By: CPUSA International Department

December 2nd, 2022 marks the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR); the day the Pathet Lao peacefully entered the capital of Vientiane, accepting the resignation of the Monarchy, and completing the decades-long people’s national democratic revolution. The Kingdom of Laos was formally abolished, and the people’s flag was permanently raised over the capital. Under the leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), the Lao PDR was born.  

The roots of the modern history of the Lao people lie with the resistance to French colonialism, when the Lao people as a nation began rising up as one for the great cause of national independence, democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity. With the Japanese occupation officially ending the French colonial protectorate, and the great resistance against fascism successfully ending the Japanese Empire, the Lao Issara (Free Laos) movement emerged in 1945 as the first expression of a free and independent Lao nation. In spite of their great resistance, they were ultimately forced to give way once again. The will of the Lao people had been awakened, however, and with the lessons of the preceding decades, in friendship and solidarity with the revolutionary peoples of Vietnam, China, and Kampuchea, the Pathet Lao began the great undertaking of national democratic revolution.

The forces of capitalist imperialism, of subjugation and exploitation, fought hard to maintain a hold over the Lao people. Spearheaded from 1945 to today by the United States, the imperialists were not willing to accept the unbreakable will of the Lao people or their pursuit for independence. Thus, with the outbreak of the resistance in Vietnam, the flames of liberation swept across Indochina, and the Lao people, with the Pathet Lao at the helm, rose up once more. 

Through some twenty years of struggle against imperialism and its domestic compradores, the Lao people refused to back down. Although the US imperialists never officially declared war on Laos, over two million tons of bombs were dropped on their country over the course of the resistance—more than five hundred pounds of bombs for every person living in the country. The rural eastern provinces were hit hardest, along the so-called Hồ Chí Minh Trail that extended from the northern to southern ends of the country, but Vientiane, Luang Prabang, the Plain of Jars, and most other populated areas of the country all received more than their fair share of America’s secret terror. So barbarically heinous was the US’ crimes against the Lao people that efforts to recover and remove unexploded bombs (UXO) continue to this day, and each year, decades later, innocent Lao people are maimed and killed by these relics of the bloody past. 

Despite the great obstacles and barbarism faced by the Lao people, united by the leadership of the Pathet Lao and joined in solidarity by Comrades from Vietnam, China, Kampuchea, and all around the world, the great cause of the Lao nation could not be extinguished; and so it was that on December 2nd, 1975, with the US imperialists finally withdrawn from the region, the final blow to the old order would come not with the firing of a gun, but the stroke of a pen. With the peaceful abdication of the Royal Lao Government, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic was formally established, with the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party leading the way, and the great blue, red, and white flag of the Lao nation raised forever over the capital; its blue field representing the great Mekong river, the prosperity of the nation; its red stripes the blood shed in the struggle for freedom; its white disk the full moon’s reflection on the Mekong, and the great unity of the Lao people. 

This flag, which flies proudly on every street, and outside every major building in the nation, was designed by Maha Sila Viravong, the great scholar of the Lao people, exiled along with many others in 1946 for supporting the Lao Issara movement. It is a testament to the great will of the people, the great leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, the great bravery of the Lao People’s Liberation Army, the great solidarity of the working and oppressed people the world over, and the great truth of the science of Marxism-Leninism as the path of independence, democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity.

Long live the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party!

Long live the Lao People’s Democratic Republic!

Long live the great unity of the people!