---
title: 'Religious Oppression poster 171e: Communism destroys religion (Thai poster distributed in Bangkok)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/religious-oppression-171e-communism-destroys-religion-thai-1954/
description: A yellow sheet headed 'Communism destroys religion' with a film still of Buddhist figures and a statue holding a telephone.
section: Collection
---

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3. Religious Oppression poster 171e: Communism destroys religion

[![Religious Oppression poster 171e: Communism destroys religion, 1954 US poster: A yellow sheet headed 'Communism destroys](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/religious-oppression-171e-communism-destroys-religion-thai-1954.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/religious-oppression-171e-communism-destroys-religion-thai-1954.jpg)

# Religious Oppression poster 171e: Communism destroys religion (Thai poster distributed in Bangkok)

A yellow sheet headed 'Communism destroys religion' with a film still of Buddhist figures and a statue holding a telephone, plus three photographs of a damaged rail bridge and wrecked train. The text calls the film still evidence of Communist contempt for religion and says Communist soldiers at Battambang derailed a train, machine-gunned 30 monks and burned them. The tell is card-stacking: one reported incident and one film frame stand for a general claim.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (Thai) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ลัทธิคอมมูนิสม์ทำลายศาสนา

ภาพเหล่านี้ แสดงถึงความเกลียดชังและดูหมิ่นศาสนาของลัทธิคอมมูนิสม์อย่างชัดแจ้งยิ่งกว่าคำอธิบายใด ๆ ทั้งสิ้น ภาพบนเป็นตอนหนึ่งจากภาพยนตร์ที่ถ่ายทำในโซเวียตชื่อ "พระพุทธเจ้าพูดสาย" ขวามือเป็นภาพเหตุการณ์สยดสยองที่พระตะบอง พวกทหารคอมมูนิสต์ได้ฆ่าพระสงฆ์ซึ่งกำลังเดินทางกลับไปเยี่ยมญาติโยมทางบ้านเสียถึง ๓๐ องค์ พวกมันทำให้รถไฟตกราง ยิงกราดพระสงฆ์เหล่านั้นด้วยปืนกลแล้วราดน้ำมันเบนซินจุดไฟเผาเสียจนสิ้นชากไปในที่สุด
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Communism destroys religion

These pictures show the hatred and contempt for religion of Communism more clearly than any explanation. The top picture is a scene from a film made in the Soviet Union called "The Buddha Speaks on the Phone". At right is a picture of the horrifying incident at Battambang, where Communist soldiers killed as many as 30 monks who were travelling home to visit relatives. They derailed the train, strafed those monks with machine guns, then poured petrol on them and set them alight until they perished.
```

[← Religious Oppression poster 171d: Cardinal Mindszenty trial (Thai poster distributed in Bangkok)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/religious-oppression-171d-mindszenty-thai-1954/) [Religious Oppression poster 171f: Buddha and Christ caricatures (Thai poster distributed in Bangkok) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/religious-oppression-171f-buddha-christ-caricatures-thai-1954/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.