Books and Resources on Laos to Explore

Compiled by @DengistDuck with the help of comrades

Introduction and Color Guide

Found text but it is only for purchase
Couldn’t find text at all/Don’t read Lao to know if I found it
Work in Progress

Not everything listed here is pro-communist literature, nor is all of it strictly political.
English resources on Laos are limited and typically skewed by western world views and
blatant anti-communism. Explore and enjoy these texts keeping in mind that we
Marxists should always analyse the world through our own dialectical materialist lense.

If you have links, literature, suggestions, questions, etc. feel free to contact me on twitter.

General Lao History

Evans, Grant
A Short History of Laos
https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/history/A%20Short%20History%20of%20Laos.pdf

Ivarsson, Søren
Creating Laos: The Making of a Lao Space Between Indochina and Siam, 1860-1945
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11MQf3MkyFEPkzZtp5KCz6nmPb_EUJv5S/view?usp=sharing

Laos and the West

Deuve, Jean
1995, La guerre secrète au Laos contre les communistes 1955–1964, Paris, L’Harmattan.

Neo Lao Haksat Publications

1966, 12 Years of US Imperialism Intervention and Aggression
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OMsDD48seysTgsU_GGOGQfGi4Mxlr3PC/view?usp=sharing

Sasorith, Katay D.
Laos - Ideal Cornerstone in the Anti-Communist Struggle in Southeast Asia

**NEW** Vongvichit, Phoumi

1969, Laos and the Victorious Struggle of the Lao People Against US Neo-Colonialism
Pdf:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JVHXxUKZkvDTm9xPjwzHolTbuCaj0KCv/view?usp=sharing
E-Book: In Progress

**MOST RECENT**NEW**Rust, William

Before the Quagmire: American Intervention in Laos 1954-1961
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HmWD1rqXo8nwSU23Wh7LraNMofJLYTOZ/view?usp=sharing

Vietnam Relations

Goscha, Christopher
2004, “Vietnam and the World Outside: The Case of Vietnamese Communist Advisors in Laos
(1948–1962)”, South East Asian Research 12 (2), pp. 141–185
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23750295

Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and Government

Lao PDR Constitution

https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Laos_2003.pdf?lang=en

Rathie, Martin
2017, “The History and Evolution of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party”, Vatthana phoLsena
& Vanina Bouté (eds.), Changing Lives in Laos: Society, Politics and Culture in a Post-Socialist
State, Singapore, NUS Press, pp. 19–55.

**MOST RECENT**NEW**High, Holly

2021, Projectland: Life in a Lao Socialist Model Village
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9-5KS2JxOmOgiZlflefc9NVjyA5IHTj/view?usp=sharing

**MOST RECENT**NEW**High, Holly

2014, Fields of Desire: Poverty and Policy in Laos
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jBV6edxb5XINEvX4pPxOKrsAbXt5z-uU/view?usp=sharing

Kaysone Phomvihane Thought (Marxism-Leninism applied to Laos)

Phomvihane, Kaysone
1980, Revolution in Laos : Practice and Prospects

Buddhism and Socialism in Laos

Ladwig, Patrice & Rathie, Martin
Lao Buddhism and Faith in the Revolution. The Life and Career of Maha Khamtan Thepbuali
(1919-2019) in the Context of Buddhist Socialist Movements
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352906240_Lao_Buddhism_and_Faith_in_the_Revolu
tion_The_Life_and_Career_of_Maha_Khamtan_Thepbuali_1919-2019_in_the_Context_of_Bud
dhist_Socialist_Movements_Bulletin_de_l%27Ecole_francaise_d%27Extreme-Orient_Vol_106_
2

Phinith, Saveng
1977, “Review of Kamtan: Le Saṅgha lao et la révolution”, Bulletin de l’École française
d’Extrême-Orient 64, pp. 317–323.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1977_num_64_1_4915

Souvannavong, Bong
1961, Doctrine Lao ou socialisme dhammique (sangkhom dhamma-dhipatai) pour l’instauration
de la paix, Geneva, no publisher.

Thepbuali, Khamtan
1995, [Lao Monks, the Revolution and the system of the People’s Republic], Speech given at a
conference of the Ministry of Information and Culture, 19.-21.6.1995.
1976 [The Lao monks and the revolution], Vientiane

Vongvichit, Phoumi
1995, [The Man with new properties and the revolutionary morality], Vientiane, State Printing.

SEZ (Special Economic Zones)

Special Economic Zones and Land Dispossession in the Mekong Region

https://th.boell.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/SEZs%20%26%20Land%20Dispossession%20in
%20the%20Mekong%20Region-Update.pdf

Understanding Laos’ Special Economic Zones: Untapped Potential

https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/understanding-laos-special-economic-zones-untapped-pot
ential/

Senedouangdeth, Dexanourath
Special Economic Zone — The Way to Development in Laos, Vientiane 2016.

Social Media and News

Laotian Times
https://laotiantimes.com
Vientiane Times
https://www.vientianetimes.org.la

Lao People’s Army

https://kongthap.gov.la/?lang=en&at=at

Ministry of Science and Technology

https://www.most.gov.la/index.php/en/home

The Lao PDR News

https://laospdrnews.wordpress.com
https://twitter.com/lao_news

Proud to Be Us Laos
https://twitter.com/Proudtobeuslaos

Comrade Duck (me)

https://twitter.com/DengistDuck

Learn Lao Language

My favorite way to learn so far

https://www.livelingua.com/courses/lao

An App to Learn Lao Language

https://ling-app.com

Miscellaneous Stuff I’ve Done

Nkrumah, Kwame
1969, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (single pages)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_TjmNchfN12zXa1pDCSwMM7qOSzRNw_F/view?usp=sharing