Kaysone Phomvihane Quotes

Revolutionary violence is the violence of the masses. The national democratic revolution in Laos was a cause espoused by all patriots and forward-looking people in the country. Thus, the revolutionary violence in Laos was necessarily that of the overwhelming majority of the population, first and foremost that of the working people, who were cruelly exploited. The masses have many ways and means to demonstrate their will and determination to struggle. Generalising the practical experience of the revolutionary struggle, one can say that the violence of the masses takes two forms, those of political and armed struggle, used together and separately. It is thus necessary to set up the means of violence to bring about a revolution, i.e., the political forces of the masses and the armed forces of the people.

The political forces of the masses are the forces of all the people taking an organised part in the revolution. They include the revolution­ary classes and the sections of the population with patriotic tendencies, of all different nation­alities, combined in a broad national united front based on the worker-peasant alliance led by the Party.

From the day the. revolutionary flag first began to flutter in the Vientiane sky as a symbol of our people's right to independence, to the day when it became the flag of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos, we traversed a difficult path full of ordeals and self-sacrifice. How many selfless heroes laid down their lives for their country, and how much effort and energy was expended, and blood spilt, by the patriots of Laos for the sake of our glorious victory!

The general policy of "raising the banner of national democratic revolution under the leadership of the Party of the working class, and heading to socialism" is, as we see it, not merely the right line for the revolution in Laos, but also fully meets the laws governing the devel­opment of the struggle for national independ­ence and democracy in the modern epoch.

One can make concessions to the enemy in relation, for instance, to the number of people in the government, as well as to the specific posts, qualifications and certain organisational forms accepted both by the enemy and our­selves.

Therefore, now that we have won power, our duty is to consolidate the dictatorship of the pro­letariat with all the available forces, to perfect the instruments of revolutionary violence, to improve vigilance, and to always be prepared to rebuff enemy attempts to sow trouble and start a coun­ter-offensive. Only in this way can we ensure the further peaceful development of the revolution.

Although we took power by means of revo­lutionary violence, at the same time preserv­es peace in the country, this in no way sig­nifies that we shall not resort to force in the future to defend peace. The reactionary classes suffered a serious de­feat, but this does not mean that they simply agreed to retreat and forever abandoned their intentions to fight the revolution, arms in hand.

By virtue of the class nature of the struggle during the coalition, the enemy, even though occasionally compelled to take progressive measures in the interests of the popular masses and to give some important posts in the govern­ment bodies to the revolutionary forces, none­theless always left himself the right to actual control over government activities and retained a coercive apparatus so as to overtly and covertly hamper coordinated progressive reforms being put into practice.

Our Party's strategic policy was direct­ed precisely to both the national and the demo­cratic objectives, in accordance with the specific features of our country and with the needs of the time.

Comradely relations based on the common ideals and aims of the difficult struggle we all share are our most sacred posses­sion as Communists.

Inspired by the successes of socialism and faced with the deep and insoluble crisis of capi­talism, millions of workers in capitalist countries are waging a vigorous struggle under the slogan, Peace, Democracy and Social Progress, directing the spearhead of their attack at the reactionary rule of monopoly capital and against the op­pressive and aggressive policies of their leaders.

The victory of the revolution in Laos and the victories of the fraternal peoples of Vietnam and Kampuchea make up one common victory of truly historic and epoch-making significance. This great victory signifies the failure of the bit­terest counter-offensive of the chief imperialist power against the world revolutionary move­ment since the Second World War, a reduction of the imperialist and expansion of the socialist sphere, a breaching of the positions of American imperialism in an important part of Southeast Asia, and the breakdown of its global counter­revolutionary strategy.

In Laos, the development of this militant alli­ance has gone hand in hand with the entire revo­lutionary struggle and the growth of our revolu­tionary forces. It caused a radical shift in the ba­lance of power between the opposing forces in our country, creating the conditions necessary for the success of our revolution and its final vic­tory.

Carefully weigh­ing its forces and the forces of its internal and external enemies, seeing that there were weak spots in the so-called "unimaginable might" of the USA, the Party reaffirmed its view that the revolution would inevitably triumph providing good use was made of the nation's potential, the advantages issuing from military cooperation with the army and people of Vietnam, and the existence of the three revolutionary streams of our time. Hence, the Party chose an offensive strategy and worked out flexible and realistic revolutionary methods and ways of struggle. In view of the new situation, it decided to raise the banner of struggle for national liberation and against American imperialism.

Thanks to the Party's realistic rallying slogans, conscious of the dependable backing of the patriotic forces, and having gained a legal basis for struggle, various sections of the population in enemy-controlled areas and in the neutralised cities, especially workers, young people and students, who had long conceived a deep hatred for the thoroughly corrupt bureaucratic and military clique, came into motion, becoming more and more deeply and actively involved in the common struggle.