I'm sure these two points made sense to Nepal's Maoists, but, then again, no left-wing political movement that neglects the countryside in a country whose population is more than 80% would get anywhere. So, I'd think that Nepal's Maoists' doings have largely been dictated by the country's real social, political, and economic conditions as well as their own political fortunes, rather than any particular ism at the level of ideas.
Really, I don't understand folks getting stuck on the question of mere names in countries like Nepal. The main parliamentary Communist Party there is called CPN-UML, UML being "Unified Marxist-Leninist." What's in that name? Why should anyone care? :-|
At least, the Financial Times that Travis posted here doesn't give a damn about names and ideologies and goes right to the heart of questions: political economy. Yoshie <<<<<>>>>>
strictly speaking, i guess there's nothing *in* a name, although a group who people adopting one would - i think - do so for serious reasons in that the name conveys *some things* to both themselves and to others (exceptions to seriousness could include tricksters, folks trying to come up with a name for their band, and persons who might consider writing an essay entitled 'towards a marxist vegetarianism'), in any event, people can call themselves whatever they want to (my friend bobbie routinely refers to himself as the archbishop of canterbury)...
don't think i'm stuck on name per se, but media accounts and e-mail listers routinely refer to nepali guerrillas as *maoists*, a free-floating signifer of sorts, my question was a serious one - why are they maoists, why do they consider themselves maoists, what makes them maoists, what does that mean for their political tactics/strategies/goals, after all, they apparently adopted the name for themselves, how does that effect what they do, for their revolutionary practice (perhaps it doesn't)...
apologies for a couple of posts from earlier this week, someone pointed out to me that their formatting made them difficult to read (apparently more so than usual), think i've fixed that... mh
Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.