| khahare |
Posted
on 24-Aug-02 08:40 PM
UML to take bourgeoisie road to root out feudalism
"Jan Sharma"
Kathmandu, August 24,
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), talks like a capitalist – growth driven strategy that brings higher profits, increases production, enhances competitiveness in business, to name a few instances.
As he leads an 11-member Election Manifesto Drafting Committee consisting of senior party leaders, his main job will be to map out a strategy that turns Nepal from a feudal society to a modern one based on the efficiency and productivity of capitalism.
"The main problem in Nepal is the feudal system and the feudal mindset," Nepal said. "Almost every one is interested in buying land or gold or in depositing cash in bank accounts. Few seem interested in making investments in productive ventures and make profit. This is indeed sad, isn’t it?"
Feudalism is so rampant in the Nepali society that it has turned feudal lords and their clients into a master-servant relationship, especially in the rural areas. "This unequal relationship on account of inequality of wealth has to end so that society prospers and becomes dynamic on the basis of merit," he said.
Obviously, the CPN-UML manifesto would focus on three key facets in the rural areas: poverty and unemployment, poor and untouchables, and women "who work the hardest during the day only to be beaten by their alcoholic husbands during the night. There is such a long list of problems that often we wonder where to begin with," said Nepal.
"We will first begin with land reform because land is the citadel of feudalism. Unlike the Nepali Congress and the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, which are controlled by the feudal classes, we are the party of workers, peasants, teachers, youths who are the least affected by land reforms."
He said the land reform programme introduced by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was no reform because it was not aimed at maximising three Ps – production, productivity and profits.
"It left intact the feudal character of society. Unless there is radical redistribution of land, society will stagnate," said Nepal, adding that reforms his party is going to propose will revive faith in agriculture to retain manpower in land, increase productivity, promote skill training during off farming seasons, and develop a farm-market mechanism.
These programmes will have no meaning unless there is peace, which certainly is top on the agenda of the party. "Unless there is a strong, stable and determined government in place, peace will remain elusive," said Nepal. "Forget about winning the war on Maoist terrorism just by gun and firepower."
The CPN-UML wants a three-pronged strategy to finish off the Maoists: "fundamental reforms" in the socio-economic sector; political and administrative reforms focused on corruption, incompetent bureaucracy and delayed justice; and a sharp ideological battle against ‘revolutionary romanticism.’
The CPN-UML’s theme for the parliamentary polls scheduled for November 13 is "peace, stability, good governance, change and development: CPN-UML’s majority government -A way out of crisis." However, the party would like the country first to graduate to capitalism before surging ahead to socialism, even if it had been a disaster in most parts of the world.
"I would not say I am a capitalist in the traditional sense of the term," said Nepal. "Let us say the CPN-UML wants to create a rich peasant economy, which is a type of bourgeois economy." What that means will probably be clear after the party finalises the manifesto in about three weeks.
But with so much change in the wind, why should the CPN-UML cling to its outdated name associated more with bandhs, strikes, agitation, revolution and sabotage than with creativity of capitalism?
"The CPN-UML is a trade mark just like Coca Cola," said Nepal. "We represent a political force that is for dynamic growth and development. We will get support from the Nepali people and from donors for what it stands for and not for what we are called."
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