Nepal Revolt and the Fight for Socialism in South Asia

 - Rajesh Tyagi/ 16.9.2025

Amidst the clarion calls for a revolution reverberating through all corners in South Asia, Nepal has echoed Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Next to repeat may be India or Pakistan.

Simmering anger in South Asia, from spiralling social inequality and injustice, had exploded, into this full blown revolt of the masses in Nepal.

Soaring prices, rising unemployment and rampant corruption had only added fuel to the fire.

The media censorship ordered by Oli government to suppress the dissent against its misrule, was only the last straw on camel's back.

A backlash from Zen-Z against this corrupt misrule, has turned Nepal topsy-turvy.

The revolt was driven by spiralling global crisis of capitalism that had brought immense tensions to South Asia as everywhere else.

The spontaneous implosion, was in fact, the answer of the working and toiling masses to this crisis of capitalism.

Young people, students among them, were at the centre of this revolt.

As the popular uprising shook all social classes to their hilt, they responded to the mass rising in their own ways.

Before its ebb, the 3 day revolt violently disrupted the old order aiming at its core governing institutions and the top brass of its ruling elite.

Unfortunately, the revolt caught the working class in Nepal and South Asia by surprise, in a state of complete disarray and confusion. It thus failed to put it's class imprint on the mass uprising against the rot of old order and fell short of consolidating itself into a new ruling class.

This disorganisation of the working class, was the direct offshoot of pernicious influence that epigones of Marxism- Stalinists and Maoists- have exercised upon it, for decades. Through their limited nationalist perspective and adherence to the 'two stage theory' of revolution, the Nepali Mensheviks had gradually and completely disarmed the working class and the youth, politically.

Forging, successive political alliances with parties and leaders of the sections of Nepali bourgeoisie, they have dove-tailed behind them for decades. Subordinating the working class to these alliances, they have deprived it of all political independence and initiative.

Pursuing a policy of class conciliation through these 'polular fronts', instead of class struggle, these adherents of Menshevism had denied the independent, central and leading role for the working class in the revolution. Instead, they incessantly forced the working class to take the back seat and rather perform 'coolie service', for capitalist leaders and parties.

Denying international character of the impending revolution on the closely integrated geo-political canvas of South Asia and the central role of working class in it, these leaders of the official left, made no single effort, to seek allies in the working class in South Asia. Instead, they sought their closest allies inside sections of Nepali bourgeoisie. Starting with SPA in 2006, they enthusiastically entered into innumerable political alliances with them.

Misinterpreting the Chinese Revolution, its conquests and defeats, Nepali Mensheviks hailed the 'Chinese Path', the surest recipe for all out destruction of the revolution, as the 'Road to Revolution' in Nepal.

Advocating for the fatal fantasy of 'bloc of all classes' in Nepal, they rejected the need for the fight for a socialist revolution, i.e. workers' dictatorship in South Asia.

This 'bloc of all classes' was nothing but just another name for 'bloc of four classes' advocated by Stalin during second Chinese Revolution. Instantly embraced by Mao, this Menshevik formula proved to be perfect noose around the neck of Chinese proletariat.

"Our revolution is democratic and not socialist, thus the fight for a workers' dictatorship was out of question in Nepal" argued these adherents of Menshevik 'two stage theory' of revolution.

"Nepali national bourgeoisie is the ally of our revolution and a partner in the ruling bloc" they insisted.

Taking to this road of Menshevism, long ago discredited by October Revolution, they consciously distanced themselves from the path to October conquest and the program of 'Permanent Revolution' upon which had rested this conquest.

Insisting to realise the revolution within confines of its national frontiers, the discredited leaders of the Nationalist left in Nepal, had been hostile to any strategy or program of revolution, oriented to proletarian internationalism.

Crushing failure of the program and strategies of Maoists in Nepal, has once again ratified the strategic lessons of victorious October revolution.

These lessons, translated to context of Nepal, warn us that Nepal's revolution is inalienable part of the revolution in South Asia as in turn the South Asian revolution itself is part of the World Socialist Revolution. It would thus be a blunder to view the revolution in Nepal in isolation from the rest.

It also warns us against artificial splitting of the revolutions of 21st century in two stages- democratic and socialist. In fact, this archaic understanding of the mechanics of revolution had become obsolete at the advent of 20th century.

It reasserts the decisive significance of leading and central role of the working class in the revolution, consolidating into its class dictatorship on victory of the revolution.

The myth promoted by Nepali Mensheviks that Nepal may seek it's peculiar road to revolution within its national confines, is biting the dust.

The 'bloc of all classes', trumpeted as the vehicle to political power by Nepali Maoists, soon turned out to be a death trap for the working class.

The coalition government formed in 2006 under Prachanda, was, in fact, the offshoot of abortion of the revolution and not of its victory.

It was the government of counter revolution that forced the peasants to return all lands seized by them from landlords during the days of land struggle, that completely disarmed the workers and toilers coercing them to surrender their weapons to UN Committee, that displaced urban poor and demolished their homes etc.

Since very inception, Nepali Stalinists had refused to call for establishment of a 'Government of Workers and Peasants'. Instead, they mustered stealth support for capitalist rule and bourgeois democracy. They covered up this support under veneer of 'New Democracy', 'Peoples' Democracy', 'Democratic Republic' and so on.

Those who denounced the program of permanent revolution, have since found their place in the crap bin of history.

Despite its violent and mass character, the revolt, however, failed to advance any leadership or program of its own. It rather fell back upon the old order to borrow the leadership. Sushila Karki, a rightwing conservative, whose prime concern is to oversee the restoration of the lost order, is the new face of this leadership!

As the knights of the old order are still licking their wounds, Army is out on the roads.

The order is being brought back with full participation of the revolters.

Whatever the old guard may do, Nepal is not going to regain its lost balance, in any case.

Not only Nepal, but whole of South Asia- every single country in the region- is equally imbalanced and is overripe for a revolution.

The recent mass revolts in Nepal after Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, are surest warning signs that South Asia cannot grow or even sustain further on a capitalist basis. Capitalism neither can give peace, democracy or stability to the region, nor can it afford decent living for its working people.

The way forward is thus a socialist revolution in South Asia that must found itself on the political dictatorship of the working class supported by billions of toiling masses.

This, in turn, demands a political fight against the old order inside and outside of Nepal, that must be centred around the slogan of a 'Workers and Toilers Government' in all South Asian countries and that upon success of revolution, must be reorganised, into a 'Socialist Union of South Asian Republics'.

For this, the advanced elements among workers and youth in South Asia must organise themselves into a vanguard party with its pivot to the program of 'Permanent Revolution'.

This can only be achieved in an unrelenting political struggle against all variants of menshevism, bourgeois nationalism and petty bourgeois radicalism.