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Laos
Index
The LPP steadily grew from its initial 300 to 400
members ("25
delegates representing 300 to 400 members" were said to
have
attended the founding congress of the party). By 1965
there were
11,000 members; by 1972, as it prepared to enter into the
final
coalition with the RLG, it had grown to some 21,000
members; by
1975, when the party seized full power, it claimed a
membership of
25,000; and by 1991, at the convening of the Fifth Party
Congress,
the LPRP claimed its membership had increased to 60,000.
The LPRP has been organized in a manner common to other
ruling
communist parties, with greatest similarity to the
Vietnamese
Communist Party. As in other such parties, the highest
authority is
the party congress, a gathering of party cadres from
throughout the
country that meets on an intermittent schedule for several
days to
listen to speeches, learn the plans for future party
strategy, and
ratify decisions already taken by the party leadership.
Next in the party hierarchy--since the elimination of
the
Secretariat in 1991--is the Central Committee, the party
elite who
fill key political positions throughout the country
(see
fig. 8).
The Central Committee is charged with leading the party
between
congresses. In addition to members of the Politburo and
former
members of the Secretariat, the committee includes key
government
ministers, leading generals of the army, secretaries of
provincial
party committees, and chairpersons of mass organizations.
When the LPRP first revealed itself to the public in
1975, the
Central Committee comprised twenty-one members and six
alternates.
By the Fourth Party Congress, its size had expanded to
fifty-one
members and nine alternates. The average age of a Central
Committee
member in 1986 was fifty-two, with the oldest
seventy-seven and the
youngest thirty-three. The number of women on the Central
Committee
rose from three to five, including Thongvin Phomvihan,
then
Secretary General Kaysone's wife, who was chair of the
LPRP's
People's Revolutionary Youth Union and, in 1982, the first
woman
appointed to the Central Committee.
At the Fifth Party Congress, the Central Committee
stabilized
in size at fifty-nine members and took on a few younger,
more
educated men to replace deceased or retired members. At
the time,
the oldest member was seventy-seven, the youngest
thirty-five, with
22 percent over sixty, 30 percent between fifty and
fifty-nine, and
40 percent under forty-nine. Only two women are full
members of the
Central Committee, and two continue as alternates.
Thongvin
Phomvihan--who had ranked thirty-fifth in 1986--was
removed,
accompanied by rumors of excessive political influence in
her
business activities. Notwithstanding this setback to
Kaysone's
family fortune, their son, Saisompheng Phomvihan, was
appointed to
the Central Committee, ranking forty-fifth, and was named
governor
of Savannakhét Province in 1993. This appointment inspired
some
private muttering about the emerging "princelings,"
referring as
well to Souphanouvong's son, Khamsai Souphanouvong, number
thirtyfour on the Central Committee, who became minister of
finance.
Despite the party's rhetoric asserting ethnic equality,
the
Central Committee has been dominated by lowland Lao.
Upland
minorities remain sparsely represented at the highest
levels of
party leadership. Only four members of ethnic minority
groups were
reported on the Central Committee elected at the Fifth
Party
Congress.
The Central Committee is served by a number of
subordinate
committees. These committees include, most importantly,
the Office
of the Central Committee, and five other offices:
Organization
Committee; Propaganda and Training Committee; Party and
State
Control Committee; Administrative Committee of the Party
and State
School for Political Theory; and Committee for the
Propagation of
Party Policies.
Since 1972 the genuine center of political power, as in
other
communist parties, has resided in the Politburo.
Membership of the
Politburo, and formerly that of the Secretariat, is drawn
from the
Central Committee. A small group of men--seven in 1972 and
eleven
by 1993--have provided the critical leadership of the
communist
movement in Laos. A signal attribute of this group has
been its
remarkable cohesion and continuity. The Politburo has been
dominated for more than fifteen years communist rule by
the same
stalwart band of revolutionary veterans. The twenty-five
Laotian
former members of the ICP who founded the LPP in 1955, and
from
whom the Politburo was drawn, remained in almost identical
rank
until illness and age began to take their toll in the
1980s.
Kaysone was named secretary general of the then secret LPP
upon its
establishment, a post he retained until his death in 1992.
Nouhak
retained his number-two position on the Politburo into
1993. It was
not until the Fifth Party Congress that Souphanouvong,
Phoumi
Vongvichit, and Sisomphone Lovansai (ranking third,
fourth, and
seventh, respectively) were retired with honorific titles
as
counselors to the Central Committee. Prime Minister
Khamtai
Siphandon was promoted to succeed Kaysone as chief of the
party,
and Phoun Sipaseut advanced a notch in rank. In 1991 the
Politburo
numbered ten, including only two new members.
Although the exact manner of Politburo decision making
has
never been revealed, a collegiality, based on long years
of common
experience, appears to have developed. In addition to
their
powerful position on the Politburo, members exercise
additional
political power--perhaps even more than in most other
communist
systems--through important posts within the governmental
structure.
In fact, for many years, five Politburo members also held
seats on
the Secretariat.
At the Fifth Party Congress, the party abolished the
nineperson Secretariat of the Central Committee and changed
the
designation of the head of the party (Kaysone) from
secretary
general to chairman. Until it was abolished, the
Secretariat
wielded influence second only to that of the Politburo.
The
Secretariat issued party directives and acted on behalf of
the
Central Committee when it was not in session, in effect
managing
the day-to-day business of the party. Khamtai Siphandon
became
party chairman in November 1992, but it is not certain
whether he
will accrue the same power and influence as his
predecessor.
Each of the sixteen provinces
(khoueng--see Glossary) is
directed by a party committee, chaired by a party
secretary who is
the dominant political figure in the province. At a lower
level are 112 districts
(muang--see Glossary), further
divided into subdistricts
(tasseng--see Glossary), each with
their own
party committees. Administratively, subdistricts have been
abolished in principle since around 1993, but
implementation has
been uneven across provinces. It is unknown whether
subdistrictlevel party committees have also been abolished. At the
base of the
country's administrative structure are more than 11,000
villages
(ban--see Glossary),
only some of which have party
branches.
Data as of July 1994
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