Thailand: Defeat the Military Dictatorship!
Oppose the Military's Move to Silence all Opposition! Organise the Working Class and the Poor Peasants for the Revolutionary Overthrow of the Prayut Chan-o-cha Government! Only a Workers Government based on the Support of the Poor Peasants leads to Real Democracy!
Article by Joseph Adams, RCIT Britain, 28th March 2018, www.thecommunists.net, https://rcitbritain.wordpress.com/
The military regime of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has recently banned all political meetings in Thailand. This is an effort to stem the rising tide of opposition to the regime by human rights activists and protesters who want a general election for this year and who demand the return to a democratic government instead of military dictatorship. The National Legislative Assembly is striving to delay the elections as Prayut and the regime have promised.
“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered security forces to closely monitor political groups which are currently launching campaigns to unseat the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, speaking Sunday, said he was quoting the response of Gen Prayut, who is head of the NCPO, to anti-military activists who have stated that they will stage a prolonged rally in May to oust the regime ahead of the fourth anniversary of the May 22, 2014 coup. On Saturday, in a bid to challenge the NCPO, the protesters broke through security barriers and gathered in front of the Royal Thai Army headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue to demand that the election. Be held this year closely monitored by 600 police and security officers, around 400 activists had marched from Thammasat University's Tha Prachan campus to the army headquarters, calling on the army to stop supporting the regime.“ [1]
Reactionary Prayut Chan-o-cha Regime
Prayut Chan-o-cha and his regime have banned all political parties in an effort to rule the country with an iron fist. The junta is in power since 2014 and is promising since then to lift the ban on democratic elections every year. In addition the Election Commission refuses to even register a broad number of political parties which means that these parties will have no right to stand at a general election. “All names and qualifications to be an official party depend on EC approval“. [2]
The current flurry of activity by several political parties in Thailand is because the National Legislative Assembly, controlled by Prayut and his cronies, have put the date of polls for the election of MP’s back another 90 days with a possible general election in February 2019 instead of November 2018. The Political Party Act also demands that registered parties should have a minimum of 500 registered members and 1 million baht (more than £22.000) which is an absolute undemocratic hurdle.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is well known for oppressing democratic rights as the junta has shown since it took power. Furthermore, the oppression of the Muslim people in the South of Thailand - they make more than 80% of the population in three provinces but live in extreme poverty - has massively increased under the regime of the junta. The latter has cast itself as the protector of Buddhism, backing the reactionary mobilisations of ethnic Thai Buddhists against the Muslim population.
It is therefore more than cynical that the regime of Prayut Chan-o-cha stylizes itself to be the guardian of democracy. “I believe most people now understand well that Thailand is heading towards an election as planned in the country's roadmap. The important mission of the NCPO, which stepped in to take on a caretaker role is now to do its utmost to get the country back to being a 'complete democracy'," Gen Prayut was quoted as saying.“ [3]
Bourgeois-Populist Pheu Thai Party
The largest opposition force is the Pheu Thai Party. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai party have recently been meeting with other party leaders in Hong Kong. Both Thaksin and Ying Luck refuse to return to Thailand because of the possibility of their arrest by the regime. The Pheu Thai party is a bourgeois populist party which held power before the military coup. They refused to call for mass protests against the coup d’état in 2014 in order to find a compromise with the traditional elite around the late king Bhumibol who supported the seizure of power by the junta.
The RCIT has previously commented on the role of the Pheu Thai party in 2014: “Thus the Pheu Thai Party is a bourgeois-populist party which represents a minority faction of the capitalist class but which, however, has to rely on the support of the workers and peasants in order to hold power. Nevertheless Thaksin and his party are despised by the elite because it is a party whose strength is based on the support of the masses of workers and peasants who have repeatedly intervened in the political life of Thailand during the last decade by militant mass mobilizations.” [4]
We opposed the reactionary mobilisation in 2013 and 2014 by the so-called “Yellow Shirts” of the Democrat Party which provoked the coup d’état as well as we didn't give any political support to the submissive and demobilizing Pheu Thai Party. However, we defended the democratically elected government and the Pheu Thai Party against the coup d’état and called for mass mobilisations by the popular movement of the “Red Shirts”. Irrespective of the treacherous failure of the Pheu Thai Party, they still retain support amongst the working class and the poor peasants in Thailand.
Revolutionary Perspectives
The RCIT believes that it is necessary to recruit the best elements of the working class and poor peasants away from the pro-capitalist policies of Thaksin and his sister Yingluck so that they build an independent workers party. To this end the RCIT puts forward the following demands to unite the workers and poor peasants in Thailand in a struggle to overthrow the reactionary regime of General Prayut-Chan-o-cha and to fight for a workers government based on the support of the rural and urban poor.
* For the Overthrow of the Prayut-Chan-o-cha regime! For a Constituent Assembly which must be controlled by the Workers and Poor Peasants!
* For the Right of Self-Determination for all the Muslim peoples living in Thailand! Support self-defense units of Muslim people to protect themselves against the reactionary attacks!
* For the Abolition of the Monarchy and the Establishment of a Republic!
* For the Expropriation and Nationalisation of Big Business without Compensation and under Workers Control! Nationalisation of all Banks and Fusion to One Central State Bank under Workers Control!
* For the Armed Seizure of Power by Workers and Poor Peasants Militias! For the Establishment of a Workers Government based on the Urban and Rural Poor!
The RCIT welcomes discussions on all these questions with revolutionaries and socialists in Thailand. Comrades in Thailand – lets fight together for the Fifth International, a new world party of the socialist revolution! Join the RCIT!
Footnotes
(1) https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1434999/prayut-orders-close-watch-on-protesters
(2) https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1432571/another-anti-coup-activist-registers-a-party
(3) https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1434999/prayut-orders-close-watch-on-protesters
(4) https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/asia/thailand-looming-coup-d-%C3%A9tat/