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Phoumi Vongvichit

One of the great figures who marked Laotian political life for four decades, the struggle for the independence of the country and the establishment of a socialist regime, Phoumi Vongvichit was, throughout his active life, the second to the leader of the Laotian left, Prince Souphanouvong, of which he remained the trusted man until the end. Phoumi Vongvichit was a leading figure of the Pathet Lao and an elder statesman of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. He held almost all the important political posts. A member of both the Vietnamese and Lao communist parties, Phoumi Vongvichit was one of the most important Lao Patriotic Front (Neo Lao Hak Sat NLHS) officials.

President Souphanouvong stepped down due to ill health, and Phoumi Vongvichit was appointed as Acting President, a largely ceremonial job, on October 31, 1986 and served until 1991, when he retired. Elections for district councils were held on June 26, 1988, and elections for provincial councils were held on November 20, 1988. Parliamentary elections were held on March 26, 1989, and the LPRP won 55 out of 79 seats in the Supreme People’s Assembly.

Phoumi Vongvichit, Pathet Lao delegate to the Geneva Conference; after June 23, 1962, Minister of Information and Tourism, should not be confused with Phoumi Nosavan, a rightist General, Lao National Army, Defense Minister in Royal Lao Government as recognized by the United States and de facto leader of the government until June 23, 1962; thereafter Vice Premier and Minister of Finance.

Phoumi Vongvichit played an important role in decisive phases of the negotiations for the political solution of the conflicts in his country, having been special plenipotentiary of Prince Souphanouvong, chairman of the LPF (Lao Patriotic Front, central committee. Whenever speaking of the Lao revolution, of the struggle of the Lao people against French and American imperialism, as well as against the reactionaries in Laos itself, due respect must be paid to the struggle of Prince Souphanouvong, Kayson Phomvihan, Phoumi Vongvichit, and many other leading figures in the LPF at the various fronts of the struggle.

With his tall, strong stature, Phoumi Vongvichit radiated confidence, cordiality, and understanding of all problems right from the start of meeting. There was a calmness and deliberation in his words. A friendly smile was on his face most of the time. In personal conversation the immediate impression was one of facing a man who had proven himself and gained experience in military and political struggles, a man who placed all his strength at the service of his people in their struggle for peace, security, independence, and prosperity. This was the service that Phoumi Vongvichit rendered for over half of his lifetime.

He was born April 6, 1909 in Xieng Khouang, he came from one of the great families of the kingdom and the son of a governor of the province of Vientiane. Phoumi was to follow the same career as his father. He entered in his turn in the French colonial administration, after secondary studies in Hanoi and higher in Paris, he became secretary of the French resident of Xieng Khouang, in the north-east of the country. In this position he was soon able to perceive the practices of colonial suppression and exploitation, but at the same time also the resistance against the colonial masters.

After the elimination, by the Japanese, of French authority, he was appointed, by the Laotian government chaired by Prince Pethsarath, governor ( chao khoueng) of the province of Samneua, and it was there that, in October 1945, he joined Prince Souphanouvong, the Minister of Defense of Pethsarath. The joined Prince had just proclaimed the independence of the country, but the return of the French to Vientiane, in April 1946, forced the whole team to take refuge in Bangkok.

About this time he made the decision that was to determine the course of his life: He placed himself on the side of the people, thereafter unceasingly opposing exploitation and suppression and supporting the people in their struggle against the corrupt regime. In the 1940s the revolutionary movement that raised its head in Vietnam, Cambodia, and also in Laos, began to have a decisive influence on Phoumi Vongvichit. The reactionaries and the colonial regime tried to cope with the situation by using force and terror. Upright patriots were persecuted and thrown into prison.

In 1945 they arrested Phoumi Vongvichit, but even behind prison walls he did not cease political activity. He had many secret discussions with the other inmates on the struggle against the colonialists. After he escaped from prison, he organized bases of resistance against the French colonial army at Luang Prabang, Hong Sa, and Muong Sai in northern Laos. Again he was chased by the executioners of the colonial system and thrown into prison. However, due to mass protests they had to release him very soon. In 1947, Phoumi followed Souphanouvong when he decided to resume the armed struggle against the French, in alliance with the Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh. When this Free Laos Front (Neo Lao Isara) united, in August 1950, a Congress of the Peoples of Laos and created a “resistance government” of Pathet Lao (State of Laos) under the presidency of Souphanouvong, Phoumi Vongvichit became vice-president. President and Minister of the Interior of this government. He sets up and organizes the administration of the “liberated zones”, while his colleague, the Minister of Defense Kaysone Phomvihane (convert to communism), trained the armed forces. In August 1950, when the national united front, Neo Lao Issara (Front of Free Laos), and a government of resistance was founded, Phoumi Vongvichit was a member of both organizations. He was secretary of the united front's central committee and also deputy prime minister. The common victories of the Indochinese peoples and the decisive defeat of the colonial army at Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam finally forced French imperialism in 1954 to recognize the independence and sovereignty of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the Geneva agreements.

In the first Lao coalition government of national alliance, which was formed in 1957 after a lengthy political struggle, the LPF was represented by two ministers, Prince Souphanovong and Phoumi Vongvichit. As the result of by-elections Phoumi Vongvichit became deputy in the national assembly in 1958. As minister for cultural affairs and fine arts he had a large share in bringing about an alliance between the LPF and the Buddhists.

The success of the patriotic forces, however, was a thorn in the side of U.S. imperialism. According to American strategy, Laos was to constitute a thorn in the flesh of Indochina. This was the reason for the arrest, in July 1959, of Prince Souphanouvong, Phoumi Vongvichit, and 14 other leading figures of the LPF and for dragging them off to the police camp at Phon Kheng and other shanty camps at Vientiane. This was an act of overt sabotage against the coalition government and a call for the destruction of the patriotic forces. The forces of the political right also started legal proceedings against the arrested men, but the legal action never came off. At 0600 hours on the morning of 24 May 1960, when the relief arrived to take over guard duty, they found all the barracks empty, even the guards had disappeared. Together with the inmates the guards had fled in that stormy, rainy night and escaped into the liberated area. The intended strike of the reactionary forces had ended in a wild-goose chase. Side by side with his comrades, Phoumi Vongvichit was able to continue the fight for liberation from U.S. imperialism.

In the early 1960s Sahai Phoumi was again much on the road. The military and political successes of the patriotic forces led by the LPF had created favorable conditions for the formation of a second coalition government of national alliance. Phoumi Vongvichit took part in the decisive negotiations which finally led to the Zurich agreement (1961) and the agreement in the Plain of Jars (1962). "A coalition accord must be based on the signed accords of the past and at the same time must be consistent with the present situation in the country." With these words he described the LPF'S view. In the 1962 government, Phoumi Vongvichit, together with Prince Souphanouvong, again took part, this time as minister for information, propaganda, and tourism.

One year later the reactionary forces led by the CIA started new acts of sabotage against the government. On 1 April 1963 Foreign Minister Quinim Phonsena was treacherously murdered. Armed raids against units of the Pathet Lao army increased, and Phoumi Vongvichit and the other leading figures of the LPF were again forced to leave Vientiane. In the spring of 1964 the United States started its extermination campaign against the liberated area. They destroyed cities and villages and burned down fields. In the course of the following 8 years U.S. machines dropped about 3 million cons of bombs on Laos; that amounts to an average of 1 ton per capita of the population.

In 1964, at the second congress of the patriotic front (in 1956 the Neo Lao Issara was renamed the Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front/, the 10-point action program for the struggle of resistance, for strengthening the liberated area, and for a political solution was adopted and the LPF's central committee elected. Since that time Phoumi Vongvichit has been secretary general of the central committee.

Long years full of sacrifice followed, years of common resistance of the Indochinese peoples against U.S. aggression, before that memorable 21 February 1973 dawned on Laos. The power ratio in Indochina had changed in favor of the revolutionary forces thanks to support from the USSR and the other countries of the socialist community of states. Under LPF leadership four-fifths of Laos could be liberated. American imperialism saw itself compelled to stop its military engagement.

Sahai Phoumi was again on the road. On the basis of the LPF's fivepoint program of 1970, long and tenacious negotiations had to be conducted with the Vientiane side for a political solution of the situation. In Vientiane on 21 February 1973, Phoumi Vongvichit, plenipotentiary of the patriotic forces, and Pheng Phongsavan, plenipotentiary of the Vientiane Government, placed their signatures on the agreement. Finally, on 14 September 1973, the protocol was signed determining the political modalities of implementing the agreement.

In the liberated area, there was not only the need for healing the wounds of war, but there are further great tasks that have to be tackled under the leadership of the LPF. It was necessary to improve the policital-ideological work so as to prepare the cadres of the patriotic front for their tasks under peaceful and legitimate conditions in all parts of the country.

One of these tasks was to intensify mobilization of the labor unions, of the youth corps, and of the women's organizations, all being component parts of the LPF. This work aims at a comprehensive consolidation of the liberated area which constitutes the basis for the realization of the Vientiane agreement for peace and security. At present the patriotic front sees its duty in trying to reach all levels of society in order to advance Laos on the road to peace, independence, democracy, neutrality, unity and progress. The increased authority of the patriotic front gives it all the confidence of being able to achieve its aim.

In this struggle the patriotic front was certain of the support of the Soviet Union and of the other countries of the socialist camp, a fact that was particularly emphasized by the secretary general of the LPF central committee. In the meantime the provisional government of national union of Laos held its first session and deliberated questions of future activities. Phoumi Vongvichit made a statement to the newly formed organ to the effect that the government's most urgent tasks are to achieve a complete cessation of hostilities, dissolution of the "special forces," exchange of prisoners, safeguarding of the democratic freedoms of the people in all of Laos, and improvements in the people's standard of living. However, many new problems confront this "land of the million elephants" in the international field. In his capacity as foreign minister, Phoumi Vongvichit again started on a journey.

Pathet Lao Communist revolutionaries took power in 1975, vowing to expunge foreign influences and reassert Lao identity, right down to its national language. No one is more associated with the latter effort than Phoumi Vongvichi. He was educated in the French-language curriculum established by colonial France. But in 1967, he came up with a simplified Lao grammar with two goals: improving literacy among the rural poor; and reclaiming the Lao language. “Laos has gone back and forth as a colonized state of various foreign nations for many centuries,” he wrote, according to a translation. “Whichever country has colonized us, that country has brought its language to be used here and mixed with Lao, causing Lao to lose its original former content, bit by bit.”

Phoumi had a special hostility for the Lao “R.” The letter dated back centuries, arriving via Buddhist monks from South Asia. But, as Phoumi observed, everyday Lao people didn’t say it. They substituted another sound or dropped it entirely. That made “R” out of step with the communists’ populist sensibilities. It was cut from the alphabet in 1975.

When Prince Souphanouvong retired as head of state in 1986, he was succeeded by Phoumi, who held that post until ill-health forced him in turn to step down. Phoumi Vongvichit died in Vientiane on January 7, 1994. Simangkhala Souvannakhily, an official of the Laotian embassy in Bangkok, said Mr. Phoumi Vongvichit died of heart disease. It was not reported where he died.