The uprising was undoubtedly driven by the actions of the university students, but the role of other forces in favour of them should also be mentioned. These include intra-armed forces rivalry, especially between the army and the navy, and a series of wildcat strikes by common labourers and civilian workers in August and September 1973, both of which helped to create an atmosphere that was conducive to a change in the ruling government.[16]
While the uprising did not change the role of the king, it did emphasise his position as a final arbiter between opposing forces. King Bhumibol appointed Judge Sanya Dharmasakti as prime minister and formed a committee to draft the constitution. In December 1973 the king also appointed a 2,346-member National General Assembly that elected a new 299-member National Legislative Assembly to replace the old one. More importantly, the king has remained a key reference point for the Thai people since then.[17]
The role of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) within the student movement is unusual as it had no visible influence on the events on October 1973. The CPT also failed to incorporate the students into their struggle for a number of reasons. First, the nature of the students prevented their recruitment. The majority of university students were from middle class or lower-middle-class backgrounds and enrolled in university to obtain jobs in the bureaucracy.[18] Further to this, Gawin Chutima, an ex-communist, argues that students were firmly locked into the Sakdina ideology and were subordinate and obedient to older and socially superior person.[19] In addition, the CPT pursed a Maoist line, which called for the revolution to take place in rural areas first. The CPT did not consider students to be appropriate elements to the vanguard of revolution. They saw the students as weak-minded and undisciplined, a view which they did not change even after the crackdown in October 1976.[20] Nevertheless, after the events of October 1973, the CPT began recruiting in the universities by publishing books and writing articles on campus. This was most evident in an article on the NSCT newspaper which called for armed struggle as the only way to change society for the better.[21]
The toppling of the regime by the student movement ushered in a period (1973–1976) in Thai politics termed “democratic”. However, in hindsight the period was not democratic in most senses of the word. The strong resurgence of the right-wing and the military in late 1974 began a program of politically motivated assassinations of prominent peasants, farmers and student leaders. Ironically, after the end of the Thanom regime, the political repression that forced radical students to toe the NSCT line also dissipated. This led to the breakup of the student movement into disparate parts.[22]