Title: Thai popular uprising October 1973
Photographer(s): Various photographers
Writer(s): National Student Center of Thailand
Designer(s):
Publisher(s): National Student Center of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand
Year: 1974
Print run:
Language(s): Thai
Pages: 678
Size: 18 x 25 cm
Binding: Softcover
Edition:
Print:
Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: Thailand, 1973
ISBN:
The successful 14th October 1973 (year B.E. 2516 in Thai) mass uprising against the military dictatorship shook the Thai ruling class to its foundations.
The uprising resulted in the end of the ruling military dictatorship of anti-communist Thanom Kittikachorn and altered the Thai political system. Notably, it highlighted the growing influence of Thai university students in politics.
For the next few days, there was a strange new atmosphere in Bangkok. Uniformed officers of the state disappeared from the streets and ordinary people organised themselves to clean up the city. Boy Scouts directed traffic. It was the first time that the pu-noi (little people) had actually started a revolution from below. It was not planned and those that took part had a multiplicity of ideals about what kind of Democracy and society they wanted. But the Thai ruling class could not shoot enough demonstrators to protect their regime. It was not just a student uprising to demand a democratic constitution. It involved thousands of ordinary working class people and occurred on the crest of a rising wave of workers’ strikes.