[As the intensifying struggle between the "establishment maoists" and the "revolutionary maoists" continues to reach beyond inner-Maoist party meetings to influencing workers, students, and the lives of many others, this report from the factories describes some of the struggle as it unfolds. Thanks to Revolution in South Asia for posting this. -- Frontlines ed.]
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October 3, 2011
By Winston
A new confrontation is looming in Nepal’s workplaces and streets.
Nepal’s Maoist movement and its sister organisations are currently going through a bitter struggle over the path forward, and nowhere is this more apparent than within the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation. The union has split, and there have been violent clashes between rival factions. The establishment faction under ANTUF Chairman Jammarkattel (considered close to Prachanda) has been accused of sending thugs to attack grassroots leaders of the emergent radical union faction.
The radical union faction commands serious weight. In allegiance with Madhesi unions in the southern Terai belt, it has previously carried out strike waves that crippled industry across large swathes of Nepal – and these were strikes explicitly called in defiance of the ANTUF establishment, which struck deals with employers and the government that the union radicals felt delivered too little to the workers, and conceded too much. (more…)
Filed under: Nepal | Tagged: establishment maoists, maoist movement, maoist party, nepal, nepal trade, revolutionary maoists, rival factions, trade union federation | 1 Comment »
