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Pridi Banomyong

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Pridi Banomyong
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ปรีดี พนมยงค์
Pridi in 1945
7thPrime Minister of Thailand
In office
24 March 1946 – 23 August 1946
Monarchs
Preceded byKhuang Aphaiwong
Succeeded byThawan Thamrongnawasawat
Regent of Thailand
In office
16 December 1941 – 5 December 1945
MonarchAnanda Mahidol
Prime Minister
Minister of Finance
In office
24 March 1946 – 23 August 1946
Prime Ministerhimself
Preceded byPhyaSrivisaravaja
Succeeded byVijitr Luritanon
In office
20 December 1938 – 16 December 1941
Prime MinisterPlaek Phibunsongkhram
Preceded bySerm Kritsanamara
Succeeded byPao Pienlert Boripanyutakit
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
12 July 1936 – 13 December 1938
Prime MinisterPhraya Phahonphonphayuhasena
Preceded byPhyaSrisena
Succeeded byChao PhyaSridharmadhibes
Minister of Interior
In office
29 March 1934 – 12 February 1935
Prime MinisterPhraya Phahonphonphayuhasena
Preceded byPhraya Phahonphonphayuhasena
Succeeded byThawan Thamrongnawasawat
Personal details
Born
Pridi[a]

(1900-05-11)11 May 1900
Ayutthaya,Krung Kao, Siam
Died2 May 1983(1983-05-02)(aged 82)
Paris,France
NationalityThai
Political partyKhana Ratsadon
Other political
affiliations		Free Thai Movement
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
SpousePoonsuk Banomyong
Children6
Alma mater
Signature

Pridi Banomyong(Thai:ปรีดี พนมยงค์,RTGS:Pridi Phanomyong,pronounced[prīː.dīːpʰā.nōm.jōŋ];11 May 1900 – 2 May 1983), also known by his noble titleLuangPraditmanutham(Thai:หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม), was a Thai statesman[2]and professor.[3]: 13 He served in multiple ministerial posts, asregent,and asprime ministerin Thailand. He led the civilian wing ofKhana Ratsadon,and helped found theUniversity of Moral and Political Sciencesand theBank of Thailand.

Born to a family of farmers inAyutthaya province,he received a good education, becoming one of the nation's youngest barristers in 1919, at the age of nineteen. In 1920, he won a royal scholarship granted by the King of Siam to study in France, where he graduated from theUniversity of Caenwith a master's degree, and received a doctorate from theUniversity of Parisin 1927. In the same year, he co-founded Khana Ratsadon with like-minded Siamese overseas royal-sponsored students. After returning to Thailand, still called Siam at the time, he worked as a judge, judicial secretariat, and professor. In the aftermath of1932 Siamese Revolution,he played an important role in drafting two of the country's first constitutions and proposing a socialist economic plan influenced by communism scheme, principles and conducts. His plan was ill-received, and Pridi went into a short period of political exile as aftermatch of the fight-for-power with his fellow revolutionists. On his return, he took many ministerial posts in Khana Ratsadon governments. His contributions include modernizing Thai legal codes, laying the foundation for Thailand's local government system, negotiating the cancellation ofunequal treatieswith the West, and tax reform.

Pridi diverged fromPlaek Phibunsongkhramafter the latter began to display a taste for dictatorial governance in the 1930s, marking the beginning of the long rivalry between the two Khana Ratsadon leaders. Pridi was madeRegentduring 1941 to 1945, a powerless post at the time. Shortly thereafter, he became leader of the domesticFree Thai Movementduring World War II. He briefly became prime minister in 1946, but his political opponents painted him as the mastermind behind the mysterious death of KingAnanda Mahidol,and a coup in 1947 cost him his political power. An attempt to stage a counter-coup in 1949 failed and Pridi spent the rest of his life living in exile. He died in Paris in 1983, and his ashes were brought back to Thailand three years later.

His image ranged from that of an anti-monarchist democrat to a republican. The branding of Pridi as a communist and a mastermind of King Ananda's death has since been regarded as politically motivated,[4]which his opponents continued to use even after his death. However, Pridi won everylibellawsuit in Thailand filed against those who promoted such views.[5]He became a symbol of resistance against military dictatorships,liberalpolitics, andThammasat University.The centenary of his birth was celebrated byUNESCOin 2000.[6]

Family[edit]

Pridi wrote that his great-great-great-grandfather, Heng, was a native of Etang Village in theChenghai CountyofGuangdong Province,southern China, who came toSiamduring the reign ofBoromaracha V(Ekkathat) (r. 1758–1767), leaving behind his wife, who was pregnant with their son, Seng. Heng lived in Siam among the Chinese relatives of KingTaksin,who recruited some of the local Chinese, including Heng, to fight against the Burmese invaders in 1767. Heng died in the service of the half-Chinese king. Taksin compensated Heng's family, after they sent a letter inquiring about him.[3]: 8 Seng chose to live his life in China as a rice farmer.[3]: 9 

However, Seng's son, Tan Nai Kok ( trần thịnh vu / trần thịnh vu; Chen Chengyu; Tan Sêng-u),[7]emigrated to Siam in 1814, during the reign of KingRama II.Nai Kok settled inAyutthayaand made his living by selling Chinese and Thai sweets; it is said he had made innovations by combiningChineseandThai culinaryskills. A devoutBuddhist,Nai Kok married a Thai woman named Pin.[3]: 9–10 Pin's sister, Boonma, would become an ancestor of Pridi's wife Poonsuk.[3]: 19 Their son, Nai Koet, married Khum, daughter of a wealthy Chineseentrepreneur.When Nai Koet died, his wife directed that his remains were to becrematedand interred at the shrine at Phanomyong Hill, which is the origin of their Thai surname.[3]: 10 Their son, Nai Siang, who became a wealthy rice merchant, married Lukchan; they were the parents of Pridi.[3]: 19 

Early life and education[edit]

Pridi Banomyong at the Université de Caen, c. 1920

Pridi Phanomyong was born in Tha WasukriAyutthaya Province,the second of five children. He had two half-siblings from his father's minor wife. In 1915, following a royal decree issued by KingVajiravudh,Pridi and his family dropped "Nai" from their names.[3]: 13 He completed his secondary education atSuankularb Wittayalai School.[8]

After graduating from theLaw School of the Siamese Ministry of Justiceas abarristerwith aBachelor of Lawsdegree in 1919, he received a government scholarship to studylawandpolitical economyatSciences PoinParis.While studying in France, he began assembling a group of fifty civil servants who wanted to turn Thailand's then-absolute monarchyinto aconstitutional monarchy.He earned aPhDin law and ahigher diplomain economics[9]and returned toSiamin 1927 to work for the Ministry of Justice. He quickly rose in rank, and was granted the royal titleLuangPraditmanutham(หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม) in 1928.[10]

Political career[edit]

People's Party[edit]

Main article:Siamese Revolution of 1932
Pridi Banomyong in 1915

On 24 June 1932,Khana Ratsadon,the tinyPeople's Party,with Pridi as the leader of the civilian faction, carried out a lightning coup that abruptly ended 150 years of absolute monarchy under theChakri dynasty.

In 1933, Pridi published the Draft National Economic Plan, also known as the "Yellow cover dossier", a radical economic plan calling for thenationalisationof land, public employment, and social security. The plan was rejected by royalists and some ex-members of Khana Ratsadon, whoshut down parliament and the judiciary.Pridi was accused of being a communist and went into exile.[11]It is noted, however, that many ideas he proposed finally came into existence, such as the national bank and National Economic Council, and the conservatives only agreed to Pridi in founding national lottery.

Khana Ratsadon ministerial posts[edit]

Pridi Banomyomg (right) in Europe, 1935

Pridi returned to Thailand in 1934 to foundThammasat Universityas an open university, before assuming the posts of Minister of the Interior that year, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1935, and Minister of Finance in 1938.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1936 to 1937, Pridi signed treaties revoking theextraterritorial rightsof 12 countries.[12]With these treaties, Thailand was able to regain independence with regard to legaljurisdictionandtaxationfor the first time sinceunequal treatieswere signed under duress during the reign of KingRama IV.[13]

Although he had been friends with Field MarshalPlaek Phibunsongkhramduring the early days of the People's Party, the two fell out in subsequent years. Pridi wasanti-Japaneseas well as left-leaning. He opposed many of Phibun's militaristic policies which tended to be more conciliatory toward the Japanese. The antipathy between the two would define how Thailand fared in World War II when Japan was on the march in Asia.

Free Thai movement[edit]

Main article:Free Thai Movement

On 8 December 1941,Imperial Japanlaunched attacks onSoutheast Asiaand theAlliedpossessions in the region, opening thePacific War.This includedamphibious landingsin Thailand and an invasion across the border fromFrench Indochina.After initially resisting, the Thai government reluctantly agreed to let the Japanese pass through the country and use its military bases to strike other Allied possessions in the region, culminating in theBattle of Malaya.

When Field MarshalPlaek Phibunsongkhramissued adeclaration of waragainstBritainand theUnited Statesin January 1942, Pridi refused to sign it, as he served as theRegentfor the young monarch, who was studying inSwitzerland.In this capacity, Pridi built the anti-Japanese underground, the Free Thai Movement ( "Seri Thai" ) network, in Thailand. Code named "Ruth", he established contact with the Allies and Thai resistance organisations in Britain and theUnited States.As the war progressed and the fortunes of the Japanese declined, public dissatisfaction grew and Phibun was forced to resign as prime minister in 1944.

Khuang Aphaiwong,a liberal lawyer and member ofSeri Thai,was chosen to be prime minister due to "his ability to dissemble with the Japanese" to shield the growing Seri Thai movement while at the same time improving superficial relations with the Japanese occupiers.

When Japan's surrender ended the war, the Seri Thai-dominated government immediately acted to "restore the pre-war status quo". As regent, Pridi termed "the declaration of war illegal and null, and void" as improperly made, and repudiated all agreements made with Japan by Phibun.

WhenLord Louis Mountbatten,the Supreme Commander, Southeast Asia, visitedBangkokin late-1945, he recorded a tribute to Pridi in which he said that there had existed a unique situation wherein "the Supreme Allied Commander was exchanging vital military plans with the Head of a State technically at war with us".

Post-war years[edit]

Pridi in London, 1947
Pridi in 1947

Pridi retired from the regency when KingAnanda Mahidolreturned in December 1945. He was formally named a Senior Statesman (Ratthaburut Awuso), and served as an advisor to the post-war, civilian governments ofThawi BunyaketandSeni Pramoj.

In March 1946,Khuang Aphaiwong,who had been elected prime minister in January, resigned. Pridi assumed the position in an attempt to stabilize the political situation, which was spiralling out of control. It was during the first months of the Pridi government that the war crimes trial of Phibun was dismissed on a legal technicality. Having noticed that Khuang shifted more and more conservative, Pridi decided to compete for political power himself. After his political allies voted Khuang out in 1946, he became the 8th Prime Minister of the country.

As theCold Warraging, Thailand became a focus of the United States. Pridi, who supported the Vietnamese independence movement ofHo Chi Minh[14]and establishment of anti-imperialist Southeast Asia League, lost the political support from the US, which led to tacit support to the coup against him.

On the morning of 9 June 1946, the young king was found dead in his bed in the Baromphiman Mansion in theGrand Palace,dead from a gunshot wound to his head. In October 1946, a commission ruled that the King's death could not have been accidental, but that neither suicide nor murder was satisfactorily proved.Sulak Sivaraksa,a prominent conservative and monarchist, wrote that Pridi's role in the event was he protected responsible royals, and prevented the arrest of a person[15]who destroyed the evidence.[16]: 5–6 However, when his government cannot solve the case, his political opponents quickly put the blame on him; some went so far as to branding him as the mastermind behind the assassination.[17]

After a general election, Pridi resigned as prime minister, resumed his role of senior statesman, and left on a world tour, visiting GeneralissimoChiang Kai-shekand US presidentHarry S. Trumanalong the way.

Pridi's opponents composed of royalist, conservative and military camps. On 8 November 1947, army troops seized various government installations in Bangkok. The coup, led by Lieutenant GeneralPhin Choonhavanand Colonel Kat Katsongkhram, oustedThamrong's government, which is the political ally of Pridi. He spent a week hiding in Admiral Sindhu Songkhramchai's headquarters. On 20 November, he was spirited toSingaporeby British and US agents.[18]The 1947 coup marked the return to power of Phibun, and the end of Khana Ratsadon's role in Thai politics. (At this time, Phibun was often considered in the military camp.)

Phibun arrested King Ananda's secretary, Senator Chaleo Patoomros, and two of his pages under charges of conspiracy to kill the king. Rumours were spread that Pridi was part of a conspiracy involved in the allegedregicide,and that he had plans to turn Thailand into a republic. After a farcical trial, during which the entire defence team resigned and two members of a subsequent team were arrested under charges of treason, the judges sentenced three royal pages, associated with Pridi, to death.

Biographer William Stevenson has said that KingBhumibol Adulyadejdid not believe that Pridi was involved in his brother's death.[19]

Permanent exile[edit]

Pridi meeting with Chinese leaderMao Zedong,1965

Pridi secretly returned in 1949 in order to stage a coup d'état against Phibun's dictatorship. When it failed, Pridi left for China, never to return to Thailand. In 1970, he travelled toFrance,where he spent the remainder of his life. Pridi died on 2 May 1983, at his home in the suburbs ofParis.

Legacy[edit]

Statue of Pridi atThammasat UniversityinTha Phra Chancampus.

Pridi remains a controversial figure in Thai modern history. As one of the leaders of the 1932 pro-democracy coup, he has been viewed in many ways. The first declaration of the "revolution," which harshly attacked the king and his government, was written by Pridi himself. Nevertheless, Pridi held the position of regent whenRama VIIIascended to the throne.

During the period of military rule, Pridi was portrayed as a communist owing to the fact that several of his books and articles showed sympathy for Marxist, socialist, and communist ideologies.

With obvious conflict between Pridi and the King Rama VIII, the young king's tragic death came to be blamed on Pridi. Pridi was accused of being the leader of a plot to assassinate the popular young monarch. This culminated in the military coup in 1947.

In his later years,Seni Pramojpromoted the idea that he had saved Thailand from post-war British colonial rule that Pridi had been willing to accept.[20]Nigel Brailey treats the Free Thai movement as largely a sham and casts doubt on Pridi's part, arguing "it appears questionable whether Pridi committed himself personally to the Allied cause much prior to August 1942, if even then," suggesting that "his eventual anti-Japanese stance was a consequence primarily of his hostility to Phibun."[21]

Pridi wanted to remove Phibun from power, and the war offered an opportunity to do so. However, Pridi recognised well before the war that Thailand's alignment with the Axis powers would work to Phibun's advantage and enable him to strengthen hisdictatorship.Even the Japanese recognised Pridi's hostility, which is why he was forced out of the cabinet in December 1941. It was the reason every knowledgeable person on the Allied side, from Seni Pramoj and Prince Suphasawat, a chief organiser of the movement in Great Britain, to former British ambassadorJosiah Crosby,anticipated that Pridi would emerge as the head of a domestic resistance movement.

One-time conservative monarchistSulak Sivaraksahas emerged as one of Pridi's most ardent champions. A prolific critic of the Thai status quo, Sulak, in addition to praising the achievements of the Free Thai in saving Thailand's sovereignty, has criticised Seni and his Democrat Party for alleged complicity in the military's return to power in 1947.

Sulak led efforts to rehabilitate Pridi which achieved significant results. Four Bangkok streets now are named for Pridi: three as Pridi Banomyong Road and one called Praditmanutham (his royally granted title) Road. His birthday, 11 May, is now celebrated as Pridi Banomyong Day. In 1997, the Thai government dedicated a park in eastern Bangkok to the Free Thai resistance movement. On 16 August 2003, a library-museum, built as a replica of Pridi's wartime residence, opened at the park.

On 30 October 1999,UNESCOincluded the centenary of Pridi Phanomyong's birth in its recognition of anniversaries of great personalities and historic events as tribute to his ideals and integrity.

There are two Pridi Banomyong Memorials, one in Pridi's hometown, the other on the campus of Thammasat University, which he founded. Thammasat is home to the Pridi Banomyong Library and the Pridi Banomyong International College. The law faculty atDhurakij Pundit Universityis called the Pridi Banomyong Faculty of Law. The Pridi (Chloropsis aurifrons pridii), a species ofleafbird,and Pridi Banomyong Institute, a non-profit academic organisation, are named in his honour. The Pridi Banomyong Institute holds an annual Pridi Banomyong Lecture, initially on Pridi Banomyong Day, but moved in recent years to 24 June, in honour of his role in the 1932 coup.

Honours and awards[edit]

Academic rank[edit]

Civil Service of Siam rank[edit]

Noble titles[edit]

  • Luang Praditmanutham (หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม): granted 1928,[10]resigned 1941.[25]

Royal decorations[edit]

Pridi received the following royal decorations in theHonours Systemof Thailand:

Foreign decorations[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^At that time, Thailand did not have surnames

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPridi Banomyong.
  1. ^Wichai Bhuyotin (1996).ก้าวแรกแห่งความสำเร็จ ดร. ปรีดี พนมยงค์(PDF).Thai Watanapanich.ISBN974-08-2445-5.
  2. ^"พระบรมราชโองการ ประกาศ ยกย่องนายปรีดี พนมยงค์ เป็นรัฐบุรุษอาวุโส"(PDF)(in Thai).Royal Thai Government Gazette.11 December 1945.Retrieved4 April2023.
  3. ^abcdefghBanomyong, Pridi (2000). Baker, Chris; Phongpaichit, Pasuk (eds.).Pridi by Pridi: Selected Writing on Life, Politics, and Economy.Bangkok: Silkworm Books.ISBN9747551357.
  4. ^"ExecutedToday.com » 1955: Three for the death of King Ananda of Thailand".17 February 2018.
  5. ^"Leaving Thailand".
  6. ^Gerald W. Fry (18 June 2012)."Research & Articles on Pridi Banomyong".BookRags. Archived fromthe originalon 30 October 2011.Pridi was included in UNESCO's list of Great Personalities and Historic Events for the year 2000, and this year was declared by UNESCO as the centennial of Pridi. Also, the Université Paris (1 PanthéonSorbonne) in 2000 celebrated the centenary of Pridi and honoured him as "one of the great constitutionalists of the twentieth century," comparing him to such figures as Rousseau, Montesquieu, and de Tocqueville.
  7. ^[ thái quốc ] hồng lâm, lê đạo cương chủ biên (April 2006).Thái quốc hoa kiều hoa nhân nghiên cứu.Hương cảng xã hội khoa học xuất bản xã hữu hạn công tư. p. 17.ISBN962-620-127-4.
  8. ^Mektrairat 2010,p. 205.
  9. ^Mektrairat 2010,p. 206.
  10. ^ab"พระราชทานบรรดาศักดิ์"(PDF)(in Thai).Royal Gazette.2 December 1928. p. 2745.Retrieved17 May2023.
  11. ^Millar, Paul (15 November 2018)."How Thailand's 'Father of Democracy' is being erased from history".Southeast Asia Globe.Retrieved18 November2018.
  12. ^Chaipipat, Kulachada (14 May 2000)."When Pridi's diplomatic skills shaped the nation's fate"(Opinion).The Nation.Retrieved30 July2017.
  13. ^Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand "Complete Independence"Archived15 June 2006 at theWayback Machine
  14. ^"Bangkok Travelbug Nov 2017 Pridi Banomyong Memorial, Ayutthaya".
  15. ^Sivaraksa, Sulak(1999).Powers that be: Pridi Banomyong through the rise and fall of Thai democracy.
  16. ^ส. ศิวรักษ์,เรื่องปรีดี พนมยงค์ ตามทัศนะ ส.ศิวรักษ์,สำนักพิมพ์มูลนิธิโกมลคีมทอง, 2540
  17. ^ประสิทธิ์ ลุลิตานนท์,ลายพระหัตถ์ ม.จ.ศุภสวัสดิ์ฯ,แผนกงานจ้าง อัลลายด์พริ้นเตอรส์, โรงพิมพ์โพสต์พับลิชชิ่ง จำกัด, วันที่ 30 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2517, หน้า 3-4
  18. ^"Singapore: asylum for Nai Pridi Banomyong, former Prime Minister of Thailand | The National Archives".
  19. ^Stevenson, William (2001).The Revolutionary King.London: Robinson Publishing.ISBN1841194514.
  20. ^Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian(1995). Thailand's Durable Premier: Phibun Through Three Decades 1932-1957. Kuala Lumpur University Press.
  21. ^Brailey, Nigel J. (1986).Thailand and the Fall of Singapore: The Frustrating of an Asian Revolution.Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.ISBN9780813303017.
  22. ^"Pridi Banomyong International College | Pridi Banomyong International College".Archived fromthe originalon 8 July 2018.Retrieved8 July2018.
  23. ^"ตั้งกรรมการกรมร่างกฎหมาย"(PDF)(in Thai).Royal Gazette.28 August 1932. p. 313.Retrieved3 August2023.
  24. ^"ทำเนียบนายกรัฐมนตรี นายปรีดี พนมยงค์ (หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม)"(in Thai).Office of the Prime Minister.Retrieved3 August2023.
  25. ^"พระราชทานพระบรมราชานุญาตให้ข้าราชการกราบถวายบังคมลาออกจากบรรดาศักดิ์"(PDF)(in Thai).Royal Gazette.6 December 1941. p. 4525.Retrieved17 May2023.
  26. ^abThe Royal Gazette,Vol. 62 No. 70, Page 1900.11 December,B.E.2488 (C.E.1945). Retrieved on 19 November 2008.
  27. ^The Royal Gazette,Vol. 58, Page 1945-46.19 June,B.E.2484 (C.E.1941). Retrieved on 19 November 2008.
  28. ^The Royal Gazette,Vol. 54, Page 2213.13 December,B.E.2480 (C.E.1937). Retrieved on 19 November 2008.
  29. ^Timeline of the life of Pridi Phanomyong.Retrieved on 19 November 2008.[dead link]
  30. ^The Royal Gazette,Vol. 55, Page 4032.27 February,B.E.2481 (C.E.1939). Retrieved on 19 November. 2008.
  31. ^The Royal Gazette,Vol. 55, Pages 2958-59.28 November,B.E.2481 (C.E.1938). Retrieved on 19 November 2008.
  32. ^"Hitler Honours Siamese"(Microfilm reel NL02368).The Straits Times.3 April 1938. p. 3.

Bibliography[edit]

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