[KatoeyLover69]

The history of Thailand from 1932 to 1973 was dominated by the military dictatorship which was in power for much of the period. The main personalities of the period were the dictator Phibun, who allied the country with Japan during the Second World War, and the civilian politician Pridi, who founded Thammasat University and was briefly prime minister after the war. A succession of military dictators followed Pridi's ousting — Phibun again, Sarit and Thanom — under whom traditional, authoritarian rule combined with increasing modernisation and westernisation under the influence of the U.S. The end of the period was marked by Thanom's resignation, forced after a massacre of pro-democracy protesters who were led by Thammasat students.


Military rule

The military came to power in 1932, and retained it (with intermittent periods of civilian rule) until the failed coup of 1992. The army's dominance can be attributed in part to its role as an avenue for advancement for ambitious young Siamese when the Chinese dominated the business world and the educated middle-class was still small.

The new regime of 1932 was led by a group of colonels headed by Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena and Phraya Songsuradet. In December they produced a constitution, Siam's first, with a National Assembly half appointed and half indirectly elected. Full democratic elections were promised when half the population had completed primary education - expected to be sometime in the 1940s. A prime minister and Cabinet were appointed and a facade of constitutional rule maintained.

Once the new government had been established and the constitution put into effect, conflict began to erupt among the members of the new ruling coalition. There were basically four major factions competing for power. 1: The older conservative civilians led by Phraya Mano; 2: A senior military faction led by Phraya Phahon; 3: The junior army and navy faction led by Luang Plaek Phibunsongkhram; 4: The young civilian faction led by Pridi Phanomyong.

The first serious conflict arose in 1933 when Pridi was given the task of drafting a new economic plan for the nation. It was a radical plan which called for the nationalisation of large amounts of farmland as well as a policy of rapid industrialisation which would be directed by the government. His plan also called for the expansion of higher education so that entry into the bureaucracy would not be completely dominated by royalty and the aristocracy. Pridi's plan was instantly condemned by all the factions in the government as being communist.

Because of its attack on private property, the conservative clique were the ones that were most alarmed by Pridi's economic plan. They urged the Mano government to adopt policies that would reverse the course of the "revolution". When Phraya Mano attempted to do this, Phibun and Phraya Phahon launched a second coup that toppled the Mano government. Phraya Pahon became prime minister, and the new government that was formed excluded all of the royalists.

A royalist reaction came in late 1933 when Prince Bovoradej, a grandson of Chulalongkorn and one time Minister of Defence, led an armed revolt against the government. He mobilised various provincial garrisons and marched on Bangkok, capturing the Don Muang aerodome in the process. The Prince accused the government of disrespecting the King and of promoting communism, and demanded that the government leaders resign. He had hoped that some of the garrisons in the Bangkok area would join the revolt, but they remained loyal to the government. In the meanwhile, the navy declared itself neutral and left for its bases in the south. After heavy fighting in the northern outskirts of Bangkok, the royalists were finally defeated and Prince Bovoradej left for exile in Indochina.

A few months later in 1934, King Prajadhipok, whose relations with the new government had been deteriorating for some time, went abroad to receive medical treatment. While abroad, he still tried to retain some influence on the government's policies, but finally gave up when it became clear that the government would not relinquish its increasingly dogmatic nature. In March 1935, while still in Europe, he announced his abdication. The government then chose Prince Ananda Mahidol, who was then in school in Switzerland, to be the next king. For the first time in history, Siam was without a resident reigning monarch and was to remain so for the next fifteen years.

The new regime carried out some important reforms. The currency went off the gold standard, allowing trade to recover. Serious efforts were made to expand primary and secondary education. Elected local and provincial governments were introduced, and in 1937 democratic development was brought forward when direct elections were held for the National Assembly, although political parties were still not allowed. Thammasat University was founded, at Pridi's initiative, as a more accessible alternative to the elitist Chulalongkorn, and became a hotbed of radicalism. Military expenditure was also greatly expanded to 30% of the national budget.

The military, now led by Field Marshal Phibun as Defence Minister, and the civilian liberals led by Pridi as Foreign Minister, worked together harmoniously for several years, but when Phibun became prime minister in December 1938 this co-operation broke down, and military domination became more overt. Phibun was an admirer of Benito Mussolini, and his regime soon developed some fascist characteristics. In early 1939 forty political opponents, both monarchists and democrats, were arrested, and after rigged trials eighteen were executed, the first political executions in Siam in over a century. Phibun launched a demagogic campaign against the Chinese business class. Chinese schools and newspapers were closed, and taxes on Chinese businesses increased.

Phibun and Luang Wichit, the government's ideological spokesman, copied the propaganda techniques used by Hitler and Mussolini to build up the cult of the leader. Aware of the power of mass media, they used the government's monopoly on radio broadcasting to shape popular support for the regime. Popular government slogans were constantly aired on the radio and plastered on newspapers and billboards. Phibun's picture was also to be seen everywhere in society, while portraits of the ex-monarch King Prajadhipok were banned. At the same time he passed a number of authoritarian laws which gave the government the power of almost unlimited arrest and complete press censorship.

Also in 1939, Phibun changed the country's name from Siam to Prathet Thai, or Thailand, meaning "land of the free." This was a nationalist gesture: it implied the unity of all the Tai-speaking peoples, including the Lao and the Shan, but excluding the Chinese. The regime's slogan became "Thailand for the Thai."


to be continued ( Part 2 ) ...........