Amnesia

Arjun Subrahmanyan

Description

Thailand's monarchy and military have dominated the narrative of the country's modern history, and their leadership is often accepted as evidence of a cultural preference for authoritarianism. Despite a long history of military coups that have upended the course of the country's democracy, however, Thailand's democratic history is a vital though largely ignored aspect of modern Thai society. Based on extensive archival research, Amnesia delves into the social and political beginnings of Thai democracy and explains how a bloodless revolution against the monarchy in 1932 introduced a constitutional democracy and ignited enduring hopes for a fairer society and a more representative government. The "People's Party," a small group of commoners who staged the revolution in the name of democracy, found an enthusiastic audience for their bold populist rhetoric among wide swathes of society. In Amnesia, Arjun Subrahmanyan illustrates how the idealism of the first decade of Thai democracy, now largely forgotten, still shapes Thai society.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Thai Language Conventions

Introduction: The 1932 Revolution in Thai History

1. The New Regime and the Old: Compromise, Rebellion, and the Enemies Within

2. A Fragile Alliance: The Working Classes and the People's Party

3. Spokesmen for the Peasantry: The Revolution and Social Welfare

4. Making Citizens: Education and Propaganda in the New Order

5. Buddhist Democracy in the Revolution

6. The Revolution Betrayed: Triumph and Tragedy in Assembly Politics

Conclusion

History beyond Royalism
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Asia
• History of Asia
• Southeast Asia

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438486529
• Langue: English

Extrait

AMNESIA
AMNESIA
A HISTORY OF DEMOCRATIC IDEALISM IN MODERN THAILAND
Arjun Subrahmanyan
Cover image: Army survey department’s constitutional parade, 1932. Photo courtesy of the Phraya Phahon Foundation.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Subrahmanyan, Arjun, author.
Title: Amnesia : a history of democratic idealism in modern Thailand / Arjun Subrahmanyan, author.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438486512 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438486529 (ebook)
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
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Contents
L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
T HAI L ANGUAGE C ONVENTIONS
I NTRODUCTION The 1932 Revolution in Thai History
C HAPTER O NE The New Regime and the Old: Compromise, Rebellion, and the Enemies Within
C HAPTER T WO A Fragile Alliance: The Working Classes and the People’s Party
C HAPTER T HREE Spokesmen for the Peasantry: The Revolution and Social Welfare
C HAPTER F OUR Making Citizens: Education and Propaganda in the New Order
C HAPTER F IVE Buddhist Democracy in the Revolution
C HAPTER S IX The Revolution Betrayed: Triumph and Tragedy in Assembly Politics
C ONCLUSION History beyond Royalism
N OTES
B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX
Illustrations
Figure 1.1 The new era: Front page of Siam Ratsadon newspaper, June 24, 1932. The picture shows the thirty-two-year-old Pridi Banomyong, with his official title Luang Pradit Manudham (“Fashioner of Righteous Men”), and he is listed as “State Councillor, People’s Party.”
Figure 1.2 A euphoric beginning: a government officer distributes copies of the People’s Party manifesto to excited city people on the morning of June 24, 1932.
Figure 1.3 The new regime’s unsung heroines: civilian women volunteers during the Bowondet rebellion, October or November 1933. Photo courtesy of the Phraya Phahon Foundation.
Figure 1.4 Mobilizing support: Mr. Bun Thiam, a People’s Party backer, collects supporters to donate to the government cause during the Bowondet rebellion, October or November 1933. Photo courtesy of the Phraya Phahon Foundation.
Figure 1.5 Government troops on the way to battle against Bowondet’s forces, October 1933. Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Thailand, Department of Fine Arts.
Figure 2.1 The consummate old regime insider: His Royal Highness Boriphat Sukhumphan Kromphra Nakhonsawanworaphinit. The most powerful old regime officer, and one of the kingdom’s wealthiest men, Boriphat went into exile after 1932, leaving his palace for the People’s Party’s use. Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Thailand, Department of Fine Arts.
Figure 2.2 The unknown men: rickshaw pullers on strike, August 1932, hear from a police officer about the government’s plan to help them. Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Thailand, Department of Fine Arts.
Figure 3.1 Men of the people: Pridi (left) and Phahon (center) at a village rice harvest ceremony showing their solidarity with the peasantry. Year unknown. Photo courtesy of the Phraya Phahon Foundation.
Figure 3.2 The rural utopia as depicted in a government magazine, 1942.
Figure 4.1 Center of worldly Dhamma: Thammasat University’s dome and main hall, with Pridi’s statue in the foreground. Photo by the author.
Figure 4.2 Justice enshrined: An iconic constitutional image on the cover of a periodical, 1940. Photo courtesy of the Original Press Library.
Figure 6.1 Teaching the children about Phibun’s new order. Schoolchildren visit an arts display commissioned by the government in the late 1930s. Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Thailand, Department of Fine Arts.
Figure C.1 An accident of circumstance. Tree, ruined bicycle, smashed car, and young observer, 1930s. Photo courtesy of the National Archives of Thailand, Department of Fine Arts.
Acknowledgments
Bureaucratic inertia and the insecurity of a twenty-first century academic’s career have prolonged the time taken for this book to appear. The political economy of modern academia has pushed me around the world, with the moves prompted by the gnawing anxiety of unemployment. In global terms, the sacrifices are puny and the self-absorption clueless. Moreover, the silver lining of these problems is bright indeed: especially the continuous support and friendship of many people in many places. I am deeply grateful to the people around the world who gave me their time and companionship. In Berkeley, California, where this project began as a half-baked PhD thesis, above all I am indebted to Peter Zinoman for his criticism and support. Also in California, thanks go to Penny Edwards and the late great Jeff Hadler for their mentorship, as well as Amy Pitsker for her friendship and support. Chris Conte and Tammy Proctor in Logan, Utah gave me the chance to teach independently and supported my work. At Binghamton University, Kent Schull encouraged me at a crucial time, and more recently my editor at State University of New York Press, James Peltz rescued my project from two years in the editorial wilderness. In Australia, the current and former Murdoch History colleagues—Dean Aszkielowicz, Michael Sturma, Andrew Webster, and Sandra Wilson—have made the small program a haven in a neoliberal storm. Also in Australia, I am very grateful for the support of Robert Cribb and Craig Reynolds, giants of Southeast Asian history writing, and the friendship of Anne Schwenkenbecher. In Bangkok I quite selfishly drew many people actively or unwittingly into my work. Patphorn Phoothong, above all, a constant help, support and friend who has had the good sense not to go into academia. Many more colleagues in Thailand supported my work, including most vitally Chalong Soontravanich, Thanaphol Limapichart, Laurent Malespine, Puli Fuwongcharoen, Sittha Lertphaiboonsiri, and Thongchai Likitpornasawan. For the comrades Samson Lim and Lawrence Chua: enough said. Finally, for the love of Mum, Lakshman, and Dad.
Staff at the National Library of Thailand, the National Archives of Thailand, the National Library of Australia, the Murdoch University Library, and many other repositories assisted my requests and suggested new ones over the years.
Readers of various drafts of journal articles and chapters of this book, whom I would name if I knew who they were, have been invaluable in helping turn bad writing and vague thinking into something passable.
An earlier version of chapter 4 was originally published as Arjun Subrahmanyan, “Education, Propaganda and the People: Democratic Paternalism in 1930s Siam,” in Modern Asian Studies 49, no. 4 (2015): 1122–42, and is here reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Press.
An earlier version of chapter 5 was originally published as Arjun Subrahmanyan, “Buddhism, Democracy and Power in the 1932 Thai Revolution” in the Asian Studies Review 41, no. 1 (2017): 40–57, copyright © 2016 Asian Studies Association of Australia, reprinted by permission of Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor Francis Group, www.tandfonline.com , on behalf of 2016 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Thai Language Conventions
This book adheres to the general phonetic transcription system for most Thai words that is used by the Royal Institute of Thailand. No tonal marks are used. Common English spellings are used for personal and place names that are widely known, as are the owner’s preferred transcriptions. The commonly spelled English versions of certain Thai royal names are used instead of their lengthy official titles. Official ranks and positions for government servants are given at the first reference but thereafter are omitted, unless they appear in a quoted source that uses them. Following conventional usage, Thai people are referred to by their personal names and Westerners by their surnames. The Bibliography therefore lists Thai names alphabetically by their personal names.
Introduction
The 1932 Revolution in Thai History
In early April 2017, a near-century-old plaque sunk into the pavement outside the Royal Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand, disappeared. The unremarkable, thirty-centimeter brass marker bore a simple inscription that encircles its rim: “At this spot the People’s Party established the Constitution for the progress of the nation.” The center read “24 June 1932, Dawn.” The plaque’s elegant brevity commemorated the beginning of Thai democracy in the 1932 revolution, an event staged by a group of military and civilian commoners from the bureaucracy and known as the People’s Party. They toppled the absolute monarchy and introduced a constitutional government that vested power in the people. The 1932 plaque, its words faded over time by foot and car traffic across the Royal Plaza, was replaced overnight that early April with a