REVOLT INTO STYLE
People’s Party legacy lives on
Meanings assigned to specific persons and objects change th ro ugh time. Once they were defined as supreme, then redefined as degenerate and consigned to oblivion. The Khana Ratsadon and their legacy in modern art and architecture is a case in point. Yesterday 85 years ago, on June 24, 1932, a group of military officers and civilians named Khana Ratsadon ( People’s Party) staged a coup against King Rama VII, known as the 1932 Siamese Revolution. The bloodless insurrection ended the absolute monarchy and marked the transition to a constitutional monarchy. Many factors were involved, including economic problems amidst the Great Depression and dramatic social changes with a growing middle class frustrated at the privileges of the upper class. Khana Ratsadon introduced the first permanent constitutional law in the same year which formed the basis of Thai democracy. They determined the “Six Principles” which reflected their goals to maintain sovereignty based on people’s power, national security, economic welfare, rights and liberties, equality,
and education for all citizens.
The People’s Party paved way to the first general election for the National Assembly in 1933. Their members then played important roles in government and modernising Siam to Thailand. The core principles of Khana Ratsadon was reflected in its architecture and art, which Chatri Prakitnonthakan, associate professor at Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Architecture, defines as “the People’s Party art”.
Buildings were in simple designs, sometimes taking the form of a box. The lavish details which characterised a lot of traditional architecture, which once served only the elite and religious institutions, were toned down or abandoned. Flat roofs, seen on many buildings along Ratchadamnoen Avenue, were widely adopted. Reliefs of the constitution on a tray — depicti ng the symbolic moment when the first constitution on a golden tray was handed to King Rama VII to sign — can also be found on buildings. Symbolic numbers from the Six Principles and the revolution date appear on Khana Ratsadon architecture such as the Democracy Monument, with such numbers determining its proportions and quantity of elements. The People’s Party architecture reflected an ideology to create an equal society with no privileged upper class. Its style can be compared to modern architecture but originating from quite different purposes. “Khana Ratsadon seized the symbols of existing political beliefs and introduced new ones that challenged the whole tradition,” says Chatri, also author of Art, Architecture, Khana Ratsadon : Symbol of Political Ideology. However, the People’s Party did not last long partly due to internal conflicts among different factions and differences in political belief. The 1957 coup led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat eventually ended the role of most Khana Ratsadon’s member in the country’s administration. The then Prime Minister at the time, Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram — the military faction leader of the 1932 revolution — was forced to exile until his death. The political landscape created by Khana Ratsadon was reversed. Sarit revived traditional royal festivals and ceremonies abandoned after the revolution while persecuting his