The struggle of Ho Chi Minh was always a nationalist one, he admitted this by saying ''it was nationalism that drove me, not communism''. This is true, because proletarian internationalism was never enforced by the leadership of the Workers Party of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. By 1946, the Japanese imperialists were defeated and Indochina was split in three nations. The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos became monarchist states, while Vietnam became a French puppet state with the name State of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh and his League for the Independence of Vietnam allied themselves with the French in 1945, to prevent 200.000 Chinese nationalists from entering Vietnam to disarm the Japanese. However they soon realized that the old colonialists never wanted independence for Vietnam. So in 1946 the First Indochina War began, which lasted until 1954!
Nationalism drove the Vietnamese into the arms of Ho Chi Minh. Many young peasants joined with the Viet Minh to fight the French colonialists and their collaborators. Between 175.000 and 300.000 Vietnamese nationalists died during these nine years of conflict. The French lost 75.000 troops and the nations Cambodia and Laos 18.000. After losing so many soldiers, the French decided to abandon Indochina in 1954. But they would only leave if Cambodia and Laos remained monarchist and South Vietnam had to become a capitalist state. Ho Chi Minh agreed and although many nationalists opposed it, Vietnam was divided!
Because Ho Chi Minh agreed to split the nation, he lost the support of many radical nationalists inside the Politburo of the Workers Party of Vietnam. Although Ho became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, he was outmatched by the radical nationalists who decided to create the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam ( NLF ). Unlike Mao Zedong in China, Ho never held absolute political power. He was portrayed as absolute leader by the propaganda of the communist party, but in reality he was very moderate in both speech and lifestyle. Still he oversaw very cruel land reforms that killed many innocent land owners. Today it is estimated that 71% of all victims were innocent and only killed because they owned land!
Vietnamese nationalism rose very high when the USA replaced the French as foreign imperialists. The Americans used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to send soldiers to Vietnam. A year earlier the military of South Vietnam staged a coup that killed dictator Ngô Đình Diệm. This autocratic president took power in 1955 and led South Vietnam until the military turned against him. Many today believe that the Americans were behind the coup, as the CIA played a large role in brining the South Vietnamese military to power. After this was accomplished, the USA used the incident at the Gulf of Tonkin to send troops to the south, to fight the National Liberation Front or Viet Cong as they were called by the anticommunist media!
The USA lost more then 50.000 soldiers in Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. After many protests against the war, president Richard Nixon was forced to abandon South Vietnam. Although armed with superior weapons, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam collapsed to the might of the NLF and People's Army of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ). On 30 April 1975, soldiers from North Vietnam under NLF flag entered the southern capital of Saigon. With the capitulation of South Vietnam, both nations were reunited as the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam in 1976!
For the first time in almost 100 years, Vietnam was independent both politically and economically. However the new Stalinist state was totalitarian and very bureaucratic. Like all states who base themselves on the single party system, the ruling communist party was the only party allowed to rule. Until 1988 there were other political parties active in Vietnam, but they were forced to be part of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front. Two political parties worked with Ho Chi Minh's party, the Democratic Party of Vietnam and the Socialist Party of Vietnam. But they were never allowed to criticize the ruling communist party and those who did were soon silenced!
China and Vietnam became political enemies over Cambodia. This nation used to be a monarchy until right-wing republicans created the Khmer Republic in 1970. The new republic was very unstable and challenged by the Red Khmer led by Saloth Sar or Pol Pot as he was called. Saloth Sar led the Communist Party of Kampuchea, a very closed and secretive party who's leadership believed in secrecy. By 1975 the forces of Saloth Sar were able to defeat the right-wing republican government and created Democratic Kampuchea. Saloth Sar became Brother 1 known as Pol Pot. However unlike Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot was a radical Khmer nationalist with a deep hatred for Vietnamese. Khmer nationalism was the driving force behind the Communist Party of Kampuchea as Vietnamese nationalism was to Ho Chi Minh. Pol Pot hated the Vietnamese because of ancient racial hatred between ethnic Khmer and ethnic Vietnamese!
Mao Zedong supported Pol Pot against the moderate Stalinist government of Vietnam. When the government of the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam took side in the Sino-Soviet conflict, Beijing cut off relations with Hanoi. After Mao died in 1976, his successors remained supportive to Pol Pot who started to attack Vietnamese towns and villages. Although Vietnam was able to drive the Red Khmer out, Hanoi soon had enough of Pol Pot's racism. On 25 December 1978, 120.000 Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia to end the rule of Pol Pot. What they discovered was a massacre. The Red Khmer had murdered at least 1,5 million Cambodians, some claim that 3 million died between April 1975 and December 1978!
Pol Pot fled into the jungle were he died in 1998. Vietnam installed a puppet government called the People's Republic of Kampuchea which was never recognized by the international community. Pol Pot's diplomats were allowed to remain in the United Nations until 1993, when the UN took political power in Cambodia and transformed it back to the current corrupt monarchy. Vietnam was international isolated by the United States of America and the western world. Like Cuba, an economic embargo was put in place to keep Vietnam poor. Only the Soviet-Union was able to provide some materials, but this could not help the Vietnamese economy. After only 11 years under a planned economy, the rulers of the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam started with capitalist experiments!
After Vietnam invaded Cambodia, the Chinese wanted to teach the Vietnamese a lesson. On 17 February 1979, 400.000 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army entered Vietnam. However like the French and Americans, the Chinese underestimated the Vietnamese who rallied against the Chinese invader. After a month of heavy fighting, the Chinese retreated back to their borders. Although both China and Vietnam claimed victory, its became clear that that the PLA was not able to conquer Hanoi. The People's Army of Vietnam was able to hold the mighty People's Liberation Army at bay. The number of casualties is unknown as both sides use the war as propaganda. China claims to have lost only 8.000 soldiers while Vietnam said they lost 62.000 soldiers!
Both ''socialist'' nations are still led by old ethnic mistrust. China is drilling for oil in the South-Chinese Sea, causing massive anger in Vietnam. Vietnamese nationalists use the drilling as proof that China does not respect Vietnam. In May 2014, a nationalist demonstration against China ended in a rampage. Vietnamese nationalists destroyed factories and shops owned by Chinese, Taiwanese and even Koreans. The state-capitalist government of Vietnam gave these nationalists permission to demonstrate, but was unable to stop them from destroying property. The PRC claims the Vietnamese government did nothing to stop these nationalist vandals from rampaging Chinese business. 20 people have been killed including 15 ethnic Chinese. 600 nationalists have been arrested!
Chinese and Vietnamese nationalists hate each other, both use the banner of their ''socialist'' nations, two reds flags with yellow stars turned against each other in deep ethnic hatred. This ethnic hatred is fuelled by both pseudo-communist parties who rule China and Vietnam. Now that capitalism has been restored, only nationalism can legitimise the ruling party bosses. Both China and Vietnam are using nationalism as a tool to keep the population in line. These nationalist demonstrations are used as distraction from the fact that both Chinese and Vietnamese governments are deeply corrupt, unpopular and capitalistic. They still wave with red flags and sing revolutionary anthems, but those governments are not socialist nor tools of the working class!
Vietnamese nationalism is used by the ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam as much as Chinese nationalism is used by the Chinese ''Communist'' Party. Both parties are supposed to oppose nationalism and ethnic hatred. But Stalinist degeneration turned the communist parties away from Marxist socialism into nationalist state-capitalism. This is the true ideology of the ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam, nationalist state-capitalism. Revolutionary socialists reject it and call Vietnamese workers to rise up and overthrow the traitorous ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam!
Vô sản toàn thế giới, liên hiệp lại!,
vô sản các nước, đoàn kết lại!
全世界無產者聯合起來！
Vietnamese nationalists with the red flag of Vietnam
against the red flag of China, which they hate!
