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Communist Party of Nepal
Last modified: 2005-09-17 by rob raeside
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mirrors
image by
Jaume Ollé
See also:
A red
flag with the hammer and sickle. I have seen a photo with an
image of a red flag with a hammer and sickle and a device in the lower fly
corner, that must be the (electoral?) emblem, a sun.
Jaume Ollé, 30 January 2003
The Communist Party of Nepal was founded on 22 April 1949 by Pushpa Lal Shrestha.
It was banned in 1952 for three years. The Party held its First National
Congress on 30 January 1954, with Man Mohan Adhikari as General Secretary.
In the parliamentary elections of 1959, the CPN won 4 seats out of 109. In 1960,
following a royal coup, the Parliament was dissolved and all political parties
were banned. The Partyless Panchayat system lasted until 1990.
In 1971, a radical movement was formed in the Jhapa district. The movement was
the root of the All Nepal Communist Revolutionary Coordination Committee
(Marxist-Leninist), founded in 1975. The Communist Party of Nepal
(Marxist-Leninist) was formed in 1978. The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist)
seceded in 1986, but both parties merged again in the the Communist Party of
Nepal (Unified
Marxist-Leninist) in 1991. The party broke again in 1998 and was reestablished
in March 2002.
In 1991, the CPN-UML won 30% of the voices, earning 69 out of 205 seats in the
House of Representatives and 16 out of 60 seats in the National Assembly. In
1994, the CPN-UML won the elections with 31% of the votes and 88 seats. The
party formed a minority government in December 1994, with Man Mohan Adhikari as
Prime Minister, and was ousted from the government in August 1995. In March
1997, the CPN-UML was involved with two other parties in a coalition government.
Ivan Sache, 30 January 2003
Here is the current situation of the CPM.
The Communist Party of Nepal was founded in Calcutta, India, on April 29,
1949. CPN was formed to struggle against the autocratic Rana regime, feudalism
and imperialism. The founding general secretary was Puspa Lal Shestra. CPN
played an important role in the 1951 uprising that overthrew the Rana regime.
In 1954 the first party congress was held clandestinely in Patan. Manmohan
Adhikari was elected general secretary. In 1957 the second party congress was
held in Kathmandu. For the first time the party could hold its congress
openly. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi was elected general secretary. The congress
approved a republican party programme.
In early 1961 all political parties were banned. A wave of
repression against CPN was initiated by the government. Rayamajhi, had
however, expressed certain faith in the politics of the monarch, something
that provoked stern reaction from other sectors of the party. To resolve the
conflict a Central Plenum was convened in Darbhanga, India. The plenum lasted
one month. Three lines emerged, a pro-constitutional monarchy line led by
Rayamajhi, a line that wanted to restore the dissolved parliament and launch
broad mass movements led by Pushpa Lal and a third line which favoured a
constitutional assembly led by Mohan Bikram Singh. The latter line emerged
victorious, but its sole representative in the Central Committee was Singh.
A 3rd party congress was convened in Varanasi, India, in
April 1962. But the preparation of the congress had been full of controversy.
Initially the Rayamajhi clique, who controlled the Central Committee, had been
hostile towards holding it. The congress approved the programme of National
Democratic Revolution proposed by Tulsi Lal Amatya, and elected Tulsi Lal as
general secretary. In an attempt to maintain the unity of the party, Pushpa
Lal and Tulsi Lal were to share central leadership responsibilities. Rayamjhi
was expelled. But the conflicts soon re-emerged. The inner-party conflict can
be seem with the backdrop of the Sino-Soviet split and the internal polemics
in the Communist Party of India. The Rayamajhi section, which could be seen as
the most pro-Soviet Union faction, did not recognize the outcome of the
congress, although they recognized the congress as such as the legitimate 3rd
party congress. Rayamjhi's followers organized themselves as a separate party,
Communist Party of Nepal (Rayamjhi).
In 1968 the section of Pushpa Lal organized a separate
convention. This led to the founding of a separate party, with Pushpa Lal as
general secretary. This party became know as Communist Party of Nepal (Pushpa
Lal). Out of this group, Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and other
groups would evolve.
In 1971 a group of CPN leaders (Manmohan Adhikari, Shambhu
Ram and Mohan Bikram Singh) were released from jail. They formed the Central
Nucleus, which tried to unify with Pushpa Lal's group. That unity proved
impossible and the Central Nucleus gave way to new parties. Adhikari formed
his own CPN, Communist Party of Nepal (Manmohan). This party developed close
relations to the Indian CPI(M). Singh's group became known as Communist Party
of Nepal (4th Congress). Other splinter groups included the Nepal Workers and
Peasants Party, Communist Party of Nepal (Krishna Das), Communist Party of
Nepal (Burma) and Communist Party of Nepal (Manandhar).
Although technically the original CPN, the Amatya-led group
was reduced to become one of many communist factions. The party became known
as Communist Party of Nepal (Amatya). The party was largely identified as part
of the pro-Soviet Union stream, although it maintained some independence
towards Moscow.
Thus the Nepali communist movement was fragmented in various
factions. In the early 1980s, CPN (Manmohan) and CPN (Pushpa Lal) merged to
form Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist). Similarly the pro-Soviet Union
factions, i.e. CPN (Burma), CPN (Manandhar) and CPN (Amatya), merged together
to form Communist Party of Nepal (Democratic). The unity of that party was
however very short-lived. In 1989 several communist groups got together to
form the United Left Front, to struggle against the authocratic regime. Out of
this cooperation CPN(ML) and Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) united in
December 1990 to form Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninists). CPN(UML) thus emerged as the major communist party in Nepal, amalgamating many
of the other communist factions, including CPN (Amatya) and CPN (Burma) (which
had come out of CPN (Democratic), in the beginning of the 1990s.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Nepal
Official website: http://www.cpnuml.org/
(Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist)
Esteban Rivera, 3 July 2005
image located by
Jaume Ollé
A variant of the flag of the Nepal communists, showing a white hammer and
sickle on red (flag format higher than wide); the smaller variant also includes
some inscription (party name?) was reported in Süddeutsche Zeitung 28/29
May 2003, p. 11.
Marcus Schmöger, 15 June 2003
by J.A. Sommansson, 24 January 2005
This is a variant of the flag of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified
Marxist-Leninist). The common party flag is red with a white hammer & sickle. In
this case a multi-pointed sun is added. The sun is the party election symbol.
J.A. Sommansson, 25 January 2005
Democratic National Youth Federation
image by
Ivan Sache
The flag of the Youth Wing Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) is shown
on the party website.
It is horizontally divided red-blue with a white star in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 30 January 2003
This flag has also been reported as that of the Democratic National Youth
Federation, Nepal, (youth organization of CPN(UML)).
J.A. Sommansson, 30 September 2004
image located by Esteban Rivera, 3 July 2005 at
http://www.cpnuml.org/ulf.html.