Siamese revolution of 1932
The Siamese revolution of 1932 or Siamese coup d'état of 1932 (Thai: การปฏิวัติสยาม พ.ศ. 2475 or การเปลี่ยนแปลงการปกครองสยาม พ.ศ. 2475) was a coup d'état by the People's Party which occurred in Siam on 24 June 1932. It ended Siam's centuries-long absolute monarchy rule under the Chakri dynasty and resulted in a bloodless transition of Siam into a constitutional monarchy, the introduction of democracy and the first constitution, and the creation of the National Assembly. Dissatisfaction caused by the economic crisis, the lack of a competent government, and the rise of Western-educated commoners fueled the revolution.
King Prajadhipok remained on the throne and compromised with Khana Ratsadon. Two coups occurred a year later, in April and June amid infighting within the government over Pridi Banomyong's socialist economic plan and a rebellion of the royalists.
Background[edit]
Absolute monarchy[edit]
Since 1782, the Kingdom of Siam had been ruled by the Chakri dynasty. After 1868, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) reformed a medieval kingdom into a centralizing state of absolute monarchy. The monarchy started to make royal and nobility hierarchy, the Sakdina, to be the most critical aspect of Siam political system.[1] Towards 1880, Chulalongkorn asked of Europe an initiation into modern culture and showed a decided preference for England's Anglo-Saxons culture.[2] In 1910s, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) sought to legitimise absolutism through Thai nationalism, using Western approach,[3] by appointing more able commoners to the government.[4] A commoner involvement disappointed the aristocracy and nobility.[5] Rama VI carried out unpopular policies that lowered the influence of the royal family.[6]
Mismanagement of Rama VI[edit]
During the reign of King Rama VI, the government's fiscal health was eroded. Lavish spending on the court, inability to control the corruption of the King's inner circle, and his creation of the Wild Tiger Corps to promote modern-style nationalism were widely deemed as wasteful.[5] By 1920, fiscal mismanagement and the global economic downturn took the state budget into deficit.[7] In 1925, the most senior princes decided to demand large cuts in expenditures, especially the royal household.[7] This represented a bold challenge to the authority of the absolute monarch and reflected the severity of the fiscal malaise in Siam.[7] The critique was thus that Rama VI was not a competent absolute monarch, and that he squandered the massive political capital.
In 1912, a palace revolt, plotted by young military officers, tried unsuccessfully to overthrow and replace Rama VI. Their goal was to overthrow the ancien régime and replace it with a Westernised constitutional system and to replace Rama VI with a prince more sympathetic to their beliefs.[8] The revolt failed and the participants were imprisoned. In reaction, Vajiravudh abandoned his attempts at constitutional reform and continued with his absolutist rule, with the minor exception of appointing some able commoners to his privy council and government.[9]
Rise of the Western-educated "commoner" elites[edit]
Western education became popular in the reign of Rama V.[10] Although this was still largely limited to the Siamese nobility and the wealthy, new avenues of social mobility were now available to commoners and members of the lower nobility.[11] The best example of these commoner beneficiaries is Phibun Songkram who was from a peasant background. Many of the brightest Siamese students, both commoners and the nobility, were sent abroad to study in Europe. These include Pridi Banomyong, who was of Sino-Thai descent, and Prayoon Pamornmontri, the half-German son of a junior Thai official at the Siamese legation in Berlin and later a page to the crown prince who would become Rama VI.[12] They were to become prominent members of the "promoters". These Western-educated commoner elites were exposed not just to the latest scientific and technical knowledge in Europe, but also to the ideals of Western democracy, nationalism, and communism.[13]