In the study of Communism in Thailand, political behaviour is a more important consideration than ideology. Cultural “change” and “continuity” in a wartime society constitutes an important factor for understanding postwar Communist movements in Thailand. In this article the author presents two theoretical views. Marxist ideology was quite a departure from traditional prewar Thai values, perhaps for this reason, spread more easily among the Chinese and the Vietnamese in Thailand than among the Thai people themselves. In terms of political activity, however, it is possible to delineate three major genealogical lines of Thai Communist movements, related respectively with Chinese, Vietnamese, Lao and Malayans living in the country.
The first line descends from the Indochinese Communist Party of the 1930's in Northeast Thailand, and runs through the wartime anti-Japanese Free Thai movement, the postwar movements of the leftist groups of the Free Thai, the Free Laos, and the Free Khmer, which volunteer munitions support for Viet Minh guerrilla activities and the Northeast Thailand Liberation movement. The second line of descent, in Central Thailand, commences with the Nanyang Communist Party and Siam Communist Party of the prewar period, and continues through the anti-Japanese salvation drive of the Chinese and the Free Thai movement of World far II, as well as with activities of the Chinese Democratic League, the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang and the Central Labour Union of the postwar period. The third genealogical tree, in South Thailand, originates with the prewar anti-government movement of Malayan-Islam, and branches out to include the leadership activities of the Thai Communist Party and Central Labour Union, in addition to the Malayan People's liberation movement, commencing just after the Calcutta Decision in early 1948.
These three lines were linked together by the Central Labour Union and the Constitutional Front, which included the Thai Communist Party and the leftist Free Thai. At the same time, the nationalist movements of the Lao-Thai in the Northeast, of the Chinese-Thai in the Cities of Central Thailand, and of the Malay-Thai in the to a unified Thai movement, accompanied as they were by the development of an assimilation policy, and the diffusion of innovative ideas among the people. Under the anti-Communist policy of the Phibul Cabinet, however, Communist leaders were arrested, executed or forced to flee to China, where they started new movements, such as a Thai people's peace appeal and Thai people's liberation movement under the leadership of Communist Chinese organizations.

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