Radical Thought, Thai Mind: A History of Revolutionary Ideology in a Traditional Society

Radical Thought, Thai Mind covers nearly 200 years of Thai political history, beginning with the early poets who rebelled against class privilege and authoritarian rule in Siam. It describes the defeat of the radicals who overthrew the traditional monarchy in 1932 and the efforts of leftist thinkers to combat the traditional mindset of deference to authority left by centuries of life under a system of class privilege. It describes the thinkers who sought to integrate Marxism and Buddhism and undermine royalist history and literature. Based on interviews with leading activists, the book describes the student-led uprising against military dictators in the 1970s, the right-wing violence against them and the collapse of their alliance with the Communist Party of Thailand. More recent interviews analyze the splits in the radical movement that led to the political violence of 1992 and set the stage for a decade of unrest starting in 2004.The new, completely revised edition of Radical Thought, Thai Mind includes much recent scholarship on the history of Thai radicalism, but it is written for the general reader. Sources are well documented, but the focus is on telling the story of the development of Thai radical political thinking and the personal stories of the leading thinkers. Literature research is combined with extensive interviews with key thinkers – from both the generation of the 1970s and the radical leaders of the 21st century. It provides a lively account of the ideological conflicts that continue to afflict Thailand.