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Laos
Index
Unlike other communist regimes, the LPRP has long
maintained a
semisecrecy about its mode of operation and the identity
of its
rank-and-file members. However, the LPRP follows the
standard
communist practice of planting party members within all
principal
institutions of society--in government, in mass
organizations, and,
formerly, in agricultural collectives. These individuals
serve as
leaders and transmit party policy. They also act as the
eyes and
ears of the central party organization. Although party
members are
admonished not to reveal themselves, it is not difficult
for
knowledgeable persons to pick out the party members in
their
organization. In each ministry, for example, the key power
wielders
are party members. All party members do not, of course,
hold
positions of authority. Some occupy the lower ranks,
serving, for
example, as messengers, drivers, and maintenance
personnel.
By the late 1980s, some of the LPRP's semisecrecy had
eroded.
Party leadership lists, which, during revolutionary and
early
postrevolutionary days had been secret, were published.
But a
quasi-clandestine attitude remains among the party rank
and file
that can be explained by several factors. Clandestine
behavior is
an old habit that is not easily shed. Secrecy adds to the
party's
mystery, inspires anxiety and fear, and contributes to
control. In
view of its long history of revolutionary activity, party
veterans
fear infiltration and subversion. LPRP pronouncements
during its
first decade of rule frequently alluded to "CIA and Thaireactionary -inspired agents," and later, when relations
with China
grew tense, to the danger of "big power hegemonism."
Moreover,
party leaders appear to lack confidence in the quality of
their
membership, speaking from time to time about "bad
elements" within
the party.
The LPRP is relatively small compared with other
incumbent
parties. For example, the 40,000 members that the party
claimed in
1985 represented 1.1 percent of the population (estimating
3.5
million inhabitants). In 1979 the Vietnamese Communist
Party had
1.5 million members in a population of 53 million, or
approximately
3 percent.
Data as of July 1994
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