People's Democracy

30th Anniversary Of The Anti-Imperialist

Triumph Of The People Of Vietnam

Anil Biswas

THE victory celebrations of the people of Vietnam are being observed all over the world between April 19 and May 3, 2005 on the slogan of ‘peace and unity.’  The main programme would be held in Ho Chi Minh City formerly Saigon.  Just as the ten days between November 7 and 17, 1917 (October Revolution) remain etched in the annals of history as the ten days that shook the world, so are the five days between April 29 and May 3, 1975, marked out to the peace-loving people of the world as the period marking the success of the triumphal march of the freedom-loving people.

April 29, 1975 saw the city of Saigon put under siege by the freedom fighters.  On April 30, they liberated Saigon from the hands of the US occupationists.  The dream of Ho Chi Minh regarding a unified Vietnam was thus fulfilled.  On May 1, the Khmer Rouge liberators freed Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The Pathet Lao fighters liberated Vientiane, the capital of Laos.  With these triumphs, the Indo-China peninsula itself was liberated from the control of US imperialism.

The liberation saw the commencement of a new era of peace and solidarity.  The commencement of the 30th anniversary of that historic triumph of the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and the sacrifices the people made is built around the principal slogan of ‘peace and unity.’  The saga of the people’s struggle will ever be remembered in history.

When the 30th anniversary of the triumph is being celebrated, the world situation has undergone qualitative changes.  There is a worldwide effort for unity and understanding.  However, there has been no change in the outlook of the forces of US imperialism, a country which caused the death of 30 lakh men, women, and children of Vietnam, and which saw 58 thousand of its own soldiers die there.  The US imperialists are relentless in carrying out missions of death in Iraq and Palestine.

FINAL DEFEAT OF THE US FORCES

Journalist, John Pilger wrote about the ten days preceding the liberation of Saigon.  He wrote that in order to realise Ho Chi Minh’s dream of a united Vietnam, the people’s army of Vietnam surrounded Saigon from three sides on April 20. (April being the first month of the Vietnamese New Year).

The US ambassador, Graham Martin declared that he would not desert Saigon in the thick of the night.  He declared over the Saigon TV station that ‘Any body could see that I have not packed anything to leave the place.’  He pointed out that he has been in Saigon to look after the US interests in the whole of Asia, and he reminded viewers that he had lost a son in Vietnam.  Martin said that despite his attack of pneumonia and consequent difficulty in speaking he had spoken to the US administration to send out more B52 bombers.  He assured the puppet ‘patriots’ that they would be able to live with full dignity. 

Even as he spoke, the puppet president of South Vietnam, Nguyen Thieu took shelter in a bunker dug underneath the ‘embassy tree’ planted by the French imperialists a hundred years ago.  Within two days of Martin’s declaration that the war had entered a fighting phase, each house of Saigon saw the Red Flag fluttering aloft with at least a couple of people’s army fighters standing guard in the doorways of the houses. 

The US embassy had been torn apart with rocket attacks of the Vietnam liberation army.  Of the much-vaunted B52 bombers, all of them were shot down much ahead of the Mekong delta by the people’s liberation army of Vietnam.  Only a helicopter was allowed to slip through to fly out the US ambassador and Thieu.  The helicopter could land with difficulty in the US embassy grounds—and the ‘embassy tree’ had created a great hindrance to its landing.  Martin and Thieu fled the city in that overcrowded helicopter containing dozens of ‘brave’ US troops. 

Entering Saigon on a bicycle, the Polit Bureau member of the then Workers’ Party of Vietnam (later the Communist Party of Vietnam), Le Duc Tho made straight for a napalm-devastated house, climbed onto its roof, and there wrote the song of triumph of the Vietnam liberation struggle.

The US historians have been engaged in analysing the reasons why the US forces had a debacle in Vietnam. Dr Keith Taylor writes to say that the people of the USA started to hate the war in Vietnam and started to hate themselves.  During the war itself, the anti-war outlook of the US people saw the emergence of a permanent anti-war forum there.  Despite the newness of tactics adopted by the successive US presidents, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, the US citizens could not be made enthusiastic about the so-called US internationalism in Vietnam.

AGRARIAN REVOLUTION & NATIONAL LIBERATION

During the new phase of the war following the fall of Dien Bien Phu, in 1954 till April of 1975, when the US carpet bombed Vietnam, the US citizens came out like the freedom loving people of other countries to remonstrate against the war efforts of the US.  There was a consequent increase in the hatred among US citizens about the war in Vietnam just as it caused the morale and the inspiration of the Vietnam freedom fighters to go on increasing.

Some historians hold that the US committed a grave blunder by setting up the puppet regime of Nguyen Din Diem.  The US had committed the error again in the cases of Shah Pehlavi in Iran, Suharto in Indonesia, and Pinochet in Chile.  Historians like Taylor held that Ho Chi Minh emerged in post-1945 Vietnam as a natural leader. 

Ho Chi Minh inspired the people of Vietnam with the theory that communism and national liberation movement were not mutually alienated from each other.  The people of Vietnam were motivated in the national liberation struggle chiefly by the policy and aim of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the task to tackle the problem of land reforms.

Ho Chi Minh put it very simply and in an eloquent manner that the hunger of the people of Vietnam would not end until the agrarian revolution of the agricultural land of Vietnam was accomplished.  Ho created outlines of both the agrarian revolution and national liberation movement at the same time.  To conduct the liberation struggle, the Communist Party of Vietnam formed three fronts: military front; diplomatic front; economic front. The US-sponsored puppet government concentrated its attacks on the peasants of Vietnam. 

Of the 40 thousand political workers imprisoned between 1954-1958, most were peasants. Of the political workers killed during this period, too, most were peasants. A principal theme of the Vietnam War was the strategy of the liberation war to re-distribute land versus the US strategy of centralising land parcels. Thus, the triumph of the liberation war saw the establishment of the agrarian revolution.  The democratic Vietnam was transformed into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

OPEN LETTER OF THE US WAR VETERANS

The task of reconstruction is going at full tilt in the Socialist Republic now.  Among those who are most interested in the task of socialist reconstruction are those very soldiers who had once marched to occupy Vietnam.  The US veterans of the war in Vietnam have issued an open letter to the people of Vietnam on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the triumph of the people in that country. The open letter states:

“As citizens of the United States of America -- many of us American veterans of the war in Vietnam – we wish to convey our highest regards and our congratulations to the people of Vietnam on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the end of the war on April 30, 1975.

“In respect for the memory of the more than 58,000 American military personnel and civilians and our allies who died in Vietnam, and the three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians who perished during the war, we wish to express our deep sympathies and our heartfelt condolences to all families on all sides who lost loved ones during the conflict – and all those who survived the war but with debilitating injuries and lifetime disabilities.

“We cannot change the past and erase the tragedy of the war, but together we can work for a better life for our children and for future generations.  The Vietnamese often say, with forgiveness and sincerity, ‘Close the past and open the future.’  We thank the Vietnamese people for this gracious and generous attitude.”

LAST WILL OF HO CHI MINH

Today Vietnam has opened its doors to the world and has been advancing through the proper implementation of Marxism-Leninism for the defence and development of socialism. The people of Vietnam are resolute in the task of fulfilling Ho Chi Minh’s last will.  The last will of Ho Chi Minh for the people of Vietnam and which was broadcast from Hanoi radio station on September 6, 1969 carries a special significance on the 30th anniversary of the triumph of the people of Vietnam against US imperialism.

“This year, with my 79 years, I count among those ‘few’ people who pass the age of 70.  Still, my mind is lucid, though my health has somewhat weakened in comparison with previous years.  When one is on the wrong side of 70, health deteriorates with age—which is not surprising.

“But who can forecast for how long I can continue to serve the revolution, the motherland, and the people?

“This is why I leave these few lines, in anticipation of the day, when I shall go to join the venerable Karl Marx, Lenin, and other revolutionary elders.  In this way, our compatriots in the whole country, the comrades in the Party, and our friends throughout the world will not be taken unawares.

“First, I will speak about the Party: Thanks to its close unity and total dedication to the working class, the people and the motherland, our party has been able, since its foundation, to unite, organise, and guide our people in a fierce struggle, and lead them from victory to victory.

“Unity is an extremely precious tradition of our Party and people.  All comrades from the central committee down to the cell, must cherish the unity of thought and action of the Party as the apple of their eyes.

“Within the Party, to achieve broad democracy and to practise self-criticism and mutual criticism regularly and seriously is the best way to consolidate and develop unity of thought and action within the Party.  Genuine affection should prevail among all comrades.

“Ours is a Party in power.  Each Party member, each cadre must be deeply imbued with revolutionary morality, and show industry, thrift, integrity, uprightness, total dedication to the public cause, exemplary selflessness.  Our Party should preserve its entire purity, it should remain worthy of its role as the leader and the very loyal servant of the people.

“The members of the Union of Young Workers and our young people as a whole are of excellent spirit, eager to volunteer for vanguard tasks, undeterred by difficulties, striving to progress.  The Party must give attention to their education in revolutionary morality, and train them to continue the building of socialism, both ideological and scientific.

“Training and education the future revolutionary generation is a highly important and necessary task.

“Our labouring people, both in the plains and the mountain areas, have for ages suffered hardships, feudal and colonial oppression, and exploitation.  On top of these, they have had to endure many years of war.

“Yet, our people have shown great heroism, great courage, ardent enthusiasm, and a boundless capacity for hard work.  They have always followed the Party since it came into being, and they have always been loyal to it.

“The Party must work out a good plan for economic and cultural development with a view to the constant raising of the living standards of the people.….

“About the world communist movement: Having dedicated my life to the cause of revolution, the more proud I am to see the growth of International Communist and workers’ movement, the more deeply I grieve at the dissensions that are dividing the fraternal parties.

“I desire that our Party shall do its best to contribute effectively to the restoration of unity among fraternal parties based on Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, in a way consonant with the requirements of heart and reason.

“I am sure that the fraternal Parties and countries will come together again.

“About personal matters: Throughout my life, I have, wholeheartedly and with all my strength served the motherland, the revolution, and the people.  If I should now depart from this world, there is nothing, that I regret having done.  My only regret is not to be able to serve longer and better.

“After my passing away, great funeral ceremonies should be avoided in order not to waste time and money of the people.

“Finally, to the whole people, the whole Party, the whole army; to my nephews and nieces, young people and children, I leave behind my boundless affection.

“I also convey my friendly greetings to the comrades, friends, young people, and children of the world.

“My final wish is that our whole Party and people, closely united in the struggle, shall build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic, and prosperous Vietnam, and make a worthy contribution to the world revolution.” (INN)