Professor Toad's Blog

In 1959, there was a change in government on a small island in the Carribean. This island had, at the time, a population of about 7 million. Its economy was based primarily on the export of sugar, although it also had gambling and tourism, including a great deal of sex tourism, from the United States, and some nickel mines. It was perhaps relatively wealthy as Carribean islands go, but on the whole it was small and insignificant. It had theoretically gained its independence from Spain a mere 61 years earlier, but in fact it had been ruled from Washington all that time.

There were numerous violent changes of government in the Carribean in the 1950s and 1960s. The leaders included Elian Wessin, Francisco Caamaño, Paul Magliore, Oswaldo López Arellano, Omar Torrijos Herrera, and Gustavo Rojas. Fifty years later, almost no one outside of the countries involved knows any of these names. None of these changes in government could possibly be ranked as a major event in the history of the world, the anti-colonial struggle, the Americas, or even the Carribean. None except that one in 1959.

This one particular change in government had very far-reaching results. In Africa, troops from this particular Carribean island were the main force which defeated the South African armed forces in Angola, securing South African withdrawal from Angola and the independence of Namibia, and creating a great deal of pressure towards multi-race elections in South Africa itself. Veterans of this one particular Carribean scrap would fight alongside Laurent Kabila, the man who would eventually oust Joseph Mobutu from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and at least threaten to free the Congo from U.S. imperialism before the CIA murdered him. One of then is now a national hero in Bolivia for his contribution to the anti-colonial struggle there.

The new leader of Cuba in the wake of this little scrap has been awarded the highest medal which the government of Ghana gives out for his contributions to the cause of African freedom. Others from this island have received similarly high awards in Ethiopia.

Today, portraits of leaders from this one little island can be found on the signs carried by protesters as far away as Russia.

As I write this in 2010, there is a strong anti-colonial current in Latin America. Leaders such as Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, and Hugo Chavez have provided the most serious challenge to U.S. domination of Latin America since the Monroe Doctrine was invented. All of these leaders are personal friends of this one particular man in this one particular little island who led this one particular change in government.

But from 1959 on, all the previous challenges to U.S. domination – in Cuba, in Nicaragua, in El Salvador – all had inspiration and various forms of material help from this one tiny little island.

Of course, the United States has pushed back, and it has pushed back hard. It has blockaded the island, invaded the island, used biological warfare against the island, funded bombing campaigns against the island, and, naturally, made literally dozens of attempts to kill the new leader of this island. And yet somehow they have failed to oust this one tiny little government.

The Cuban Revolution was, indeed, the single most important event in the history of Latin America in the 20th Century. There is no other event during that century which is even close.

What are we to make of it? What happened in Cuba in 1959? How could events on such an insignificant little island possibly be so important?

The Cubans will tell you that the difference between what happened in Cuba in 1959 and the other little changes of government in Latin America and the Carribean during that same time was that in Cuba there was a change in the class in power. That is, in most of the world, those who own the industry run the government, and those who work for a living have no meaningful say in how their country is run. In Cuba, the Cubans will tell you, the workers took over. Cuba in 1959 was the first socialist revolution in the history of the Americas. It was important because it was inspirational to the working classes of the entire world. It was strong because it had its base not among the divided, self-seeking owners of industry but among the broad masses of united workers.

And, indeed, what other explanation can there be for what has happened here?

It has been said by some that Cuba was simply a Soviet colony. But how could a tiny little island accomplish so much while under foreign domination? And if, indeed, the particular pattern of Cuban life was a result of the Soviets forcibly imposing themselves on Cuba, why did the Cubans not throw out this system once the Soviet Union disappeared? How, once the Soviet Union disappeared, did its former puppet government in Cuba survive, despite the enormous pressure from the United States?

And how did Cuba become a Soviet colony to begin with? The Soviets did not invade Cuba. they did not provide weapons or funding or any support of any kind to the revolutionaries of 1958. Are we to believe that the army risking their lives to fight Batista and his American masters during this time was volunteering to be exploited by a country none of them had ever visited and few of them had ever had any meaningful contact with?

Besides, countries take colonies to exploit them, to make money off of them. To be a colony is a costly business: To own a colony a rewarding one. Why is it then that when the Soviet Union disappeared, the Cuban economy was badly damaged? Liberated from Soviet exploitation, shouldn’t it have blossomed like never before?

Who runs the show in Cuba, if not the workers? Not the old capitalists: They and their children and grandchildren are here in the United States now as they have been for fifty years, doing everything in their power to convince the United States to invade Cuba and restore their old possessions — and their old slaves — to them.

And not the Castro brothers. Of course, they have been the heads of government now for many years, but as impressive as Fidel is as a personal figure, to think that he could impose his rule on an unwilling population of eleven million people is childish. Individuals do not make history. Individuals do not rule countries except with the consent of a class, an economic class, within that country, whose interests they are serving.

It is sometimes said that in the Soviet Union, there was at one time socialism, at one time a workers state without exploitation, but that over time a class of bureaucrats or administrators carved out their own personal fiefdoms and became in effect a new type of capitalist. But the revolutionary leaders in Cuba have not been replaced by self-seeking bureaucrats. Indeed, the highest posts in the country are still held by the very people who installed socialism to begin with.

There is no solution to this, no way to explain the amazing accomplishments of this tiny island and its brave people, other than by the explanation the Cubans themselves will give: The significance of the Cuban Revolution is that it is the first socialist revolution in the history of the Americas.

Any attempt to refute this quickly dissolves into absurdity. Any attempt to ignore it, to ignore the Cuban Revolution, results in schizophrenia, in a view of Latin America completely divorced from the reality of Latin American political life.

Right now, as readers may or may not be aware, there is a revolution going on in a nation called Nepal.  Though Nepal is an isolated, impoverished country, it is not small.  The population of Nepal is about 30 million people.  That is about three times as many people as Greece, Sweden or Bulgaria.  The annual per capita GDP of Nepal is said to be $444 by conventional measures, or $1,144 by the so-called purchasing power parity measure.  This makes it one of the ten or fifteen poorest countries in the world, poorer, for example, than Haiti.  Outside of Africa, the only country poorer than Nepal is Afghanistan.

Geographically, Nepal lies at the foot of the Himalaya mountains.  A long, thin strip of the country lies on the plains just north of India.  North of that is an equally long, but much thicker strip of hills and low mountains.  North of that is a thin strip of the Himalayas.

Until the 1950s, Nepal had a peculiar and indigenous form of government:  A family of hereditary prime ministers held the real power, subject to the authority of a largely ceremonial monarchy.  In the 1950s, India brought about the end of this system, putting the monarch more firmly on the throne and setting up a Nepalese Congress Party to take part in the limited legislature.  The monarch, however, abolished the legislature in 1959 and ruled absolutely until 1991.  Social institutions in Nepal were equally behind the times:  It was not until 1924 that slavery was officially abolished.

From 1991, the main electoral parties in the newly “democratic” Nepal were the revived Nepalese Congress Party and the Communist Party of Nepal, Marxist-Leninist.  The CPN-ML, as it is known for short, was a communist party in name only:  Their program called for the establishment of a social-welfare system such as exists in France.  How they expected to fund such a system in one of the world’s poorest countries is a question for which they had no answer.

Today, the largest single political force in Nepal is the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).  The Nepalese Maoists launched a people’s war on February 13, 1996.  This war would see the “democratic” parties united with the country’s monarch, a massacre of the royal family apparently by one of its own members and the rise of a new king who would eventually abolish the country’s legislature and constitution.  Finally, the absolute monarch fell under a combined assault by the Maoists and the electoral parties.

The Maoists and the electoral parties, through a long process of negotiation, entered into a series of agreements.  These included the abolition of the monarchy — a point on which the electoral parties were very hesitant to agree — and the participation of the Maoists in elections.

The Maoists won the elections convincingly, but failed to secure an absolute majority.  The Maoist leader served as prime minister for some time, but was unable to make any progress in any of the reforms badly needed by the country’s poor.  The Maoists were handicapped not only by the lack of an absolute majority, but by strong opposition from the country’s army and courts.  The Maoist fighters, who were supposed to be integrated into the army, for the most part were not.  The army remains staunchly allied with the people who lost the last election, or even with the deposed king.

In light of these developments, and of a new wave of repression against the representatives of Nepal’s workers and small farmers, the Nepalese Maoists have started a nationwide insurrection, effective November 1, 2009.

Naturally, this event has received very little press world-wide.  Also naturally, when the Maoists are mentioned in the world press, the coverage is very, very one-sided.  The Maoists perspective is not readily available in the developed world.

I would like to help just a little bit to let the world understand what is happening in Nepal.  And to that end I have found the original demands that the Maoists presented to the electoral parties in the early 1990s before they began their guerrilla war.  This particular list was apparently presented to the Nepalese parliament in the very early days of 1996.  But lists differing only very slightly from it had been presented by the Maoists to the parliament for years before that.  They had never received any response:  The attitude of this “democratic” parliament was that the parliament ruled the country, and had no need to respond to the demands of the people.

This list was apparently translated by a woman named Barbara Adams.  I would like to thank her.  It first appeared in People’s Review

Maoists’ 40 Point Demands

These demands were submitted by the political front of CPN (Maoist) United People’s Front with the coalition gpvernment headed by Nepali Congress party. These are the same demands which were raised during the 1990’s people movement including the end of band of political parties. The UPF raised these demands for 5 years after the so-called democratic negotiation with the monarchy. But the successive government and Nepali Congress government acted just opposit of the demands. Thousands of supporters and workers of communist party and UPF were imprisoned or trapped in false charges and more than 100 sons and daughters of Nepalese were killed when peacefully they demanded. Now the government asking what were the demands of their. It means they through away the demend request in dustwin. Here the demands are reproduced. (INSOF-JP)

I. DEMANDS RELATED TO NATIONALISM:

1) Regarding the 1950 Treaty between India and Nepal, all unequal stipulations and agreements should be removed.

2) HMG should admit that the anti-nationalist Tanakpur agreement was wrong, and the Mahakali Treaty, incorporating same, should be nullified.

3) The entire Nepal-Indian border should be controlled and systematized. Cars with Indian number plates, which are plying the roads of Nepal, should not be allowed.

4) Gorkha recruiting centers should be closed and decent jobs should be arranged for the recruits.

5) In several areas of Nepal, where foreign technicians are given precedence over Nepali technicians for certain local jobs, a system of work permits should be instituted for the foreigners.

6) The monopoly of foreign capital in Nepal’s industry, trade and economic sector should be stopped.

7) Sufficient income should be generated from customs duties for the country’s; economic development.

8 ) The cultural pollution of imperialists and expansionists should be stopped. Hindi video, cinema, and all kinds of such news papers and magazines should be completely stopped. Inside Nepal, import and distribution of vulgar Hindi films, video cassettes and magazines should be stopped.

9) Regarding NGOs and INGOs: Bribing by imperialists and expansionists in the name of NGOs and INGOs should be stopped.

II. DEMANDS RELATED TO THE PUBLIC AND ITS WELL-BEING

10) A new Constitution has to be drafted by the people’s elected representatives.

11) All the special rights and privileges of the King and his family should be ended.

12) Army, police and administration should be under the people’s control.

13) The Security Act and all other repressive acts should be abolished.

14) All the false charges against the people of Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Gorkha, Kavre, Sindhuphalchowk, Sindhuli, Dhanusha and Ramechap should be withdrawn and all the people falsely charged should be released.

15) Armed police operations in the different districts should immediately be stopped.

16) Regarding Dilip Chaudhary, Bhuvan Thapa Magar, Prabhakar Subedi and other people who disappeared from police custody at different times, the government should constitute a special investigating committee to look into these crimes and the culprits should be punished and appropriate compensation given to their families.

17) People who died during the time of the movement, should be declared as martyrs and their families, and those who have been wounded and disabled should be given proper compensation. Strong action should be taken against the killers.

18) Nepal should be declared a secular state.

19) Girls should be given equal property rights to those of their brothers.

20) All kinds of exploitation and prejudice based on caste should be ended. In areas having a majority of one ethnic group, that group should have autonomy over that area.

21) The status of dalits as untouchables should be ended and the system of untouchability should be ended once and for all.

22) All languages should be given equal status. Up until middle-high school level (uccha-madyamic) arrangements should be made for education to be given in the children’s mother tongue.

23) There should be guarantee of free speech and free press. The communications media should be completely autonomous.

24) Intellectuals, historians, artists and academicians engaged in other cultural activities should be guaranteed intellectual freedom.

25) In both the terai and hilly regions there is prejudice and misunderstanding in backward areas. This should be ended and the backward areas should be assisted. Good relations should be established between the villages and the city.

26) Decentralization in real terms should be applied to local areas which should have local rights, autonomy and control over their own resources.

III DEMANDS RELATED TO THE PEOPLE’S LIVING

27) Those who cultivates the land should own it. (The tiller should have right to the soil he/she tills.) The land of rich landlords should be confiscated and distributed to the homeless and others who have no land.

28) Brokers and commission agents should have their property confiscated and that money should be invested in industry.

29) All should be guaranteed work and should be given a stipend until jobs are found for them.

30) HMG should pass strong laws ensuring that people involved in industry and agriculture should receive minimum wages.

31) The homeless should be given suitable accommodation. Until HMG can provide such accommodation they should not be removed from where they are squatting.

32) Poor farmers should be completely freed from debt. Loans from the Agricultural Development Bank by poor farmers should be completely written off. Small industries should be given loans.

33) Fertilizer and seeds should be easily and cheaply available, and the farmers should be given a proper market price for their production.

34) Flood and draught victims should be given all necessary help

35) All should be given free and scientific medical service and education and education for profit (private schools?) should be completely stopped.

36) Inflation should be controlled and laborers salaries should be raised in direct ratio with the rise in prices. Daily essential goods should be made cheap and easily available.

37) Arrangements should be made for drinking water, good roads, and electricity in the villages.

38) Cottage and other small industries should be granted special facilities and protection.

39) Corruption, black marketing, smuggling, bribing, the taking of commissions, etc. should all be stopped.

40) Orphans, the disabled, the elderly and children should be given help and protection.

We offer a heartfelt request to the present coalition government that they should, fulfill the above demands which are essential for Nepal’s existence and for the people’s daily lives as soon as possible. If the government doesn’t show any interest by Falgun 5, 2052, (February 17, 1996,) we will be compelled to launch a movement against the government. *** The above demands put forth by the Samukta Jana Morcha, led by Dr. Bhattarai, were handed over to the then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.