Prince Phetsarath (1890-1959): Nationalism and royalty in the making of modern Laos

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 55-81

  Ivarsson, Søren ^a   Goscha, Christopher E ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN   (Denmark)

^b UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOGRAPHY; COMMUNISM; NATIONALISM; POLITICAL HISTORY; POST-COLONIALISM;

ASIA; EURASIA; LAOS; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 33847385572     PISSN: 00224634     EISSN: 14740680     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022463406000932     Document Type: Article

References (111)

1. 9, Iron man of Laos: Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa, tr. John B. Murdoch (Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Data Paper, 1978), p. xi;
2. Martin Stuart-Fox, Historical dictionary of Laos (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001), p. 236.
3. 9, Čhao Phetcharāt burut lek hœng rātchānāčhak Lāo [Prince Phetsarath - iron man of Laos] (Bangkok: Ruam Mit Thai, 1956)
4. Sila Viravong, Chao Mahāupalāt Phetsalāt [His Highness Viceroy Phetsarath] (Vientiane: Social Science Committee, 1996)
5. Sila, Čhao Phetcharāt burut lek hœng rātchānāčhak Lāo [Prince Phetsarath - iron man of Laos], tr. Sommai Premchit (Bangkok: Matichon Press, 1999)
6. and Sila, Prinz Phetsarat: Ein Leben für Laos. 'Eine Biographie von Chao Maha Uparat Phetsarat' und 'Die Geschichte des 12. Oktober 1945', tr. and ed. Volker Grabowsky (Münster-Hamburg-London: Lit Verlag, 2003). (Note that although the 1999 Thai translation of Sila's biography has the same title as the 1956 book by '3349', they are not the same work.)
7. To our knowledge, there has been no serious study of Prince Phetsarath and his work in French.
8. Charles Rochet, Pays Lao: Le Laos dans la tourmente, 1939-1945 (Paris: Jean Vigneau, 1946), pp. 205-6.
9. For more on this question, see Bruce Lockhart, 'Narrating 1945 in Lao historiography'
10. and Christopher E. Goscha, 'Revolutionizing the Indochinese past: Communist Vietnam's "special" historiography on Laos', in Contesting visions of the Lao past, ed. Christopher E. Goscha and Søren Ivarsson (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2003), pp. 129-63 and 265-99 respectively. We would like to thank Volker Grabowsky for bringing the point about the Thai connections to our attention.
11. Our thanks to Volker Grabowsky for this information.
12. For a discussion of the making of this Thai nationalist perspective on Laos, see Søren Ivarsson, 'Making Laos "our" space: Thai discourses on history and race, 1900-1940' in Goscha and Ivarsson ed., Contesting visions, pp. 239-64.
13. Daniel Hémery, 'Jeunesse d'un colonisé, genèse d'un exil', Approches-Asie, 11 (1992): 83-93.
14. Descriptions of hunting/administrative trips can be found in Sila, Chao Mahāupalāt, pp. 27-48.
15. This point is made by Maha Sila Viravong, who notes that Phetsarath always had maps made of the localities visited based on information gathered during the visits (ibid., p. 37).
16. The praise for his water travel is in Henri Cucherousset, 'Les pirogues et sampans à moteurs sur nos fleuves et rivières', L'Éveil Économique, 631 (1929): 10-11.
17. Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (London: Verso Press, 1991).
18. On Phetsarath's views see Christopher E. Goscha, L'Indochine repensée par les "Indochinois": Pham Quynh et les deux débats de 1931 sur l'immigration, le féderalisme et la réalité de l'Indochine', Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer, 82 (1995): 421-53.
19. 3349, Iron man of Laos, p. 98.
20. Sila, Chao Mahāupalāt, p. 50.
21. 'La question laotienne. Opinions du Prince Phetsarath', France-Indochine, 21 Mar. 1931, p. 1.
22. For a discussion of this article and its context, see Goscha, 'L'Indochine repensée par les "Indochinois"'; the statistic on the Vietnamese community is from p. 429.
23. 'La question laotienne', p. 1.
24. For more on this, see Christopher E. Goscha, 'Beyond the "colonizer" - "colonized": Three intra-Asian debates in French colonial Indochina', (unpublished manuscript).
25. Anne Hansen, 'Khmer identity and Theravāda Buddhism'
26. and Penny Edwards, 'Making a religion of the nation and its language: The French protectorate (1863-1945) and the Dhammakāy', in History, Buddhism, and new religious movements in Cambodia, ed. John Marston and Elizabeth Guthrie (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004), pp. 40-62 and 63-85 respectively.
27. The speeches are printed in Bulletin d'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 31 (1931): 334-42.
28. Speech by Susanne Karpelès, ibid., p. 338. The French also used the Institutes in Phnom Penh and Vientiane to resurrect and reinforce in modern ways ancient royal-religious connections between the two countries, at the expense of the Thai. Official voyages, scholarly exchanges and collaborative projects between the two Institutes were organised.
29. 'Note sur la réforme de l'écriture laotienne par Phetsarath, Vientiane, 8.2.1918', Archives de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris, file d. F4, box c. 33.
30. Sila Viravong, Vainyākōn Lāo [A Lao grammar] (Bangkok: Kramol Tiranasaw, 1957 reprint).
31. A discussion of this campaign is in Søren Ivarsson, 'Towards a new Laos: Lao Nhay and the campaign for a national "reawakening" in Laos, 1941-45', in Laos: Culture and society, ed. Grant Evans (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1999), pp. 61-78.
32. Rochet's own views are in his Pays lao.
33. Quoted in Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence [henceforth CAOM], Haut-Commissariat d'Indochine [henceforth HCI], file Laos, Phetsarath, box 163, BCR 1000, no. 2587/1000/B.3/0, 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes au sujet de Phetsarath', 15 July 1947.
34. On Phetsarath's contacts with Bangkok see Sila, Chao Mahāupalāt, p. 59.
35. Grant Evans, A short history of Laos: The land in between (Crow's Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2002), p. 77.
36. Phetsarath's remark is quoted in 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes'.
37. 'Bonamy à Monsieur le Directeur', 29 Jan. 1945, CAOM, HCI, file Laos, Phetsarath, box 163.
38. 'Motifs supposés de la crise de janvier 1945 dans les rapports du Commissaire du Gouvernement et du Prince Phetsarath', 29 Jan. 1944 [sic, should be 1945], CAOM, HCI, file Laos, Phetsarath, box 163.
39. 'Relation sommaire pour mémoire, des principales questions examinées par S.E. le Colonel Ishibashi Conseiller Suprême auprès du Gouvernement Royal de Luang Phrabang et S.A. le Tiao Maha Oupahat Phetsarath, Premier Ministre du royaume, entrevu du 6.7.1945', in CAOM, HCI, box 163.
40. Geoffrey Gunn, Political struggles in Laos (1930-1954) (Bangkok: Éditions Duang Kamol, 1988), p. 112.
41. 3349, Iron man of Laos, p. 26.
42. For Phetsarath's declaration see 'Proclamation de S.A. le Premier Ministre du Gouvernement Royal de Luang Phrabang à la population française, 1.9.1945', in Jean Deuve, Le Laos 1945-1949: Contribution à l'histoire du mouvement Lao Issala (Montpellier: Université Paul Valery, n.d.), pp. 292-3.
43. 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes'.
44. Phetsarath, 'Pour la constitution d'un État Lao' attached to a letter from Phetsarath to Prince Kindavong, 6 Sept. 1945, in Archives of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Paris (henceforth AMAE), États Associés, file 157.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. 'Revendication de S.A. le Prince Phetsarath Premier Ministre de la Cour de Luang Phrabang remise à la mission britannique de Lakhon, Siam le 10 septembre 1945', Annexe VI in 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes'. The French frequently included Siam/Thailand within the scope of 'Indochine' in a geographical sense.
48. HCFIC, SDECE, no. 1908/RD, 'Retour et contact d'un chef Lao Issara: Thao Oun', 2 Apr. 1949, in CAOM, Conseiller Politique, file 119.
49. 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes'.
50. Ibid.;
51. see also Présidence du Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Française, État-Major de la Défense Nationale, 'Historique de la libération de l'Indochine, deuxième fascicule, l'Indochine Française après la capitulation japonaise, 15 août - 15 octobre 1945', 18 July 1946, in AMAE, Indochine, Asie Océanie, vol. 401.
52. An overview of events in Laos in 1945 can be found in Sila Viravong, Pavatsāt van thī 12 Tulā 1945 [History of 12 October 1945] (Vientiane: Pakpasak Kanphim, 1975).
53. See also Gunn, Political struggles, pp. 127-62
54. Jean Deuve, Guérilla au Laos (Paris: Éditions l'Harmattan, 1997 reprint)
55. and Deuve, Laos 1945-1949.
56. 'Nayōbāi khōng Ratthabān thalaeng to Saphā Phūthaen Rātsadōn, 20.10.1945 [The policy of the Government announced to the House of Representatives, 20.10.1945], Thai National Archives (3) SR.0201.9/4.
57. On connections between the Issara government and Phetsarath after his dismissal, see Deuve, Laos 1945-1949, pp. 169, 188, 194
58. according to Deuve, Phetsarath functioned 'in the shadows [as] the discreet advisor to the government' (p. 99).
59. Ibid., pp. 224, 333-5 (Phetsarath's letter to Khammao).
60. 'M. Jean Daridan Chargé d'Affaires de France au Siam à SE M. MAE', no. 237/AS, 18 June 1947, CAOM, Conseiller Diplomatique [henceforth CD], file 109.
61. Sila, Chao Mahūpalāt, pp 78-84.
62. Phao's support is mentioned in Daniel A. Fineman, A special relationship: The United States and military government in Thailand, 1947-1958 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), pp. 186-9. Other information on Phetsarath's finances is from 'HCFIC, DSS, no. 5469/C/SG 1, Saigon, le 4 septembre 1951, note pour le Haut Commissariat, au sujet du prince Phetsarath' and 'BCR 1000, no. 2587/1000/b.3/0, 15 juillet 1947,ARenseignement: Objet: Indochine: activités laotiennes au sujet de Phetsarath par Barada', CAOM, HCI, file 163.
63. 'S.A. Tiao Phetsarath, chef des Lao Issara aux représentants du gouvernement des Lao réfugiés ... a/s des négociations entre mes délégués et ceux du gouvernement français', 5 Aug. 1947, CAOM, CD, file 109.
64. Cited in 'M Léon Marchal Ambassadeur de France en Thaïlande au Haut Commissariat de France en Indochine, Conseiller Diplomatique', Saigon, 22 Sept. 1949, no. 262, in AMAE, États Associés, Indochine, box 239.
65. Goscha, 'Beyond the "colonizer-colonized"'.
66. 'Premier Ministre, no. 64, Royaume du Laos, Gouvernement Provisoire du Laos Libre et Indépendant, Bangkok', 9 Oct. 1949, CAOM, HCL file Laos, Phetsarath, box 163. For a general discussion of French attempts to build up non-Communist nationalisms using local monarchies in Indochina after World War II, see Bruce M. Lockhart, 'Monarchy and decolonization in Indochina', in The transformation of Southeast Asia: International perspectives on decolonization, ed. Marc Frey, Ronald W. Pruessen and Tai Yong Tan (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2003), pp. 52-71.
67. For the myriad of details, see the documents in CAOM, CD, file 109.
68. Cabinet du Premier Ministre, Gouvernement Provisoire du Laos Libre et Indépendant, 'Communiqué: Dissolution du Gouvernement Provisoire du Laos Libre et Indépendant', 24 Oct. 1949, Archives of the Mémorial de Caiën, grouping Jean Deuve, box G14 - 3
69. see also the documents on the Lao - French convention in the same box. The criticism of Phetsarath is from Cabinet du Premier Ministre, Royaume du Laos, Gouvernement Provisoire du Lao Libre et Indépendant,'Communiqué', 19 Oct. 1949, in CAOM, CP, file 119, sub-file Lao Issara.
70. Royaume du Laos, no. 2553, 'S.A. Tiao Phetsarath Chef d'État du Gouvernement Provisoire du Laos Libre et Indépendant aux représentants des comités intéressés', 16 May 1949, CAOM, CD, file 109.
71. Souphanouvong's comments, reported by an agent to the French who was present at the meeting, are found in HCFIC, SDECE, no. 21.194/PM/GF, 'Renseignement', 16 May 1949, in CAOM, CP, file 119, sub-file Lao Issara.
72. For details on DRV and ICP policy towards Laos, see Christopher E. Goscha, 'Le contexte asiatique de la guerre franco-vietnamienne: réseaux, relations et économie' (Ph.D. diss., École Pratique des Hautes Études/La Sorbonne, 2000), Laos and Cambodia sections.
73. Ibid.
74. Decrypted document HCFIC, SDECE, no. 13407/H/4, 'Directives du gouvernment viet minh a/s des affaires laotiennes et de l'organisation du Nord Laos', 5 Apr. 1949, CAOM, CP, file 119, sub-file Emprise Viet Minh.
75. Decrypted telegram HCFIC, SDECE, no. 10.929/4.MF, 'Réponse de Phetsarath au message du président Ho Chi Minh', 29 Oct. 1949, CAOM, CP, file 119, sub-file Emprise Viet Minh.
76. For Giáp's cable see intercepted telegram HCFIC, SDECE, no. 21.921 PM/ YG, 'Renseignement', 29 Oct. 1949, CAOM, CP, box 74, file Gouvernement Lao Libre, août 1950.
77. ̀eme Bureau, no. 1129/ 2, 27 Dec. 1949, CAOM, CP, box 74, file Phetsarath.
78. ̀eme Bureau, no. 294/FL/2, 'BR no. 2, mois de février 1950', Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre (henceforth SHAT), box 10H4303, file Laos, 1950.
79. Phetsarath's instructions are in intercepted document 'Lettre adressée par Tiao Phetsarath à Thao Khamtai', no. 127, 17 Mar. 1950, in HCFIC, DSFS, no. 3010/C/SG-1, 'Note pour le HC et le CP', 22 Apr. 1950, CAOM, HCI, box 163, file Phetsarath.
80. Decrypted telegram HCFIC, SDECE, no. 12380/H.9/RG/DB, 28 Dec. 1949, 'Instructions du Comité Central Viet Minh au sujet du Laos et du Cambodge', CAOM, CP, box 74, file Gouvernement Lao Libre, août 1950.
81. 'BR', 14 Dec. 1950, in DSS, 'Annexe à la note [no. ?] décembre 1950', CAOM, CD, file 109, sub-file Prince Souphanouvong.
82. See also HCFIC, DSS, 'BR: Au sujet [du] gouvernement de résistance du peuple lao', 14 Dec. 1950, CAOM, CP, box 74, file Gouvernement Lao Libre, août 1950
83. and Deuve, Royaume du Laos 1949-1965, p. 32.
84. 'Télégramme confidentiel, no. 1/ARL, daté du 15 août 1950, Assemblée Nationale Résistance Lao à Altesse Phetsarath, par les soins du représentant de la RDVN à Bangkok [Nguyen Dúc Quy]', SHAT, box 10H550, file 69.
85. 'Le Premier Ministre, Président du Conseil [Souphanouvong] à Son Altesse le Prince Phetsarath, Chef de l'Etat du Pathet Lao', 4 Nov. 1950, SHAT, box 10H550, file 69.
86. DSS, no. 2247/C/SG-1, 'Note pour le HC', 5 Apr. 1951, CAOM, HCI, box 163, file Phetsarath.
87. FL, EM/2B, no. 171/FL/2, 'BR no. 1, janvier 1950', 8 Feb. 1950, SHAT, box 10H4303, file Laos, 1950.
88. See also DSS, 'BR: Relations entre Tiao Phetsarath et M. Nguyen Duc Quy', source: SR Bangkok, 16 Nov. 1950, CAOM, HCI, box 163, file Phetsarath.
89. 'Bollaert, Instructions pour Monsieur Michaudel, très secret, Hanoi, 12.8.1947', CAOM, HCI, box 163, file Laos, Phetsarath.
90. Pierre Gentil, Remous du Mékong (Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle et Co, 1950), p. 152.
91. The promise to the King is in 'Indochine: Activités laotiennes', p. 10.
92. DSS, HCFIC, BR, 'Activités du Prince Phetsarath', 10 Jan. 1951, CAOM, HCI, box 161, file Laos, Phetsarath.
93. For Pignon's initiative see Gentil, Remous du Mékong, p. 152.
94. HCFIC, DSS, no. 2341/C/SG/1, Saigon, 'Note pour M. le Haut Commissaire', 22 Apr. 1952, CAOM, HCI, box 163.
95. This issue is documented in 'Note pour MM Commissaire: Activités en Thaïlande de SAR Phetarath', 11 Feb. 1954
96. and DSS HCFIC, BR, 'Activité du Prince Phetsarath', 7 Feb. 1952, both in CAOM, HCI, box 163, file Laos, Phetsarath;
97. Commissariat Général de France en Indochine, Direction du Service de Protection de la Représentation Civile Française et du Corps Expéditionnaire, 'Note pour M. le Commissaire Général de France en Indochine', 8 Oct. 1954, CAOM, HCI, box 163.
98. Jean Deuve, Un épisode oublié de Phistoire du Laos: Le complot de Chinaimo (1954-55) (Paris: Centre d'Histoire et Civilisations de la Péninsule Indochine, 1986).
99. Descriptions of some of these hunting trips can be found in the books by Chali Iamkrasin. For the book on weapons, see Chali Iamkrasin, Trawēn phrai lae prawat w̄ut puen čhāk banthuek khōng Chao Phetcharāt [Roaming the jungle and 'A history of firearms' by Prince Phetsarath] (Bangkok: Phrae Phittaya, 1960).
100. 'M. Olivier Gassouin, Ambassadeur de France au Laos, à Son Excellence M. Christian Pineau, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères', Vientiane, 5 Apr. 1957, no 106/AP, AMAE, Asie-Oceanie 1944-1955, file 13.
101. 'Télégramme no 390/392, M. Olivier Gassouin, Ambassadeur de France au Laos, à Son Excellence M Christian Pineau, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères', Vientiane, 18 Apr. 1957, AMAE, Asie-Oceanie 1944-1955, file 13.
102. 'Télégramme no 727, M. Olivier Gassouin, Ambassadeur de France au Laos, à Son Excellence M. Christian Pineau, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères', Vientiane, 6 July 1957, AMAE, Asie-Oceanie 1944-1955, file 14.
103. 'Note, 25 septembre 1957 (no other information)', AMAE, Asie-Oceanie 1944-1955, file 14.
104. 'Télégramme no 468/469, M Olivier Gassouin, Ambassadeur de France au Laos, à Son Excellence M Christian Pineau, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères', Vientiane, 13 May 1957, AMAE, Asie-Oceanie 1944-55, file 13.
105. For a discussion of legitimacy issues see Martin Stuart-Fox, 'The challenge for Lao historiography', and Vatthana Pholsena, 'The early years of the Lao Revolution (1945-1949): Between history, myth and experience', South East Asia Research, 14, 3 (2006): 339-59 and 403-30 respectively.
106. and Vatthana Pholsena, 'The early years of the Lao Revolution (1945-1949): Between history, myth and experience', South East Asia Research, 14, 3 (2006): 339-59 and 403-30 respectively.
107. Grant Evans, The politics of ritual and remembrance: Laos since 1975 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1998), pp. 102-3.
108. Souneth Photisane et al., Pavatsāt Lāo (du'kdamban-pachuban) [History of Laos (ancient times to the present)] (Vientiane: Ministry of Information and Culture, 2000), p. 711.
109. Vatthana's comment is in Vatthana Pholsena, 'The changing historiographies of Laos: A focus on the early period', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35, 2 (2004): 252.
110. (This important text is also discussed in Bruce M. Lockhart, 'Pavatsat Lao: Constructing a national history', South East Asia Research, 14, 3 (2006): 361-86.
111. For a discussion of other Lao versions of the events in 1945, see Lockhart, 'Narrating 1945 in Lao historiography', in Goscha and Iversson ed., Contesting visions, pp. 129-63.