Коммунистическая партия Таиланда: История и распад

1942–1990s political party in Thailand

The Communist Party of Thailand (Abrv: CPT; พรรคคอมมิวนิสต์แห่งประเทศไทย, ) was a communist party in Thailand active from 1942 until the 1990s. Initially known as the Communist Party of Siam, the party was founded officially on 1 December 1942, although communist activism in the country began as early as 1927. In the 1960s, the CPT grew in membership and support and by the early 1970s was the second largest communist movement in mainland Southeast Asia (after Vietnam). The party launched a guerrilla war against the Thai government in 1965. Even though the CPT suffered internal divisions, at its political peak the party effectively acted as a state within the state. Its rural support is estimated to have been at least four million people; its military arm consisted of 10–14,000 armed fighters. Its influence was concentrated in the northeastern, northern and southern Thailand. Following a series of internal party disputes, changes in international communist alliances, successful counter insurgency policies of Thailand's government including a widely accepted offer of amnesty for party cadres, and the Cold War coming to its conclusion, the party disappeared from the political scene in the early 1990s.

The origins of the communist movement in Thailand begin with the founding of the Siam Special Committee of the South Seas Communist Party between 1926 and 1927. An infusion of leftists fleeing China for Thailand in the late 1920s following the Nationalist Communist split of 1927 also increased support for activities. Accounts vary, but sometime between late 1929 and early 1930 the Communist Party of Siam was inaugurated.

During its initial phase of existence, the Communist Party of Siam remained a small party. It mainly comprised intellectuals in Bangkok. By early 1948, British intelligence sources deemed reports that the party had 3,000 members nationwide as "exaggerated". The party enjoyed a brief period of legality from 1946 to 1948. The secret party headquarters were in a wooden building on Si Phraya Road, Bangkok. A CPT delegation attended the second national congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in Tuyen Quang in February 1951. The CPT held its second party congress in 1952.

In 1960, the party attended the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties held in Moscow. The CPT held its third party congress in September 1961. Ideologically, the party aligned with Maoism. In 1961, it formulated a policy of armed struggle along the lines of the Chinese experience, which was made public in 1964. The party condemned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as revisionist and socially imperialist. As of 1966, relations with the Communist Party of Vietnam began to deteriorate, as the CPT criticized the CPV for failing to take a clear pro China stance. The party launched the Thai Patriotic Front (TPF) on 1 January 1965. The TPF had a six point programme for peace and neutrality. The Front called for the formation of a patriotic and democratic government, and opposed the Thai government and US troop presence in Thailand. The TPF was poised to fill the role of the united front in the triangular setting of the people's war strategy (party army front). In 1969, the Supreme Command of the People's Liberation Army of Thailand was formed, marking a new phase in the build up of guerrilla forces.

From 1970 on, the People's Liberation Army of Thailand (PLAT) received significant logistical support from China and Vietnam. PLAT forces intensified their operations, including attacks on US Air Force bomber bases in the country. In many cases, students accustomed to urban life had difficulties adapting to the harsh realities of guerrilla struggle, and thus the party decided to place many of them in villages rather deep in the jungle. The new student recruits were divided into groups of five to ten, which were distributed along the approximately 250 "liberated villages" of the country. Initially, the CPT adopted a neutral stance in the conflict between Vietnam and Kampuchea, causing relations to deteriorate with both the Chinese and the Vietnamese parties. However, as Vietnam intervened militarily in Kampuchea, the CPT condemned the Vietnamese action in a statement issued on 7 June 1979. Communist cadres were eventually granted amnesty. In March 1981, the Socialist Party of Thailand broke off relations with the CPT, claiming that CPT was controlled by foreign influences. In 1982–1983, CPT experienced mass defections of its cadres, and its military potential was severely reduced.

As of the 1970s, the party was led by a seven member politburo, elected by a 25 member Central Committee. Under the Central Committee were various provincial (changwat) committees and under them district (amphoe) committees. At the local level there were tambon (subdistrict) and muban (village) party structures. Other sources mention "Comrade Samanan" (Jaroen Wanngam) as the party leader during the same period.