International seminar on Marxism and Socialism kicks off; PM calls for innovative vision to address modern-day issues

KATHMANDU, May 30: Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said the communist movement in Nepal has accomplished most of the historical political responsibilities entrusted upon it and that a foundation for socialism has been prepared under the leadership of the Communist Party and based on peaceful competition.

Opening a two-day International Seminar on ‘Marxism and Socialism’ organized by Nepal Communist Party to mark the Birth Bicentenary of Karl Marx, the leader of the working class people, on Wednesday, PM and chairman of the Nepal Communist Party Oli said that the base for socialism was being created under the guidance of Marxism.

The Communist Party of Nepal formed after the historic unification between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center) would take the nation forward on the journey towards socialism by maintaining political stability, economic prosperity, social justice and equality, he said.

“The main political attributes of the Communist Party of Nepal are the ideological direction of Marxism-Leninism, the program of people’s democracy based on multiparty competition and democratic values, and the main responsibility of socio-economic transformation and building a strong national economy with socialist orientation, and the political direction of achieving supremacy through peaceful democratic means,” he said, explaining the ideological line of the party.

PM Oli said that the government has concentrated all its efforts on realizing the motto of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’.

“In order to attain the objective of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’, we have adopted relevant and positive historical values and discarded unnecessary ones. Nepali Communist Movement represents the aspirations of common people by placing their interest at the center. We have not only focused on political arrangements, but also emphasized the founding of a society based on high moral and cultural values,” the PM and NCP chair furthered.

He added: “We pursue a foreign policy of maintaining close relations with neighbors and all friendly countries on the basis of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, non-interference and mutual respect and benefits. The size of countries can be different in terms of geography and population, but sovereignty and national esteem have the same value for all. That is why interference, dominance and undermining others can’t be acceptable. We stand for the peaceful resolution of international disputes and believe that current global and political and economic order should be changed by prioritizing the interests of developing countries and their people.”

He further said that the experience of application of Marxism in different countries showed that there is a need of reinterpretation and redefining of Marxism so that the process can help prove that freedom, liberation and progress of humanity, end of social exploitation, and development of production forces is possible only under Marxism; and that Marxism ensures its relevance.

“A new thinking is required to successfully and effectively use Marxism in the contemporary world. We are doing exactly the same in Nepal,” PM and NCP Chair Oli said urging for wider support and solidarity from Marxists and socialists in this endeavor.

TOWARDS SOCIALISM WITH PROPER STRATEGIES: PRACHANDA
NCP’s chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that in the recently concluded elections ( local, state and national level), securing of near about two-third of popular votes of the people by the communists parties had confirmed the popularity and viability of the Nepalese political experiment on socialism for the 21st century.

“Recently, a political history has been created in Nepal. Our two parties, with largest following in the country, CPN (Unified Marxist Leninist) and CPN (Maoist Center), have joined together to form a single largest political entity in the country, the NCP.”

He insisted on the need of starting a journey towards socialism by reforming democracy within and outside the party to ensure political stability and good governance as aspired by the people.

Describing the Marxism as a science, he said the development of socialism as foreseen by Mark has become successful in some countries of Asia. According to him, Marxism cannot be a dogma and it demands changes with new realities globally and locally.

“Out of positive and negative learning and obvious weaknesses in the practice of socialism in the 21st century, we have come to a conclusion that a thorough analysis on the original characteristic and ways of implementing it is a must to come up with a potential new model of socialism,” he furthered.

He said that they believed that practice of people’s democracy by the government and within the communist party as well would make socialism more visible and explain the rationale of its necessity to practice it.

The Communist leader went on to say that armed and peaceful struggles were waged by the people in Nepal in the form of people’s war and people’s movements, adding that positive political and social changes that had occurred in the country recently were due to the correct understanding of the leadership. Nepal has achieved the federal system of governance, democracy, republicanism, and inclusive nature of the State, thwarting feudalism and is on the way towards achieving socialist set of the governance of Nepali characters.
Also speaking on the occasion, NCP senior leader and conference organizing committee coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal said that Marxism had been taken as a science in all communist and socialists societies and by its opponents as well.

He expressed his hope that the event would prove an opportunity to exchange experiences of communist and socialist movements in the world in the context when the strong communist party held the government in Nepal.

Rastriya Janamorcha’s chair Chitra Bahadur KC stated that ultra-leftist and rightist, both ideologies were harmful for the Marxism. He ruled out the possibility of achieving socialism in absence of expansion of people’s ownership to modes of production.

Representatives from around 15 countries in the world including China and India are taking part in the two-day seminar. RSS