The decisive factor was the Viet
Minh French which led and coordinated all the actions nationwide.
ON August 13, following the
defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army by the Soviet Army and the atomic bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US, Japan surrendered. The same day, the
Communist Party of Indochina, met at a national congress and decided to adopt
the following slogans:
- End foreign aggression;
- Seize back national independence; and
- Found the people's power.
Orders were given to combine political and military
action to agitate and to demoralize the enemy, to force them to surrender
before an attack, and to focus on the most important targets.
On August 16, the Viet Minh convened a National
Congress bringing together delegates from many parties, organizations, and
ethnic and religious groups. The congress decided on the following resolution:
"To seize power from
the hands of the Japanese and puppet government before the arrival of Allied
troops in Indochina and receive in our capacity, as masters of the country, the
troops which come to disarm the Japanese".
The problem was pre-emptying the "Allies"
(Chiang Kai-shek, British, French and American) who all wanted to occupy
Indochina in their own interests.
The Congress adopted a 10-point program:
Seize power and found the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam on the basis of total independence; Arm the people. Strengthen the
Liberation Army;
Confiscate the property of the imperialists and
traitors and depending on circumstances, nationalize it or share it out among
the poor;
Abolish the taxes imposed by the French and
Japanese, and replace them with a just and non-punitive budget system;
Guarantee the fundamental rights of the people:
- Human rights,
- Right to private ownership,
- Civil rights: universal suffrage, democratic
freedoms, equality among ethnic groups, and between men and women;
Share out communal land fairly, reduce land rent and
loan interest rates, postpone repayment of debts, and provide relief to victims
of natural disasters;
Introduce labor legislation: an eight-hour workday,
minimum salary, national insurance;
Build in independent national economy, develop
agriculture, and set up a national bank;
Develop a national education system: fight
illiteracy, and introduce compulsory elementary education. Build a new culture;
Establish friendly relations with the Allies and
countries struggling for independence.
A National Committee for Liberation was elected,
with the functions of at provisional government, headed by Ho Chi Minh. He soon
made a moving appeal to the nation:
"This hour is a decisive one for our
nation's destiny. Let us all stand up and fight tenaciously for our own
liberation. Many peoples of the world are rising up to regain their
independence. We cannot lag behind. Forward! Under the Viet Minh banner, let us
march courageously forward"
The Liberation Army promptly liberated the town of
Thai Nguyen. Everywhere mass organizations and guerrilla and self defense units
swung into action. A tidal wave swept the country; in every village and
every town between August 14 and 25, large crowds backed by armed groups laid
siege to administrative offices. The local authorities fled or handed power
over to the revolutionaries. Most of the garrisons of demoralized Japanese or
puppet troops allowed themselves to be disarmed. Only a few cities remained
under occupation: Lai Chau, then occupied by a large French column returning
from China where it had taken refuge during the Japanese putsch of March 9,
1945, and Mong, Cai, Hit Giang and Lao Cai on the Sino-Vietnamese border, then
occupied by Chiang Kai-slick's troops.
In the three major cities of Hanoi, Hue and Saigon,
the swift victory won by the uprising was of paramount importance. In Hanoi, pro-Japanese
agents trying to stem the revolutionary tide, set up a National Salvation
Committee which failed to rally the masses. On August 17, a rally called by the
Federation of Functionaries in support of the puppet government was turned into
a huge demonstration in favour of the Viet Minh by an enthusiastic crowd. A
general strike was launched. On August 19, more than 100,000 people
demonstrated in the streets, and the puppet government was forced to resign and
hand over power to the revolutionaries.
Hue was the royal capital and seat of the
pro-Japanese puppet government. The Viet Minh, to avoid bloodshed, tried to
persuade Bao Dai to abdicate and his prime minister, Tran Trong Kim to resign.
The reactionaries, wanting to hang on to power, were planning to ask the
Japanese command for a 5,000 strong guard, but in order to prevent this, the
people of Hue and surrounding villages, accompanied by armed groups, took to
the streets to demonstrate and occupy various ministries. On August 23, Bao Dai
agreed to abdicate, and the Tran Trong Kim government collapsed. On the 25th, a
delegation from the people's government in Hanoi led by Tran Huy Lieu received
the dynastic seal and sword, the symbols of royal power, from Bao Dai. Bao Dai
became citizens Vinh Thuy.
In Cochinchina, on August 14, pro-Japanese elements
formed a united National Front. The king's envoy from Hue, Nguyen Van
Sam, asked the Japanese to arm the members of this front. However, he was unable
to withstand popular pressure. On August 25, one million people from Saigon and
neighboring areas, protected by armed groups, marched through the city and
established the revolutionary power.
The insurrection had won complete victory throughout
the country.
The August Revolution of 1945 put an end to 80 years
of French colonial domination, abolished the monarchy and reestablished Vietnam
as an independent nation.
The revolution dealt a severe blow to the colonial
system, and along with other movements throughout the world, ushered in the
dismantling of colonial empires.
The August Revolution was characterized by a sound
combination of political and armed struggles, one supporting the other, the
importance attributed to either varying with the circumstances. It showed the
political maturity as well as the capacity for action of the masses and the
leadership ability of the Viet Minh Front and Communist Party. Victory was
achieved thanks to its leadership that had called for the right action at the
right moment, and identified forms of action appropriate to each movement and
each locality. It was also the product of long preparation, both political and
military, that began at the start of the Second World War, and which ended in
creating a strong national union on the basis of a close alliance between the
workers and peasants, and succeeded in inspiring the masses with a courage that
could be held out against all challenges.
The
Founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945-1946)
When World War II ended and Japan surrendered, the
Vietnamese were successful in gaining independence in the August 1945
Revolution. President Ho Chi Minh read the Independence Manifesto to declare
the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at Ba Dinh Square on
September 2, 1945.
French
Aggression in Nam Bo
In the summer of 1945, the French government took a
series of urgent measures aimed at re-establishing French sovereignty in
Indochina following Japan's defeat. On August 16, France dispatched the
Mass Unit and the 9th Colonial Infantry Division with General Leelere as
commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Corps and Admiral Thierry d'Argenlieu,
a Catholic, as High Commissioner for France in Indochina.
On August 23, French troops, among them Cedile, a
delegate from the High Commissioner, were parachuted into Nam Bo (southern
Vietnam). On August 29, Cedile made contact with members of the Nam Bo Revolutionary
Committee and told them France recognized neither Vietnam's Independence nor
its unity. The committee told him that independence and unity had already been
achieved, and that the Vietnamese people would not recognize any form of
colonial administration. On September 2, during a huge demonstration in favor
of independence, French colonialists and their agents hided in church, opened
fire on the crowd, killed and injured 47 people.
On the night of September 22, French troops attacked
Saigon. The war for reconquest had begun. The Nam Bo committee immediately
called on the people to fight back. The slogan "independence or
death" appeared everywhere. On September 26, president Ho Chi Minh
made the following proclamation.
"Let
the Government and our people throughout the country do all they can for the
combatants and people of the south who are valiantly fighting their lives to
safeguard the independence of the homeland."
Units of the People's Army immediately began the
march towards the south.
At the end of January 1946, the French deployed
their armored vehicles and navy, occupied Nam Bo's main cities and
communication routes and those of the southern part of Trung Bo and the Central
Highlands. After an unequal fight, the Vietnamese force pulled out of the
cities to begin organizing the resistance in rural areas. The main resistance
bases were situated in the Plain of Reeds, the Thanh Phu region, Ben Tre
Province, the swampy region of U Minh and the western provinces of Nam Bo,
Vietnam's central government considered that the main task at that time was to
strengthen the resistance in the south as much as possible.
This task provoked incidents in Vietnam's capital
city. On December17, an attack by French troops on Hang Bun Street killed
a hundred people. On December 18, the French Troops occupied the
Ministries of Finance and Communications, and increased their provocation in
the streets. On December 19, the French command sent an ultimatum to the
Vietnamese government demanding the demolition of barricades, the disarming of
self-defense forces, and handing over to French troops of the right to keep
order in the Vietnamese capital.
On the evening of December 19 1946, President
Ho Chi Minh made an appeal to the nation:
“Compatriots”
We want
peace, and we have made concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more
the French colonialists use them to encroach upon our rights. They are
determined to reconquer our country.
No. We
would rather sacrifice all than lose our independence and be enslaved. All of
you, men and women, young and old, whatever your region, ethnic origin, or
political opinion, arise to struggle against French colonialism and save the
homeland. Let those who have guns use their guns, those who have swords use
their swords, those have neither guns nor swords use hoes, pick-axes, and
sticks. Let all arise to oppose colonialism and defend our homeland.... Our
people will win".
The war of resistance, until then limited to the
south, spread across the country. The newly born Democratic Republic of Vietnam
was confronted with a decisive challenge, a war against a heavily armed
imperialist power far superior in strength in the technical and economic
fields.
The
First War of Resistance (1945-1954)
The war of resistance against French colonialist
aggression which broke out on September 25 1945 in Nam Bo, and spread
throughout the country after December 19 1946, marked a decisive stage in an
almost century-long struggle to regain the nation's independence and
democratize the country. While armed struggle came ahead of all other concerns,
economic reconstruction, educational advancement, and the establishing of new
administrative structures remained as the major tasks. While national
liberation was the prime objective, the democratic objectives were no less
important, all the more so since the struggle was led by a party of the working
class and the fact that the worker-peasant alliance constituted the very
foundations of the united national front.
Dien
Bien Phu
Under the leadership of the Indochina Communist
Party and President Ho, the Vietnamese carried out a resistance struggle to
protect their independence. The victory of Dien Bien Phu ended the Vietnamese
resistance war, liberating half of the country.
It was in this revolutionary atmosphere that the Vietnamese
command decided its plans for the winter-spring campaign of 1953-1954. As had
been foreseen, the fierce assaults launched by the enemy into the liberated
areas at Lang Son and Ninh Binh brought poor results, and the French forces
soon withdrew after sustaining heavy losses. Throughout the 1953-1954
winter-spring campaign, fighting had been fierce on all fronts.
The defeats at Dien Bien Phu and in the
winter-spring campaign completed the French government to sue for peace.
The
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference on Korea and Indochina opened
on April 26. Eight states participated in the conference: The
Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, the Soviet Union, Britain, the
People's Republic of China, the United States, Cambodia and Laos, plus the Bao
Dai government.
The principal negotiators were France, Vietnam and
China. The US was there primarily to try to sabotage the conference.
The signed agreements included military and
political provisions. Militarily, it was decided that the forces from each side
would be regrouped into two different zones, north and south of the 17th
parallel, so as to separate the armies which, given the special nature of the
war, had been interlocked like "two combs". A 300 days deadline was
agreed on for achieving this re-groupment.
Politically, the agreements recognized the
independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the three
countries of Indochina. In no way was the demarcation line along the 17th
parallel to be considered as a political frontier. In July 1956, at the latest,
free general elections with secret ballots would give Vietnam a unified
government.
Pending reunification, Vietnam's two zones would
refrain from joining any military alliance. No foreign military bases could be
set up and no new foreign military equipment or personnel could be brought in
either.
Building
the initial foundations of socialism and the struggle against U.S.
Neo-Colonialism (1954-1973)
The agreement stipulated that the southern half of
Vietnam would be handed over to a provisional administration after two years at
the most, and that general elections in 1956 at the latest, would give a united
Vietnam a single government.
However, soon after the agreement were signed,
Washington, with French government consent, set up a neo-colonialist regime in
southern Vietnam with specific counter-revolutionary aims: liquidate the
national revolutionary movement in southern Vietnam, turn the latter into a
military base and colony of the US and set up a military and police apparatus
to serve as an instrument for the enslavement of the south and reconquest of
the north.
The North was led by the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam where the reconstruction of the nation would start. In the South, the
war for national liberation was still going on, which lasted for 20 years.
There
were three definable stages during the period 1954-1975
- 1954-1965: the establishment of the initial
foundations of socialism in the north, and the southern Vietnamese people's
struggle against repression and the neo-colonialist war;
- 1965-1973: the all-out struggle by north and south
against direct US aggression, which ended with the signing of the Paris
Agreements of January 1973;
- 1973-1975: the collapse of the neo-colonialist
regime in the south.
The
Great Spring 1975 Victory
The General Assault of Ho Chi Minh's Campaign
overthrew the Saigon Government on the evening of April 30, 1975.
On May 1, 1975, the workers and citizens of Vietnam,
from North to South, wer
e able to celebrate May Day in a completely liberated
country for the first time ever.
Vietnam has been unified since that time. The
Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Hanoi as the capital, was born.
Since
Reunification
The entire nation overcame the grave consequences of
30 years of war and started rebuilding the country. Now, Vietnam is entering a
new stage of economical development and is striving to raise the annual income
per capita, solidify the economy.