Ho+Chi+Minh

A. Background I. Vietnamese nationalism had existed for centuries. Vietnamese sense of a nation born of common and unique culture and historical expulsions of foreign invaders from China and Cambodia. II. Vietnam once the French colony of Indochina. Throughout the turmoil of the Second World War, Indochina would experience numerous insurgencies and attempts to topple the French government. III. Foreign powers in Vietnam following second World War all drained relative to pre-war years. Metropolitan France in ruins following World War 2 and military infrastructure only just recovering from the damage. Little capability on part of colonial powers to prosecute a long-term engagement abroad. IV. Political inconsistencies in France at the time meant that no cohesive plan could be established in combating an insurgency. The left and right parties of the French republic mired in gridlock and indecision. Little appetite for war, especially for colonies, on the part of the French people. V. Vietnamese forces and Ho Chi Minh supported by Soviet and Chinese funding and military hardware.

B. Ideology I. At heart, Ho Chi Minh was an ardent nationalist. Having lived in the United States of American and England, his education in France would instill a nationalistic fervor that would be the underlying engine of his ideals. II. Cited the Declaration of independence in his plea for self-determination in Vietnam at the Treaty of Versailles (a request that was summarily ignored by Woodrow Wilson) III. While Ho Chi Minh was not necessarily a communist, his education in France had exposed him to socialist ideas and he embraced the doctrine of communism, actively participating in the French Communist Party. IV. Communist ideals further reinforced by time in the Soviet Union and China. Participated in the fifth Comintern congress in 1924. Served as an adviser to the Chinese communist armed forces throughout the 1930s. V. Adopted Maoist ideas of communism, i.e. that revolution could be derived from the disenfranchised peasants rather than the working classes. Believed in comprehensive land distribution. Post-war Vietnam would seem massive collectivization of land throughout Vietnam. VI. Consolidated power as a wartime leader. Knew that while the Vietnamese could not defeat the Americans tactically, American home front sentiment would render ultimate victory possible. VII. Adopted Stalinist/Maoist tenets. Single party system adopted in addition to vetting of candidates and persecution of political opponents. Power of courts limited – Military courts with oversight from the Communist Party the primary means of meting out justice.

C. Degree to which totalitarianism was achieved I. No independent judiciary – military courts that are completely aligned with the communist party serve as the only judiciary institution. II. Established a cult of personality. Image appears on every piece of Vietnamese currency and government offices. Various annual events organized lauding his achievements, political and cultural. III. Publications concerning Ho Chi Minh’s non-celibacy banned. IV. Enacted a campaign against organized religion within Vietnam, imposing severe restrictions on Buddhist hierarchy and the Catholic Church. V. Able to establish the Communist Party as the sole figure in political life in North Vietnam VI. Unable to exert complete control over Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Still subject to decisions and appointments of Communist Party, the determination of which Minch would occasionally disagree.

Methods
 * 1) Vietnamese born, but lived in French (where he developed his Communist views)
 * 2) In his early years, he worked to bring awareness to the Vietnamese people’s rights in French Indochina and spoke out against French occupation.
 * 3) Worked in Moscow as Comintern’s Asia hand and principal theorist on colonial warfare, but his efforts were ignored when speaking to other countries.
 * 4) Organized the guerilla fighters in North Vietnam known as the “Men in Black” and later became the Chairman of the Provisional Government.
 * 5) He became President of North Vietnam when the Democratic Republic of Vietnam relocated to Hanoi and officially became the North’s government.
 * 6) An election was supposed to take place to unify the country but the South and the US, with efforts to completely separate from Communism, rejected the idea. They later made the French the chief sponsor of the South’s government.

Form of Government and Ideology
 * 1) From the beginning, Ho fought for the rights of the Vietnamese people and wanted to remove all French influence with efforts to destroy colonialism altogether.
 * 2) He organized youth classes where he lectured on revolutionary efforts to help spread the ideas of Communism throughout the country.
 * 3) As President, he issued the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
 * 4) When he took the Presidency, he introduced the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam which created uproar from the opposition. However, Ho Chi Minh and his forces fought back
 * 5) He often sought advise from Mao and Stalin to make sure Communism was strong in Vietnam and to help push the foreigners out.
 * 6) From a young age, he hated colonialism and wanted to end colonialism in Asia but also wanted to make sure they didn’t fall to the Chinese, creating an even bigger problem.

Nature, Extent and Treatment of Opposition
 * 1) In his earlier years, Ho wanted help from President Woodrow Wilson to ensure the rights of the Vietnamese people would be protected. However, his correspondence was ignored entirely.
 * 2) During the Independence Movement, Ho peacefully sought help from President Harry Truman, but was again ignored.
 * 3) After much opposition from the South Vietnamese, the US and the French, the North was forced into signing an agreement with them. However, once foreign forces left the area, the North struck again. Ho Chi Minh’s patience with opposition is clearly running thin at this point after previous efforts at peace were ignored.
 * 4) Within his own country, Ho Chi Minh was influenced by Mao and Stalin to impose Communism punishments. He starved, tortured, imprisoned and executed thousands of people who were accused of being landlords.
 * 5) In 1963, he made efforts to make peace with the South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem but refused to make peace with the Americans after Operation Rolling Thunder.
 * 6) He used the fact that American citizens were against the war in his favor and initiated the Tet Offensive in which they failed miserably, however, it helped to break the grip the American’s had on the war.