The People Of Vietnam In The Struggle For Independence And Democracy
Reports Presented in 1949 to the Pacific Institute of the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.
The People Of Vietnam In The Struggle For Independence And Democracy
V.Y. Vasilieva Candidate of Historical Sciences
Inspired by the
heroic struggle and the successes of construction in Democratic China, the
people of S.E Asia are rising, arms in hand, in defence of their rights, for
freedom and for an independent existence. The Republic of Viet Nam is marching
in the front ranks of the fighting peoples of S.E. Asia. The three years of
existence of the Republic were years of severe ordeals and difficulties for the
Vietnamese people, but at the same time, they were years of overcoming these
difficulties and of great victories in the path to liberation. It is in the
conditions of a protracted colonial war that the Vietnamese people are waging a
struggle for the final assertion of their independence and the creation of a
people’s Democratic Republic. It is in a difficult and complex situation, under
conditions of almost incessant military operations, that the Republic of Viet
Nam is realising its first steps on the path of democratic construction.
As a result of the defeat of imperialist Japan by the Soviet Army on August 17, 1945, the creation of an independent Democratic Republic of Viet Nam was triumphantly proclaimed by the League of Struggle for the Independence of Indo-China and a Provisional Government headed by the President of the Republic. Ho Chi-Minh, was formed. The Republic comprised of the territory of Tonkin, Annam/ and Cochin-China, inhabited by the Annamites. The territory of the Republic at the moment of its creation consisted of 328,000 sq. Kilometres out of a total area of 750,000 sq kilometres of French Indo-China, i.e., a little less than half the territory of the whole French Indo-China. The remaining areas of Laos and Cambodia, with a numerically small population did not join the Republic.
Viet Nam’s
independence was not recognised by the French imperialists who opened military
operations against Viet Nam. However as a result of the three years’ war, the
military position of the Republic was strengthened, Viet Nam stood the
onslaught of the Anglo-French interventionists, who relied upon first-class
American military technique. It put up a dogged resistance to the aggressors
and is continuing to conduct successful offensive battles.
By the third anniversary of the proclamation of independence, almost the entire countryside, without exception, was in the hands of the Republic. The French succeeded in capturing only the big towns, the railway centres and certain mining districts. However, although considerable French armed forces are also concentrated here, the imperialists do not feel safe.
In his appeal to
the people and troops on the third anniversary of the Republic, Ho Chi-Minh
defined the territory controlled by the Republican Government as equal to 95
per cent of the entire territory, with a population of 20 million. Thus only 5
per cent of the territory of Viet Nam was in the hands of the imperialists. The
troops of the interventionists are sustaining great losses in men. The Republic
was able to organise an army of resistance which began to be formed already in
the struggle against the Japanese occupiers, and now during the course of
almost incessant battles, has been transformed into a big military force, both
in respect of quality and quantity.
Viet Nam’s regular army comprises of no less than 150,000 soldiers and officers. When the Republic had just begun its resistance to the Anglo-French interventionists, its arms were most primitive, consisting for the most part of knives and bamboo-sticks. At the present time, the Viet-Namese Army is supplied with modern firearms. It uses the weapons captured in the battles against the foe; the Government of the Republic has organised the production of arms and military supplies. In the factories and in the numerous workshops that have been switched over to war production automatic rifles, mines, mine-throwers and anti-tank grenades are being manufactured. The entire territory of the Republic is divided into ten military zones. The army representatives and representatives of the partisan ranks confer at regular meetings for an exchange of experience of struggle and for working out further plans of resistance.
The Republic was
able not only to form a strong disciplined army, with fighting capacity and to
furnish it with supplies but also to elaborate the tactics of a new war, which
consists in the combination of military operations of a regular army with the operations
of numerous and constantly fighting partisan detachments, which can also be
rapidly organised once again at the approach of the enemy. These tactics are
based on the exceptional mobility and manoeuvring capacity of the Republican
Army, on its adaptability to the climatic conditions and knowledge of the
locality.
The military
forces of the Republic are not limited only to the regular troops. The partisan
detachments, which have accumulated great fighting experience, also represent a
big resistance force; they comprise of more than 300,000 fighters.
Both the army as
well as the partisan ranks rely upon every kind of support from the majority of
the population. Even the French invaders have been compelled to recognise the
exceptional heroism and valour of the fighting Vietnamese people, which is manifested
daily in big and small tasks. The French troops carry out savage terror on the
population of those territories of Viet Nam temporarily captured by them. They
burn those villages whose inhabitants are suspected of entertaining sympathy
towards the partisans. They torture and execute the captured partisans. The
French troops are employing more and more base methods to undermine the economy
of Viet Nam. For example, in the province of Nam Din, north of Hanoi, the
French “Ambhibion” armoured cars trampled for several weeks upon thousands of
acres of rice fields; in the provinces of a Hai Duong and Tai Ngyuen, the
French troops burnt down thousands of barns of rice and destroyed hundreds of
heads of cattle. In the provinces of Fun-En and Vin- En French aeroplanes shot
down Viet-Namese peasants who were fortifying river dams.
Beginning with the
spring of 1947, the military operations in Viet Nam are increasing. The head of
the French General Staff was specially dispatched to Indo-China with the aim of
reorganisation and rebuilding the military forces of the imperialists, who were
fighting against the Viet-Namese people.
The development of
military operations is undoubtedly bound up with the successes of the offensive
of the Chinese people’s Liberation Army. The northern part of Viet Nam, Tonkin,
borders upon the province of Yunan, Kwangsi and Kwantung. The victorious advance
of the Chinese People’s Liberation forces in the South evokes fear amongst the
imperialists. The French imperialists and their American masters think that
there is no time to be lost and they are intensifying their efforts in the
struggle against the Republic and are still reckoning on succeeding in smashing it.
It is necessary to
take into account the fact that Viet Nam and Indo-China as a whole are included
in the sphere of American expansion. In the first place, as an extremely
suitable position for American expansion in S. E. Asia and in China, Indo-China
interests the U.S.A. At the same time, the U.S.A. looks upon French aggression
in Viet Nam as an integral part of the struggle of the imperialist camp against
the national-liberation movement in the countries of Asia and the Far East.
American
imperialists are not merely following intently the events in Viet Nam but are
also actively intervening in their course.
The French
reactionary newspapers write openly of American interference. For example, the
French newspaper Combat wrote: “The
representative of the State Department of the USA has affirmed that the
American Government has many times conducted negotiations with the French
Government apropos the Indo-Chinese problems.” Combat also reported on the active participation of the USA in the
formation of a puppet Government of General Ngyuen-Ksyu-An in Cochin-China and
also in the “restoration” of the Annam Empire headed by Bao Dai, which the
French imperialists are now attempting to establish in Indo-China.
The Republic of
Viet Nam is existing and developing under the conditions of severe imperialist
intervention, under the conditions of incessant war. And it is just because of
this that the economic position of the Republic remains difficult as before and
the results of Japanese occupation cannot be removed. The French administration
and the years of occupation by the Japanese imperialists, have plundered and
destroyed the economy of Indo-China. Indo-China has sustained dual
oppression—that of French and Japanese imperialism. The economy of Indo-China
was brought to a state of collapse. Direct military operations in Indo-China
caused further damage to transport, to the ports and aerodromes. A great deal
of transport equipment and oil installations were destroyed, mines were smashed
and towns and plantations suffered. When the fight of the interventionists
against the Republic of Viet Nam began, the military operations of the French
interventionists placed the economy of Indo-China on the verge of a heavy economic catastrophe.
The Second World
War led to a considerable weakening of the economic and political positions of
French imperialism in Indo-China. In the pre-war period, Indo-China was a
supplier of raw materials and food products to France and to the world market.
The export of raw materials and foodstuffs out of Indo-China was a source of
super-profits for all possible kinds of French colonial import and export firms
which retained the entire trade of Indo-China in their own hands. During the
Second World War and after it, the trade and production of many products fell
considerably in Indo-China. Formerly, Indo-China produced nearly seven million
tons of rice yearly, out of which it exported an average of 1,800,000 tons
annually. Now the production of rice, even according to the official figures,
has declined by a half. Indo- China produced nearly 70,000 tons of rubber
yearly and the entire production for 1947 consisted of only 15-20 thousand tons.
The dropping out
of a considerable part of the territory of Indo-China from the power of French
imperialism and its passing over to Viet Nam and into the hands of the people,
the attempt of the Republican Government from the very first days of its existence
to reconstruct the economy of Viet Nam on the basis of an independent economic
development—all this constitutes the biggest blow to the imperialist order, a
new step of the formerly enslaved peoples on the path of their final
liberation. All this testifies to a further sharpening of the crisis of the
colonial system.
The Government of
Viet Nam was forced to carry out democratic construction and democratic changes
in the conditions of colonial war imposed by the imperialists. This has left
its impress on the whole life of the young Republic of Viet Nam, and compels all
the efforts of the people and the Government to be directed, above all, for
repulsing the enemy who is the cause of the extreme difficulties of the
Republic in the work of construction. It is only in the measure of the
fulfilment of the most primary military tasks in the struggle for driving out
the imperialist invader that the Government could go over to the solution of
the urgent, national economic tasks, e.g. to the restoration of destroyed
transport—the most important condition
for the defence of the Republic and restoration of its economy. The Government
set about the consolidation of the extremely disorganised finances, the
introduction of currency reform, the reorganisation of the tax system, and in
the first place, the poll-tax which always places heavy burdens on the toiling
section among the population, was removed.
The democratic
Government of Viet Nam paid special attention to improving agriculture—the
basis of the economy of Viet Nam. As a result of Government measures,
agricultural technique and, in particular, the rice cultivation improved. In
the Ministry for Agriculture a special department of assistance to the peasants
has been created, which gives money loans to the peasants. The State also
renders assistance to the peasants by giving them working livestock.
The Republican
Government has begun introducing land reform. The situation with respect to the
land in the three regions, which form the Republic of Viet Nam is not uniform.
Tonkin is a region with extremely dispersed small-scale landholding. The number
of proprietors, possessing parcelled-out land upto one mou13 and from one to five mou comprise 91.5 per cent. Till the Second World War, there went
on an uninterrupted process of the peasants being deprived of land, and under
the pressure of worsening economic conditions, they lost their last bits of
land.
The main figure in
the countryside in Tonkin and North Annam was the peasant-proprietor of a tiny
piece of land, which could neither feed its owner nor his family. Much of the
land was concentrated in the hands of the French imperialists, the local landlords,
in the hands of the usurer and kulak sections in the countryside. The situation
with respect to the land in South Annam was similar to the situation in Cochin-China. It was here that there developed
notably the process of the expropriation of peasant landownership, and the big
French and native estates were formed. In Cochin-China an enormous amount of
land was concentrated in the hands of the French, who seized not less than 25
per cent of the entire cultivable land of Indo-China.
The central figure
in the countryside of Cochin-China was the landless peasant sharecropper. The
petty and middle proprietors in Cochin-China comprised an insignificant
minority and were provided with small amount of land. Alongside this, 2.5 per
cent out of the total number of proprietors in the Central and Western
provinces of Cochin-China owned 45 per cent of the entire area of rice fields.
As yet there are
no exact figures which would characterise the change in land proprietorship
which took place during the years of Japanese occupation. The change proceeded
on the lines of a still greater concentration of land in the hands of the
landlords, the usurers and the village kulaks and the peasant masses losing
land on a still greater scale.
The Government of
the Republic in taking into account the importance and the acuteness of the
agrarian question and attempting to lighten immediately the position of the
peasant, introduced in the first place a reduction in the rent by 50 per cent.
In many districts of the country, the rent, which was extortionate and far too
heavy for the peasant, exceeded two-thirds of the harvest. This gave rise to a
further impoverishment of the peasants and intensified their enslavement by the
landlords and usurers. The Government of Viet Nam has also prohibited usury.
The common land was re-alloted among the peasants. The common lands had once
belonged to the village communes. When French imperialism began to rule in
Indo-China, the common lands virtually passed over into the hands of the
village top stratum; the village authorities and the well-off sections of the
countryside seized them. In Tonkin in the pre-war period, 231,000 hectares of
common land was conserved, i.e., 21 per cent of the land under rice, in Annam 25
per cent and in Cochin-China only 3 per cent of the whole.
The
distribution of the common lands among the peasants deals, above all, a blow to
all well-to- do semi-feudal strata, who virtually controlled these lands. In
the conditions prevailing in Tonkin, it is essentially this measure of the
Republican Government which alleviates the difficult position of the Tonkin
peasantry since the new land area is assigned to a tiny peasant allotment. In
Cochin-China with the existence of an enormous mass of completely landless
peasants and with a very small stock of common land, this measure cannot, of
course, lead to any marked results.
13 Mou is equal to 0.36 hectare.
The measures of
the Government of the Republic, directed towards easing the conditions of the
peasantry and improving the conditions of the peasantry and improving the
conditions of agricultural production, open for the peasantry of Viet Nam the
path to a new and better life. As a result of these measures, which have
already begun to be carried out in practice, the position of the peasantry has
begun to improve.
Even in the
conditions of war, the Democratic Government of Viet Nam is paying great
attention to the organisation of labour and the position of the workers.
The Government is
helping in the development of trade unions. A General Confederation of Labour,
uniting 250,000 organised workers has been formed. The trade unions control the
execution of laws on labour through the formation of committees of workers in
every enterprise and committees of employees in every institution. In actual
practice, the workers of the Republic of Viet Nam work in a new way in the
enterprises and plantations which are in the hands of the Republican
Government. Quite often the workers have worked voluntarily and without
remuneration over-time in order to increase war production. The workers are the
soul of the military resistance. They not only themselves participate with
enthusiasm in the reconstruction of the country, but also draw the broadest
strata of the toilers in the struggle and in construction.
In the Republic
there is developing the movement of patriotic emulation, which mobilises the
efforts of the workers for resistance to the enemy and for a rise in
production. The workers of Viet Nam are putting in all their energy in their
work and are inspired by the task of the complete emancipation of their country
from French, American and British imperialists, of the consolidation of the
republican structure and its victory over the entire territory of Viet Nam.
The People’s
Committees are the basis of the new State system in Viet Nam. The People’s
Committee is the organ of power in every administrative unit—in a province,
canton, district and village. The People’s Committee are elected through
universal elections with secret ballot. The members of the Committee carry out
their work as social work, without receiving any remuneration for it.
The People’s
Committees render tremendous aid to the Government in carrying out all social
and economic measures, and also in the sphere of the development of culture,
notably in the fight against illiteracy. It is necessary to emphasise the fact
that the Republic of Viet Nam has achieved great successes in the fight against
illiteracy. Formerly, the percentage of illiterate people comprised
approximately 85-90 per cent but after three years of the Republic existence,
it has fallen to 40 per cent.
The achievement of
the people of Viet Nam testify to the fact that the Republic of Viet Nam is
laying the foundation of the People’s Democratic State.
The fight for
independence and democratic construction is being carried out by the people of
Viet Nam under the leadership of the working class. The struggle of the
Indo-Chinese people has passed through several stages in the years of the
Second World War and in the post-war years. The progressive forces fighting
consistently for the achievement of complete independence rallied together, and
the exploiting classes and strata left the movement and took up anti-popular
and treacherous position.
The rallying
together of the national forces in the struggle against the Japanese
occupationists found its expression in the formation, already in 1941, of the
League of Struggle for the Independence of Indo-China, the Viet Minh, under the
leadership of Communist Party. The Viet Minh was headed by the
leader of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party, Ho Chi-Minh. The Viet Minh united a number of progressive political parties, including also the Communist Party and a number of mass democratic organisations. The Viet Minh embraced the various classes of Indo-China, who aspired for national emancipation.
The slogan of
nationalistic propaganda, proclaimed by the Japanese, found response chiefly
amongst the feudal and semi-feudal elements, among the bourgeois top stratum,
which had till the war been linked with the French colonisers and during
war-time along with them served the Japanese invaders. All kinds of French and
native businessmen and speculators grouped round the Bank of Indo- China,
amassed enormous profits even during the war years and profited from the want
and hunger of the toiling masses.
The activities of
the Japanese occupiers, their rapacious plunder evoked the hatred of the
majority of the Indo-Chinese population.
The creation, in
August 1945, by the masses of the people of an independent Viet Nam, headed by
the Viet Minh, was a further step in the consolidation of the unity of the
people of Viet Nam on a democratic basis. The spirit and the leading force of
the Viet Minh are the Communists. They are the directing force in the trade
unions and other mass organisations. They are at the head of the struggle
against imperialism and are carrying out democratic changes in the Republic.
At the head of the
Government of the Republic is the oldest, most popular and beloved leader of
the Indo-Chinese people, the founder of the Communist Party of Indo-China, Ho
Chi-Minh. There are a number of Communists in the Government of the Republic.
The general
elections in January 1946 to the National Assembly brought complete victory to
the Viet Minh which won 230 out of the 300 seats. The remaining seats were
secured by the parties which had not joined the Viet Minh (the split-away
section of the Party Dong Min Hoi, Kuok Zan-Dang and other smaller groups that
had not joined the Viet Minh).
In spite of all
the efforts of the French colonisers to disrupt the elections, even in occupied
Cochin-China under the conditions of the most brutal terror, 90 per cent of all
the voters voted. The people, received for the first time in their history, the
right of free participation in political life, and displayed an exceedingly
high consciousness and political activity.
The overwhelming
majority of the voters cast their votes for the Viet Minh which expressed the
interests of the broad masses of people and is now the Government Party of the
Republic. However, other parties and non-party are also represented in Ho
Chi-Minh’s Government.
At the moment of
its formation, the Ho Chi-Minh Government elaborated a programme of immediate
actions and measures. Its main points are: a determined struggle for complete
independence and territorial integrity of Viet Nam, the consolidation of
national unity, the extension and strengthening of democratic liberties, the
reorganisation of area administrative government, a radical improvement in the
workers’ conditions of work the raising of their material well-being,
improvement in the conditions of the peasants.
The National Front
of Viet Nam unites the main masses of the Veit-Namese people. The working
class, the peasantry, the urban poor, the artisans, the intelligentsia, the
petty and middle urban bourgeoisie have joined it.
The leading force
of the united National Front of Viet Nam is the working class headed by the
Communist. The working class of Viet Nam has rich revolutionary traditions. It
is not accidental that the centre of the political life of Viet Nam is
concentrated in Tonkin and Annam. Tonkin is the centre of the industrial life
of Indo-China, the citadel of the working class.
Already the first
world war laid the foundation for the development of the industry of
Indo-China. With a relatively weak national bourgeoisie, there was formed here
a national proletariat which was mainly concentrated in transport, in the light
and mining industry, in the big towns and in the plantations belonging to the
imperialists. The brutal colonial exploitation for a long time has been
impelling the working class to struggle. The Great October Socialist Revolution
was a powerful impetus for the advance
of the national-liberation movement in Indo-china. The struggle of the Chinese
people for independence and for a democratic development also contributed to
revolutionising the toiling masses of Indo-China by serving as an example for
them. With the twenties, a strike movement began developing in Indo-China. In
1930, there emerged the Communist Party of Indo-China, unifying the first
Communist groups and organizations that had arisen since the twenties.
The emergence of
the working class and its struggle laid the foundation for the mighty advance
of the national-liberation movement in 1930-31. By the Second World War, the
Indo-Chinese working class had acquired the experience of a struggle for the
leadership of the national-liberation movement; at the head of the working
class, as its guide and leader marched the Communist Party of Indo-China. The
working class has fought and is fighting most consistently for the independence
of the entire Viet-Namese people. The proletariat marched in the front ranks of
the popular movement of resistance to the Japanese occupiers, it headed the
national democratic revolution and created a democratic Republic. It is leading
the struggle against the French invaders and is the pioneer of democratic construction.
The working class
is leading the vast masses of peasantry, interested in a radical change in the
regime of colonial oppression and a solution of the land question—the most
acute and fundamental question of the colonial revolution. The peasantry of
Indo-China has always led a miserable semi-starved existence, since the tiny
parcelled land, belonging to the peasant or the tiny parcelled land rented by
him cannot feed his family. The position of the peasantry worsened extremely
during the years of Japanese occupation and the intervention of the French
imperialists which then followed.
In close alliance
with the working class and the peasantry, which constitute the basis of the
national front, march the numerous urban poor. The petty and the middle
bourgeoisie and a considerable section of the intelligentsia also is drawn
inside the National Front. Under the leadership of the proletariat, all these
strata are waging a struggle against imperialist aggression and for the
complete emancipation of the people of Viet Nam.
Though the
struggle of the people of Indo-China is, in the first place, directed against
imperialism and against its attempts to restore the colonial regime,
nevertheless, the big bourgeoisie, frightened by the democratic character of
the popular movement headed by the proletariat, has openly taken to the path of
betrayal of its people.
At the time of the
proclamation of independence, not only the big bourgeoisie but even a section
of the feudalists were prepared to join the Republic, thinking that they would
manage to retain their class domination in an independent Viet Nam and obstruct
the development and the deepening of the revolution. But as soon as the
People’s Democratic character of the liberation struggle, led by the
Communists, was defined, there began a rapid departure of the
bourgeois-landlord “fellow-travellers” of the democratic Republic.
The compradore
bourgeoisie, which has always been closely linked with the French imperialists
and, at the same time, with the feudalists and the landlords, collaborated with
imperialism and was its support in the same manner as the big industrial
bourgeoisie which is numerically weak and has, at the present time, joined
hands with the French occupationists.
All these
exploiting anti-popular classes and strata are now also collaborating with the
French invaders. They are utilising the difficult economic position of the
Republic, by continuing all kinds of business deals and speculation in order to
increase their fortune. They are helping the French imperialists in the
struggle against the Republic of Viet Nam. It is from just these treacherous
elements that the imperialists are forming the “puppet governments” in the
territory of Viet Nam.
By utilising the
top stratum of the bourgeois-landlord parties and groupings and through their
Right leaders, the French imperialists are attempting to disrupt the national
front. A section of the Party of Kuok-Zan-Dang, which had not joined the Viet
Nam and in particular its Right leadership, as well as the pro-Kuomintang
leadership of the Party of Dong-Min-Khoi, formed on the territory of South
China in 1942 from among the Annamite emigres, are helping the French
colonisers to realise their aggressive plants.
The entire policy
of French imperialism in relation of Viet Nam is determined by a constant
endeavour to stifle by all means the young and still not consolidated Republic,
and to restore the regime of colonial oppression. However, the designs of
suppressing the struggle of the Viet-Namese people with armed force have failed
completely; the war has become protracted, and victory and advantage passing
more and more to the republic. The successes of the struggle of the people of
Viet Nam and the difficulties of military suppressing the Republic have forced
the French colonisers to pass over to a policy of intricate, treacherous
manoeuvres, by means of which they hope, by round-about ways, to achieve the
very same aim—the stifling of the republic. The Agreement of 6th
March, 1946 was the first manoeuvre of
the imperialists. In accordance with this, the French recognised the Republic
of Viet Nam as a part of Annam and Tonkin, as an independent State with its
Government, its Parliament, army and finances, forming alongside with other
parts of Indo-China, the Indo-Chinese Federation, which was to join the French Union.
The question of
the entry of Cochin-China, which was occupied by the French, as well as that of
Annam and Tonkin, inhabited by the Annamites, joining the Republic was to be
decided by a referendum of the population. As the sympathy of the population of
Cochin-China was certainly on the side of the Republic of Viet Nam, and as the
outcome of the referendum was clear to the imperialists, the French colonisers
hastened to declare Cochin-China an autonomous Republic and set up a
government, from among the landlords and the representatives of the national
big bourgeoisie and obedient to their will, and intensified the military
operations against the Republic of Viet Nam.
The reply of the
people was a broad partisan war, embracing the whole of Cochin-China. The
resistance of the people in revolt forced the colonisers to resort to new
manoeuvres. The so-called modus vivendi was
followed—the new provisional Agreement of September 14, 1946, in which the
independence of Viet Nam was once again confirmed. This agreement provided for
the cessation of military operations in Viet Nam and the resumption of
negotiations for concluding an agreement on economic, political, and other questions.
However, even in
December 1946, immediately after the conclusion of this Agreement, the French
imperialists did not for a minute cease to despatch more and more troops into
Indo-China. They recommenced the war and are carrying it on to this day.
After the
Government of Viet Nam declined the unsuitable and shameful “conditions of
Peace” proposed by France in April, 1947, the French colonisers resorted to new
manoeuvres and provocations. They decided to put back into Viet Nam, the former
Emperor Bao Dai who dreamt of restoring the puppet Annamite Empire which had
been abolished at the time of the creation of the Republic in August, 1945.
The imperialists
began prolonged preparations to restore this French protege, on whom they
placed great hopes as an instrument for disrupting the people’s liberation
movement. The French colonisers attempted in every way to foment separatist
sentiments in different parts of Indo-China, which was directed against the
Republic of Viet Nam. The nationalistic groups, specially create by the
imperialists for this purpose, put forward the demands for restoring Bao Dai.
Although the
leaders of the seceded sections of the Kuok-Zau-Dang and the pro-Kuomintang
Dong-Min-Hoi, formally came out against French imperialism, they, in actual
practice, created in January, 1947, along with former Emperor Bao Dai and under
the wing of the Kuomintang in Nanking, the so-called “United National Front of
Viet Nam” around which all the treacherous anti-popular elements grouped
themselves. It was here that the hostile actions, directed towards undermining
the Republic and the unity of the people of Viet Nam were organised. The
American imperialists sent their agents to this centre in order to operate,
through it, against the republic of Viet Nam. The United National Front of Viet
Nam, i.e., the front of the traitors and betrayers along with the newly-created
police and nationalistic groups, was to become the prop of Bao Dai and his
French masters.
At first it was
decided to create a temporary “transitional government” of General Ngyuen-Ksu-
An, the obedient executor of the wishes of the French imperialists. By
creating, alongside the legitimate Ho Chin-Minh Government of Viet Nam elected
by the people, the puppet “Government” of Ngyuen- Ksu-An, the colonisers wanted
to deceive the world democratic public opinion, dupe the people of Viet Nam,
split the national front of Viet-Namese people, and undermine its power of
resistance.
In the beginning
of June, 1948, the so-called French-Vietnamese Agreement was signed between the
former Supreme Commissioner of France In Indo-China, Bolaer, and Bao Dai, who
spoke shamelessly in the name of Viet Nam” France, in accordance with the agreement
with its stooge, recognised the “independence of Viet Nam” which joined the
French Union. The puppet Government was obliged to conclude various agreements
with France on economic, military, financial, cultural, and other questions.
Apart from the
officially published agreement, a secret agreement was concluded which was
exposed by the Republican press of Viet Nam. Its main points were the
following; Viet Nam was not to have any independent financial system. It could
not pursue an independent foreign policy, it could not possess its own army.
The Viet Nam police forces were to be under French control.
The “Government”
of General Ngyuen-Ksu-An helped the French colonisers and their masters across
the Oceans, with all their powers, to restore and strengthen their positions in
Indo-China that had been weakened in the war years. But this so-called “Government”
did not have any support among the people, among whom it evoked only hatred and
contempt.
The French
imperialists decided to replace this Government by Bao Dai, thinking that this
trick would cause a bigger effect than the assiduous activities of the traitor
Ksu-An.
Next, on March 8,
1949, the so-called “French-Viet Nam Agreement” was signed in Paris by the
President of French Republic on the one hand, and the “Emperor” Bao Dai, on the
other. Both the Agreements, that of 1948 and of 1949, are in essence not
different from each other. According to the new agreement, Viet Nam will also
be granted the so-called “independence”, within the framework of the French Union. Viet Nam can have,
with the consent of the President of the French Union, its representatives in
certain States (they have in mind the countries of S.E. Asia). In Viet Nam a
national army is to be created with French officers and French engineering and
technical personnel. The General Staff of Viet Nam must be led by French
guidance. Viet-Nam is obliged to purchase all war material for her army from
France. Viet Nam must concede to France a number of strategic points. France
retains all the advantages in the economic and financial spheres.
Is there any need
to point out that with such an agreement, the colonisers want once again to tie
Viet Nam to the chariot of French imperialism and to resurrect the regime of
old colonial oppression there?
Finally, there followed the act which, in the opinion of the imperialists was “conclusive”.
Bao Dai, the
roving “Emperor”, reared by the French Governor-General, returned to the part
of the territory of Indo-China occupied by the imperialists in May 1949.
The French
reactionary Press made all efforts to represent the Agreement with Bao Dai as a
forced ‘concession” and “compromise”. In actual practice, it is a document
“formalising’ the restoration of the rule of the imperialists over Viet Nam.
The new Agreement
evoked indignation among the people of Viet Nam. The military court of the
Viet-Namese Republic issued an order for the arrest of traitor Bao-Dai who was
visiting Indo-China. Not long before this, the democratic Government of Ho
Chi-Minh published a list of criminals and traitors of the Viet-Namese people.
Among them is also mentioned the head of the puppet “Government” Nagyuen-
Ksu-An, who was subject to arrest and trial for betraying his people.
The democratic
public of France also appraises these so-called agreements as a direct refusal
by the French Government to settle French-Vietnamese relations in a peaceful
way, with the lawfully elected popular Government of Ho Chi-Minh and approach
them as a policy of further conducting the war in Viet Nam.
The events which
took place in the Republic of Viet Nam show the growth in the political consciousness of the working masses. The
Government of General Ngyuen-Ksu-An was still-born; even more still-born is the
regime of Bao Dai, which is hated by the people. The people of Viet Nam are
behind their lawful, genuinely popular Government of Ho Chi-Minh and are not
ceasing the struggle even for a single day.
In spite of the
compromise of the landlords and the big bourgeoisie with the imperialists, in
spite of the treachery of the nationalistic groups and sections, the existence
of a broad and stable unity of the people of Viet Nam, in the struggle against
the French imperialists, is an undoubted fact, which is characteristic of the
situation in Indo-China. This unity ensures the stability of the Government of
Ho Chi-Minh which has constantly been leading the struggle of the people and
the construction of the Republic from the moment of its formation.
The French
imperialists also widely utilised the multi-national character of Indo-China
and the tried methods of fanning national hatred and antagonism of one people
against another. They exerted all efforts in order to contrapose Laos and
Cambodia to the Republic, and retain them as “kingdoms” completely subservient
to French imperialism. This was facilitated by the fact that the monarchist and
semi-feudal elements, which represent a considerable force in Laos and
Cambodia, have always been the prop of French imperialism, have always been
closely linked with the French administration and have
always
executed its will. However, the partisan struggle is also beginning to embrace
Laos and Cambodia, where till now the French imperialists had considered their
position to be firm and reliable.
The struggle of
the people of Viet Nam shows that the basis of the French colonial system which
has existed for more than 100 years is crumbling and that the crisis of the
colonial system of French imperialism is deepening.
French
Imperialism, at whose back stands Wall Street is unable to restore its position
in Viet Nam. It is the American imperialists who are more and more openly
taking to stifling the freedom of the people of Viet Nam and this is proved by
the fact of the trip to Indo-China by Bullitt who had prepared the deal with
Bao Dai. There is no doubt that the imperialists will also try in future by
various ways and insidious methods to impede the movement of the people of Viet
Nam towards victory.
The Republic of
Viet Nam and its heroic people are and will be confronted with great
difficulties and dangers. But the successes of the struggle of the Chinese
people, the development of the struggle of the people of S.E. Asia, the support
for the Republic of Viet Nam of all the progressive forces of the whole world,
led by the Soviet Union are factors which facilitate the path towards victory.
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