With the assumption of power by Phahon on 20 June 1933, it was widely thought that Pridi would be allowed to come back to Siam and play a role in the country's affairs. Since Pridi had been successfully branded as a communist by the royalists earlier in the year, rumours of his return had the effect generating uncertainty about the government's future direction. In response, Phahon hastily made a series of assurances to the palace, and the foreign business community, asserting that his administration "had no communistic leanings, land] would carry on the same moderate