As our main feature this week, we retell the story of Thailands military coup and the events leading up to it. We hope that New Zealand students will read it and become conversant with the situation of students, workers and peasants under a fascist regime controlled primarily by American capital.

The two Octobers in 1973 and 1976 will both be unforgettable to Asian students. The democratic constitutions that the Thai students have fought for with their blood, now vanishes in blood. In the direction of the Thai Student Movement, especially in the three years after Oct. 1973, there are a lot of experiences worth profound cogitation and summing up.

Concerned with society - get out of the ivory towers.

Under the suppression of imperialism and feudalism, the Thai society is in constant flux and full of contradictions. After the Second World War, the American imperialists exploited the strategic location of Thailand in the encirclement of China and as a stepping stone to invade Indochina. In Thailand, the military junta grasped power, externally flirted with the imperialists by betraying the national sovereignty and domestically made the people to live in an abyss of suffering.

Yet in the Sixties, the traditional education system and the oligarchic political situation only drove the Thai University students to piles of book, chasing after certificates and diplomas. The Thai University students, at that time, were indifferent to society and country. They were apathetic to politics.

By the turn of the Sixties, the increasely frenzied invasion of the Americans in Vietnam has provoked the roars of justice from people all over the world. The worldwide student activism has brought its impacts on Thailand. In 1968, University students of Bangkok organised anti-American patriotic movements. They began to put forward demands on the immediate abolishment of the "Thai-US Treaty" and "restraining the Thai army from fighting in foreign countries as mercenaries". At the same time, they also proposed to get rid of the rottening education system.

Participation in politics. Fight for Democracy.

Along with the development of Vietnam war, the American furthered their invasion in Thailand and the military junta also tightened their oppressive control. In their social practice, they have experienced many discontents and under the influence of western education and American democratic ideas, they opened fire on the tyrannical order.

In Oct. 1973, the National Students Centre of Thailand, NSCT, organised a "Constitutional Group". They went into the masses to publicize democractic thinking and demanded the three dictators headed by Thanom to set up a permanent constitution immediately. On 6th Oct. twelve active members of the constitutional group (including students, professors, reporters and ex-senators of parliament) were arrested under the accusation of "violating public security and attempting to overthrow the government". The protests from NSCT were given no effective answers. The NSCT then organised large-scale rallies and demonstrations in the campuses and demanded the government should release the arrested without conditions immediately. On 14 Oct. 400,000 students and masses all over the country gathered in Bangkok to demonstrate. Yet the military government replied with bullets. The military government mobilized tanks and slaughtered more than 70 persons. Yet in the roars of the people, there were serious splits within the ruling elite. At last, Thanom, Praprass and Narong were ousted from Thailand.

The victories gained in this "Fight for democracy and constitution campaign" made the Thai students deepen their concerns with the country and nurtured a sense of responsibility to society. The victories gained further encouraged them to participate more actively in politics and to probe for an ideal in their social practices.

Go to the countryside, and march on the road of integration with the workers and peasants.

The civilian government which came into power began in April, 1974 to initiate a "Teach the Peasants Democracy Campaign" in the hope of publicizing concepts of parliamentary democracy to the vast countryside and to encourage more peasants to vote. In this campaign, more than 400 university students went to the country-side and stayed more than a month. This provided a valuable chance for them to get into contacts with more serious problems. As a rule, most university students came from middle-class families in the cities and they had never had a chance to know the poverty and suppression in the countryside. Thus, in this campaign, they have gained a preliminary understanding of the sufferings of the peasants. The Thai university students raised a lot of questions to themselves: why was it that they could live so differently from the farmers? Why could the peasants not feed and clothe themselves though they had worked so laboriously? Why was it that the peasants have to eat wild herbs (vegetables) and live in shabby huts while the landlords lead luxurious lives? To answer these questions they needed more social practices.

The NSCT then proposed a slogan "Go to the countryside". They mobilised 4000 of their fellow students to go to the countryside and to live and work with peasants. They also built schools and libraries for them. In the meantime, the contradiction between the peasants and landlords had sharpened. Many peasants, who were seriously exploited by the blood-sucking landlords, went to Bangkok to protest. In many other areas in the country peasants' federations were set up.

Strikes were increasing in the cities. From Oct 1973, the workers' movement had also been gaining momentum. The students also began to get into contact with the workers and understand and participate in their struggles. In many universities, forums and discussions were held with the workers. Once the NSCT had organised a "Knock the Door Campaign". They went to the poverty-sticken families in Bangkok city to understand their agonies. The Thai students put forward the slogan of "To serve the people". Yet in order to implement this slogan, they had to go into the masses and nurture the feelings forward their need and understand their needs.

Anti-imperialism, anti-feudalism and the desire for national independence and self-determination.

In their social practices, the Thai students gradually realised that in order to solve these social problems, one has to dig deep into the "roots" of these problems—that is, the political control, military aggression, economic exploitation and cultural debasement by imperialism. The brave resistances of the Indo-Chinese peoples against the American imperialists have also inspired the Thai people. From 1974 onwards, the Thai students began to organise actively mass campaigns to fight against the American aggression, intervention, control and exploitation in the hope of achieving national determination.

In Jan. 1974, students of Chiengmai University and Thammasat University protested in front of the American Embassy for infiltration and intervention into the domestic policies of Thailand. In Feb. 1975, the NSCT organised a nation-wide campaign to put down the Temco (Thai Exploration and Mining Company). Temco was a company primarily based on American capital but also with British and Dutch shares. Operating on a highly exploitative low wage system, Temco had been receiving enormous amounts of profits annually. Yet the more important thing was that Temco had been ruthlessly exploiting the resources of Thailand. In April, 1975, slowly after the Vietnam liberation, the American imperialists once again acted against the will of the Indo-Chinese peoples. In the Mayaguez Incident, the Americans completely ignored the sovereignty of Thailand by sending fighters and bombers from the base of Utapao to invade Kampuchea. This immediately provoked great indignations among the Thai people. NSCT and the Thai people organised mass rallies. They demanded the immediate closing down of all American bases in Thailand. Henceforth, there were similar mass demonstrations urging the American Government to withdraw all their troops out of Thailand at the scheduled date. The same thing happened on the day of the bicentennial celebration of US in July, 1976. Besides mass meetings, page 10 the Thai students, by sponsoring exhibitions, tried to reveal to the people the sinster nature of American imperialism in plundering the natural resources and exploiting the cheap labour of Thailand. These activies showed that the Thai should grasp their destiny in their own hands.

The experiences in the countryside made the Thai students realise the feudal landlords were Land-in-glove with the bureaucratic compradores who served the imperialists. They also understood that the feudalist idealogy was still poisoning the farmers. In order to portray to the people their bright future and to encourage them to fight on, the Thai students took up literature and arts as the weapons against feudalism and imperialism. They wrote a lot of songs and plays and made a lot of performances in the cities and countryside.

Along with the victories of the Indo-Chinese peoples, the American influences in Asia was deteriorating and hence enormous changes in the Asian and world situations took place.

The expansions from another superpower, who had been longing desperately to substitute their American counterpart in scrambling for world hegemony, was also extremely interested with the strategic location of Thailand. Besides infiltrating Thai society from various aspects, this superpower also paid much attention to the Thai students by frequently offering them free trips for travelling. Of course, these ulterior aims were met with strong refusals. The Thai students were also fully alert to the ambitions of expansion from any foreign power.

From constitutional democracy to peoples' democracy.

All these showed that under the impact of the rapidly changing world situation, the Thai students, through their social practices, had witnessed drastic changes in their thinking. At last, they had searched the direction of their student movement. They have summarised that feudalism and imperialism were The main foes that oppressed and exploited the Thai people most. Only after these two foes were eliminated, then the Thai people could have genuine independence and democracy. Yet how could imperialism be defeated? How could national self-determination be achieved? The answer lies in the strength of the workers and peasants who constituted more than 90% of the population. The aim could only be achieved by combining with the revolutionary strength of workers and peasants. Going to the countryside meant not to educate the peasants but instead to receive education from them, to understand the conditions of the majority exploited in this class society to nurture a feeling towards them.

The corruption and degeneration in parliamentary politics shattered the dream of the Thai students in Western style of democracy. What Thailand needed was not the kind of parliamentary democracy in a mere scrap of paper, but genuine people's democracy in the hands of those who stood for the interest of the majority. To fight for people's democracy, the strength of the workers and peasants was needed.

The Thai student movement was heading in this direction because the Thai student movement was closely linked with the destiny of the whole nation. In the process of development, the Thai students, under the impact of progressive ideas, have come to understand more and more the significance of genuine national independence and liberation. Now and then they analysed the contradictions in Thai society, summarized the direction of the Thai people's movement and tried their best to integrate their furture with the destiny of the whole nation.

Lessons of blood on the tortuous path.

Yet on the road of progress, there had never been full sail, it was full of obstacles and tortuousities. The path of the Thai student movement, was also stained with blood. Since Oct. 1973, nearly every meeting has been met with sabotage from the extreme rightists. They threw bombs into the masses or hired assassins to kill student leaders. In the rallies of March and July, 1976, there were also disturbances by the rightist rioters. At the beginning of last year, one of the vice-presidents of the Students' Union of the Mahidol Medical University was killed by the Red Guars (rightist gang). Yet every bloody incident only unveiled the repulsiveness of the reactionaries and taught the Thai students to stand firm in their pursuit of truth. The coup d'etat of Oct. 1976 was another bloody lesson on the tortuous road of struggle.

To insist on struggling for the bright future.

Yet the people can never be intimidated nor slaughtered. Even though one of them has fallen, thousands would stand up again. Difficulties could only forge the will of the people. The Thai student movement would grow amidst the stormy times. Bloody oppressions only signify the deterioration of the ruling elite and the ever increasing strength of the people's movement. The victories gained by anti-imperialistic forces of people all over the world are also encouraging the Thai people and students to fight on. They will summarize experiences and march on bravely to the bright future. Their militant voices, full of courageous spirits, will grow stronger and stronger.

Keep on fighting!
Because the masses want us to do so,
Let's unite and destroy our enemies,
We're fighting for the justice,
We'll march together with our strong determination,
Although the enemies seriously attack us,
We won't stop our struggle,
Go on fighting for the freedom of the people,
The people unite,
Fight until the last drop of blood.