KATHMANDU, Dec 27: Senior leaders of various communist parties of Nepal on Monday held discussion on whether the use of force is essential or not in the growth of communist movement.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day conference organized to mark Karl Marx's bicentennial birth anniversary, Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said Marxism is a philosophy of revolution and communists could not deny the use of force in their movement at some point of time.
"If we look into the history of revolution in Nepal, people have loved those parties which have raised arms at some point of time. We can look at the history of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML or the Maoist Center as an example. A communist party cannot reject the use of force," said Dahal.
"I am not saying we'll move into armed revolution again. However, I can say the denial of use of force in communist movement and rejecting proletariats' authority are steps toward leaving the essence of Marxism," said Dahal in response to CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam's speech.
Rise and Transformation of Nepal’s Communist Movement
"The communist parties which have remained against armed revolution have not achieve any success in Nepal but the parties which once used armed revolution have become largest party in the country at different points of time," he added.
Speaking earlier at the program, UML Vice-Chairman Gautam had argued that the communists should rethink about the use of force in the movement and establishing proletariat authority.
"Armed revolutions, except in few countries, have not achieved success. We are the third generation of communist movement in the world and we should understand that we can reach socialism through our participation in competitive democracy," argued Gautam.
CPN (Samyukta) leader Ganesh Shah also argued that the use of force is not essential for communist movement.
However, Rastriya Janamorcha leader Chitra Bahadur KC criticized both Gautam and Dahal.
"Communists should not reject armed revolution completely. The bourgeois let us rise to power as long as we do not disturb their fundamental interest. So, we cannot reject armed revolution in some point of time but we should be careful on the right time for such revolution," said KC.
"On the other hand, we should not say that we have to use armed revolution only to become the largest party in the country," KC responded to Dahal.
Speaking on the inaugural session, CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal said that armed conflict is not the ultimate path of revolution for communists but complete rejection of such revolt is also not a logical argument for communists.
He also said that communist parties should understand the class struggle properly and should not understand the term 'proletariat authority' as an aim of establishing a dictatorship but as an aim of placing people-centric rule of law.
The Karl Marx Bicentennial Ceremony National Conference Organizing Committee led by CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal had organized the conference. The committee was formed last year to mark the bicentennial birth celebration of Karl Marx, the political philosopher who propounded socialism.
