Laos

[Ander]

If you were not aware, Laos is considered to be one of the few remaining official communist states. I, for one, never hear anything about this country or the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party. From what I dug up on Wikipedia it doesn't sound so good, the population being suppressed, LPRC being the only legal party, and the government slowly coming towards privatization, etc.

However, I do know that Wikipedia isn't completely reliable so I was wondering if anyone knew more about Laos and their government, specifically their economic policies. I'd really like to know if Laos is a successful model for communism in the world.

[h&s]

Laos is no example of commuism. Firstly, a communist country can not have a governmemt, so that rules out a one-party dictatorship.
Laos was only Stalinist, and is just following the pattern of Stalinist states ruling parties turning towards capitalism now Stalinism is unfavourable to their personal interests.

[Scars]

As has been said, there isn't a state in Communism. They were Socialist, but now they're basically capitalist (of a type, kinda like China or Vietnam).

The LPRP were essentially the Laoatian branch of the Workers Party of Vietnam and like the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia, formally known as the Workers Party of Kampuchea) it was founded with heavy involvement from Vietnam. However unlike the CPK they never attempted to be as independent and were more happy to 'toe the Hanoi line', so to say, than the Kampucheans ever were.

They didn't take power by force though. The Pathet Lao (Laotian equivilant of the Vietnamese National Liberation Army) fought the Americans and their mercenaries (Laoatian hill tribes were bought off, equipped and trained by the yanks to fight the Communists), but they did not take power via military means. I can't remember the exact details, but they had a mixed government for a while (like Kampuchea) and eventually the country came under complete Communist dominance.

Not a lot has been written about them, mainly because few people give a shit about Laos and even fewer could point it out on a map. Vietnam gets all the attention and many people don't even know that Kampuchea and Laos were involved in the war(s). However, they've always been fairly close to the Vietnamese so you can make rough assessments of their ideology by looking to their Vietnamese comrades.

h&s:

They're not Stalinist, nor have they ever been Stalinist. Stalinist is a specific thing, not just a term that can be thrown at any party that is not Trotskite.

[h&s]

h&s:

They're not Stalinist, nor have they ever been Stalinist. Stalinist is a specific thing, not just a term that can be thrown at any party that is not Trotskite.

Stalinism doesn not necessarily refer to people who agree with Stalin - I was just using the word in the Trot sense that Stalinism refers to a deformed workers state, where a caste of beureucrats has taken over.

[Scars]

<<Stalinism doesn not necessarily refer to people who agree with Stalin>>

Well...that is the traditional meaning of the word. It&#39;s more commonly used as a term of abuse by Trotskites. Kinda like Maoists labelling anyone they don&#39;t like revisionists, or Trotskites.

<<I was just using the word in the Trot sense that Stalinism refers to a deformed workers state, where a caste of beureucrats has taken over.>>

Why don&#39;t you say that then?

Anyway, I dug out my book on modern Laos, the only book on the subject I&#39;ve ever found and they have a close relationship with Vietnam and always have. They also were strong supporters of the Soviet Union, more so than the Vietnamese. For instance the LPRP would expel members who were deemed &#39;pro-Chinese&#39; and China even set up a pro-Chinese/Maoist Laoatian resistance&#33;

They were into the whole &#39;develop eavy industry&#33;&#39; thing (once again, following Vietnam) however in reality they haven&#39;t put much effort into this particular target. Before liberation there was practically no industry in Laos and now there is little industry in Laos. Their main focus has been trying to improve education and health standards- somthing that they seem to have had quite good results with.

Kinda like the CPK the LPRP were highly secretive and for a long time (right up into the mid 80s) Laos was almost completely closed off to the West in an almost North Korean fashion.

The LPRP have always emphasised nationalism as a key aspect and maintained that Marxist-Leninism is the &#39;purest&#39; and best form of nationalism. They believed that Marxist-Leninism was the only way that nationalims could be used to liberate a country from colonialism without the country subsequently sinking into some sort of semi-colonial, dictatorship/hellhole (kinda like South Vietnam, or many states in Africa).

[h&s]

Why don&#39;t you say that then?
Because I am so used to using the word Stalinist (as that is the Trot definition of the word) around my comrades, and I can&#39;t really spell the other words&#33;

[Korol Aferist]

&#39;Nother country that is corrupt more than Jeb Bush abuse of FEMA.

[Scars]

Originally posted by Korol [email protected] 23 2005, 04:07 PM
&#39;Nother country that is corrupt more than Jeb Bush abuse of FEMA.
Laos is not particularly corrupt. Compared to other countries in its region (for instance, Thailand) it&#39;s a shining example of uncorruptability.

[Morpheus]

They didn&#39;t take power by force though. The Pathet Lao (Laotian equivilant of the Vietnamese National Liberation Army) fought the Americans and their mercenaries (Laoatian hill tribes were bought off, equipped and trained by the yanks to fight the Communists), but they did not take power via military means. I can&#39;t remember the exact details, but they had a mixed government for a while (like Kampuchea) and eventually the country came under complete Communist dominance.

The Pathet Lao first came to power in the late &#39;50s by winning a democratic election. The US didn&#39;t like this, so the CIA arranged a coup to throw them out. A series of counter-coups and coups followed, which eventually turned into full fledged civil war against the US puppet government. The US basically levelled the country with its air force, but the Pathet Lao eventually won anyway.