On February 1, the king of Nepal assumed full powers, sacking his prime minister and carrying out a royalist coup. The imperialists have shown some concern at this turn of events. They are worried that instead of stabilising the country it could play into the hands of the Maoist guerrillas.

The Armeniana people were once proud of what they achieved after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, in spite of the later Stalinist deformations. But since the demise of the former Soviet Union capitalism has been introduced and the effect has been a total collapse of what was once a developing and cultured country.

This article was written in September shortly after the August blockade organised by the Maoist guerrillas. Although with a little delay, we are publishing it now as it is relevant to the general situation and the impasse the country is facing. The Maoists have a strong position but because of their view that the revolution will be bourgeois-democratic – and not socialist at this “stage” – the situation is one of stalemate and growing instability with no clear way out. This article tries to give another perspective to the Nepalese Communist movement.

With a deep sense of sadness we learned of the death of Della Clyne following a short struggle with cancer. Although she was not known to many comrades, Della was a very remarkable woman with a passionate nature and an open and inquiring mind. She was not young in years but she seemed to be eternally young in spirit and possessed a tremendous and infectious enthusiasm that communicated itself to everyone near her.

More protest messages sent to President Musharraf and to the Governor of Punjab

On July 26, as news spread of the vicious attacks by fundamentalists upon members of the Unemployed Youth Movement in Pakistan, a number of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign supporters in England began to plan a picket in London.