People urged to learn uprising day history to strengthen future development

Every Lao person should learn the history of the August 23 uprising to enhance the tradition of patriotism and solidarity as the nation moves towards stronger development.
Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr Chaleun Yiapaoher made the call during a lecture held at the Lao Front for National Development yesterday to commemorate the uprising of Lao people on August 23, 1975. 
“We all have to learn the tradition of August 23 Uprising Day to enhance the tradition of courage, patriotism, solidarity, and diligence of our ancestors concentrated through the past,” he said.
At the lecture, Dr Chaleun, who is the former head of the National Academy for Political Studies and Administration, and Minister of Justice, highlighted Lao history since King Fa Ngum reunited the Lane Xang Kingdom in the 14th century to the fight by Lao multi-ethnic people against foreign aggressors in the 20th century.
He contrasted the struggle of Lao people in the past conducted without the guiding party, and the fight under the Party guidance, saying it entered a new era with the birth of the Communists Party of Indochina in 1930.
“The Party has guided the Lao people in the uprising to transfer power throughout the country on August 23, 1945,” he said, adding that the uprising in Vientiane began with 500 Kaffa factory workers, and then more than ten thousand people joined them in protest.
Dr Chaleun noted that even though the protests did not bring full victory, they laid the foundation for setting up a new power regime throughout the country and the proclamation of national independence on October 12, and the temporary constitutional monarchy, which acknowledged the people’s power.
The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party was established on March 22, 1955, to guide the multi-ethnic people of Laos in the fight against new foreign aggressors, who conducted the ploy of disunity on fellow citizens.
The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee held in 1975 approved the crucial concluding action for the victorious battle using the amassed public alongside the armed forces, and disunity in the enemy forces.
Accompanied by mass public protests, the Lao People’s Liberation Army rapidly moved to take over the critical enemy-patrolled targets such as the large towns of Vientiane, Pakse, and Savannakhet, which were the enemy command centres.
More than twenty thousand people joined the protest to welcome the proclamation of setting up revolutionary power in the capital on August 23, 1975, which confirmed that the authorities of the new regime had been established across the country from central to grassroots levels.
“August 23, 1975, has great meaning for the entire Lao nation because of the achievement after the long-lasting fight of the Lao multi-ethnic people under the leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party,” Dr Chaleun said.

By Somxay Sengdara
(Latest Update September 13, 2019)