The Changing Nature of Class Struggle in Nepal and the Ideological Divergence of Communist Parties: A Critical Study

Abstract

This study critically analyzes the changing character of class struggle under the Marxist concept and the ideological deviations seen in the major communist components in the political transformation of Nepal. The Nepali communist movement, guided by historical uprisings such as the Jhapa movement and the Maoist People's War, is involved in parliamentary politics, and its revolutionary stream is becoming detached from the class struggle of the grassroot people. This study, which adopts a qualitative secondary data analysis (SDA) method and a historical materialist approach, examines the contradictions of Nepali politics based on James Hartfield's crony capitalism and Milovan Dzilas' new class theory. It concludes that although direct feudalism has ended in Nepal, new and invisible enemies such as crony capitalism, political corruption and parliamentary opportunism have emerged in its place. The transformation of the communist leadership into a new exploiting class by using state power itself and the increasing influence of middlemen at the policy level have reduced the socialism-oriented constitutional goal to mere documentation. Therefore, for the renaissance of the communist movement, it seems inevitable that the parties should abandon their luxurious lifestyles and middle-class aspirations, chart a new course against crony capitalism, and re-engage with the real relations of production of the working class.