What Is To Be Done? Revisiting Lenin in 21st Century Nepal

Abstract

In the fi rst quarter of 21st century, the communist movement in Nepal had succeeded in establishing itself as a powerful political force by securing a strong mass base through people’s movements and armed struggles. Such success had led to overthrowing of the Monarchy the establishment of Federal Democratic Republic. It had also gained a near two-third electoral majority in the parliament, however, the Left at present is in a diffi  cult cross-road. Once united party is fragmented into several competing rival parties and the popularity of the Left has declined dramatically in past few years. Not being able to fi nd a common path of struggle against a hybrid dependent capitalism of Nepal that keeps on sustaining and refueling the feudal and neo colonial relations the communist parties appears to be at risk of being coopted by the status quo. If Nepali Left movement does not strive to correct its course at the earliest, then an irreversible political catastrophe and social dislocation can be predicted with high degree of certainty. Amidst this crisis, the dialectics of history is providing the Left an opportunity to turn present crisis into a revolutionary transformation. As the question “what is to be done, now and hereafter?” has gained preeminence in Left circle, Lenin resurfaces in the consciousness of Nepal’s Left, especially the younger generation. Though situations are diff erent, the core concern is the same as that of the beginning of the 20th century Russia when Lenin came out with his famous pamphlet “What is to be Done?”. Lenin’s immortal contribution to the working people’s movement for revolutionary change is his exhortation for a dynamic praxis–“the concrete analysis of concrete situation” or the dialectics of theory and practice. Revisiting Lenin, the Left in Nepal has to embed itself in the interest of the working masses and be their voice, charting out a common programmatic ground for a united movement and a united party. Such unity is the prerequisite for the reconstitution of a vanguard party of the proletarian class and of oppressed masses for carrying out the revolutionary transformation.