Pathet Lao

(pät`ət lou), left-wing nationalist group that was ultimately victorious in the Laotian civil war that began in the mid-1950s. The name was first used in 1950 by Lao forces after the they joined the Viet MinhViet Minh
, officially Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh [League for the Independence of Vietnam], a coalition of Communist and nationalist groups that opposed the French and the Japanese during World War II.
..... Click the link for more information. 's revolt against the French, and it became the generic term for the Lao Communists. In 1956 an official party, the Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front) was formed. In the 1960s and early 70s, the Pathet Lao fought the U.S.-supported government and finally won control of Laos in 1975.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Pathet Lao

the name given to Laos by the nationalist movement of Lao Issara (Free Laotian Party) after the anticolonial revolt in October 1945. The United National Front of Laos (Neo Lao Issara), which sprang up in 1950, was also often called the Pathet Lao. By extension, the name was applied to the national liberation movement directed by the front. At present the name “Pathet Lao” is used as another name for the Patriotic Front of Laos (PFL, Neo Lao Hak Sat), formed in 1956.

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References in periodicals archive ?

In May 1975 the Pathet Lao communists gradually orchestrated a takeover of the government in Laos.

Hmollywood Movies: 1.5-Generation Hmong Americans and Transnational Film Production in Thailand

American troops and Vietnamese troops would withdraw from Laos and let the Royal Lao and Communist Lao get together to form their own government, but the Pathet Lao communists and North Vietnamese violated the cease-fire agreement by seizing power in 1975.

Refugees With or Without Papers: Stories of Persecution, Flight, & Resettlement of Two Bilingual Educators

Although a possible artefact of the sources, these accounts predate the rise of the Pathet Lao and raise a question about respective attitudes towards monarchy.

The historical vicissitudes of the Vessantara Jataka in mainland Southeast Asia

By 1964, the Allies began an air campaign against mobile and stationary targets along the route "from southwestern North Vietnam, through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam." Concurrently, air assets were used for CAS missions in support of RLG forces, CIA-supported Hmong tribal forces, and Thai "volunteers." In what became the clandestine ground war in northern Laos, Barrel Roll worked to help the "secret army" hurl back incursions by the PAVN and Pathet Lao. (12)

Dirty little Secret in the land of a Million Elephants: Barrel Roll and Lost War

As the Pathet Lao was on the brink of total victory in 1975, the US evacuated only Vang Pao and his immediate circle.

A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of the Military CIA

Likewise, GVP rose to power during the Vietnam War when the Hmong needed a leader to provide leadership in the fight against their enemies--the Pathet Lao communists and their Vietnamese allies--and a vision of hope for liberation from foreign domination.

Hmong American leadership and unity in the post-Vang Pao era

Chapters 8 and 9 are especially important, the former chronicling the ramifications of a 1960 coup led by Kong Le and his paratroopers as Pathet Lao threats increased and the latter telling of US efforts to ensure that an anti-Communist government remained in power while officials figured out who among many Laotians would be "our boy."

Before the Quagmire: American Intervention in Laos, 1954-1961

supported the Royal Lao government in a civil war in the north against Pathet Lao Communist forces in three ways.

An interview with Channapha Khamvongsa, legacies of war, founder and executive director

A Communist group called the Pathet Lao, which was allied with the North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong, struggled during those long decades -- but eventually succeeded -- in overthrowing the royalist government, which was supported by Thailand, South Vietnam and the West.

The Secret War: Hillary Clinton Visits Laos, Where Hidden Bombs Still Burst

The story begins with an account of French POWs during the First Indochina War, then moves on to discussing POWs taken in Laos by the Pathet Lao. We read of those men captured in Viet Nam by the National Liberation Front and the Viet Cong.

Rochester, Stuart I. and Frederick K. Kiley. Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973

Pending a political settlement with the Royal Lao government, the pro-Vietnamese Pathet Lao, who had fought with the Vietminh against the French, were allowed to regroup in the two northern provinces they already controlled.

Nation building in Laos

During the first Indochina war between France and the communist movement in Vietnam, Prince Souphanouvong helped form the Pathet Lao (Land of Laos) resistance organization committed to the communist struggle against colonialism.