International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

The Kingdom of Thailand entered into a period of turmoil in 1973 when the military dictatorship was overthrown. Wirat Angkhathawon, at the age of 42, became a principal leader of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) and a distinctive representative of the militant post-World War II generation. Wirat was born in 1921 in Bangkok to a family of Chinese origin from the town of Swatow, a port in the South of China. Although relatively affluent, his family encountered financial difficulties due to his father's health problems. After studying in a Chinese school, Wirat joined the communists and began working in a match factory in 1940. Subsequently, Wirat was sent to the South of Thailand, meeting his future wife, Somphon, from a Sino-Thai trading family from the southern province of Patthalung. Somphon spent a short period in China for studies and became a member of the Communist Party in 1943. Wirat returned to Bangkok in 1944 and was elected to the Central Committee of the CPT and the political department at the second congress in 1952. He was re-elected to the Central Committee and elected to the five-member secretariat of the CPT at the third congress in 1961. From 1950 to 1951 Wirat resided mostly outside of Thailand, in China and Laos or in mountain bases on the border of Thailand. He first studied at the Marxist-Leninist Institute in Peking and returned to Thailand in 1957–8 ... log in or subscribe to read full text