Communist Party of Thailand

(CPT, Pak Commiunist Heng Pratetthai), organized at its first congress, held illegally in 1942, on the basis of underground Marxist groups. (The second congress was held in 1952 and the third in 1961.) During World War II the CPT participated in the armed struggle against the Japanese occupiers. In 1946 it had the opportunity to operate legally for the first time. Three members of the CPT were elected deputies to the parliament of Thailand, and the Communist Party began publishing its own organ, the newspaper Mahachon.

After the coup of 1947 in Thailand, the CPT was forced to go underground, and it began operating illegally again. An underground radio broadcasting unit was established, called Siang Cong Pracheachon Thai (Voice of the People of Thailand). The CPT opposed the existing regime and the dominance of foreign imperialism in Thailand, casting its lot with armed struggle. The Thai People’s Liberation Armed Forces, established by the CPT in the 1960’s, began carrying out partisan operations against government troops and the police. In 1969, CPT radio proclaimed the creation of the Supreme Command of the Thai People’s Liberation Armed Forces.

Delegations of the CPT participated in international Conferences of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in 1957 and 1960, and the CPT approved the documents of the conferences. Later the leaders of the CPT, who were influenced by the dissident policy of the leadership of the Communist Party of China, in effect isolated the CPT from the international communist movement.