IETNAM is a small S-shaped

country in south-east Asia
bounded by China on the
north, Laos and Cambodia on
the west and the Pacific Ocean
(South China Sea) on the east.
It has an area of 127,000 square

miles.

Almost three-quarters of the
country consists of mountains
and highlands. The plains are
extremely fertile and produce
two and often three crops a
year. Main granaries are the Red

River delta in the north and the
_ Mekong River delta in the South.

Hot and humid

The climate is hot and humid
with heavy summer rains. No-
vember and December are the
finest months for visitors.

Vietnam’s population is about
30 million, with 16 million living
in the. North and 14 million in
the South.

The country has an ancient
history going back over 4,000
years, but like Chinese history,
the early “records” often consist
of myths instead of facts. Skip-
ping this period of legends. it
may be said that Vietnamese
history can be divided into four
main sections as follows:

}, Chinese (Han) feudalism ruled

the country for more than
1,000 years, from 111 B.C. until
939 A.D. and this was a period
of intense struggle for indepen-
dence.

At times the Vietnamese won

temporary victories and enjoyed
brief respites (the great insur-
rection of the two Trung sisters
in 40 A.D. brought three years
of freedom) but always the hat-
ed Hans came back to renew
their oppression.

Han feudalism

Although 10 centuries of Han
feudalism made an indelible im-
print on Vietnamese culture,
their attempts at assimilation,
so successful elsewhere, failed
completely with the Vietnamese.

IETNAM a sketch

2, For more than 900 years, from

939 A.D. to 1862, Vietnam re-
mained independent. It was not
a peaceful period, however.

In the 13th century the Mon-
gols, whose empire then extended
over half the known world with
China as “the middle bead of
the necklace”, invaded Vietnam
on three occasions. Each time
they were beaten back.

Again-in the 15th century the

Ming dynasty in China waged a-

tong war of invasion, but the
Vietnamese army and_ people,
under the brilliant leadership of
Le Loi, repulsed them time and
again and eventually smashed
the enemy completely.

The 16th century to the 19th
century was a period of internal
wars; one of the bitterest was
between the Trinh landlords in
the North and the Nguyen land-
lords in the South,

Internal wars

During this period great peas-
ant uprisings took place; in the
second half of the 18th century
the Tay Son peasant movement
not only defeated feudal forces
at home but rallied the people
to drive out Manchu invaders
from abroad.

3, In the 19th century French im-

_perialism was on the march.
It had helped found the Nguyen
dynasty in 1802, and gradually
increased its influence until it
finally achieved the complete oc-
cupation of the country in 1862.

Despite numerous patriotic up-
risings, this colonial occupation
lasted until 1945.

Under French rule, Vietnam
was turned into a prison. Illiter-
acy was practically universal; the
peasants were crushed under a
burden of debt. In 1940 the Japa-
nese fascists, unopposed by the
French, moved in to further
exploit the Vietnamese people.

Between 1940 and 1945 the
Vietnamese people, under the
leadershin of the Indochinese
Communist Party, fought back
fearlessly and many armed in-
surrections were staged.

In August 1945, the people

Se

responded to Ho Chi Minh’s call
for a general uprising and freed
their entire country.

4, Hardly had the Vietnamese

people begun national recon-
struction when the French colo-
nialists began a war to extermin-
ate the new-born republic.

To avoid all-out war if possi-
ble, the people’s government
made various concessions and
signed agreements with the
French, all of which the latter
quickly broke.

French beaten

Finally, when a_ nation-wide
war broke out on December 19,
1946, President Ho Chi Minh
made an appeal to wage unre-
lenting war against the French
until freedom was won.

The French counted on an easy
victory. They seized the cities
and towns, proclaimed the war
was almost won. But everywhere
the people fought back tenacious-
ly and the war dragged on year
after year, constantly increasing
in intensity.

In France, people began to
oppose the “dirty war.’ The
French government reshuffled its
military leaders in futile at-
tempts to bring the unpopular
war to a quick conclusion.

Instead, their own military po-
sition became more unstable, and
they had to call for greater
American aid. The U.S. imperial-
ists, who had their own plans
for taking over Vietnam, were
only too glad to comply—for a
price. ,

Dien Bien Phu

All the world knows how the
war reached its climax at Dien
Bien Phu — that “impregnable”
fortress which was a key centre
in the joint American-French
“Navarre Plan.”

General de Castries surrender-
ed Dien Bien Phu on the night
of May 7, 1954. The following day
the Geneva Conference opened
to discuss the cessation of hos-
tilities in Indochina.

5 minorities in t

“In this world the ills of man may nul
tens of thousands,

But nothing that can befall him is worse t

loss of freedom.”

O WROTE HO CHI MINH,
the revolutionary, poet and
_ Philosopher in his Prison
Diary. The words help to ex-
plain the man whose life-long
struggle to win independence and
freedom for his country has:
made him a legendary figure.

“Uncle Ho” had just celebrated
his 70th birthday when I first
met him in 1960. He was circling
among the guests at a reception
preceding the Third Congress of
the Workers’ Party of Vietnam,
and stopped to clink glasses and
chat with me (in English) for a
few moments.

He was plainly dressed in light.
weight jacket and trousers, his
bare feet in rubber sandals. Un-

pretentious, friendly, yet shrewd

withal; a man of bamboo and
steel, able to bend or stand un-
flinchingly as the situation re-
quired. He is a man who laughs
as gaily and infectiously as a
child; a man who has conquered
countless hardships, spent years
in jail, served the cause of the
revolution tirelessly and devoted-
ly all his adult life.

He was born in Central Viet-
nam May 19, 1890. At the age of
20 he took a job as cook’s helper
on a French ship sailing from
Saigon to Marseilles. Later he
worked on many ships and lived
in England, the U.S. and France.

While in London he worked in
a restaurant under (a long way
under) the great Escoffier.

In Paris he published Le Pari-
ah, an anti-colonialist paper, and
contributed to other papers. He
became one of the founders of

the French Communist Party in
1920.

From 1927 he worked in many
European countries (Belgium,
France, Germany, Italy, Switzer-
jand, Soviet Union). In _ the
course of his travels he learned
to speak half a dozen languages.

Ho Chi Minh returned to Chi-
na and in 1930 founded the Indo-
chinese Communist Party.

After the outbreak of the Sec-
ond World War he returned to
Vietnam and led_ resistance
struggles against the Japanese
when they occupied the country.
He was arrested by Chiang Kai-
shek forces near the China-Viet-
nam border while travelling to
make contact with tne Allies in

China, and was jailed fo"
years.

In 1945, under his lea
the Vietnamese people #
a general insurrection an
power from the Japane
cists. 4
He led the Vietnamesé q
in the~- resistance wal &
French colonialists and ¥”
terventionists (1945-1954).

On New Year's Day,
received a greeting care
President Ho Chi Minh a
ten replies to questions |
asked him. Pertinent to
is a comment he made ©
situation in South VietM

“At present, the Amer
perialists are feverishly ~*
fying direct armed intel)
in South Vietnam in an 4
to destroy our souther®
patriots’ patriotic movem,.
expand the war of aggres).
South Vietnam with a Vy
sabotaging the Geneva
ments, prolonging the P*
of Vietnam, sabotaging P*
Indochina and South-east

“The American impe
brazen acts of aggressi
creating a dangerous tem
South-east Asia.

“But with the South Vi
people’s close unity and |
struggle, with the unif
singlemindedness of the
Vietnamese people in thé
gle for the peaceful reun
of the country, with the $
of the peace-loving people
world, in the end the
imperialists will certainly |
feated, the Vietnamese
will certainly be victori0

EACE—LAND-—BREAD. This

slogan is known to all. But

at a certain time in a certain
area in North Vietnam the
Communists, taking into account
local conditions, rallied some na-
tional minorities under the slo-
gan, “Salt—Wood—Liquor.”

This was during the period of
French colonial rule in the north-
west mountain region inhabited
by ethnic minorities, where serf-
dom was widespread and slavery
had not been completely abol-
ished.

Salt was scarce in the high-
lands and the French, who had
the salt monopoly, sold it through
their appointed agents at a high
price. As late as 1935 the price
of one pound of salt was 15
pounds of rice in some areas.

The Meos, Lolos, La-chis and

other mountain-top dwellers oft-

en used burned bamboo ash as:

a substitute for salt. The hated
French used salt as a rather
efficient tool in their fight against
the people’s revolutionary move-
ment—withholding salt to those
minority groups which gave aid
to the revolutionaries.

Inevitably, the demand for salt
became one of the revolutionary
slogans of the time.

The right to cut wood freely
became a second popular slogan,
directed aaginst the French over-
lords.

As for liquor—the people de-
manded less, not more! The
French, holding the monopoly on
alcohol, introduced a system of
forced consumption. Seven litres
a day per person was the quota
set.

“Any village not buying seven
litres for every registered citi-

February 21, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—P!

zen will be regarded as eng44
in smuggling, and the not
of this village will be punis
said an official pronounce
published in 1934. “The sum
for the quantity of alcoho
livered — whether it is act
all sold or not -— must be F
nec

tion, and the right of the P'
to make home-brew.

* * *.

The principle of eq
among all nationalities has
upheld by the Democratic R'
lic of Vietnam since the da
its birth. The Constitution cl
ly states:

“The DRV is a single
national State.

“All the nationalities livi