Communist Party of Nepal

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 1951 uprising tha 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 reemerged. 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). Similarily 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, amalgating 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.es:Partido Comunista de Nepal