U.S. Information Agency, “[Propaganda flier depicting two images of work in Thailand; one of forced labor under Communism and the other of family-based agricultural labor under freedom].” [1966]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
“Communism or freedom?”: Thai Anti-Communist Posters at the Library of Congress
The USIA Cold War-era Thai collection alone contains 175 items in a variety of formats: posters, school textbooks, election materials, pamphlets, manuals, leaflets, comic books, and political cartoons. The earliest materials were from 1951 while the latest was from 1969.
Topics covered in the collection include major Cold War-era concerns: communism and anti-communism in Southeast Asia and the world, the Vietnam War, U.S.-Thai relations, the Thai military, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organized (SEATO) and the United Nations. Less contentious topics include Thai agriculture and fisheries, culture, Thai Buddhism and religion, health care, rural affairs, development, modernization, infrastructure, science, industry and America. In general, the materials promoted the Royal Thai Government and the U.S.’s stance on the Cold War as well as U.S.-Thai relations.
Among the items, one poster series stands out, “Communism or freedom?” In this series, each poster contrasts starkly negative images of communism to overly positive portrayals of life in the “free world.” The following are images of some posters from the series that make this comparison.
In the first poster, the left portion depicts life under “Communism,” with a caption that reads: “The communist government trains children to be spies by taking [them] from [their] parents for protection; not letting the parents of the child conceal crops that it ordered be given to the State center.” The caption on the right portion of the poster depicts life under “Freedom” in Thailand with a caption that reads: “A family that is happy, content and wealthy is the firm foundation of the nation.”
U.S. Information Agency, “[Propaganda flier depicting two images of transportation in Thailand; one of checkpoints and soldiers under Communism and the other of buses and highways under freedom].” [1966]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.In the fifth poster, the caption on the left “Communism” portion reads: “In communist China there is a compulsory system separating families, sending the husband one way, the wife the other way, the children another way, everyone working as hard as slaves.” The caption on the right “Freedom” portion reads: “The life of the family is happy and content that father, mother, child and grandchild are living all together which is the foundation of the existence of we the Thai people; making [it] firm and bringing forth security to the nation.”
The Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection posters and comic books may be unique for including data sheets on the printing of each item: these tell where the items were printed (invariably Manila), in how many copies (hundreds of thousands in Thailand to millions in South Vietnam), the date of printing, and to where they were sent (US embassies in the respective countries). The USIA’s printing program may be related to the Franklin Book Program, another Cold War program.
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