Chit Phumisak

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Chit Phumisak

Chit Phumisak ( Thai : จิตร ภูมิ ศักดิ์ ; pronunciation: [t͡ɕìt pʰuːmíʔsàk] ; born September 25, 1930 in Prachantakham , Prachinburi Province , Thailand; † May 5, 1966 in Amphoe Waritchaphum , Sakon Nakhon Province ) was a Thai intellectual and author. He studied linguistics , but also published on history, art and philosophy, wrote poems and songs. Influenced by Marxism , Chit represented radical social criticism. He became an icon of the Thai intellectuals not only from the left and, since the 1970s, has been called "Thailand's Che Guevara " because of his charismatic charisma . He was a member of the Communist Party and was shot, presumably by the police.

Life

Chit Phumisak was the son of a tax officer and a seamstress who worked for the army. He was born in Prachinburi Province, eastern Thailand, and had an older sister. His birth name was Somchit , but he later shortened it to Chit . Due to the father's position in the civil service, the family had to move regularly, including to the Battambang province, which was conquered by Cambodia, in the mid-1940s . As a teenager he wrote articles on literature, philosophy, history and art. In 1950 he began studying linguistics at Chulalongkorn University . He was fluent in Thai, English, French and Chinese.

He came into contact with Marxism in 1953 through an assignment for the United States Embassy. In order to convince the Thai government to crack down on communists, the US wanted to have the Communist Manifesto translated into Thai and employed the young linguist Chit to do so. A short time later he published a Marxist critique of Buddhism . Known as an excellent writer, his fellow students selected him as editor of the university yearbook. With the accusation that he was a communist, however, this task was withdrawn again.

In 1957 he finished his studies and started teaching as an English teacher at the Theves Suksa School. A short time later he published Sinlapa phuea chiwit, sinlapa phuea prachachon ("Art for life, Art for the people") and Chomna khong sakdina thai nai patchuban ("The face of Thai feudalism today"). He also wrote several linguistic works and a large number of essays, in particular on religion and art, but also some pieces of fiction and short stories , some under different pseudonyms . In 1958 he was imprisoned under the authoritarian regime of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat on charges of supporting communism.

During his detention in Lat Yao Prison , he looked after the vegetable garden, taught the guards' children and taught Thai to a member of the Lahu people and his son. At the same time he made a study of the Lahu language and folklore. In prison, he was an even more prolific writer and translator than before. He has translated, among other things, The Mother of Maxim Gorki , Yevgenia Stepanova's biography of Karl Marx , Premchand's novel Godan (“The Cow Donation”), George Thomson's An Essay on Religion and a collection of Vietnamese short stories. When he finally got a lawsuit after six years, he was acquitted and released.

After his release, Chit joined the Communist Party of Thailand in 1965 and, as part of its “rural strategy” decided under Maoist influence, went to the forested mountains in Isan , the northeast region of Thailand. He now wrote combative poems and songs calling on the villagers to join the fight against social injustice and oppression. He identified himself seriously with the poor and encouraged his comrades in arms with his stirring poetry. On May 5, 1966, he was shot dead, probably by police, in the Phu Phan Mountains in Sakon Nakhon Province.

Works (selection)

The non-fiction books “The Face of Thai Feudalism” and “Etymology of the Names Siam, Thai, Lao and Khom and the Social Characteristics of Ethnonyms ” as well as the collection of Chit's poems are part of a 1996 canon of “100 books that every Thai should read ".

  • โฉมหน้า ศักดินา ไทย ( Chomna Sakdina Thai ; "The face of Thai feudalism"), under the pseudonym Somsamai Sisuttharaphan , posthumously 1974 - previously published as: โฉมหน้า ศักดินา ไทย ใน ปัจจุบัน ( Chomna Sakdina Thai nai patchuban ; "The face of Thai feudalism today" ), 1957 in Nitisat .
  • รวม บท กวี และ งาน วิจารณ์ ศิลป วรรณคดี ของ กวี การเมือง ( Ruam botkawi lae ngan wichan sinlapa wannakhadi khong Kawi Kanmueang ; "Collected poems and literary reviews of 'Kawi Kanmueang'"), under the pseudonym Kawi Kanmueang , posthumously in 1974 - most of the poems were published Smuggled out of prison and published in the Prachatipatai newspaper in 1964 ; the literary reviews were published in the Sanseri newspaper under the pseudonym Somchai Prichacharoen in 1957-58
  • ความ เป็น มา ของ คำ สยาม ไทย, ลาว และ ขอ ม และ ลักษณะ ทาง สังคม ของ ชื่อ ชนชาติ ( Khwampenma khong kham Sayam Thai Lao lae Khom lae laksana thangsangkhom khong chu chongchat ; “Etymology of the terms Siam, Thai, Lao and Khom der Ethnonyms ”), posthumously 1976
  • โองการ แช่งน้ำ และ ข้อคิด ใหม่ ใน ประวัติศาสตร์ ไทย ลุ่มน้ำ เจ้าพระยา ( Ongkan chaengnam lae khokhitmai nai prawattisat thai lumnam Chao Phraya ; “The feudal oath and new thoughts on Thai history in the Chao Phraya basin”), posthumously 1981

Known songs

  • แสง ดาว แห่ง ศรัทธา ( Saengdao haeng sattha ; "starlight of trust")
  • รำวง วัน เม ย์ เดย์ ( Ramwong wan May Day ; "Ramwong for May Day ")
  • มาร์ช ลาดยาว ( March Lat Yao ; "Lat Yao March")
  • มาร์ช ชาวนา ไทย ( March chaona thai ; "March of the Thai farmers")
  • Thai version of the Internationale : อินเตอร์ เนชั่นแนล ( Internationale )

literature

  • Craig J. Reynolds: Thai Radical Discourse. The Real Face of Thai Feudalism Today. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 1987, ISBN 0-87727-702-8 .
  • Arjun Subrahmanyan: Jit Poumisak. An Intellectual Biography. University of Oregon, 1994.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The first name is also transcribed as Jit , the family name as Pumisak , Poumisak or Bhumisak .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cholthira Satyawadhna (ชล ธิ รา สัต ยา วัฒนา): The Influence of German Thinkers on Social and Political Movements in Thailand. Presented at the Thai-German Symposium at Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg, 11-13. May 2012 (MS).
  2. ↑ Hensel: Chit Phumisak (see web link)
  3. ↑ Craig J. Reynolds: Thai Radical Discourse. The Real Face of Thai Feudalism Today. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 1987, ISBN 0-87727-702-8 , pp. 18-19.
  4. ↑ a b c Chris Baker , Pasuk Phongpaichit: A History of Thailand. 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-76768-2 , p. 297.
  5. ↑ a b Baker, Pasuk: A History of Thailand. 2009, p. 181.
  6. ↑ a b c d Harold E. Smith, Gayla S. Nieminen, May Kyi Win: Historical Dictionary of Thailand. 2nd Edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD / Oxford 2005, pp. 132-133, keyword “Jit Pumisak”.
  7. ^ Baker, Pasuk: A History of Thailand. 2009, p. 144.
  8. ^ Reynolds: Thai Radical Discourse. 1987, p. 36.
  9. ^ Reynolds: Thai Radical Discourse. 1987, p. 37.
  10. ^ Baker, Pasuk: A History of Thailand. 2009, pp. 183, 185.
Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.
personal data
SURNAME Chit Phumisak
ALTERNATIVE NAMES จิตร ภูมิ ศักดิ์ (th)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Thai intellectual and author
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Prachantakham , Prachinburi Province , Thailand
DATE OF DEATH May 5th 1966
Place of death Waritchaphum Amphoe , Sakon Nakhon Province