Tiao Souphanouvong
Tiao Souphanouvong was the12th and last son of Tiao Boun Khong and his 11th wife Mom Kham Ouane. Born on July 13, 1909 he was the younger half-brother of Tiao Phetsarath and Tiao Souvanna Phouma. After his birth his mother was unable to breast feed him so he was adopted by his uncle Tiao Sithammarath. Being born to a commoner wife of Tiao Boun Khong and raised within the family of Boun Khong’s brother placed Souphanouvong outside of the inner circle of the Front Palace and of lower social status as his two half-brothers. However, after their father’s death in 1920 Phetsarath helped play the role of father figure to his younger half-brother.
Just like his half-brothers Souphanouvong was educated in Hanoi and then Paris where he graduated in civil engineering in 1937. On returning to Indochina he worked for the public works department in Vietnam and in 1938 married a Vietnamese woman Nguyen Thi Ky Nam. Just as with Souvanna Phouma’s second marriage, this union with a Vietnamese was frowned upon by Souphanouvong’s family and none attended the wedding.
In the closing stages of World War II Souphanouvong joined the Free Lao and Phetsarath asked him to seek assistance from the Viet Minh. Ironically a US General assisted Souphanouvong in meeting with Ho Chi Minh in September 1945. The meeting with the legendary resistance leader had a great influence upon Souphanouvong who returned to Laos the following month leading a platoon of Viet Minh soldiers.
In 1946 as the French re-asserted their control of Laos, Souphanouvong led the armed resistance. In March during the battle for Thakhek he was seriously injured as he was crossing the Mekong River to Thailand. He recuperated in Bangkok and spent the next three years in exile in Thailand with the Free Lao. But Souphanouvong’s relationships with the Free Lao leadership were always strained, other leaders frequently accusing him of arrogance. In May 1949 as many of the other resistance leaders were considering returning to Vientiane he split completely with the movement, declaring angrily “I will lead the struggle alone. I know my way and it will lead to victory”.
In the closing stages of World War II Souphanouvong joined the Free Lao and Phetsarath asked him to seek assistance from the Viet Minh. Ironically a US General assisted Souphanouvong in meeting with Ho Chi Minh in September 1945. The meeting with the legendary resistance leader had a great influence upon Souphanouvong who returned to Laos the following month leading a platoon of Viet Minh soldiers.
In 1946 as the French re-asserted their control of Laos, Souphanouvong led the armed resistance. In March during the battle for Thakhek he was seriously injured as he was crossing the Mekong River to Thailand. He recuperated in Bangkok and spent the next three years in exile in Thailand with the Free Lao. But Souphanouvong’s relationships with the Free Lao leadership were always strained, other leaders frequently accusing him of arrogance. In May 1949 as many of the other resistance leaders were considering returning to Vientiane he split completely with the movement, declaring angrily “I will lead the struggle alone. I know my way and it will lead to victory”.
His way led him into the arms of the Viet Minh forces fighting against the French. The Vietnamese were in need of a figure of authority such as Souphanouvong to front the struggle in Laos where deference to royalty was a stronger motivation for people than the totally alien ideology of Marxist class struggle. In public Souphanouvong continued to be ambivalent in his adherence to Marxism but he quietly joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1950 and five years later was a founding member of the Lao Communist Party, more commonly known as the “Pathet Lao”. To the foreign press he became famous as “The Red Prince”.
On 13 August 1950 Souphanouvong convened the First Congress of the Free Laos Front of which he was President. Over the subsequent years he maintained contacts with Souvanna Phouma which led to the formation of the First Coalition Government in late 1957 in which Souphanouvong was the Minister of Planning, Reconstruction and Town Planning. When elections were held in May 1958 Souphanouvong was returned by the Vientiane electorate with the highest individual vote of any candidate. This Prince who had refused to compromise in his fight against the French was already legendary amongst the urban voters.
But when the coalition government collapsed the Pathet Lao ministers were forced from office. In July 1959 the right-wing Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone had the Pathet Lao ministers, including Souphanouvong, arrested for “rebellion”. After some eleven months in prison Souphanouvong and the other Pathet Lao leaders escaped and fled to safety in Houaphan Province together with their prison guards.
But when the coalition government collapsed the Pathet Lao ministers were forced from office. In July 1959 the right-wing Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone had the Pathet Lao ministers, including Souphanouvong, arrested for “rebellion”. After some eleven months in prison Souphanouvong and the other Pathet Lao leaders escaped and fled to safety in Houaphan Province together with their prison guards.
Souphanouvong as Pathet Lao leader, talks to the villagers of Napha, northeast of the Plain of Jars, about the importance of constructing a dam in the village, 1970.
Following Kong Le’s coup in 1960 Souphanouvong encouraged co-operation between the neutralist forces and the Pathet Lao. He was heavily involved in the negotiations that finally led to the formation of the Second Coalition Government in June 1962 in which he was both Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning. But once again the coalition was short-lived and in 1963 a spate of assassinations in Vientiane forced Souphanouvong and his Pathet Lao comrades to again flee to Houaphan Province.
Meanwhile in late 1962 Souvanna Phouma had fatefully gave the US permission to run their own independent aerial missions. As forces on the ground increasingly gave way to Pathet Lao advances, the Americans resorted to indiscriminate carpet bombing across vast areas of the country. The result was the tragic legacy of Laos becoming the most heavily bombed country in history with an estimated 260 million bombs being dropped over the decade. Large numbers of the civilian population retreated into caves to escape this massive and continuous bombing and whole communities complete with schools, hospitals and factories moved underground for years.
Souphanouvong visits Lao textile workers operating in a cave to escape bombing, probably in Houaphan Province, c.1971.
The war raged on for a decade with the incessant bombing obliterating entire villages and towns as well as leaving a legacy of unexploded ordinance lying in the fields which continues to kill and maim to this day. But throughout this period Souphanouvong maintained contacts with Souvanna Phouma. Amongst their correspondence are several letters that Souphanouvong wrote to his half-brother imploring him to put a stop to the bombing which was devastating their country and its people, appeals that tragically went ignored.
Nevertheless the two half-brothers both played key roles in the negotiations that led to the 1973 cease-fire and the Third Coalition Government. Importantly under this new agreement Pathet Lao forces moved into the major cities held by the RLG to form a joint police force. In April 1974 Souphanouvong flew back to Vientiane to a tumultuous welcome. For many the sight of Souphanouvong greeting his half-brother Souvanna Phouma personified the hopes for national reconciliation and peace.
Nevertheless the two half-brothers both played key roles in the negotiations that led to the 1973 cease-fire and the Third Coalition Government. Importantly under this new agreement Pathet Lao forces moved into the major cities held by the RLG to form a joint police force. In April 1974 Souphanouvong flew back to Vientiane to a tumultuous welcome. For many the sight of Souphanouvong greeting his half-brother Souvanna Phouma personified the hopes for national reconciliation and peace.
National reconciliation personified by Souvanna Phouma greeting Souphanouvong on his return to Vientiane in April 1974
Rather than joining the National Assembly as an elected official, Souphanouvong headed the National Political Consultative Council in Luang Prabang. This position allowed him to stay above day-to-day politics and manage events more strategically. In any case due to continual in-fighting the National Assembly was dissolved after just one year. Meanwhile the Pathet Lao, now embedded in the cities, stoked continual unrest and demonstrations against their opponents. In May 1975, Souphanouvong led the king on a tour of Houaphan province where the monarch was bizarrely welcomed by communist cadres singing revolutionary songs. Meanwhile the Pathet Lao was staging a virtual coup in Vientiane. Administrations of the other major towns along the Mekong were taken over soon after.
Souphanouvong at the Congress of People’s Representatives, 2nd December 1975
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At the end of November Souphanouvong joined Souvanna Phouma in the visit to the king in Luang Prabang that resulted in his abdication.
On the 1st December a secret Congress of People’s Representatives was held in Vientiane where the Crown Prince Vong Savang read out his father’s abdication letter. Souphanouvong announced that this, together with other proposals to dismantle the entire Royal Lao Government, would be “studied”. The following day was presided over by Kaysone Phomvihan, a figure barely known to the outside world. Kaysone read a motion to establish the Lao People’s Democratic Republic followed by another to make Souphanouvong the President of the new republic. Both motions were passed unanimously. |
Souphanouvong had defied all odds from being a minor princeling of Luang Prabang's Front Palace to becoming the Head of State of Laos. But from this high point he was increasingly side-lined in the exercise of power. Real power had probably always been with the secretive and hardcore communist cadres such as Kaysone Phomvihan who now took control as Prime Minister together with his deputy Nouhak Phoumsavan.
Prince or President. Souphanouvong is remembered by a large statue in Luang Prabang
Souphanouvong was involved in less and less of the real decisions and it is not clear to what extent he was complicit with or simply ignored the deprivations which were forced upon the royal family as well as the wider Lao populace. After a stroke in 1986 he retired from all duties, relinquishing his position of president in 1991. He died of heart failure on 9 January 1995 and was given a large state funeral with five days of official mourning. His remains are now interred at the national cemetery in Vientiane.