Albany: SUNY Press, 2021. xi, 295 pp. (B&W photos,) US$95.00, cloth. ISBN 9781438486512.
Arjun Subrahmanyan’s Amnesia: A History of Democratic Idealism in Modern Thailand forcefully challenges the dominant narrative of Thailand’s democratization that in 1932 there was a coup by self-serving idealistic members of the Khana Ratsadon, the People’s Party. But, according to this narrative, the uneducated Thai people were not ready for democracy, nor did they participate in toppling the absolute monarchy. Unlike most revisionist historical research that focus on the battle between the Khana Ratsadon leaders and the monarchists, Subrahmanyan convincingly illustrates that 1932 was a revolution, despite its many flaws. He argues that the main outcome of the revolution was its democratic idealism which became an inspiration for larger social and intellectual forces to rise and fight for a free and fair society. Yet, the contributions and idealism of the People’s Party were forgotten, buried in the state-enforced belief that only the royalist autocracy is the eternally suitable and just way for Thai society.
Subrahmanyan divides the idealist fighters into “insiders” and “outsiders,” drawn from the new middle-class intelligentsia of approximately 100,000 people among the working population of six million. The insiders were the People’s Party’s civilian and military leaders who promised and inspired people for a better future. The author is sympathetic with the promoters of the revolution, who, after 1932, tried to push a wide range of reforms nationwide under extremely underdeveloped conditions and with limited resources and resistance from the monarchists. But Subrahmanyan is no apologist. He fairly points to the elitist attitude and practices of what he terms “democratic paternalism” among the insiders who were trapped in authoritarian and nationalist outlooks, ignoring and discriminating against the people they had inspired but did not value, such as the Chinese labourers and women. Sometimes their self-interest shaped their perception that people with different aspirations were a threat to the new regime and their actions shattered the hopes and will of the people they had inspired, the outsiders. Such a contradictory outcome sadly appeared throughout the period between 1932 and 1947, when the People’s Party era was completely ended by a royalist-military coup.
That said, the outsiders are the main focus of the book. They were the new middle class in Bangkok and provincial centres, equipped with a better education than the average populace. They were the vanguard of socio-economic reform, striving for a freer and fairer society for people in a broader sense. Based on extensive archival materials, Subrahmanyan pieces together the roles of different vanguards. Labour activists and journalists devoted themselves to strengthening the negotiating power of urban labourers for better wages under the new regime. The Thai-Chinese capitalists and popular Thai advocates helped and protected labourers from Japanese’s exploitation and ill treatment during the Pacific War. But because the majority of the labourers were Chinese, the 1932 leaders under the Phibun Songkhram government viewed them through a hyper-nationalist lens of suspicion.
The People’s Party made the introduction of modern, universal education central to their dream of democracy and national development. Certainly, democracy could not be achieved while the education system remained dominated by an authoritarian culture and the patrimonial networks of the old generation. Young teachers in several provinces embraced such an outlook and strongly attacked their superiors for obstructing progress. Those in authority tended to view the young progressives as troublemakers disrespectful of the hierarchical order. Textbooks continued to reiterate the importance for Thai citizens to submit to authority and that communal peace and security was more significant than individual rights.
Another important educational expansion was achieved when Pridi Banomyong, the civilian leader of the People’s Party, established the country’s second university, Thammasat, in 1935. Over 7,000 enrolled in the distance courses, about 10 times the number attending Chulalongkorn University. Thammasat became a stepping stone for young outsiders from the provinces, many of whom went on to become insiders as lawmakers. However, Subrahmanyan points out that almost all of the students at Thammasat were men while the percentage of women at Chulalongkorn was much higher. Women benefited very little from the new politics and educational opportunities.
The democratic inspiration crossed the monastic threshold too. Provincial educated monks of the Mahanikai order formed a movement to challenge the royalist Thammayut order, which had long and increasingly dominated the sangha. They insisted on their genuine and independent identity, demanding equal treatment and governance. Their activism finally bore fruit when a new Sangha act, favouring the Mahanikai, was promulgated in 1941.
The 1932 revolution allowed the young educated outsiders to enter parliament. The new political platform of the nation was used by these MPs, particularly those from the poorest northeastern region, to voice popular grievances from the rural areas. The most prominent “four tigers” argued for cuts to the military budget and advocated for a budget increase for the livelihood of the poor. They became the fierce defenders of democratic rule and attackers of Prime Minister Phibun’s scandalous projects. Phibun’s alliance with the 1947 coup makers and the monarchists was the ultimate betrayal to the four tigers’ relentless battle for revolution idealism which led to their arbitrary executions. However depressing, Subrahmanyan warns us that the loss of these four progressive lives must not be forgotten or seen as futile. Their revolution was betrayed but their sacrifice should not be forgotten and their idealism should live on.
There is no better time to read this book than now, as the legitimacy of the monarchy and the military face fierce challenges from the Red Shirt movement since the 2006 coup and the youth movement of 2020. Symbols and leaders of the Siamese 1932 revolution have been animated to proclaim their shared idealism, manifesting their wish to finish the unfinished revolution of the People’s Party. The monarchists’ resistance to change is cruel. Many lives have been lost and many more are in exile, imprisoned, or have given up hope. I hope that pro-democracy supporters will learn from this excellent book how ordinary people once tried to bring extraordinary changes to Thai society. Their idealism should be carried on. The book could be a lesson for current insiders, i.e., politicians, that their pursuit of self-interest in the name of democracy may cause the popular sacrifice to again fall victim to amnesia.
Puangthong R. Pawakapan
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok