Study Materials on Marxism

 

Study Materials on Marxism

Prepared by MS Bhusal

Translated by Sonnet 4.6

PHILOSOPHY

What is Philosophy?

•       Philosophy is a human endeavor to comprehend the world.

•       It is a means to understand reality.

•       It is a perspective for observing, understanding, and interpreting life and the world.

•       It builds a worldview for human beings by studying the driving forces and general laws of nature, life, society, and thought.

•       It is also a definite methodology for studying the general laws of all life and the world.

•       Philosophy is not something any person receives readymade at once, but rather a synthesis of accumulated knowledge and experience gained throughout a long life.

•       Every genuine philosophy is the intellectual essence of its own time. – Karl Marx

 

The Tradition of Studying Philosophy

•       Philosophy is an ancient science.

•       The root causes of the origin of philosophy: curiosity, logic, and collective consciousness.

•       The word 'Darshan' (philosophy in Nepali/Sanskrit) is derived from the Sanskrit root 'Drishya', meaning 'to see'.

•       In English, philosophy comes from the Greek: 'Philio' meaning love and 'Sophia' meaning wisdom. Thus philosophy means 'love of wisdom'. Its first interpreter was the Greek philosopher Pythagoras.

 

Stages of Development of Philosophy

1. Pre-ancient period (6th century to 430 BCE): Pre-ancient and Post-ancient
2. Medieval period (400–1600 CE): Renaissance
3. Beginning of the Modern era (1650–1780 CE): Age of Enlightenment
4. Development of philosophy alongside technology

 

Subject Matter of Philosophy

•       Study of the relationship between humanity and nature. Does man live within nature, or does nature follow man?

•       Study of the origin, development, and conditions of nature.

•       Study of human origin and development.

•       Three aspects: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology.

 

Branches of Philosophy

1) Metaphysics: Metaphysics is concerned with the origin and development of life and the universe. It covers topics such as the origin, beginning and end of matter; the relationship and influence of matter and consciousness.

 

2) Epistemology: Epistemology studies: What is knowledge? What is the source and process of knowledge? What are the possibilities and limits of knowledge?

 

3) Axiology: Axiology studies the nature of value and evaluation of any matter or subject. One of its central questions is: How can certain elements contribute to the intrinsic value of circumstances?

 

Three Elements of a Philosophical System

•       Class partisanship

•       Theory

•       Method

 

Fundamental Questions of Philosophy

5. Is the world comprehensible or not?
6. Which is the primary element – matter or consciousness?
7. Who or how was life/the world created?

 

Philosophical Theories

•       Spiritualism / Idealism: The view that consciousness is primary.

•       Materialism: The view that matter is primary.

•       Dualism: The view that both consciousness and matter are equally primary.

•       Syncretic view (Reconciliationism): The attempt to find harmony between consciousness and matter.

•       Neutralism: The view that remains neutral between materialism and idealism.

•       Agnosticism: The view that things cannot be known. (Kant)

 

Two Worldviews in Philosophy

No matter how many philosophical streams exist, they ultimately converge into two:

8. Spiritualism / Idealism
9. Materialism

 

1) Idealism / Spiritualism

•       Consciousness is primary for creation; matter is only secondary.

•       Matter is a product of consciousness.

•       The soul is immortal and reincarnation occurs.

•       Life and the world cannot be understood.

•       Life and the world are created by God.

•       Knowledge is obtained from God.

 

Forms of Idealism:

 

a) Subjective Idealism

•       Priority is given to the individual soul, mind, sensation, will, experience, and thought.

•       The world is created through the consciousness of an individual agent — i.e., consciousness starts from within 'I'.

•       All objects are mere combinations of sensations; nothing is real except the idea.

•       Man does not comprehend the objective world and nature; he only comprehends his own thoughts and feelings.

•       Philosophers: Berkeley, Fichte, Hume, Shankaracharya

 

b) Objective Idealism

•       Gives primacy to some universal soul, consciousness, or God that exists outside the individual's soul or consciousness.

•       Some objective consciousness (existing outside the individual) creates the world.

•       The World Spirit or World Soul is the basis of all things and events.

•       Man perceives a mysterious 'idea' or 'Brahma' — given the capacity to understand it through that special consciousness.

•       Philosophers: Plato, Jaimini, Aquinas, Hegel

 

2) Materialism

•       Matter is primary for creation; consciousness is secondary.

•       Consciousness is a product of matter. Consciousness is the highest form of the movement of material matter.

•       Life ends with the end of material existence.

•       Life and the world can be understood.

•       The entire universe is made of matter. The idea of God was created by humans after class society developed.

•       Objects in nature are interconnected.

•       Every object and event is in motion.

•       Knowledge is obtained through human practice.

 

Forms of Materialism:

 

a) Spontaneous Materialism / Ancient Materialism

•       The philosophical system of ancient India, China, and Greece is spontaneous materialism.

•       The richest form of spontaneous materialism is Greek materialism.

•       Spontaneous materialism was born when people began questioning whether the cause of suffering lay in invisible forces.

 

b) Mechanical Materialism / Metaphysical Materialism

•       Mechanical materialism is the philosophy of the rising bourgeoisie.

•       It developed in the course of struggle against the feudal medieval worldview and the theology of religion.

•       They explain the emergence of new things or qualitative change as mere repetition of what already exists — no genuinely new quality develops.

•       Idealists seek the cause of change in a force separate from matter. Mechanists seek it in an unchanging element within matter itself (denying internal contradictions as the source of development).

•       According to them, matter itself is not self-moving; thus something outside matter is needed to set it in motion (the world moves due to an external, supernatural force). Social development likewise cannot come from within society itself.

•       The motion of matter is circular.

•       Mechanism regards all things in the world as separate, completely independent units. Their meeting is merely coincidental. The 'whole' is only the sum of such 'separate' parts.

 

c) Dialectical Materialism

•       Dialectical materialism developed in the process of struggle against mechanical materialism.

•       It is the materialism developed by Marx and Engels by combining dialectics and materialism.

•       Every object and event in the world is interconnected.

•       Consciousness is determined by matter, and consciousness in turn influences matter.

•       There is no stillness or motionlessness in any area of nature.

•       The world moves due to the dialectical motion inherent within matter. The source of motion resides in the matter or event itself.

•       Development or change proceeds from simple to complex, from lower levels to higher levels.

•       The motion of matter is spiral (ascending).

 

The Method of Philosophy

•       It is a system of thought that studies the process of development of the world and its laws.

•       The method of philosophy is inseparably linked with the question of the theory of knowledge.

•       Throughout the history of philosophy, there have also been two fundamental methods of worldview: 1) Metaphysics and 2) Dialectics

 

1) Metaphysics

•       Metaphysics means 'beyond material things'.

•       It rejects the internal contradictions within objects.

•       All objects and events in life and the world are independent and separate.

•       Every object and event remains static, unchanging, and eternal.

 

2) Dialectics

•       Means 'within the object'.

•       Accepts internal contradictions within objects.

•       All objects, events, and processes are interconnected.

•       Objects, events, and processes are dynamic and changeable.

•       Dialectics considers the unity and struggle of opposing elements within an object as primary.

•       According to it, every object — even those physics considers inanimate — is in motion.

•       According to Hegel, every object has a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

 

Critique of Metaphysics:

•       If the dynamism within objects were not accepted, the development of energy would not have been possible.

•       If no change or development occurred in any object, the theory of biological evolution would not apply.

•       If only the quantity of an object changed, qualitative development of the object would not occur.

 

Some Philosophical Thinkers

 

Eastern Philosophers:

•       Sankhya Philosophy: Founded by Maharishi Kapilmuni. Called 'Sankhya' because number (sankhya) is central. It holds that all suffering is influenced by the three kinds of pain (adhyatmika, adhidaivika, adhibhautika).

•       Charvaka Philosophy: Founded by Acharya Brihaspati. 'Charva' means pleasant; 'vak' means speech. It accepts only direct sensory evidence as valid proof. It considers the body to be the soul.

•       Buddhist Philosophy: Founded by Gautama Buddha. It accepts direct perception and inference as valid evidence. It does not believe in God, the soul, superstition, or reincarnation — hence called 'Anatmavadi' (non-soul philosophy).

 

Western Philosophers:

•       Pythagoras (570–490 BCE): All things and events in the world can be understood on the basis of mathematical formulas.

•       Anaximander (610–546 BCE): The earth is unreal; the earth is in perpetual creation and destruction. (Idealist)

•       Heraclitus (536–470 BCE): The fundamental element of the world is fire. One cannot bathe in the same river twice. (Metaphysicist)

•       Democritus (460–370 BCE): Atomic theory — matter is made of tiny particles invisible to the naked eye.

•       Socrates (470–399 BCE): Seeker of absolute truth. Knowledge is obtained only from the soul. (Subjective idealism)

•       Plato (427–347 BCE): Knowledge from the senses is illusion. Consciousness is formed from the soul. Advocate of the ideal state. (Subjective idealist)

•       Aristotle (384–322 BCE): Used inductive and deductive methods. The supreme element is God; God is the beginning and end of creation. (Logical idealism)

•       Saint Augustine (354–430 CE): Synthesized Plato's ideas into Christian theology. The Church unites God and the soul.

•       Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274 CE): Whatever the Catholic Church says is truth. God has a living existence. (Papist philosopher)

•       Bruno (1548–1600 CE): God is not limited to the church; nature itself is the form of God. The earth revolves around the sun.

•       John Locke (1632–1704 CE): Humans acquire knowledge through their sense organs. (Empiricist philosopher)

•       Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778 CE): Return to nature. The source of knowledge is nature; the world is material.

•       Immanuel Kant (1724–1804 CE): Life and the world are matters of faith; the soul is immortal; God is necessary. Matter has independent existence, but the material world cannot be known — it is unknowable, unknown, and mysterious. (Idealist-based conciliatory philosopher)

•       Georg Hegel (1770–1831 CE): Life is inherent in the process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. (Dialectical philosopher) He opposes Kant's agnosticism and accepts motion within objects, but ultimately arrives at the position that consciousness determines matter — hence not a materialist.

•       Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872 CE): Man is a purely abstract person and a biological being. (Materialist and atheist philosopher) Accepts materialism and treats matter as primary, but connects morality with religion and gets trapped in blind faith — thus, though a materialist, cannot be a dialectician.

•       Karl Marx (1818–1883 CE): Founder of Marxist philosophy. German philosopher and economist.

•       Friedrich Engels (1820–1895 CE): Co-founder of Marxist philosophy. German philosopher and closest friend of Marx.

 

Notes on Some Philosophies

 

a) Charvaka / Lokayata Philosophy

•       Named after the sage Charvaka who created it.

•       Charvaka philosophy is estimated to have developed around 600 BCE, though there is no consensus on this.

•       Does not believe in heaven, hell, past lives, reincarnation, or God.

•       Does not accept arguments other than direct evidence.

•       Life and the world are made of four elements: earth, water, fire, and air.

•       It is a materialist, positivist, and hedonist philosophy.

 

b) Natural Materialism

•       Natural materialism is the first materialist system of thought.

•       Also called primitive materialist philosophy, as it is a pre-class social system of thought.

•       A philosophy based on the sense organs. It is the primordial worldview that prioritizes matter.

•       Ancient materialist philosophers belong to this category.

•       Critique: Using material objects as symbols and then drifting toward the immaterial and supernatural; natural materialism eventually drifts toward idealism.

 

c) Hegel's Idealist Dialectics

•       Hegel (1770–1831) was born in Germany.

•       A dialectical philosopher.

•       Hegel's dialectics bases contradiction on ideas/thought.

•       Hegel regards the method of Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis as the core of his explanation.

•       In Hegel's view, reason itself is reality. Ideas determine society and the world.

•       Critique: Hegel's dialectics was entangled in idealism. Citizens rebelling against the state is a crime. 'Hegel's dialectics is standing on its head.' – Marx

 

d) Feuerbach's Metaphysical Materialism

•       Feuerbach (1804–1872) was born in Germany.

•       Materialist philosopher.

•       There is nothing outside nature and society.

•       Matter is the primary element. Being (objects) and thought are properties.

•       According to him, the existence of every thing is independent and stable.

•       Critique: Accepted sensory knowledge but could not make the leap to rational knowledge. Could not explain materialism historically.

 

Marx and Engels in Philosophy

 

Marx (1818–1883):

•       Was expelled from Germany after his newspaper was shut down.

•       Moved to France, then was expelled from there too.

•       Settled in London.

•       Wrote his most important works while in London.

 

Engels (1820–1895):

•       Son of an industrialist; became owner after his father's death.

•       Involved in the socialist movement.

•       A great scholar and financial supporter of Marx.

 

Works of Marx:

•       Early period — centered on philosophy:

◦       Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)

◦       Theses on Feuerbach (1845)

•       Middle period — centered on political science:

◦       The Communist Manifesto (1848)

•       Later period — centered on economics:

◦       Das Kapital (1867)

 

Works of Engels:

•       The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845)

•       The German Ideology (A Critique of the German Ideology)

•       The Principles of Communism (1847)

•       The Communist Manifesto (1848)

•       The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man (1876)

•       The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)

•       Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886)

 

Ideologies that Influenced Marx and Engels

 

1) German Philosophy:

•       Hegel's dialectics

•       Feuerbach's materialism

•       Result: Dialectical materialism

 

2) Contemporary European Industrial-Capitalist Economy and British Political Economy:

•       Adam Smith: Liberal economic policy (Laissez-Faire), Division of Labour, Theory of Value, Accumulation of Capital.

•       David Ricardo: Theory relating labour and profit, Labour Theory of Value, Ricardian Theory of Rent, Ricardian Theory of Wages.

 

3) Politics: French Socialism:

•       Saint-Simon: A new society based on coordination between non-antagonistic classes is inevitable.

•       Charles Fourier: To end exploitation and discrimination and establish equality, the wealthy must be generous toward the poor.

•       Robert Owen: A separate exploitation-free and discrimination-free society can be built.

 

The Three Component Parts of Marxism

•       1) Philosophy: Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism

•       2) Marxist Political Economy: Study of the capitalist economy and analysis of exploitation. Theory of surplus value and explanation of socialist economy.

•       3) Scientific Socialism: Class and class struggle, proletarian dictatorship, and the establishment of communist society.

 

Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; what is crucial however is to change it.

 

Preconditions for the Development of Marxist Philosophy

10. Classical German Philosophy
11. Classical British Political Economy
12. French–British Utopian Socialism

 

 

MARXIST PHILOSOPHY

(Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism)

 

1) Dialectical Materialism

•       Dialectics + Materialism.

•       A philosophical system that understands nature, society, and thought on a material basis, and holds that their development proceeds by the general law of the unity and struggle of contradictions. All objects and processes are in constant change, and their development advances through the general law of the unity and struggle of opposing elements.

•       Dynamism: No object is static; all are in motion.

•       Changeability: Change proceeds from simple to complex.

•       Every event is interconnected.

 

Expressions of Dialectical Materialism

 

Matter and Motion:

•       Matter is objective reality that exists outside our consciousness and is reflected in it. The atom of matter contains numerous sub-atomic particles such as electrons, neutrons, and positrons.

•       A field (e.g., electromagnetic field, X-rays, radioactivity) is also considered a form of matter.

•       The dialectical nature within matter creates motion.

•       Motion determines the existence of matter.

•       Matter never disappears or is newly created from nothing.

•       Motion is absolute (internal) and relative (external).

•       Forms of matter: solid, gas, liquid, plasma, etc.

•       Forms of motion: mechanical motion, physical motion, chemical motion, biological motion, social motion — class struggle and change.

 

Space and Time:

•       Matter moves in space and time. All forms of matter exist only in space and time.

•       Space is the philosophical concept that refers to the universal property of physical objects to occupy a definite location or area necessary for their motion.

•       Time is the philosophical concept that expresses the sequence of all objects and events existing for a certain duration and then disappearing.

•       Space means geography or territory.

•       Time means history or duration.

•       Three-dimensional motion is possible in space.

•       One-dimensional motion is possible in time.

•       Space is the coexistence of objects and events.

•       Time is the sequence of objects and events.

•       Newton held that space and time are separate; time continues even without space.

•       Einstein held that space and time are one; without space, time cannot exist.

 

Language and Consciousness:

•       Consciousness is the result of the long-term development of matter.

•       Labour plays a role in the development of consciousness.

•       In the course of production, language and thought develop through consciousness.

 

Laws of Dialectical Materialism

 

Unity and Struggle of Opposites:

•       Every object and event has both positive and negative aspects, both strong and weak sides — i.e., opposing elements.

•       The struggle and unity of those opposing elements determines their existence. This struggle is called internal contradiction. Without their struggle, the existence of an object cannot be sustained.

•       There is no object in the physical world without motion. Motion is itself the form of contradiction.

•       This condition of harmony and conflict is the universal property of matter.

•       In the absence of either of the two opposing elements, the very existence of matter cannot be sustained. In such a situation, a qualitative change occurs in matter, and a new contradiction begins.

•       Example: The struggle between electrons (−) and protons (+) in the atom.

•       Example: The struggle between the North Pole (N) and South Pole (S) in a magnet.

•       Example: The struggle between positive and negative charges in electricity.

 

Transformation of Quantity into Quality:

•       An explanation of the form of development.

•       Objects exist due to continuous change and development.

•       Quantitative change means an increase or decrease in the quantity or number of an object, in the amount of energy, and in the quantity of relations and contradictions.

•       Qualitative transformation means an object or event with one quality changes into an object or event with another quality.

•       When the quality inherent in matter changes, the matter itself (the form of the object) changes. The boiling of water is an example: water freezes into ice at 0°C, becomes steam at 100°C, and turns into plasma at 550°C.

•       Quantitative change is necessary for qualitative change. When gradual quantitative change reaches a certain level, there is an intervention in the continuity of that change — i.e., through a revolutionary leap, quantity transforms into quality.

 

Negation of the Negation:

•       A law indicating the direction of development.

•       This law explains the process by which the old form of existence disappears and a new form comes into being.

•       It has three forms:

◦       The new takes the place of the old.

◦       One stage of development gives way to the next.

◦       Transition from the old to the new.

•       During negation, the old core character is abandoned and a new core character is taken up.

•       The process of negation begins as soon as an object comes into existence. During negation, old opposites disappear and new opposites arise.

•       Example: Various cells in our body die, are born, die again, and are born again.

 

Sub-laws (Categories)

Each opposing element or tendency within every object is called a category.

 

Individual and General (Part and Whole):

•       The distinct or specific characteristics and nature of an object or event is the individual/particular. Example: tree, person, house.

•       The collective of common characteristics and nature of objects or events is the general/universal. Example: forest, community, settlement.

 

Essence and Form (Appearance):

•       Essence is the core aspect of any object — it is permanent and universally acknowledged.

•       Form is the structure of essence. Form is temporary and changeable.

•       Essence presents itself in form. Form cannot express all of essence at one time — it can only express one aspect at a time.

•       Since one essence can have many forms, it takes a long process to know the essence of any object.

•       Essence is the totality of the elements and processes that constitute a particular object or event. Form is its structure.

•       The essence of the capitalist state power is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

•       Means (essence) and organ (form); productive forces (essence) and production relations (form).

 

Substance and Phenomenon:

•       Substance is the major internal and stable aspect of an object. It determines nature/character.

•       Phenomenon is the external, direct expression of substance.

•       Substance: Electricity; Phenomenon: Radio, TV, fan.

 

Cause and Effect:

•       Cause is an event or group of interdependent events that precede another event and give rise to it.

•       The event produced by the effect of a cause is the effect.

•       Cause: Individual ownership of the means of production; Effect: exploitation, unemployment, class struggle.

 

Necessity and Chance:

•       Events that necessarily occur under certain conditions are called necessity.

•       Events that may or may not occur under certain conditions are called chance (accident).

•       Without necessity there is no chance. Therefore, chance is called 'regular accidentality'.

•       Chance expresses itself within regularity.

 

Possibility and Reality:

•       The immediate prerequisites existing in the present for the emergence of something new are called possibility.

•       The realization or actualization of possibility is reality.

 

Finiteness and Infinity:

•       These are different forms of the same object.

•       There are countless things in this universe; its processes run in infinite ways — hence it is infinite. But this universe is made of definite things — hence it is also finite.

•       There is a dialectical relationship between these two.

 

Quantity and Quality:

•       An object first appears in the form of quality. Quality then necessarily requires a certain quantity. With a certain quantitative change, it makes a leap into qualitative change.

•       That which distinguishes an object from all other objects, separating it from countless others, is its quality.

•       What is added to or subtracted from an object without bringing about its qualitative change only changes the size, volume, and level of the object — that is merely quantity.

•       The expression of the quality of an object is found in its properties. Properties reveal one aspect, but quality describes the object in its totality.

•       A change in quantity shows no clear change in an object up to a certain limit, but a change in quality produces change in the object itself and a new object is formed. When quantity equal to the quality of an object or event is reached, a qualitative change occurs in that object/event.

 

2) Historical Materialism

•       A philosophical system for the materialist study, analysis, and interpretation of history.

•       A philosophical perspective that holds that the movement of social development advances by the general law of unity and struggle among material elements.

•       It holds that just as natural science proceeds on the basis of certain laws, so too does the history, present, and future of human society proceed on the basis of certain laws.

•       The internal cause of the development or destruction of every object is primary, and external causes are secondary. In social revolution too, the decisive factor is the dynamism within society itself, while external influence plays only a catalytic or supportive role.

 

Principles of Historical Materialism

•       Factual and scientific perspective

•       Dialectical method

•       Spiral development of society

 

Laws of Historical Materialism

•       Social Being and Social Consciousness: Being determines consciousness.

•       Productive Forces and Production Relations: Material production plays the decisive role.

•       Base and Superstructure: The structure corresponds to the base. The mode of material production determines the general character of the social, political, and intellectual/spiritual life of society. – Marx

•       Theory of Class Struggle: Class struggle is the primary vehicle of change in class society. The working people are the makers of history.

 

Subject Matter of Historical Materialism

•       History

•       Society

•       Humanity

•       State Power

(studied and analyzed on the basis of theory, method, and categories)

 

History:

Every era is determined on the basis of the mode of social production. The integrated form of productive forces and production relations is the mode of production. Productive forces are dynamic and production relations are relatively stable. The contradiction between them causes the end of the old era and the rise of the new.

 

Society — Stages of Social Development:

13. Primitive Communist Society: Up to 8000 BCE. Tribes. Philosophy of natural materialism. Ancient classless production relations based on collective ownership. Means of production: wooden and stone tools, fire, bow and arrow, clay pots. In the later stage, the beginning of animal husbandry and agriculture.
14. Slave Society: Slave masters and slaves. Polytheistic philosophy. Origin and development of private property. Classes: ruling slave masters and ruled slaves. Productive force: slaves.
15. Feudal Society: Landlords, feudal lords, and peasants. Monotheistic philosophy. Social structure: king and nobility at the top, then feudal lords, then peasants. Classes: ruling feudal lords (landlords) and ruled peasants. Productive force: peasants.
16. Capitalist Society: Though beginning from the 15th century, it reached its height with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. Mechanical materialist philosophy. Classes: capitalists and the proletariat (workers). Productive force: wage workers.
17. Socialist Society: Ruling class: workers. Dialectical materialist philosophy. Dictatorship of the proletariat. Social ownership over means of production. 'From each according to ability; to each according to work.'
18. Communist Society: The final stage of social development. Classless society. Withering away of the state. Exploitation-free production relations.

 

Humanity:

•       First, single-celled organisms appeared, then gradually multi-cellular, invertebrate, vertebrate, amphibious, terrestrial, oviparous, mammalian, and arboreal forms evolved — finally culminating in the appearance of humans.

•       From among the mammalian primates, a creature developed that could walk upright but slightly hunched on its legs, had hands freed from supporting functions, and a more developed brain than other animals. This early human was named Australopithecus, a creature that roamed various regions of Africa and Southeast Asia 2 to 4 million years ago.

•       In Karl Marx's analysis, the fundamental difference between other animals and humans is the activity of tool-making. Australopithecus had not yet reached the level of tool-making but had already acquired the hand capable of making tools and the brain capable of accumulating experience. It was from this condition that humans began the practice of tool-making.

•       Between 200,000 and 2 million years ago, tool-making human species such as Zinjanthropus, Sinanthropus, and Pithecanthropus developed. During this period, the use of fire and the development of the simplest speech and language also occurred.

•       About 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) developed. During this period, humans reached the level of communal life and began collective thinking.

'First of all, probably because of their lifestyle (since climbing trees involves a difference between the use of hands and feet), these apes stopped using their hands when walking on the ground, and learned to walk increasingly upright. This was the decisive step in the transition from ape to man.' – Engels, 'The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man'

 

Classification of Human Species:

19. Homo habilis — Stone Age human species
20. Homo erectus — upright-walking human
21. Homo floresiensis
22. Homo neanderthalensis
23. Denisovans
24. Homo sapiens

 

The entire history of humanity since the primitive communist era is the history of class struggle.

 

State Power:

•       According to Engels: The need to protect private property gave rise to the concepts of army, religion, law, and so on.

•       Modern state power developed out of the necessity to protect private property. In the communist era, as private property and class disappear with communal production, the very justification for state power will cease.

•       Before the rise of class society, society was governed by assemblies of clans and tribal leaders, called 'Vidhata'.

 

Class and Class Partisanship:

•       There was no class in primitive communist society before private property. Everything was collective. Humans lived in their own tribes. Questions of ownership led humans from collective communal living toward private family-based living. This transformed the production system, and as a result, classes originated.

•       Bases of class formation: 1. Ownership of means of production; 2. Role of individuals in labour management; 3. Share in property obtained; 4. Social influence and status.

•       The unified form of all types of struggles conducted in the economic, political, and ideological spheres between classes is called class struggle.

•       Class exploitation and oppression are the causes of class struggle. Class struggle ends all forms of exploitation of human by human.

•       In class society, the interests of various classes clash and are reflected as different ideas. On the basis of those different ideas, various worldviews are formed.

•       Every philosophy serves its own class interest, ideology, and political objective. In class society, the character of philosophy is class-based.

•       The struggle between idealism and materialism that took place in Europe toward the end of the Middle Ages was an expression of the class struggle between the dying feudalism and the rising bourgeoisie.

•       The struggle between materialism and idealism, and between dialectics and metaphysics that has continued throughout the history of thought, is a reflection of this class ideological struggle.

•       The entire history of humanity to date is the history of class struggle. – Communist Manifesto

"Just as philosophy finds its material weapon in the proletariat, so the proletariat finds its intellectual weapon in philosophy." – Marx

 

Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology)

 

Sources of Knowledge:

•       Struggle for production

•       Class struggle

•       Scientific experiment

 

The Theory of Two Leaps and Three Stages of Knowledge:

•       Making a leap from theory to practice.

•       Making a leap from practice to theory.

•       Stage of sensory/direct knowledge

•       Stage of rational knowledge

•       Stage of practical application

 

Methods of the Theory of Knowledge:

•       Observation and experiment

•       Deduction and induction

•       Concrete and abstract

•       Historical and logical

•       Analysis and synthesis

 

Where do Correct Ideas Come From?

According to Mao Zedong, philosophy is born from the mountains and from the huts of the poor. Philosophy of humanity cannot develop from those who are satiated, because it is a product of the necessity of the mode of production. Only knowledge verified through practice can be truly correct.

 

Induction and Deduction:

•       The process of movement of thought from specific events to general conclusions is induction. (Specific examples → general principles). Example: Cigarettes cause lung cancer.

•       The process of movement of thought from the general to the specific is deduction. (General principles → specific cases). Example: Cigarettes → lung cancer.

 

Recommended Books on Philosophy

 

Nepali Language Books:

•       Introduction to Marxism – Krishna Das Shrestha

•       The First Book on Marxism – Bharatmohan Adhikari

•       Introduction to Philosophy – Beduram Bhusal

•       Marxist Philosophy – Mohan Vaidya

•       Himali Darshan (Himalayan Philosophy) – Mohan Vaidya

•       Eastern Philosophy – Bhakta Rai

•       Natural Materialism – Gopiraman Upadhyaya

•       Pema Lama Question-Answer – Mohan Vikram Singh

•       Core Principles of Marxism – Janeshwar Barma

•       Marxist Philosophy (Theory and Application) – Ramraj Regmi

•       Comparative Study of Vedic Communism and Scientific Socialism – Gopiraman Upadhyaya

 

Books by Marx and Engels:

•       The Poverty of Philosophy – Marx

•       Anti-Dühring – Engels

•       The Paris Commune (The Civil War in France) and Critique of the Gotha Programme – Marx

•       Dialectics of Nature – Engels

•       The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State – Engels

•       Human Society – Rahul Sankrityayan

 

Other Books:

•       An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Philosophy – Viktor Afanasyev

•       Five Essays on Philosophy – Mao

 

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY

 

What is Political Economy?

•       The word 'political' comes from the Greek 'politikos' meaning 'society or state', and 'economy' from 'oikonomia' meaning 'household management'. Thus political economy is the science of managing the household of the state/society.

•       In general terms, political economy is a science that studies the relationships among people in the process of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods.

•       Since the time of Marshall, neoclassical economists began calling 'political economy' simply 'economics'.

•       From a Marxist perspective, political economy is the system of thought that analyzes the mode of production of any society from a political angle.

•       In Eastern society, Kautilya was the first to put forward the principles of economics, known as 'Kautilya's Arthashastra'.

 

Schools of Economic Thought

•       The Classical School: The market keeps all producers alert through competition, so leave it alone.

•       The Neoclassical School: Individuals know what they are doing, so leave them alone — except when markets malfunction.

•       The Marxist School: Capitalism is a powerful vehicle for economic progress, but it will collapse, as private property ownership becomes an obstacle to further progress.

•       The Developmentalist Tradition: Backward economies can't develop if they leave things entirely to the market.

•       The Austrian School: No one knows enough, so leave everyone alone.

•       The (Neo-)Schumpeterian School: Capitalism is a powerful vehicle of economic progress, but it will atrophy as firms become larger and more bureaucratic.

•       The Keynesian School: What is good for individuals may not be good for the whole economy.

•       The Institutionalist School: Individuals are products of their society, even though they may change its rules.

•       The Behaviouralist School: We are not smart enough, so we need to deliberately constrain our own freedom of choice through rules.

(Reference: Ha-Joon Chang)

 

Some Notable Economists

•       William Petty

•       Adam Smith

•       Thomas Robert Malthus

•       J.B. Say

•       David Ricardo

•       Karl Marx

•       Alfred Marshall

•       Joan Robinson

•       John Maynard Keynes

•       Joseph Schumpeter

•       Friedrich Hayek

•       Milton Friedman

 

Some Post-Keynesian Economists

•       Joan Robinson – central figure; imperfect competition, capital theory, growth

•       Nicholas Kaldor – growth theory, income distribution, cumulative causation

•       Michał Kalecki – profits, effective demand, political economy

•       Piero Sraffa – foundations of Post-Keynesian price and distribution theory

•       Hyman Minsky – financial instability hypothesis ('stability is destabilizing')

 

Theories of Value

 

a) Use Value:

The value of a commodity that has the useful quality to satisfy human needs is use value.

 

b) Exchange Value and Market Value:

If one commodity can be exchanged for another, that is exchange value. The value obtained when buying and selling in the market on the basis of money is market value.

 

The Labour Theory of Value

•       The Labour Theory of Value holds that the value of any commodity is determined by the amount of labour required to produce it.

•       The Cost of Production Theory of Value holds that the price of any commodity is determined by factors such as the wages paid in production, rent paid to landlords, and the profit margin on sales.

 

a) Adam Smith

•       The state should not interfere in economic matters. Smith assigned only three functions to the government.

•       Smith calls capital 'stock'.

•       The invisible hand of the law of demand and supply always keeps the economy in balance.

•       Every individual is an economic person — he thinks about his own interest and strives for it, and the interest of the whole society automatically follows.

•       Smith states that the Division of Labour occurred only after the introduction of exchange into human life.

•       Smith divided labour into two types: Productive and Non-productive.

◦       Productive labour = labour used in industrial production.

◦       Non-productive labour = labour used in the service sector.

•       Smith discussed two types of value: Use Value and Exchange Value.

◦       Use Value: The utility or usefulness of a commodity (e.g., water has high use value but low exchange value).

◦       Exchange Value: The power of a commodity to command other commodities in exchange (e.g., diamonds have high exchange value but low use value). This is known as the 'Diamond-Water Paradox'.

•       Smith identified three components of price: wages, profit, and rent.

•       He distinguished between 'natural price' (the long-run equilibrium price) and 'market price' (the actual price in the market).

 

b) David Ricardo (1772–1823)

•       Ricardo developed the Labour Theory of Value more rigorously than Smith.

•       Labour Theory of Value: The relative value of two commodities is determined by the relative quantities of labour required to produce them.

•       Theory of Rent: Rent arises from the difference in the fertility or location of land. As less fertile land is brought into cultivation, rent on more fertile land rises.

•       Theory of Wages: Wages tend toward the subsistence level in the long run (the 'Iron Law of Wages'). Any rise in wages above subsistence leads to population growth, which in turn increases labour supply and drives wages back down.

•       Theory of Profit: Profit is the residual after wages and rent are paid. As wages rise (with rising food prices due to population growth), profits fall. This creates a long-run tendency for the rate of profit to fall.

•       Ricardo also developed the principle of Comparative Advantage in international trade: countries should specialize in producing goods in which they have a relative (not necessarily absolute) cost advantage.

 (c) Marx

•       He challenged Smith's notion that exchange gave rise to division of labor, arguing it is the other way around.

•       Human labor applied to any natural object determines the value of a commodity. But capitalists do not pay the full value of labor and extract profit from it. The Theory of Surplus Value is based on this.

 

(d) Neoclassical Economists

•       Demand and supply of a commodity determines its price.

•       How much importance potential consumers attach to production also determines value — it is not the case that goods harder to produce are more valuable.

 

Marx's Capital (Das Kapital)

Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital

·         Part 1: Commodities and Money

·         Part 2: Transformation of Money into Capital

·         Part 3: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value

·         Part 4: Production of Relative Surplus-Value

·         Part 5: Production of Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value

·         Part 6: Wages

·         Part 7: The Accumulation of Capital

·         Part 8: Primitive Accumulation

 

Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital

·         Part 1: The Metamorphoses of Capital and their Circuits

·         Part 2: The Turnover of Capital

·         Part 3: The Reproduction and Circulation of the Aggregate Social Capital

 

Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole

·         Part 1: Conversion of Surplus-Value into Profit and of the Rate of Surplus-Value into the Rate of Profit

·         Part 2: Conversion of Profit into Average Profit

·         Part 3: The Law of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall

·         Part 4: Conversion of Commodity-Capital and Money-Capital into Commercial Capital and Money-Dealing Capital

·         Part 5: Division of Profit into Interest and Profit of Enterprise; Interest-Bearing Capital

·         Part 6: Transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground-Rent

·         Part 7: Revenues and their Sources

 

Theories of Surplus-Value (Volume IV)

•       Part I, Part II, Part III

 

Commodity (Maal)

•       A physical object produced for the purpose of exchange and sale (not for one's own household or community use).

 

Necessary Qualities for Something to Be a Commodity

1.    Human labor must have been expended on it

2.    It must have the quality of satisfying a specific need

3.    It must have the capacity for exchange

4.    There must be division of labor in society

 

Two Types of Commodity Production

•       Simple Commodity Production (C-M-C)

-       The purpose of buying and selling is only to satisfy needs

-       Commodity exchanged for commodity (C→C), or commodity sold for money and money used to buy another commodity (C→M→C)

-       Wage labor is not used (producer is their own owner)

-       Simple division of labor

•       Extended/Capitalist Commodity Production (M-C-M)

-       Money is invested first, commodities produced, and more money earned by selling: M→C→M

-       Workers receive only wages

-       Complex division of labor

 

Labor

•       Individual and Social Labor: When a single individual produces and sells goods in the market, that is individual labor. Collective participation in labor is social labor.

•       Concrete and Abstract Labor: Concrete labor creates use value; it is individual labor. Abstract labor is social labor; it creates exchange and market value.

•       Example: A worker going to the forest to bring bamboo and grass to make a basket is concrete labor. Workers bringing timber to a factory where various workers produce wooden goods sold in the market is abstract labor.

•       Unproductive Labor: When labor is applied to natural objects to make a commodity limited to exchange and consumption — this is unproductive labor. (For consumption)

•       Productive Labor: When labor is applied to natural objects to produce a commodity sold in the market, converted into capital and reinvested in production — this is productive labor. (For profit)

 

Labour Theory of Value (Marx)

•       Marx's theory of value is a developed and extended form of Ricardo's theory.

•       Marx identified two factors of production: Labor and Nature.

•       Other factors of production identified by capitalist economics are merely different forms of labor. Therefore, saying value is determined by cost of production is the same as saying it is determined by socially necessary labor time.

•       According to Marx, capital is the stored value of labor.

•       Labor alone is the source of value; exchange value is value itself. Commodities are not exchanged merely because of their use value.

"Things in themselves are nothing; they become material only after they become objects of exchange; a thing is useful only when human labor produces it." — Marx

•       The price of a commodity is determined on the basis of average social labor time. Commodities made with equal necessary labor time have equal value. As labor productivity increases, labor time decreases, and the value of the commodity also falls.

•       The value of any commodity is determined based on the labor time required to produce it. Workers' wages are also determined according to the duration of labor power.

•       Value is of two types: (1) real value — the value of the worker's labor, called wages; (2) surplus value — the profit of industrialists and owners, but actually the value of workers' labor.

•       In capitalism, labor becomes a commodity. Three preconditions are needed:

-       Workers must be separated from the means of production

-       Workers must be free to sell their labor

-       The purpose of employing workers must be the expansion of capital

•       Labor power is a special commodity. The worker does not sell themselves; they sell their labor power. When other commodities are consumed, their utility ends. Labor power adds utility to commodities.

•       Expressing the value of a commodity in money is its price. Paper money is essentially congealed human labor.

•       When money is reinvested, it becomes capital. Without reinvestment, money does not become capital.

 

Theory of Surplus Value

•       The working hours of a worker in a factory are divided into two parts. In the first part (necessary labor time), the worker works to produce the value of their own wage. The value produced during the remaining part (surplus labor time) is captured by the owner — this is surplus value.

"The worker uses one part of the working day to meet the costs of their own and their family's subsistence, and in the remaining part works without pay, thereby creating surplus value for the capitalist, which is the source of profit and wealth for the capitalist class." — Lenin

•       Whatever extra money the capitalist receives beyond the initial investment is surplus value. The production of surplus value is the fundamental economic objective of the capitalist system.

•       By not paying the full value of workers' labor — exploiting them — capitalism expands its capital.

•       Surplus value is not all profit. Profit is 'one part' of surplus value.

•       Surplus value does not arise from unequal exchange.

•       In the slave and feudal eras, surplus production was exploited. In the capitalist era, surplus value is extracted from workers.

 

Value of a Commodity = C + V + S

•       C = Constant Capital (fixed capital)

•       V = Variable Capital (changeable capital)

•       S = Surplus Value

 

Variable Capital

•       Capital invested in purchasing labor power

•       Variable capital adds to the quantity of value

 

Constant Capital

•       All capital other than that set aside to pay wages

•       Capital spent on machines, raw materials, fuel, etc.

•       It does not increase the quantity of value; it is merely transferred into the value of the commodity

 

Surplus Value Formulas

•       Surplus Value = Gross Sale Value - Gross Cost

•       Rate of Surplus Value (S') = S / V x 100

•       Rate of Surplus Value (S') = Surplus Labour Time / Necessary Labour Time x 100

 

Types of Surplus Value

•       Absolute Surplus Value: By extending surplus labor time

•       Relative Surplus Value: By increasing worker efficiency (increasing productivity to reduce necessary labor time)

•       Excess Surplus Value: Through use of machines, wage cuts, employing women and children, division of labor, importing cheap foreign workers

 

Distribution of Profit

•       Industrial capitalists

•       Commercial capitalists

•       Financial capitalists

•       Taxes paid to the state

 

Theory of Wages (Value of Labor Power)

•       Wages are not the price of labor but the price of labor power.

"The effort a person makes to meet their needs is called labor. They receive nothing for merely laboring. Wages are not the value of labor paid by the capitalist to the worker — they are the value of labor power." — Marx

•       Labor power is the worker's capacity to work — the sum of physical and mental labor. The capacity of labor power is many times greater than its own value.

•       In the capitalist era, labor power can be bought in the market as a commodity. During the production period, the worker sells their labor power to the capitalist; after production, the capitalist sells the produced commodity back to the worker.

•       The capitalist exploits the value of the worker's labor and gives only a minimum survival wage.

•       Example: Making a cabinet — worker's wage 500, machine depreciation 100, transport and other costs 200 = capitalist invests 800. If sold for 1,500, a profit of 700 appears — that is the value of labor. But capitalists appropriate it as profit. This is the exploitation of surplus value.

 

Mode of Production

•       Production is the process of transforming things given by nature — changing their form, quality, and location — to make them more useful for human life.

•       Productive Force: Land, capital, organization, human labor — all that completes the production process.

•       Three kinds of forces in the labor process: Labor (human labor), Equipment of Labor (tools from stone to computers), and Object of Labor (what labor is applied to — from farmland to raw materials).

•       Relations of Production: The economic relations formed among people in the activities of production, exchange, distribution, and consumption.

•       Mode of Production = Productive Forces + Relations of Production (in total)

 

Base and Superstructure

Base

•       The lower unit of any mode of production

•       Determines the superstructure

•       Consists of productive forces and relations of production

 

Superstructure (Adhirachana)

•       The upper unit of the mode of production

•       Influences the base

•       Consists of organizations/institutions, ideas, and philosophy

 

Social Change: Revolution

•       The productive forces within the economic base are continuously in motion; qualitative changes keep occurring.

•       Beyond a certain point, the economic base seeks fundamental transformation.

•       The political power tries to prevent qualitative change.

•       Conflict begins between the newly developed economic base and the old political power still in the superstructure.

•       Ultimately, the economic base wins. The newly developed economic base builds a superstructure suited to itself.

•       Changes in the base bring changes in the superstructure: the entire society transforms. New relations of production form; new thinking, ideas, values, and norms begin to replace old ones.

 

Stages of Mode of Production

1. Primitive Communism

•       Until approximately 6,000 years ago

•       Matriarchal, communal society

•       Collective property

•       Nomadic life

•       Tools: stone

•       In the upper stage of this era, the private family first emerged

 

2. Slave Society

•       4,000 BCE to 476 CE

•       Labor: slave labor

•       Tools: wooden tools, animal husbandry

•       Relations of production: slave-master

•       Slaves were themselves the property of masters

•       One whole group was masters, another whole group was slaves

 

3. Feudalism

•       After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, feudalism began worldwide

•       Labor: free peasants and serfs

•       Tools: iron-fitted plows, spades, animal labor

•       Object of labor: agriculture, animal husbandry

•       Relations of production: noble rulers and peasants

•       Exploitation of surplus production

•       Mode of thinking: religion

•       Social institutions: monasteries, temples, churches, family

 

4. Capitalism

•       First capitalist revolution: 1688 in England

•       World-influencing capitalist revolution: 1789 in France

•       Labor: free, wage labor

•       Industry, factories

•       Tools: metal, rubber, mechanical tools

•       Relations of production: bourgeoisie and proletariat

•       Private ownership

•       Mode of thinking: capitalist ideology, social mobility, meritocracy, consumerism

•       Social institutions: family, media, government

•       Exploitation of surplus value

 

5. Socialism / Communism

•       In socialism, production is state-controlled

•       Socialism: from each according to ability, to each according to work (wage)

•       Surplus value is distributed for: development of productive forces, social security, further production growth, and state infrastructure development

•       Socialism is a transitional period between capitalism and communism. Communism is the higher stage of socialism.

•       Communism: from each according to ability, to each according to need

 

Capital

•       The word "capital" expresses the relations of production of a specific era.

•       Money saved by selling food and grain for household expenses is NOT capital.

•       Only wealth (money or other physical goods) invested with the purpose of extracting surplus value is capital.

 

Qualities Required for Something to Be Capital

•       Transferability

•       Accumulability

•       Capacity to be invested to earn more wealth

 

Capital Accumulation / Centralization

•       Exploitation of workers is the cause of capital accumulation — Marx

 

Consequences of Capital Accumulation

1. Workers' Misery

•       Machines displace workers and increase unemployment

•       Workers must work at the pace of machines

•       Compulsion to sell labor power cheaply

•       Unhealthy competition and despair among workers

•       Social imbalance leads to revolt

 

2. Capitalists' Situation

•       Capitalists unable to compete are eliminated

•       Monopoly capitalism develops

•       Black market grows

•       Conflict among capitalists for production and markets

•       Socialization of production and extreme privatization of distribution causes revolt

•       The gap between rich and poor grows ever deeper

•       Overproduction leads to inability to find markets, causing economic depression and crisis in capitalist production

•       Only socialist revolution can solve this

•       Based on this theory, Marx sought to prove that socialism inevitably follows capitalism.

 

Capitalism

•       The condition in which exchange of produced goods reaches the state where production itself is done for sale (and this process continuously expands).

•       In place of buying for consumption (C-M-C), buying for sale (M-C-M). Buying for sale brings with it the process of producing for sale.

•       A society that has moved from commodity exchange to commodity production and capital formation is a capitalist society.

•       This form of production as a continuous system began in 16th century Europe.

•       An economic-political system based on extended reproduction of commodities and the exploitation of surplus value from the working class.

 

Features of the Capitalist Economy

•       Individual ownership and hereditary transfer

•       Exploitation of surplus value

•       Freedom to choose occupation and business

•       Freedom in consumption of goods

•       Profit motive

•       Capital accumulation and inequality

•       Market and price management based on demand and supply

•       Competition

•       No government intervention

•       Alienation

 

Stages of Capitalism

1. Merchant Capitalism

•       Approximately from the 16th century to the Industrial Revolution in England (early 19th century)

•       Economic power in the hands of traders

 

2. Industrial Capitalism

•       Through England's Industrial Revolution

•       Economic power in the hands of industrialists

 

3. Financial Capitalism

•       After the crisis of 1873

•       When commercial and industrial capital merged, it became bank capital — this is called financial capital

•       Now bankers are dominant

•       Centralization of capital

•       Imperialism, globalized imperialism

 

4. Welfare Capitalism

•       After the crisis of 1929

•       Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936)

•       Second World War. Between 1944 and 1947, communists entered governments of 8 European capitalist countries (Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Finland)

•       In 1949, a new people's revolution took place in China. In 1919, 70% of the world's population lived in colonies; by 1956, that figure fell to 9%

 

5. Neo-liberal Capitalism

•       After 1980

•       Main theorists: Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman

•       Keynes's 'capital and labor compromise' was replaced by capital and labor laissez-faire

•       Structural Adjustment Programme: Privatization, open market, floating exchange rate, cuts in public expenditure, non-intervention zones (wages and prices)

 

Alienation

•       Alienation from the product of labor

•       Alienation from the activity of labor

•       Alienation from one's own specific humanity

•       Alienation from others, from society

 

Cyclical Crises in Capitalism

Economic Cycle

•       Crisis / Recession

•       Depression

•       Revival / Recovery / Expansion

•       Upswing / Boom

 

Sources of Crisis

•       Crises arising from the capitalist reproduction system

•       Crises arising from anarchy of production or under-consumption

•       Crises arising from the growth in the organic composition of capital and the falling rate of profit

 

Three Stages of Workers' Struggle

1.    Unorganized revolt (against machines)

2.    Organized revolt (against the industrialist capitalist)

3.    Permanent workers' revolt (against capitalism)

 

Socialism

Causes of its Emergence

•       Commodification and alienation of social life

•       Economic exploitation

 

Three Stages of Socialist Economy

4.    Transitional stage to socialism: Industrialization, collectivization of agriculture, cultural revolution

5.    Stage of rapid development

6.    Stage of withering away

 

Development of Socialist Economy

Lenin's Contributions

•       Theory of imperialism and proletarian revolution

•       Analysis that imperialism is the dying stage of capitalism

•       Conclusion that socialist revolution is possible in a single country

•       Development of a two-pronged economy based on agriculture and industry

•       Analysis that the 20th century is the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution

•       Mobilization of imperialist contradictions and practice of socialist economy

 

Mao's Contributions

•       Class analysis of Chinese society

•       United front under proletarian leadership

•       Analysis of semi-feudalism and semi-colonialism

•       Analysis of the characteristics of monopoly capitalism

•       Development of new democratic economy

•       Policy of promoting production alongside revolution

•       Policy of "Red and Expert"

•       State capitalism

 

Other Countries' Roles

•       Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, North Korea

 

Socialist Economic System

Collective Ownership of Means of Production

•       State/public ownership

•       Cooperative collective agricultural ownership

 

Role of the State

•       The state organizes the community's vigorous labor power

•       Formulation of short-term, medium-term, and long-term policies and plans

•       Determination of price policy, rates for public-use goods, and taxes

•       Legal policies regarding distribution of produced goods

•       Planned economic development

 

Features of Socialist Economy

•       Planned economy

•       Determination of targets and objectives

•       State or social control and management

•       Social participation

•       State determines price policy

•       Central Planning Commission

 

Economic Laws in Socialism

•       The capitalist class remains in socialist society, but individual capitalists do not

•       The worker and peasant classes remain, but they are not mutually antagonistic; they help each other

•       Collective production is carried out

•       The form of wage labor changes

•       Labor is compulsory for every citizen; special arrangements for the elderly, children, and sick

•       State-controlled and cooperative-controlled ownership exists

•       Produced goods are distributed based on need

•       Unproductive goods are not produced, sold, or distributed

 

Contradictions in Socialism

•       Contradiction between manual and mental labor

•       Contradiction between village and city

•       Contradiction between peasants and workers

•       Proportion and evaluation of skilled and unskilled labor

•       Difference and measurement of the value of labor

•       Status of private property in socialism

The socialist state seeks a friendly resolution of these contradictions.

 

Nepali Society

"...Nepal's weakened feudalism, unable to fully develop, found itself linked to international capitalist processes before internal capitalist processes could gain momentum..."

"...Nepal's feudalism (after the rise of Rana oligarchy) allied with imperialism — an alliance that made society dependent..."

"...From the Sugauli Treaty (1816) to 2007 BS, Nepal was transitioning toward comprador capitalism while feudalism remained dominant — overall a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society. From 2007 to 2024/25 BS, it was a period of rising comprador capitalism and rapidly declining feudalism. From 2025 to 2046 BS, society was essentially comprador capitalist with remnants of feudal power structures. The change of 2046 BS freed people from the absolute state system of traditional feudal character, but actually accelerated the process of comprador capitalism."

(From Ghanashyam Bhusal's "Nepal's Political Economy: Reproduction of Crisis and Direction of Transformation")

 

Comprador Capitalism

"If the capitalist class is to establish itself as an effective national force capable of developing productive forces with minimum freedom, it must control the national circuit of reproduction of productive forces. If it cannot do so, it becomes comprador and the historic role expected of it is not fulfilled." — Samir Amin

•       Mao called capitalists who acted as agents of imperialist countries, earning profit without developing domestic industry, 'comprador capitalists.'

•       Samir Amin defined comprador capital as capital that does not bring labor into industry.

•       Key conclusions based on Marx's analytical method:

-       Capital that does not pass through the stage of industrial capital does not create real value

-       Its main character is financial

-       It plays a negative role in the development of industrial capital

-       As a result, a backward economy remains backward

 

Forms of Profit and Comprador Capitalism

•       Financial capital, bureaucratic capital, rentier capital, crony capital, casino capital, and monopoly capital — all these terms are used in discussions of Nepal's development.

•       'Financial capital' does not describe its quality of depleting productive forces.

•       'Bureaucratic capital' only describes corruption in collusion with officials.

•       'Crony capitalism' mainly emphasizes nepotism and favoritism.

•       'Casino capitalism' better describes the gambling nature of capitalists in unstable economic conditions.

•       'Monopoly capitalism' emphasizes the form of ownership more.

•       In reality, the source of unproductive capital is capital that does not develop labor power. Profit based on trade, interest/usury, political connections, official positions, or nepotism are all essentially comprador profits. It is appropriate to call all these forms 'comprador capitalism.'

(From an article by Ghanashyam Bhusal)

 

Class Analysis of Contemporary Nepali Society

Classes in Rural Nepal

•       Comprador and bureaucratic capitalist class

•       Rich peasants / middle class

•       Middle peasants / lower middle class

•       Poor peasant class

•       Landless peasants / agricultural proletariat / agricultural laborers

 

Classes in Urban Nepal

•       Comprador and bureaucratic capitalist class

•       National capitalist class

•       Middle class

•       Urban poor class

•       Workers / proletariat class

(From Dr. Vijay Paudel's "Marxist Economics")

 

Today's Path Forward

Nepal's path today is to develop national capital in place of comprador capital. This means reversing the reproduction process — moving industrial capital into extended reproduction and limiting the development of comprador or unproductive capital to simple reproduction.

 

Program

The main objective of all plans must be to transform backward labor into entrepreneurial labor. This requires: bringing agriculture into industry, reinvesting industrial profit into expanded industrialization, and making other sectors of production and distribution more effective.

As mentioned in the constitution — developing the public, cooperative, and private sectors in a planned and effective manner; building the education and health systems, bureaucracy, parliamentary and legal arrangements, courts and administration necessary for extended reproduction of industrial capital.

In short, this will be a program to transform politics and society itself into productive politics and society.

 

Political Task

To build a good state requires good politics; to build good politics requires a good party. The main political task of today is to build a political party capable of stopping the reproduction of comprador/unproductive capital and carrying forward the program of reproduction of productive capital.

(From articles by Ghanashyam Bhusal)

 

Books on Marxist Economics

•       Capital (Volumes 1, 2 & 3) — Marx

•       Theories of Surplus Value — Marx

•       Grundrisse — Marx

•       Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 — Marx

•       A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy — Marx

•       Wage, Labour and Capital — Marx

•       Value, Price and Profit — Marx

•       Fundamentals of Political Economy — Mao

•       The Shanghai Textbook

•       Marxist Economics — Dr. Vijay Kumar Paudel

•       Theory of Surplus Value — Krishnadas Shrestha

•       A Handbook of Political Economy — L. Leontiev

•       Window into Political Economy — Dr. Baburam Bhattarai

•       Nepal's Political Economy: Reproduction of Crisis and Direction of Transformation — Ghanashyam Bhusal

•       Liberalism in Nepal (Experiment and Results) — Bhanuprasad Acharya

•       Marxist Political Economy — Ramraj Regmi

•       Socialism and Nepal — D.P. Dhakal

•       Nepal's Political Economy — Sitaram Tamang

•       Marxist Economics (Marxist Study Curriculum) — Rahul Choundhen

 

 

 

SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM

Political Philosophy

There are fundamentally 11 types of political philosophies:

•       Conservatism

•       Liberalism

•       Socialism

•       Communism

•       Nationalism

•       Fascism

•       Religious Fundamentalism

•       Federalism

•       Anarchism

•       Ecologism

•       Feminism

 

Conservatism

•       'Protection of society's traditional fundamental character and preservation of orthodox moral values'

•       A political philosophy based on the thinking of Thomas Hobbes — the Tory Party in Britain

•       Republicans in the United States

•       RPP (Rastriya Prajatantra Party) in Nepal

 

Liberalism

•       Free person (free individual) and free market

•       Based on the philosophy of John Locke

•       Inspired by the British Glorious Revolution

•       'Liberal Democrats'

•       The Congress Party in Nepal

 

Communism

•       This ideology emerged from Karl Marx's philosophy of 'dialectical historical materialism'

•       The Leninist stream of Marxism

•       The essence of communism is 'economic equality'

•       Initially one branch within socialist ideology

•       'Dictatorship of the proletariat', 'single-party system'

•       Present in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba

•       In Nepal, CPN (various factions) — democratization of communism through path to power

 

Socialism

•       'Equality and freedom are inseparable'

•       'Democracy' as the expression of freedom and 'socialism' as the expression of equality

•       Economic equality and political freedom

•       Social market economy

•       Various streams: European Socialism, Fabian Socialism, Democratic Socialism, Liberal Socialism, Social Democracy, Humanitarianism Socialism, Scandinavian Socialism, Gandhian Socialism, Syndicalism

 

Nationalism

•       'Self-pride of a human group that is alike due to birth, birthplace, or linguistic-cultural psychology' — the main element

•       This ideology was born during the unification wars of France, Germany, and Italy

•       Fundamentally based on Hegel's philosophy

 

Fascism

•       An extremist strand of nationalist thought

•       Fundamentally based on Nietzsche's philosophy

•       'Rational governance and supremacy of the state'

•       Mussolini's Fascist Party and Hitler's Nazi Party

 

Religious Fundamentalism

•       A state and society inspired by particular religious sentiment

•       Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda

•       Christian Democratic parties in Europe, later transformed into conservatism

•       Shiv Sena in India, now inspired toward Marathi nationalism

 

Federalism

•       'A united political entity of nationalities across a country'

•       The state is a multi-cultural existence

•       Fundamentally based on the philosophy of decentralization of power

 

Ecologism

•       An ideology inspired by naturalist philosophy

•       European Green Parties

•       'Green Party' and 'Nepal Green Party' in Nepal

 

Anarchism

•       'Dissolution of authority and spontaneous cooperative organization' — private property, the institution of marriage, the state, and religious sects are sources of authority

•       Advanced by philosophers such as Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin

•       Politician Proudhon

 

Feminism

•       Political expression of gender questions

•       Main agendas: dynastic tradition, question of women's citizenship in cross-border marriages, reproductive health and right to abortion, women's working hours and maternity leave and benefits, movement against female foeticide and womb protection, women's participation in politics, etc.

 

Scientific Socialism

Forms of Origin of Socialism

1. Evolutionary / Utopian Socialism

•       Spontaneous socialism — Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen

•       Coordinates between capitalism and communism

•       Believes in the democratic system

•       Acceptance and control of private property through legislation

•       Does not believe in class struggle

•       Since it is of a national character, it thinks about the welfare of citizens

•       Believes in decentralization of power

•       Faith in religion and religious tolerance

 

2. Democratic Socialism

•       Socialist concept of the Fabians

•       The view that even through constitutional and political reforms while keeping the state intact, the capitalist system can be ended and socialism established

 

3. National Socialism

•       Advanced by Hitler's Nazi Party

•       Racial ideology and blind nationalism

 

4. Euro-Communism

•       Communist theory of working within parliament

 

5. Revolutionary Socialism

•       Construction of socialism through revolution — Marx, Engels, Lenin

•       Holds the principle of communism

•       Withering away of the state

•       Elimination of private property

•       Believes in class struggle

•       Since it is of an international character, it thinks about the welfare of workers of the world

•       Centralization and socialization of power

•       Does not believe in religion

 

Why is Marx's Socialism Scientific Socialism?

•       Socialists like Thomas More, Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Robert Owen had already raised the idea of socialism as an alternative to capitalism.

•       Those ideas about socialism were based only on sentiment and desire. There was no standard of scientific analysis in them.

•       They could not explain by what means transformation could be achieved. They did not recognize the revolutionary role of the proletariat, the working class — they only kept sympathy.

•       They did criticize capitalism but introduced idealism regarding the decisive struggle against capitalism. They only understood that they needed to convince the wealthy that exploitation is an unethical act.

•       Instead of trusting the course of historical development, they trusted in human sentiment, morality, goodwill, etc. Their socialism was utopian in character, so it was called utopian socialism.

•       Marxism conceived socialism through a philosophy based on natural science. Marxist socialism was based on deep study and factual analysis of the dialectics of things, materialism, and the historical course of social development.

•       Marxism has scientifically explained the inevitability of socialist transformation of society, and on the other side has also clarified the methods and means to achieve it. Therefore Marx's socialism was called scientific socialism, which is the path through which human society travels toward communism.

 

Socialism and Communism

•       Communism does not come immediately when capitalism is destroyed or when capitalist power is displaced; one must pass through a long transitional period to achieve it. That transitional period between capitalism and communism is socialism.

•       After the proletarian class is transformed into the ruling class, the lower stage of communism — i.e., socialism — will be established.

•       In socialism, only relative equality is applied.

•       "From each according to ability, to each according to work"

•       Communism is the higher stage of socialism.

•       "From each according to ability, to each according to need"

•       The basic needs of all will be met. In society there will be no domination, exploitation, oppression, injustice, atrocity, or inequality of any kind.

•       The free development of every member of society will be guaranteed by the entire society. The free development of each individual will be the condition for the free development of all.

 

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

•       The state itself is an institution that exercises dictatorship.

•       The rise of private property gave birth to the state. Therefore those who want to seize others' property and those who want to protect their own property established state power.

•       Dictatorship of the proletarian class: democracy for the majority

•       It must be short-term — in order to take steps toward permanently ending dictatorship from society.

 

Features of Scientific Communism

•       A classless, stateless society

•       End of private ownership of property

•       Elimination of bourgeois property

•       Collective production system

•       The most advanced social system in the development of society

•       End of the distinction between physical and mental labor

•       End of the inequality between rural and urban areas

•       Complete liberation from all forms of exploitation of humans

•       Transformation of the necessity of truth into the truth of freedom

•       End of antagonistic contradictions among humans

•       "From each according to ability, to each according to need"

•       Establishment of world human culture: the international nation of humans

"In place of the old bourgeois society with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all."

 

Proletarian Internationalism

•       Principle of international class struggle: Reactionaries from around the world unite to suppress proletarian revolution. Against this, the working class must expand its power and network internationally.

•       Reconciliation of national interest with international interest

•       Establishment of world human culture: the international nation of humans

 

Features of the Communist Party

•       Vanguard of the working class

•       Leader of the working class

•       Inseparable part of the working class

•       Organized detachment of the working class

•       Instrument of the proletarian dictatorship

•       Leading force for the withering away of the state

•       Organized detachment dedicated to socialism and communism

•       Highest form: class organization

 

Who Is and Who Is Not a Communist

•       Communists are materialists

•       Communists are dialecticians

•       Communists are critical and revolutionary

•       Communists believe in science and inquiry

•       Communists are opposed to orthodoxy and superstition

•       Communists do not believe in any hero, brave person, or power

•       Communists are opposed to private property

•       Communists are opposed to injustice

•       Communists believe not in the crowd but in the truth

•       Communists do not consider religion and culture as complementary to each other

•       Communists are proponents of cultural transformation

 

How to Become a Good Communist

•       Develop a firm self

•       Become a worthy student of Marx and Lenin

•       Have revolutionary relations with the people

•       Unite study of theory with self-development

•       Be firm toward the goal of communism

•       Subordinate personal interest to party interest

•       Fight against wrong ideologies within the party

•       Revolutionary partisanship in intra-party struggle

 

Tasks of the Proletarian State Before Coming to Power

•       End private ownership of land and apply land to public purposes

•       A steeply progressive tax

•       Abolition of all inheritance rights

•       Establishment of a central bank with full powers to control the entire monetary system and credit system

•       Establishment of monopoly in communication and transportation

•       Bring fallow land under cultivation, rapidly industrialize all sectors, coordinate agricultural and industrial sectors, and eliminate the difference between village and city through a proper distribution system

•       Organize everyone to participate in labor; especially form industrial or production armies for the agricultural sector

•       Complete abolition of child labor. Provision of free education.

•       Restructure the education sector to make it productive

•       Free healthcare for all

 

Perspective on Religion

•       Communists do not follow any religion

•       Communists do not take sides for or against any religion

•       Communists remain separate from religious activities

•       Communists do not forcibly interfere with the religious beliefs of the people

•       They gradually lead the people away from religious rigidity and ultimately toward a materialist philosophy

"All religions so far have been the expression of historical stages of development of individual, peoples, or groups of peoples. But communism is the stage of historical development which makes all existing religions superfluous and brings about their disappearance." (From "The Principles of Communism")

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." — Marx

 

Forms of Organization

•       Open and legal organizations

•       Underground and illegal

•       Military and non-military

•       United front

•       People's mass organizations

•       Oppressed people's fronts

•       Social organizations

 

Leninist Organizational Principles

•       Democratic centralism

•       Self-criticism and criticism

•       Inner-party struggle and two-line struggle

 

Democratic Centralism

•       The individual is subordinate to the organization

•       The minority is subordinate to the majority

•       Lower committees are subordinate to higher committees

•       Party committees are subordinate to the central committee

•       The central committee is subordinate to the general congress

•       The general congress is subordinate to all party members

 

Qualities of Good Leadership

•       Communist leadership must be clear on fundamental ideological matters

•       Communist leadership must be honest toward strategy

•       Communist leadership must be firm in class partisanship

•       Communist leadership must be capable of correctly assessing the situation

•       Communist leadership must be dynamic and dialectical

•       Communist leadership must be skilled in mobilizing and resolving contradictions

•       Communist leadership must have the quality of strategic firmness and tactical flexibility

•       Communist leadership must be proficient in the practice of democratic centralism

•       Communist leadership must be effective in institutional decision-making and implementation of decisions

 

Three Do's, Three Don'ts

•       Apply Marxism, not revisionism

•       Be open and clear — do not engage in deception or conspiracy

•       Unite — do not split

 

Three Rules of Discipline

1.    Obey orders in all your actions

2.    Do not take even a needle and thread from the people without paying for it

3.    Surrender everything captured to the party

 

Eight Points to Note

4.    Speak politely

5.    Pay a fair price for what you buy

6.    Return everything you borrow

7.    Pay for everything you damage

8.    Do not beat or bully the people

9.    Do not damage the crops of the people

10.  Do not take liberties with women

11.  Do not ill-treat prisoners

 

Some Ideological Questions

•       Why did socialist governments around the world collapse?

•       Why did communists turn into an elite class after coming to power?

•       Why did proletarian power impose a dictatorship over the proletarian class itself?

•       Why could socialist power not remain under the supervision of the proletarian class?

•       How can the imperialist illusion of a unipolar world be recognized?

•       Why did the party, army, and state in socialism turn into a mechanical apparatus?

•       Why could competition not be practiced in socialism?

•       The determination to guard against the danger of falling into empiricism and pragmatism?

 

Some Books

•       The Communist Manifesto — Marx, Engels

•       The Principles of Communism — Engels

•       Socialism: Utopian and Scientific — Engels

•       State and Revolution — Lenin

•       New Democratic Revolution — Ho Chi Minh

•       The Great Debate — Translator: Yubraj Panthi

•       Communist Ethics — Translator: Devendra Timla

•       How to Be a Good Communist? — Liu Shaoqi

•       Communist School — Manhuri Timilsina

•       How Can One Become a Communist? — Ramesh Sunuwar

•       Collected Works of Madan Bhandari — Madan Bhandari Foundation

•       Selected Works of Pushpalal — Beduram Bhusal

•       Collection of Historical Documents — CPN (UML)

•       Historical Documents of the Nepali Communist Movement and People's Revolution — CPN (Maoist)

•       Democracy and Today's Marxism — Chaitanya Mishra

•       Today's Marxism and Nepali Revolution — Ghanashyam Bhusal

 

 

HISTORY

History of the World Communist Movement

•       1760–1830: British Industrial Revolution.

•       1789–1799: French Revolution.

•       1811–1816: Luddite Movement.

•       1824: Law enacted in Britain allowing workers to organize into unions.

•       1831: Workers' revolt in Lyon, France.

•       1834: Lyon becomes the center of revolt again.

•       1836–1846: Chartist Movement.

•       1836: League of the Just formed in France by German immigrants.

•       1843: The League of the Just was transformed into the Communist League (the first organization of the Communist Party).

•       1847: Second Congress of the Communist League held in Geneva. Marx and Engels tasked with drafting the Communist Manifesto.

•       February 12, 1848: Communist Manifesto published.

•       1852: Dissolution of the Communist League.

•       1864: First International formed under Marx's leadership (the first international organization of the world proletarian class).

•       1867: Trade unions recognized in Britain.

•       March 18, 1871: Paris Commune.

•       May 28, 1871: Paris Commune dissolved after 72 days.

•       1872: First International dissolved by Marx himself.

•       1875: German Social Democratic Party (SPD) implements the Gotha Programme following its founding congress in Gotha.

•       March 14, 1883: Death of Marx.

•       1883: Workers' Emancipation Group formed in Russia under Plekhanov's leadership.

•       May 1, 1886: Workers' movement in Chicago, USA, begins with the slogan: 8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest.

•       May 19, 1869: National Eight Hour Work Day proclaimed.

•       1889: Second International formed under Engels's leadership.

•       August 6, 1895: Death of Engels.

•       1896: Eduard Bernstein's revisionist proposal at the Second International.

•       1898: Russian Communist Party (Russian Social Democratic Party) founded.

•       1903: Major inner-party struggle within the Russian Communist Party. Birth of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

•       1906: Under mass pressure for unity, both parties re-united through a conference.

•       1912 Prague Conference: The party added 'Bolshevik' to its name and permanently expelled the Mensheviks.

•       1914: Dissolution of the Second International.

•       1914–1918: First World War.

•       1916: Lenin's work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism published.

•       February 24–26, 1917: February Revolution.

•       July 26, 1917: Sixth conference of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Bolshevik) in Petrograd.

•       October 25, 1917: October Revolution.

•       January 1918: Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly (Soviet Russia).

•       March 3, 1918: Peace treaty signed with Germany at Brest-Litovsk.

•       March 6, 1918: Party renamed Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).

•       December 30, 1918: German Communist Party founded.

•       March 2, 1919: Third International (Comintern) formed under Lenin's leadership (First Communist International).

•       1919: Russian Civil War.

•       1921: New Economic Policy (NEP).

•       July 23, 1921: Chinese Communist Party founded.

•       December 20, 1922: Soviet Union established.

•       1921: Red Union International (Profintern) established.

•       1923: Dr. Sun Yat-sen establishes solidarity with the Soviet Union.

•       1924: With the help of Soviet Communist Party Bolshevik experts, the Kuomintang (National People's Party) reorganized. Policy passed to allow the Communist Party to also enter the Kuomintang.

•       January 21, 1924: Death of Lenin.

•       December 26, 1925: Indian Communist Party formed in Kanpur.

•       November 1927: Stalin expels Trotsky from the Soviet Party Central Committee.

•       1927: Five-Year Plan begins in the Soviet Union.

•       1929: Trotsky exiled from the country.

•       1948: Ban on the Communist Party of India (CPI). Ban lifted before the first general election.

•       September 1927: Mao's Autumn Harvest Uprising.

•       October 16, 1934: Mao Zedong leads approximately 90,000 troops toward the northern border of Russia (the Long March).

•       January 1935 (during the Long March): Extended meeting of the Party Political Bureau at Zunyi. Mao elected as Party General Secretary.

•       1939–1945: Second World War.

•       1943: Third International dissolved during the Second World War.

•       April 24, 1945: Seventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

•       1945: Liberation movements succeed in North Korea and North Vietnam; socialism implemented.

•       March 5, 1946: Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech.

•       March 12, 1947: Truman Doctrine implemented by the United States.

•       From March 12, 1947: Cold War begins.

•       October 5, 1947: Cominform established.

•       January 25, 1949: Comecon established.

•       October 1, 1949: New People's Democratic Revolution in China under Mao Zedong's leadership.

•       June 26, 1950: Yugoslavia's National Assembly passes the Workers' Self-Management Act.

•       March 22, 1955: In Laos, a separate Communist Party formed under the name Pathet Lao (Land of Laos).

•       1953: Armed struggle begins in Cuba under Fidel Castro's leadership.

•       1953: First Five-Year Plan in China. From 1954, campaign to form agricultural production cooperatives.

•       1956: 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party held (7 months before China's). Khrushchev Line passed. Policy of peaceful coexistence and peaceful transition to socialism adopted.

•       1956: Eighth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Liu Shaoqi Line passed. The phrase 'Mao Zedong Thought' removed from the party constitution after this congress.

•       1957: Soviet Union constructs the Sputnik spacecraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

•       1957: Sino-Soviet split begins.

•       1958–1961: Great Leap Forward campaign of the Chinese Communist Party.

•       From 1958: Commune system introduced on Mao's initiative and proposal. By end of 1960, the Great Leap Forward had failed and the commune system weakened.

•       January 1, 1959: Cuban Revolution.

•       1961: Castro becomes first General Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party.

•       1965: Indonesian Communist Party dissolved.

•       1965: Soviet economic reforms (Kosygin Reforms).

•       1965–1973: Vietnam War.

•       1966: Mao Zedong declares the Soviet Union 'social imperialist.'

•       1966–1976: Cultural Revolution in China.

•       1967: Naxalite-Maoist insurgency in India.

•       1969: Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Lin Biao presents the political report.

•       October 1971: People's Republic of China (PRC) replaces the Republic of China (ROC) in the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

•       1973: Tenth Congress. Wang Hongwen presents the political report.

•       1973: With the Paris Peace Accords, the US fully withdrew from Vietnam.

•       1975: US defeated in the Vietnam War; Vietnam reunified.

•       December 3, 1975: Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed.

•       February 1976: 25th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party.

•       April 25, 1976: Revolution in Vietnam.

•       1976: Death of Mao.

•       December 1978: New policy opening doors for foreign businesses wishing to establish operations in China (Deng's Reform and Opening Up Policy).

•       1979: Diplomatic relations established between the US and China.

•       January 1, 1979: The US established diplomatic relations with the PRC and recognized it as the sole legitimate government of China.

•       1981: Communist Party of Peru under Gonzalo's leadership declares People's War.

•       October 1983: Communist government of Grenada under Prime Minister Maurice Bishop destroyed by the US in approximately one week.

•       1984: Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) founded with signatures of 18 communist parties and organizations.

•       1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

•       1985: Perestroika and Glasnost.

•       1985: China-US trade begins.

•       June 4, 1989: Tiananmen Square incident.

•       December 25, 1991: Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin becomes first President of the Russian Federation.

•       December 26, 1991: End of the Cold War.

•       September 12, 1992: Gonzalo arrested in Lima.

•       1992: Deng Xiaoping revives his economic reforms during his Southern Tour.

•       From December 2001: China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).

•       2010: International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR) established in Berlin, Germany.

•       2012: Xi Jinping becomes head of the Chinese Communist Party.

•       March 14, 2013: Xi elected President of the People's Republic of China.

 

History of the Nepali Communist Movement (Party)

1) CPN (Nepal Communist Party)

•       In 2005 BS (1948 AD), 100 years after the international publication of the Communist Manifesto, comrade Pushpalal translated and published it in the Nepali language.

•       Baisakh 10, 2006 BS (1949 AD): CPN founded. Founding General Secretary: Pushpalal.

•       Ashoj 2008 BS: First Conference of CPN. Manmohan Adhikari elected General Secretary.

•       Magh 2010 BS: First National Congress. Manmohan Adhikari General Secretary. Rayamajhi Line passed.

•       Jestha 2014 BS: Second Congress. Kesharjung Rayamajhi becomes General Secretary. Pushpalal Line passed.

•       2015 BS: CPN participates in the first parliamentary election. Fielded candidates in 47 seats, won 4 seats. Winners: Hridaylal Mahato, Shiv Sirajul (Rautahat), Kamalraj Regmi (Palpa), Tulsalal Amatya (Patan). Shambhuram Shrestha elected to National Assembly. Heavy victory for CPN in municipal elections.

•       Phagun 2017 BS: Ban imposed on the party. Darbhanga Plenum held. Plenum ended in an indeterminate state with a congress to be held within 9 months.

•       2018 BS: Under the initiative of Pushpalal and Tulsalal Amatya, 5-region inter-zone coordination committee formed to prepare for the Third Congress.

•       Baisakh 2019 BS: Third Congress. Tulsalal Amatya becomes General Secretary. Mohan Bikram Singh's Working Directive passed.

•       Jestha 1, 2022 BS: Formation of ANERAS (All Nepal Students' Association) and beginning of student movement.

•       2023 BS: Sharp differences between CPN General Secretary and comrade Pushpalal — dispute over the path and the main path. Seventh Central Committee meeting accepts the party's founding principles. After these were not followed, formal split.

 

2) Rayamajhi Group

•       Rayamajhi group rejects the Third Congress of 2019 BS — declares its own Third Congress in 2023 BS. Kesharjung Rayamajhi becomes General Secretary.

•       2036 BS: Dispute between Rayamajhi and Manandhar over entering the Panchayat system. In 2038 BS, a Fourth Congress called and the Manandhar group formed, announcing separation from the Rayamajhi group.

•       2040 BS: Fifth Congress of the Rayamajhi group. Party splits into Burma faction and Rayamajhi faction. Both announce expulsion of the other.

•       Later, Rayamajhi formally enters the royal palace.

•       Note: Kesharjung Rayamajhi, expelled at the Third Congress of 2019 BS, eventually merged — through a chain of splits — into CPN (United) Maoist. But in 2024 BS after reorganization, the group that split in 2038 BS into CPN (Manandhar) and CPN (Rayamajhi) saw further splits within the Rayamajhi group, forming CPN (Democratic) by 2047 BS, and eventually CPN (United) was formed through unity of the Burma group, Amatya group, and Manandhar group.

 

3) CPN UML Stream

•       2022 BS: Conference held in Darbhanga, India. Meti-Koshi provincial committee formed under Bharat Mohan Adhikari and Kamal Koirala's leadership.

•       2024 BS: Pushpalal calls a convention.

•       2025 BS: At the Third Conference, Pushpalal presents the New Democratic Programme in an organized form. Pushpalal becomes General Secretary.

•       2026 BS: Communist leaders comrade Manmohan Adhikari, Mohan Bikram Singh, and others released from jail.

•       2028 BS: Eastern Meti-Koshi provincial committee splits off — Jhapa Revolt. Leadership of the Jhapa Revolt: Radha Krishna Mainali, CP Mainali.

•       2032 BS: With the decision to correct weaknesses of the Jhapa Revolt, CP Mainali, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, and Amrit Bohora take the initiative to form the Coordination Center (MALE).

•       2033 BS: Nakhujail revolt under CP Mainali and Pradeep Nepal's leadership.

•       2033 BS: Jeevaraj Ashrit, Modnath Prashrit, Madan Bhandari, and Bamdev Gautam leave Pushpalal's party to form the Liberation Front Group.

•       2034 BS: Unity proposals among various communist factions. Unity talks among KK (Coordination Center), Liberation Front, the old Red Flag from the East, and Nerulal Abhagi's Message Group. Unity between Coordination Center and Liberation Front.

•       2035 BS: Death of Pushpalal. Unity among 4 groups forms CPN (Masal). CP Mainali becomes General Secretary.

•       2038 BS: CPN Masal's 75-page intra-party circular — major change in party policy with far-reaching impact on party life.

•       2039 BS: Major debate within Masal on party freedom vs. political freedom. Then-General Secretary Mainali disciplined; Jhalanath Khanal becomes General Secretary.

•       2040 BS: CPN Masal and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) unify; some leaders leave the party. (Note: Nepal Workers and Peasants Party formed in 2047 BS is a separate party.)

•       2043 BS: Sixth Conference of CPN. Under Balram Upadhyay and Sahana Pradhan's leadership, CPN unites with CPN under Pushpalal and Manmohan's leadership, forming CPN (Marxist).

•       2043 BS: CPN (Masal) pro-people candidates intervene in the Panchayat system. 7 Masal leaders elected to the National Panchayat; strong Masal presence in local Panchayats.

•       2044 BS: CPN (Masal) changes its perspective on the Soviet Union. CPN Masal decides to abandon Maoist ideology, recognizes the Soviet Union as socialist.

•       Magh 2046 BS: Seven factions unite to form the United Left Front under Sahana Pradhan's leadership; beginning of the United People's Movement.

•       2047 BS: Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, and Nirmal Lama join the Constitution Drafting Committee.

•       Poush 22, 2047 BS: CPN Masal and CPN Marxist unify to form CPN (UML).

•       2048 BS: In the second parliamentary election, communist representatives win 82 seats. Some leaders split from CPN UML, re-forming CPN Marxist.

•       2049 BS Fifth Congress: Manmohan Adhikari becomes President; Madan Bhandari becomes General Secretary. JABAJ (People's Multi-Party Democracy) — new People's Democracy.

•       Jestha 3, 2050 BS: Madan Bhandari dies in a mysterious accident.

•       After the 2051 BS mid-term elections: First left-wing government under Manmohan Adhikari's leadership.

•       2052 BS: CPN UML runs the Mechi-Mahakali 12-point campaign.

•       2054 BS: Landslide victory for CPN UML in local body elections.

•       2054 BS: Sixth Congress. Madhav Kumar Nepal becomes General Secretary. Party splits over the Mahakali Treaty — CPN Masal reformed. In Masal: CP Mainali, Bamdev Gautam, 46 MPs.

•       2056 BS: Third general election. Prospects for a communist government dim. Masal fails to win even a single seat; Maoist People's War ongoing.

•       2057 BS: CPN (Masal) national conference. Policy of re-unification passed.

•       2058 BS: Party re-unification. Bamdev and others return.

•       Seventh Congress (2059 BS): Madhav Nepal re-elected as General Secretary. Does a bigger party structure strengthen democracy?

•       2059 BS: King violates the 2047 BS Constitution. Maoist leaders declared terrorists in Baisakh; Red Corner Notices issued; state of emergency deepened. As political crisis deepens, second ceasefire on Magh 15. As parliamentarian parties are sidelined, King Gyanendra makes second royal proclamation on Magh 19 — path opens for Maoist-parliamentarian cooperation.

•       2060 BS: Talks between CPN (Maoist) and CPN (UML) in Siliguri.

•       2062 BS: CPN (UML) declares struggle against the monarchy; beginning of the Great People's Movement. In Kartik, 6-point agreement at Rolpa talks between top Maoist leadership and UML leaders Bamdev Gautam and Yubraj Gyawali (this talk was the key foundation for the 12-point understanding).

•       Mansir 7, 2062 BS: 12-point understanding between Maoists and parliamentarian forces. On this basis, the People's Movement of 2062/2063.

•       Mansir 5, 2063 BS: Comprehensive Peace Accord signed; People's War peacefully concluded.

•       Baisakh 11, 2063 BS: Parliament reinstated; Girija Prasad Koirala appointed PM. Ashadh 2 — Prachanda, after 25 years underground, appears publicly for the first time. Mansir 5 — Comprehensive Peace Accord signed between government and rebel Maoists.

•       Baishakh 28, 2064 BS: Constituent Assembly election. CPN (Maoist) wins majority position.

•       Shrawan 32, 2065 BS: Prachanda becomes first Prime Minister of the Republic of Nepal. Left-wing government including UML formed under Prachanda's leadership. Mohan Vaidya's dissenting opinion at Maoists' Balaju extended meeting. Serious ideological and organizational differences within the party.

•       Poush 29, 2065 BS: Party unity between CPN Ekata Kendra-Masal (which had separated before the People's War) and CPN Maoist. New party name: Unified CPN (Maoist).

•       2068 BS: Unified CPN (Maoist) leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai becomes Prime Minister. Intense differences among parties over constitution-making and its contents.

•       Jestha 3, 2069 BS: Assembly at Bouddha forms CPN Maoist under Mohan Vaidya's leadership. In Ashadh, Unified CPN (Maoist) formally splits. In Magh, Unified CPN (Maoist) organizes Seventh Congress.

•       Mansir 4, 2070 BS: Second Constituent Assembly election. In 2070 BS elections, CPN UML finishes second and Maoists third.

•       2071 BS: Narbikram Chand splits from Mohan Vaidya Kiran's Maoist faction; holds national conference and forms CPN Maoist.

•       Baisakh 12, 2072 BS: Major earthquake; enormous loss of life and property. Ashoj 3 — Inclusive, secular, federal republican Constitution proclaimed. India begins blockade of Nepal. CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli elected Prime Minister with Maoist support.

•       Dr. Baburam Bhattarai leaves Maoists and forms New Force Party. Small left parties unite under Mohan Vaidya to form CPN Maoist Revolutionary.

•       Shrawan 2073 BS: Prachanda becomes Prime Minister for the second time. 753 local units announced and local elections held.

•       Rebellion from Rambhadur Thapa 'Badal's CPN (Revolutionary-Maoist) unites with Unified CPN (Maoist); unified party named CPN (Maoist Centre).

 

5) NCP (Nepal Communist Party — Unified)

•       Ashoj 17, 2074 BS: CPN UML and CPN Maoist Centre announce commitment to unify and jointly contest parliamentary elections; joint declaration and joint candidates announced.

•       Mansir 10 and 21, 2074 BS: Elections held with broad public support for this decision; left alliance wins majority — nearly two-thirds of the vote.

•       2015 BS: Strongest left-wing government in Nepal's history formed. Phagun 3, 2074 BS: KP Sharma Oli becomes Prime Minister.

•       Phagun 7, 2074 BS: Agreement on preliminary foundations for unity between CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre). Jestha 3, 2075 BS: CPN UML and Maoist announce party unity — Nepal Communist Party (NCP) formed.

•       2076 BS: Historic visit to Nepal by Chinese President Xi Jinping. After India includes Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani areas in its map, unprecedented national unity demonstration against it.

 

Some Books

•       World-Famous People's Revolutions — Abhay Kumar Dubey

•       Biography of Marx — Evgenia Stepanova

•       History of the Communist Movement in Nepal — Surendra Kesi

•       History of the World Communist Movement — Mohan Bikram Singh

•       History of the World Communist Movement — Shashidhar Bhandari

•       History of the Soviet Communist Party

•       History of the Chinese Communist Party

•       Modern History of China — Si Jing Ping

•       Heroes of World People's Revolutions — Bishwaraj Kaki

•       History of Nepal: A Marxist Perspective — Ramraj Regmi

 

Compiled by: MS Bhusal

Translated by: Sonnet 4.6