Even the smallest countries have their own heroes and revolutionary leaders, Prince Suphanuphon (Lao: ສຸພານຸວົງ; 13 July 1909 – 9 January 1995), one of the main founders and leaders of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the Lao People's Army, the first president of Laos (1975-1991), the leader of the Pathet Lao Revolutionary Movement, known as the "Red Prince".
Prince Sufanuphon
Ikuhei
Suphanuphon was born into a royal family in Luang Prabang to Prince Maha Ubara Boon Khong, the Vice-King of Laos. The elder brother was Prince Pechala, the last vice-prince of Laos, and Prince Sophanar Phuma, who later became the prime minister of Laos, was his half-brother.
Since childhood, he has been smart and compassionate, often plays with ordinary children, and understands the lives of the people at the bottom. At the age of 7, he entered Luang Prabang Primary School and has always had good academic performance.
In 1920, he went to Hanoi to study in junior high school, and he was fond of nature and society, sports and art, and was exposed to many foreign languages.
In 1931, he was sent to study civil engineering at the University of Paris, France, during which he visited various European countries and opened his eyes. He even went to the French colonies in Africa to investigate and learn about the local social conditions.
Speaks 8 languages.
After graduating from university in 1937, he worked on the docks of Bordeaux and Le Havre.
Married in 1938, he went to Vietnam to work, and then to Cambodia, as an engineer to participate in the construction of many bridges and roads, and achieved a lot of results, the biggest gain is that during the work in Vietnam and Cambodia, he learned about the exploitation and oppression of the local people by the French colonists, and was no longer satisfied with being an engineer, and slowly climbed up in the colonial government system, and would get a higher status as a member of the Lao royal family. But he was not satisfied with such a path, and gradually developed a sense of resistance. It is necessary to fight for the liberation of the country and the nation.
In 1945, the Japanese army stationed in India ZN staged the 39 coup d'état, overthrew the French colonial government, and de facto took control of India, arranging for King Sisavong Feng to declare Luang Prabang to join the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere on March 9, 1945, and to issue a declaration of independence on April 8 to declare Laos an independent state.
Lao People's Army
On August 15, 1945, Japan, which controlled the Indian ZEN, surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II. On August 18, 1945, the Lao people and patriotic armed forces staged anti-Japanese uprisings throughout the country and regained power in Laos from the Japanese invaders. On 30 August, King Sisavang Von declared Luang Prabang to remain a French protectorate.
On September 2, the French colonial army paratroopers parachuted into Luang Prabang and took control of King Sisavang Vong. The southern provinces of Thaqu, Savannakhet, Sarawan, and Champasak agreed to participate in the reunification of Laos. As a result, on September 14, Prime Minister Prince Perchara announced the formation of the Lao Free National United Front ("Isala") as a social and political organization, with the purpose of opposing the resurgence of French colonial rule and maintaining the unity and independence of Laos.
Sufa Nuvong returned to Laos and organized a rebellion against French colonial rule, proposing: Laotian people are the masters of the land of Laos, and the people of all ethnic groups in Laos should unite and fight for national and national independence!
Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Provisional Independent Government of Laos.
On March 21, 1946, the Lao Free National United Front Army, commanded by Prince Suphanuphon, engaged the French army and the local coalition forces that supported the colonial government in Takqu. The French attackers gathered paratroopers, artillery, armored vehicles and bombers. The Isala Army of "Free Laos" suffered heavy casualties, losing 700 soldiers and retreating without caring for 250 corpses and 150 prisoners. Prince Suphanuphon was wounded on the front line and was sent to Thailand on the other side for treatment. On 2 April, the Provisional Government of Ishara was forced to move its capital from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, and on 23 April, Sisavong Von was recognized as king, and the king recognized the Provisional Government of Ishara as the legitimate government of the kingdom.
In 1950, he founded the Pathet Lao (Combat Liao), a left-wing nationalist group, to join forces with the Vietminh against the French colonial army, and he served as chairman of the Central Committee of the Front and prime minister.
In 1955, Suphanufong joined the Lao People's Party (renamed the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in 1972), and in 1956, Suphanufong participated in the first coalition government of Prince Sophana Fuma as the chairman of the Patriotic Front, and served as Minister of Economic Planning, in July 1958, Suphanufong was excluded from the cabinet and placed under house arrest, and in early 1960, Fumi Nosavan staged a military coup d'état, and Suphanufong was imprisoned. In May 1960, Sufa Nufon escaped from prison and returned to the Pathet Liao base area.
Lao Xiang Temple
In 1962 he was re-elected Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Planning in the second coalition government of Phu Ma, and in 1972 he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. In 1974, he was Chairman of the National Political Joint Committee in the third coalition government of Fuma.
With the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War, the secret war of the American army in Laos also failed and gradually retreated. The Pathet Lao forces under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, which was strongly supported by Vietnam, were dominant.
The Lao People's Democratic Republic was established on 2 December 1975 and Sufa Nufong served as President of the State and Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly until October 1986. In 1979, when the Lao Patriotic Front was changed to the National Founding Front, he still held the chairmanship. In 1982 and 1986, the Third and Fourth National Congresses of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party were held, and he was re-elected as a member of the Executive Committee and the Politburo of the Party Central Committee.
He died on January 9, 1995, at the age of 85. Buried at the National Revolutionary Cemetery in the Sayani district of Vientiane.
Founded in 2003, Luang Prabang Province in Laos is one of the three key universities in Laos.