ABSTRACT
The Communist movement in Laos is organically inseparable from the Communist movement in Vietnam. This is why Laos's present leaders, in speaking of the history of the movement, refer to the party that gave it direction. The Lao People's Revolutionary party had had to camouflage itself behind the patriotic front to avoid offending the strong popular feeling in Laos that Vietnam was a foreign country with imperialist ambitions. Ho Chi Minh implemented the strategy of establishing a base area along the Vietnam-Laos border from which to launch the Communist revolution in Laos, as opposed to relying on the hit-and-run raids from Thailand mounted by Souphanouvong's followers. Kaysone Phomvihane is officially said to have become a member of the Indochinese Communist party (ICP) in 1949, but Lao sources claim he was not only a member much earlier but also a candidate member of the ICP Central Committee.
