Chit Phumisak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chit Phumisak (Thai: จิตร ภูมิศักดิ์, 25 September 1930 – 5 May 1966) was a Thai author and poet.

Born into a poor family in Prachinburi Province, east Thailand, he nevertheless made it to study philology at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

As his writings were antinationalist and progressive, they were seen by the harshly anti-communist government of Sarit Thanarat as a threat to the state. He was arrested in 1957 as being a communist like many other intellectuals, and after 6 years in jail he was found not guilty by court and came free.

In 1965 he joined the Communist Party of Thailand, who had their headquarter in the jungle of the Phu Phan mountains of Sakhon Nakhon Province. On May 5 1966 he was shot dead by villagers near the village Nong Kung in Waritchaphum district. His body was burned, but it took till 1989 before his remains were finally kept in a stupa within the nearby Wat Prasittisangwon after a funeral ceremony.

His most influential book was The Face of Thai Feudalism (โฉมหน้าศักดินาไทย, Chomna Sakdina Thai) which was written in 1957 under the pseudonym Somsamai Srisootarapan. Other pen names used by Chit include Kawi Kanmuang and Kawi Srisayam.