Kaysone Phomvihane

Kaysone Phomvihane on a visit to the GDR in 1982

The Pathet Lao resistance movement found refuge from the US bombing in the caves near Vieng Xai . Here is Kaysome Phomvihane's bed

Kaysone Phomvihane's office in the Vieng Xai Caves

Kaysone Phomvihane ( Laotian ໄກ ສອນ ພົມ ວິ ຫານ [kàjsɔ̌ːn pʰómʋīhǎːn] ; *  December 13, 1920 in Na Seng, Savannakhet Province , Laos as Nguyen Cai Song ; †  November 21, 1992 in Vientiane ) was a Laotian communist politician . From 1955 to 1991 he was general secretary and then chairman of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LRVP) until his death . From the communists' seizure of power from 1975 to 1991 he was Prime Minister, then President of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos until his death.

Live and act

Kaysone's father was Vietnamese and his mother was a Laotian. His birth name was Nguyen Cai Song. As a teenager he went to Vietnam. During the Second World War he took part in protests against the Japanese occupation forces . In 1942 he began to study law at Hanoi University. There he came into contact with the Communist Party of Indochina, founded by Ho Chi Minh . In 1945 he was sent back to Laos by Ho to join the Pathet Lao movement, which led the resistance struggle against the French occupation forces.

In 1955 he was one of the co-founders of the Lao People's Party (LVP) and was elected General Secretary at its 1st party congress on March 22, 1955. He later held this office as General Secretary of the LRVP until his death. In 1958 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Supreme People's Assembly. After the start of the Lao Civil War in 1964, he moved with the Pathet Lao caves in the mountains of northern Laos, where they escaped the bomb carpets of the United States Air Force .

After the collapse of a brief post-war government supported by the US government and the overthrow of the 600-year-old monarchy under King Savang Vatthana and his Prime Minister Suvanna Phūmā , he became the first head of government of the new Lao People's Democratic Republic on December 8, 1975 as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. His government placed the king and queen Khamphoui in an internment camp , where they were later believed to have died. In the next few years he pursued the policy of a close alliance with Vietnam and foreign policy isolation from Western influences.

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the communist states, he sought new support by paying state visits to the former occupying powers of Japan and France in 1989 .

After the new constitution was passed on August 14, 1991, he became the third president the following day, succeeding Phoumi Vongvichit , who had been in office for President Souphanouvong since 1986 . Successor as Prime Minister was on August 15, 1991 Khamtay Siphandone .

In his new role, he lifted some government controls and planned for December 1992 elections to the Supreme People's Assembly. At the same time, as part of an amnesty , he ordered the release of most of the political prisoners , including the officers of the pro-Western government who had been in internment camps since 1975. There was also a reduction in relations with Vietnam through the establishment of stronger ties with the People's Republic of China .

He died on November 21, 1992 before the announced elections were held. He was succeeded as President by Nouhak Phoumsavan , while Khamtay Siphandone was also the new General Secretary of the LRVP.

literature

• Kaysone Phomvihane, Revolution in Laos: Practice and Prospects. Progress Publishers, Moscow 1981.

Web links

• rulers.org