Lao People's Revolutionary Party

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (Lao: ພັກປະຊາຊົນປະຕິວັດລາວ), formerly the Lao People's Party, is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Laos. It has emerged from the Communist Party of Vietnam founded by Hồ Chí Minh in 1930. It has governed in Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the Politburo, Secretariat and the Central Committee. A party congress is held every five years. The congress elects members to the politburo and central committee. The congress used to also elect a secretariat, but this body was abolished in 1991. As of 2016, 128 of the 132 members of the National Assembly of Laos were from the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

Lao People's Revolutionary Party ພັກປະຊາຊົນປະຕິວັດລາວ Phak Pasason Pativat Lao
General Secretary	Bounnhang Vorachith
Founded	22 March 1955
Headquarters	Vientiane
Newspaper	Pasason
Youth wing	Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union
Armed wing	Lao People's Armed Forces
Membership (2011)	191,700
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism
Political position	Far-left
National affiliation	Lao Front for National Construction
International affiliation	International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
National Assembly	144 / 149
Party flag

History

The party has its origins in the Communist Party of Indochina founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1930 (see Communist Party of Vietnam). The ICP was entirely Vietnamese at its beginning, but it grew throughout French Indochina. The Communist Party of Indochina was able to found a small "Lao section" in 1936. In the mid-1940s, a campaign to recruit Laotian members began. In 1946 or 1947, Kaysone Phomvihan, a law student at the University of Hanoi, was recruited, along with Nouhak Phoumsavan.

Sources

• Stuart-Fox, Martin (2008) Historical Dictionary of Laos. Scarecrow Press. ISBNs 0810864118, 978-0-81086-411-5.