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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

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The Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection, accessible at the Asian Reading Room, contains some unique items from the Cold War era; specifically, documents produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA) and disseminated in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. This blog features the USIA Cold War-era Thai collection and a series of posters, “Communism or freedom?

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-