ABSTRACT
Until the period of absolute monarchy came to an end in 1932, there were no business associations of purely Thai citizens. Businesses in Thailand were controlled by European and Chinese firms. The 1932 revolution which brought an end to the absolute monarchy stirred economic nationalism among the well-assimilated Sino-Thai and native Thai merchants. A few months after the revolution, a group of these merchants formed the first business association of Thai citizens, the Siamese Chamber of Commerce. Ethnic Chinese constituted the core of the business and laboring classes in Thailand and by 1917 made up about 10 percent of the total Thai population. A series of legislative measures came into effect which either nationalized or reserved certain businesses only to Thai citizens or to firms in which government agencies or Thai citizens were major share holders. The adverse effect of economic nationalism on the Chinese was reinforced by unscrupulous crackdowns on the organized activities of Chinese communities.
