in your country; we have not addressed these on the level of specific tactical measures that you have taken at different junctures, but with regard to the overall ideological and political line that has been guiding the practice of your party–and which are now pushing the revolution into the abyss. We wrote one letter in October 2005, a second one on March 19, 2008 and a third on November 4, 2008. Of these three letters, you chose to respond only to the first; we are very disappointed and dismayed that you did not consider that the later two letters of 2008 even merited a response. The questions that we and others have raised clearly focus on questions that need to be January 2009 RCP, USA to CPN(M) 1 discussed within RIM and the international communist movement and are of concern to all who want to do away with imperialism and reaction, and work toward a communist future. It should be obvious why the change in the leading political and ideological orientation of your party and the policies adopted have caused a great deal of questioning and confusion among friends of the Nepal revolution in our country and elsewhere. Despite the concerns of sections of the masses and repeated requests to know our opinion, we have been very careful to avoid open criticism of your party in our press and in other public forums up until now. We have felt that this was the correct approach for us to take because you had made clear to us your preference that this struggle not take place in the public arena and because it was our sincere hope that keeping this struggle internal to the ranks of our respective parties and the parties and organizations of our movement would create the most favorable conditions for your party, and especially its leadership, to engage in serious study, debate and struggle over the questions that we and other comrades in the international movement have been raising. We are forced to conclude that this policy of keeping our struggle internal is no longer appropriate under the present circumstances. When the party leadership has shown no interest in pursuing struggle over cardinal questions of ideological and political line and where the leading line and policies of the party itself are accelerating in the wrong direction, to keep silent would objectively represent acquiescence in this very path. On the contrary, the circumstances require a vigorous public discussion of the central ideological and political questions involved. We do not take this decision with joy of heart but rather out of the deepest concern for the future of the revolution in Nepal and its implications for the proletarian revolutionary struggle internationally. Just as we had decided that it is now correct to take this course of action, an article written by Roshan Kissoon appeared in your English language journal Red Star (#21) in which there is an open repudiation of the whole of Marxism, beginning with Marx himself, an open rejection of the whole experience of the proletarian revolution up to this point, and an open proclamation that the revolution in Nepal can do no more than build a modern capitalist state, leaving the question of the struggle for socialism and communism to future generations. As part of the anti-communist diatribe in Red Star #21, Kissoon launches a vicious and unprincipled attack and personal slander on the leader of our party, Chairman Bob Avakian, which is reprehensible and unacceptable. We strongly protest the completely anti-communist content of this article. To publish such an article in a journal that is seen all over the world as a vehicle for dissemination of your line and views constitutes promoting views that are completely in opposition to the goals and methods of communists that should be upheld by the international communist movement. January 2009 RCP, USA to CPN(M) 2 We will proceed with publishing the three major letters mentioned above along with the only response we have received from you, unless we hear from you by February 15, 2009 with a compelling reason for not doing so. Our proletarian internationalist greetings, Central Committee Revolutionary Communist Party, USA January 2009 RCP, USA to CPN(M) 3 Editor’s Note: This letter is as it originally appeared with the exception of spelling and grammatical corrections and the deletion of a few citations internal to Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) publications. 4 November 2008 Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA To the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and all Parties and Organizations of RIM Dear Comrades, On March 19, 2008, our Party sent a circular letter to the comrades of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) as well as to the other parties and organizations of RIM expressing our deepest concern over the political and ideological orientation of the CPN(M) and the basic path it has been following for the last three years. The central point in that letter was our belief that despite the great struggle and sacrifices of the ten years of People's War and its tremendous achievements, the state system being established and consolidated in Nepal is not new democracy, the particular form of the dictatorship of the proletariat appropriate in countries like Nepal, but rather a bourgeois state, a “federal democratic republic” which will preserve and enforce the existing capitalist and semi-feudal relations of production prevalent in Nepal. The People’s Liberation Army is to be destroyed through “integration” into the reactionary state army and/or dissolved by other means, land distributed by the revolution to the peasantry is to be returned to previous owners, Western imperialist powers and reactionary states such as China and India are being hailed as great friends of the Nepalese people, and astounding theoretical propositions are being put forward such as the “joint dictatorship of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie”1. Instead of arguing for a program of carrying forward the revolution, CPN(M) leaders and government officials have loudly advocated positions and policies that so flagrantly go against the principles of proletarian revolution and the interests of the masses in Nepal and around the world that any genuine communist is shocked, saddened and angry to hear them on the lips of comrades of our Movement.