Red star over Himalayas

When I posted my earlier post on Nepal and Russian Revolution, I did not anticipate how close the parallels were. When reading Prachanda's interview my mind darted back very often to Lenin's and Trotsky's stratoric during Feb 1917 - Jan 1918.

These are the salient points of Prachanda's interview.

1.     The Nepal King is toast. Monarchy is finished. To finish him literally, all the parliamentary parties should convene a session, overthrow the King and form a provisional government. Maoists will provide support from the outside and also resist counter-revolution from the monarchists.
2.     After that a constituent assembly shall be convened. Maoists will agree whatever the constituent assembly comes up with for the future of Nepal.
3.     Parliamentary parties need not fear the Maoists army. It will be assimilated in a democratic Nepalese army after purging the RNA off of die-hard monarchists.
4.     After this Maoists will participate in "political competition" with other parliamentary parties.
5.     India does not have to worry about a "democratic" Nepal. Nepali Maoists have nothing to do with Indian Maoists. In fact after steps 1-4, Nepali Maoists can moderate Indian Maoists with their experience in governance.

After reading this think one must think 'Boy! He sure does come across as a reasonable feller, ain't he'?  In reality this is nothing but a stool softener provided to beat the crap out of all who stand in their way. Let me revisit the points with reference to 1917.

1.     Does anybody think that Bolshevism overthrew the Tsar in Russia? Wrong! Tsar abdicated the throne to his own army. The Parliament (Duma) took control and formed the provisional government. It was supported from the outside by Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies (a collegium of various socialist parties in which the Bolsheviks were a pathetic minority)
2.     That outside support was gradually diluted and made conditional as to "in-so-far as it fights counter-revolution". This was a catch-22, because the PG itself was labeled counter-revolutionary. Soon "All power to Soviets" was demanded and the PG was forced out by a Bolshevik takeover in the name of Soviets. Remember, even then Bolsheviks were a minority in the Soviet.
3.     A constituent assembly indeed was convened, but not before Bolsheviks chased out their elected opponents. Soon after it was convened Lenin dissolved it to establish Bolshevik party rule.
4.     Of all the parties that existed, only Bolsheviks had their own army (Noradnia Guardia). They refused to dissolve it even after the Tsar was deposed, maintaining that it is the truly counter-revolutionary force. If effect they put it to use in the "competition" against their political opponents. The Russian Army was "democratized" by having election for officers. Even that was not sufficient. Each officer was appointed 2 (or 4) commissars from Red Guards with a gun to his head. Trotsky warned that there will be wet spots in the place of officers who strayed away from the Bolshevik political line.
5.     Other European powers, Germany and France were assuaged that they had nothing to worry from a Bolshevik takeover. But the Soviet ambassadors did double duty of spreading the revolution and representing their government.