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Fifty
years ago, on May 7th 1954, the French army surrendered
in Dien Bien Phu to the victorious Vietnamese forces.
The fact that a small nation of peasants was able
to defeat the French colonialists and later the US,
the largest imperialist power in the world is of immense
significance. The struggle of the Vietnamese people
for national liberation and socialism provided inspiration
to colonized and oppressed people all over the world.
Today, Iraqi patriots resisting US and British occupation
forces from Fallujah to Najaf will draw many important
lessons from the people’s war in Vietnam. Why
were the Vietnamese successful? In 1961, General Vo
Nguyen Giap summed up “The Factors of Success”:
“The
Vietnamese people’s war of liberation was victorious
because it was a just war waged for independence
and the reunification of the country, in the legitimate
interests of the nation and the people, and which
by this fact succeeded in leading the whole people
to participate enthusiastically in the resistance
and consent to make every sacrifice for its victory.
The Vietnamese people’s war of liberation won
this great victory because we had a revolutionary
armed force of the people, the heroic Vietnam People’s
Army. Built in accordance with the political line
of the Party, this army was animated by an unflinching
combative spirit, and accustomed to a style of persevering
political work. …It is an army led by the party
of the working class. The Vietnamese people’s
war of liberation was victorious because we had
a wide and firm National United Front, comprising
all the revolutionary classes, all nationalities
living on Vietnamese soil, all the patriots. This
Front was based on the alliance between workers
and peasants under the leadership of the party.
The Vietnamese people’s war of liberation ended
in victory because the existence of people’s
power …under the leadership of the party. It
devoted its efforts to mobilizing and organizing
the whole people for the Resistance; it brought
material advantages not only in the free zones but
also in the guerilla base. The Vietnamese people’s
war of liberation attained this great victory for
the reasons we have just enumerated but above all
because it was organized and led by the Party of
the working class... In the light of the principles
of Marxism Leninism, it was this party which proceeded
to make an analysis of the social situation and
of the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves
in order to determine the tasks of the people’s
national democratic revolution…It was the Party
which found a correct solution to the problems arising
out of the setting up and leadership of a people’s
army, people’s power and a national united
front. It also inspired in the people and the army
a completely revolutionary spirit which instilled
into the whole people the will to overcome all difficulties,
to endure all privations, the spirit of a long resistance,
of resistance to the end…. If the Vietnamese
people’s war of liberation ended in a glorious
victory, it is because we did not fight alone, but
with the support of progressive peoples the world
over, and more especially the peoples of brother
countries, with the Soviet Union at the head.”
(People’s War, People’s Army)
Apologies
to the reader for such a long quote, but it sums up
very well the decisive factors which allowed the victory
of the people’s war for national liberation and
socialism: a just cause, a party an army and a united
front (both of them under party leadership), a revolutionary
theory, international support, and the existence of
an alternative government. The French and US forces
had a great deal of technical know-how but
no sense of political know-why. The decisive
strength of the Vietnamese patriots was their ability
to put politics in command. They relied on a strategy
of politicizing the masses and mobilizing them on
an economic, political and military level. The current
resistance of Iraqi patriots is not comparable to
the Vietcong precisely because they lack their kind
of political leadership. Note that the achievements
of the Vietnamese revolution are not only extraordinary
in terms of a successful struggle for national liberation,
but also on how it rebuilt the country from scratches.
Vietnam
is one of the world’s poorest countries, which
half a century ago was still in the middle of colonialism
and feudalism. It had to go through 40 years of wars
and massive destructions. The US army, in its own
words, brought the country “back to the stone
age”. However, in 25 years of socialist construction,
it was able to achieve more than many countries in
terms of social and economic development. The World
Bank begins its report on poverty in Vietnam by stating
that “the achievements of Vietnam in terms
of diminishing poverty are one of the greatest success
in the history of economic development”.
(Vietnam
Development Report 2004)
From
1945 to 1999, the number of medical doctors has increased
700 times (from 51 to 37 100). Today, Vietnamese people
have a life expectancy of over 68 years against 38
in 1945. Infant mortality is 42 for 1000 births (against
135/1000 in neighboring capitalist Cambodia for example).
The world average of infant mortality is of 83.2.
Economic growth over the last few years averaged 7
percent, and the country aims to become an industrialized
nation by 2020! (Do not forget that a country like
Belgium, for example, took about two hundred years
to evolve from an agricultural to industrial economy.)
The
UN recognizes that in Vietnam “the government
places the individual human being at the center of
development and promotes human potential and the well
being of all”. (International
Development Targets / Millennium Development Goals
Progress - Viet Nam, July 2001) The World Bank
acknowledges that the benefits of economic growth
have benefited the population as a whole rather than
a rich minority. It notes that “the greatest
success of the period of economic growth is that it
has not been matched by greater inequality.”
(Le Vietnam realise ses engagements, Evaluation de
la Banque Mondiale (rapport 2003) in Faites connaissance
avec le Vietnam, ed. The Gioi, Hanoi 2004)
Those
spectacular achievements of socialist Vietnam should
not obscure the fact that there remain many challenges
to face. One of the most significant issues facing
the country is the problem of corruption and bureaucracy.
The Communist Party of Vietnam itself recognizes that
there is not enough struggle against bureaucracy and
corruption. One of the resolutions of its ninth congress
concluded that the problem of corruption was a life
or death question for the party. (Report
on half term of ninth Party Congress's resolutions
announced, Nhan Dan, 4/02/2004)
POSTSCRIPT
On
the fiftieth anniversary of Dien Bien Phu, Vo Nguyen
Giap, the legendary general who masterminded Vietnam's
wars of independence against the French and American
armies, warned the United States in a 90 minutes ‘Message
to the World’s Young People’ that it faced
defeat in Iraq. The 92-years old said Washington would
fail in its bid to impose its will on the Iraqi people.
"Any forces that would impose their will on
other nations will certainly face defeat. And all
nations fighting for their legitimate interests and
sovereignty will surely win," said General
Vo Nguyen Giap. "Everyone in the world should
acknowledge that each country has the right to independence
and sovereignty. Nothing is more precious than independence
and freedom."
However,
he said he was unable to comment on the effectiveness
of tactics used by Iraqi resistance fighters against
US forces. "I haven't had a chance to go to
Iraq and to study the specific tactics there"
he said. Giap, stressed that the US and British aggressors
would not prevail. "It was a benchmark in
the history of Vietnam and it is the first time a
weak colony has defeated a powerful colonialist power,"
Giap said. "Dien Bien Phu was not only a victory
of the Vietnamese people but for many other countries
around the world. It proved that a nation with enough
determination can win against foreign aggressors no
matter powerful they are." (Full
story)
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