A Brief Note on Political Parties

- Govinda Neupane

In the fourth century, during the time of Roman Empire, in Roman senate there were two groups or the parties in their crude form. They were the Patricians and Plebeians representing the interests of the noble families and the merchants respectively. This was the beginning of the class-oriented collective political behavior. For centuries, such process continued in different form. But, the more visible organized attempt was seen during the evolution phase of young Italian republics during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were present in almost all the Italian city-states. The Guelph represented the merchants and the Ghibelline was the organization of the feudal class. Although, these organizations did not last long, they created a base for the emergence of new parties. During the 17th and 18th century, several political parties came into existence in Europe and America. In Britain, the Whigs (pro-strong parliament) and Tories (pro-strong monarchy) were formed within a period of 10 years between 1678 and 1688. The Jacobins (radical reformers), Codeliers and Girondists appeared in France during the revolution of 1789. In America, the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans came into existence in 1787 and 1796 respectively. After the publication of the German edition of the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" in 1872 (the first edition of the menifesto was published in London in February, 1948), the parties with socialist orientation appeared. The German Social Democratic Party established in 1875 was one among them. Although, its program was heavily criticized by Karl Marx himself, this event and its program ignited the philosophical debate profoundly. As a result, the Communist Party of Germany came into existence in 1918. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was formed in 1898, which was renamed as Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) in 1918 and again its name was changed to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party of Great Britain was established in 1920. Indian National Congress was one of the oldest parties in Asia established in 1885. In China, Kuomintang was established in 1912. In 1921, the Communist Party of China and in 1925, the Communist Party of India came into existence.

In Nepal, several parties appeared during the anti-Rana popular movement which started from 1932. Several attempts to establish some kind of the political formations gave birth to Prachanda Gorkha, Praja Parishad, Nepali Rastriya Congress and Nepal Prajatantra Congress before 1947. Finally, the Nepali Congress was formed in 1949 by merging Nepali Rastriya Congress and Nepal Prajatantra Congress. The Communist Party of Nepal was established in 1949. The prominent Nepalese political parties represented three types of interests. From 1951 to 1960, the Rastrabadi Gorkha Parishad represented the interest of feudalism and its political institutions. The Nepali Congress represented the interest of rich farmers, bourgeoisies, creamy layer of the intelligentsia, and youths of the upper and middle classes. In theory, the Communist Party propounded the idea of defending the class interests of workers, peasants (middle, poor, agricultural laborers). But in practical sense, the party was dominated by higher middle class and primarily represented the interests of petty bourgeoisies and patriotic section of intelligentsia. From 1961 to 1990, Panchayat replaced Rastrabadi Gorkha Parishad and others remained the same. After 1990, Rastriya Prajatantra Party replaced Panchayat and the Communist Party groups divided into three divisions – the centrist, who call themselves as communists (e.g. UML), the leftist, who are a mixture of progressive democrats and communists (e.g. Mashal-Ekta Kendra) and the radical communists (e.g. Maoists).

Rastriya Prajatantra Party is quite transparent in its ideological stand. It has been acting predictably. The party is not the victim of duality. Nepali congress also has not suffered that much as it functions as a loose network of interests of upper and middle classes. The party does not move around any ideology, though for the consumption of masses and for international image-making, it covers itself with an ideological flag called socialism. Its socialism is open for interpretation for everybody to any meaning, scope and extent. The party has adopted some sorts of ultra liberalism. Therefore, it has no compulsions to finding out any pretensions. The centrist under the trade mark of the communists are in difficulties. Duality of ideology, programs, values, words and actions is what they prefer to practice. When a party cadre working in a turpentine factory at Nepalgunj comes to visit Balkhu, they invent life size pictures of Marx and Mao. But, when an ambassador of a hyper-power comes to visit there for some counseling, even the smaller posters of Marx and Mao go inside a safe deposit vault. For the short term, they can enjoy the benefit of the art of creating illusion (political hypnotism), but on the long run, they are the most vulnerable political artistes. They do not have independent class base as they share the same base with Nepali Congress. The center left groups, who also cover themselves by a brand name of communists, are the continuation of the communist party of yesteryears. They are a coalition of class interests of lower and middle classes. They have future as a front organization, but not as a political party. The Maoists, basically, are the communists ideologically, politically and organizationally.

The picture what is seen in Nepal primarily refers to the fight between the forces of status quo and the forces of change. Change not only that of the system of governance, but also the foundation of multiple relationships within a society. The social contract between different forces of production has been going through the process of reexamination. The emergence of a set of contracts based on equity and justice are drawing attention. In the rural areas, the very foundation of feudalism and its social contract reflected in the values, practices, belief systems and norms have been shaken. The domination of feudal politics, culture and economy is in the verge of collapse. Now, several types of transitional arrangements have come up. Today, the needs are to refining and standardizing those arrangements into a comprehensive governance mechanism and to implementing the same at macro level. As long as discrimination on the ground of nationality, gender, caste and class would continue; the equitable, just and prosperous society would remain a distant dream.

Whether they were the Roman Patricians and Plebeians or Italian Guelphs and Ghibellines or Chinese Kuomintang and Communist, they had been in a grand fight against each other, unprecedented in their respective societies. They fought in all areas - philosophy, politics, culture and progress of their societies. Most of the time, they made history by venturing into brand new paths. They gave expression to prevailing contradictions of their societies. They were the class organizations of the highest level. Today, there are hundreds of political parties. They share broadly the same type of the platform as the parties mentioned above occupied. The process of organized behavior of different political forces has been increasing every passing year. Not only the number of the political parties has increased but the scope of their influence has been expanded tremendously. All the political parties have been collectively protecting their class interests. Some of them have contributed positively by playing a progressive role towards the socio-economic and political dynamics of the society whereas some others are the masters of regression. The same is true to Nepal.
January 10, 2006