Lao People’s Revolutionary Party
The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (老撾人民革命黨) emerged in 1955 from the remnants of the Indochinese Communist Party, leading a two-decade insurgency against the Royal Lao Government while supporting North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War. After seizing power in 1975, the party initially pursued Soviet-style central planning before embracing market reforms in the 1980s, influenced by changes in China and Vietnam. Operating under Leninist democratic centralism, the LPRP maintains its constitutional monopoly on power through a hierarchical structure topped by the National Congress, Central Committee, and Politburo. The party adheres to Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, having evolved from revolutionary communism toward pragmatic state capitalism by the 1990s as leaders concluded Laos required economic development before pursuing full socialism.