That aside, I’m not quite sure what this article has hoped to achieve other than stirring up your own membership base. I think there’s some fairly vast inaccuracies in the summaries of both the PAD and PPP, and I would say it’s quite foolish to ignore the very real support the PAD does have, particularly in Bangkok, no matter how displaced it might be. Currently, as you’ve stated, there is more or less no alternative for the working class of Thailand, and the way the city/rural divide has been so excellently played by the ruling classes, I would not rule out the prospect of civil war in coming years – a situation which would be very difficult to non-aligned Thais’ to ignore and simply watch from the sidelines.

Are you calling for a new workers party? If so, I’d quite like to hear some more about the role of the unions and students in such a party, particularly since both groups have recently lent their support in a greater or lesser form than the supposedly fascist PAD.

There is no doubt that Thailand is in a particularly sticky mess at the moment, but I would have thought a slightly more eloquent formulation of the parties involved, the past and the future of Thailand is imminently possible.

In my view, it was entirely sloppy that this article was posted. This is a breach not only of the level of democratic centralism we have reached, but of of democratic practice in general becasue there was no discussion before the CPN(M) was attacked publicly.

I think Alistair is slighlty light in his post. Party members do not have the rigth to publicly bash genuine liberation movements without having *advanced* and *detailed* discussions first.

John’s opinion does not have equal weight with the general consensus in the party about the develoments in Nepal.

The truth is that individuals in the party, and the party itself, have spent thousands of dollars and put considerable energies into trying to deepen the understanding of party members and the NZ public with regard to the process in Nepal.

Of course there will be internal discussions around this but I had to publicly register the disgust that many of us feel over the publicaiton of this article.

Jared.

The TRT are the banned political party that the present PPP grew out of.

The original TRT, led by charismatic avowed capitalist, Thaksin Shinawatra, was a loose coalition of different groups, interests and political thought.

The TRT had many ex-communists in its fold. Basically, given the failure of pretty much any other left-leaning organisation to gain political support in Thailand, the left wing used TRT as a vehicle to put in place certain policies which directly benefited Thailand’s poor. This was a pragmatic tactical solution to particularly Thai problems and given the fact that under TRT rule conditions did improve it was certainly, in the short term, successful.

As for the PAD being fascist – it’s not only Giles Ungkaporn calling them this but a whole range of bloggers, journalists and human rights organisations. The PAD are clearly engaging in fascist tactics, including strategies of tension and have strong backing from the military and elites. The PAD are calling for New Politics – a model very similar to that on show in Burma, with places in parliament reserved for the military and the royalist elites. On top of this new executive would sit a fully empowered leader with almost dictatorial powers.

If this isn’t fascism then god knows what else you’d call it.

thaipolitico.blogspot.com

But I’m not so sure if direct comparisons can be drawn with Nepal, though. Nepal remains an overwhelmingly underdeveloped, rural country, while Thailand has a megacity for a capital and (as John points out) a very large working class. The course of revolutionary change in each society is bound to be very different.