HISTORY & POLITICS
HISTORY
1917
Siam sends troops to
join the Allies in WWI.1932
Bloodless coup ends
absolute monarchy.1939
The country’s English
name is offi cially
changed from Siam to
Thailand.1941
Japanese forces enter
Thailand during WWII.expansion in the region. In the context of the Cold War, the US govern-
ment gave economic and military support to the Sarit government and
continued that relationship with subsequent military dictators, Thanom
Kittikachorn and Praphat Charusathien, who controlled the country
from 1964 to 1973. They negotiated a package of economic deals with the
USA in exchange for allowing the development of US military bases in
Thailand to support the war in Vietnam.
By 1973, an opposition group of left-wing activists, mainly intellectu-
als and students, along with peasants, workers and portions of the mid-
dle class, organised political rallies demanding a constitution from the
military government. On 14 October that year the military brutally sup-
pressed a large demonstration in Bangkok, killing 77 people and wound-
ing more than 800. The event is commemorated by a monument on Th
Ratchadamnoen Klang in Bangkok, near the Democracy Monument.
King Bhumibol stepped in and refused to support further bloodshed,
forcing Thanom and Praphat to leave Thailand.
In the following years, the left-oriented student movement grew more
radical, creating fears among working-class and middle-class Thais of
home-grown communism. In 1976 Thanom returned to Thailand (osten-
sibly to become a monk) and was received warmly by the royal family. In
response, protestors organised demonstrations at Thammasat Univer-
sity against the perceived perpetrator of the 14 October massacre. Right-
wing, anti-communist civilian groups clashed with the students, result-
ing in bloody violence. In the aftermath, many students and intellectuals
were forced underground, and joined armed communist insurgents –LIBERAL COUNTERWEIGHTPridi Phanomyong (1900–83) was a French-educated lawyer and a civilian leader in the
1932 revolution and People’s Party. His work on democratic reforms in Thailand was
based on constitutional measures and attempts to restrict by law military involvement
in Thai politics. He supported nationalisation of land and labour, state-led industrialisa-
tion and labour protection. In 1934, he founded Thammasat University. He also served
as the fi gurehead of Seri Thai (the resistance movement against WWII Japanese occu-
pation of Thailand) and was Thai prime minister (1946).
Though acknowledged as a senior statesman, Pridi Phanomyong was a controversial
fi gure and a major foe of Phibul and the military regimes. He was accused of being a
communist by his critics and forced out of the country under suspicion of regicide.
Since the thawing of the Cold War, his legacy has been re-examined and recognised its
democratic eff orts and the counterbalancing eff ects it had on military interests. He was
named one of Unesco’s great personalities of the 20th-century world in 2000.Thailand has had
17 constitutions,
all rewritten as a
result of 18 (this
number is debat-
able) coups. Each
reincarnation
seeks to allocate
power within
the branches of
government with
a bias for the
ruling interest
(military, royalist
or civilian) and
against their
political foes.