Characteristics of Identity (Viet Minh/Viet Cong)
Ho Chi Minh / Viet Minh
 Nationalist: opposed to foreign interference and seeking to unite the Vietnamese people
(despite long-standing regional differences)
 Communist: although not all of the Viet Minh were specifically Communist, Ho was, and this
ideology became the dominant one in the Viet Minh [and, later, the Viet Cong].
 Rural: by necessity, the Viet Minh [and even the Viet Cong] had to operate mostly from the
countryside and mountains, in order to hide from the French. This is where they picked up
much of their support.
 Determined: the Vietnamese leadership were prepared to suffer heavy losses in order to
achieve their goals. General Vo Nguyen Giap said: “Every minute, hundreds of thousands of
people die on this earth. The life or death of a hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands of
human beings, even of our compatriots, means little.”
 China: although the Japanese and French were the immediate problem that the Viet Minh
were formed to deal with, Ho never forgot that China was Vietnam’s most powerful and
domineering neighbour (even when it had turned communist in 1949). Ho had said when
reluctantly negotiating with the French in 1946: “It is better to sniff France’s dung for a
while, than eat China’s all our lives.”
Ho Chi Minh / Viet Cong
 Opposed to Diem/US involvement in Vietnam: the Viet Cong was a coalition of nationalist
groups, including remnants of the Viet Minh, with its leadership in North Vietnam. Bitterness
over the cancellation of the promised 1956 elections, and anger over Diem’s harsh anticommunist crack-down, increased opposition to Diem and his US backers.
 Warmer relationship with China (although deep-seated suspicion remained): this was based
on Chinese support in the form of advice, military equipment and funds.
Factors Leading to the Formation of Identity
Ho Chi Minh / Viet Minh
**
Wood, p.18 ‘Profile: Viet Minh’
**
Long-term Factor: Shared Heritage
 Common language (despite regional differences)
 Culture: Chinese influences such as Confucianism (with its respect for authority) and
Buddhism (and its philosophy of non-materialism). Literacy levels had been relatively high
(25% of the population), but fell to about 10% under the French – Wood, pp.7-8 ‘A
Chinese Province’, ‘Vietnamese Emperors’
 Lifestyle: Village-based, around communal farming of rice. Importance of village leaders,
more so than an Emperor or other ruler - Wood, pp.6-7 ‘The First Vietnamese’
 Periodic revolts against direct Chinese rule - Wood, p.7 ‘Nationalist Revolts’
Long-term Factor: Shared Beliefs and Values
 Free, independent and unified Vietnam (‘Vietnam for the Vietnamese’).
 ‘Rightness’ of their cause.
 Influences on Ho Chi Minh/Viet Minh:
o Admired the values of the French Revolution – “liberty, equality and fraternity”.
o Adopted the anti-colonial views of Lenin (leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917).
Ho came to believe that a total focus on the goal of independence was the only way
that Vietnam would be free.
o Admired America’s role as the champion of freedom and self-determination (up to
the end of WWII/ return of the French).
Long-term Factor: Shared Experiences
 Long history of foreign intervention: China
o China’s rule had led to regular uprisings that helped create a sense of national
identity based on a strong resentment of foreign interference - Wood pp.11-12
‘French Conquest’, ‘Civilising Mission’
Shorter-term Factor: Shared Experiences
 French rule was seen by many to be unjust. For example, the French continued to export
Vietnamese-grown rice to 30 countries during times of shortage, leading to starvation. In
past times, under such conditions, the Vietnamese Emperors would put off tax collection
until the crisis was over: the French did not. Working conditions were also often brutal Wood pp.11-12 ‘Economic Transformation’
 The added economic pressure of the Great Depression worsened conditions.
 Small-scale uprisings against French rule occurred. Those who were not executed were
imprisoned. Prison became an ideal place to create networks of nationalists, and to form
new plots to overthrow French rule - Wood pp.12+14 ‘Revolt’
 The ease with which the Japanese ended French rule during WWII encouraged
Vietnamese nationalists to believe that Europeans could be beaten – Wood, p.14
‘Japanese Occupation’. However, the Japanese worsened a famine in Vietnam by hoarding
rice for their own troops (one million tons in 1942). Up to two million Vietnamese died.
 Ho Chi Minh (Wood, p.13): his father was a nationalist who disliked French rule of
Vietnam. Ho was a messenger for his father’s activities and he later participated in a
series of tax revolts.
 DRV: The joy at Japan’s surrender and Ho’s declaration of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (1946) was followed by bitter disappointment of return of the French. Same with
the failure of the US to support Vietnamese independence (US agents had given
assistance to the Viet Minh during their struggle against the Japanese).
HO CHI MINH/VIET MINH: Expressions of Identity
Personal
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One of the 19 names that Ho took was Nguyen Ai Quoc (‘Nguyen who loves his country’).
Ho Chi Minh itself means “Ho who enlightens”, an expression of the view that Ho would
lead his country to freedom.
On his own initiative, Ho also presented a list of claims on behalf of the Vietnamese people
at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919. Although he was ignored, the move earned him
great respect in Vietnam.
Political
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Ho founded a newspaper while in Paris – Le Paria – in order to publish his criticism of
French colonial policy in Vietnam.
Political parties: Ho returned briefly to Vietnam and in 1925 founded the Revolutionary
Youth League of Vietnam (Ho believed that the youth would be the driving force of the
revolution). Ho also brought other communists factions within Vietnam together to form
the Indochina Communist Party in 1930. He issued a policy statement advocating freedom
of assembly, speech and the press in Vietnam: ‘the [Communist] Party must strive to
organise a broad Democratic Nationalist Party.’ Various mass organizations including
unions, a peasants' association, a women's association, a relief society, and a youth league
were to be organized under the new party.
Viet Minh: Ho returned to Vietnam in 1940 and established the Viet Minh. This was a
coalition which all of the nationalist groups in Vietnam were encouraged to join,
irrespective of any differences they might have. Ho took personal charge of the Viet Minh
after returning from a period of captivity in China. The Viet Minh would use all means,
including military, to achieve its goal of an independent Vietnam.
DRV: When the Japanese had been ousted from Vietnam in August 1945, Ho established a
Vietnamese government in Hanoi, and proclaimed an independent Democratic Republic of
Vietnam. Ho used words from the American Declaration of Independence: “All men are
created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (Ho’s Viet Minh was not strong enough
to resist the return of the French, so he negotiated a compromise that saw the DRV
reduced to the status of a ‘free state within the French Union of Indochinese states’ – a
most unsatisfactory arrangement, but one both sides knew would not last.)
Geneva Conference: The Viet Minh’s position was to negotiate to unite Vietnam under a
Viet Minh government. Despite the efforts of Ho’s delegate, Pham Van Dong, the real
players at the conference were the major powers. The ‘temporary’ division of Vietnam was
acceptable only because the Viet Minh already controlled up to two-thirds of Vietnam, and
because of the promise of elections in 1956 – Ho (and everybody else) believed that the
DRV would finally be established through the electoral process….
Military
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Japan: Ho organised resistance to the Japanese occupation during WWII. He called for a
general uprising when the Japanese surrendered on August 10th 1945. The uprising’s slogan
was: “Break open the rice stores to avert famine.” (This was in order to feed the starving
Vietnamese people).
France: Ho also organised resistance against the return of the French after WWII. This led
to the First Indo-China War. As conflict with the French increased Ho ensured the survival of
the Viet Minh by moving into the mountains and conducting a guerrilla campaign. The decisive
battle of the First Indo-China War was at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Ho knew that to have a
strong position from which to negotiate Vietnamese independence at the upcoming peace talks
in Geneva, the Viet Minh would have to win. Ho was prepared to sustain massive losses in order
to win.
Social/Economic
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As WWII drew to an end, famine conditions occurred in the countryside, and unemployment
was rampant in the cities. In the Red River Delta alone, more than 500,000 people died of
starvation between March and May 1945. The Viet Minh distributed food to the starving
peasants during the August Revolution. (“Break open the rice stores to avert famine.”)
After WWII and the return of the French, and particularly as French rule broke down, the
Viet Minh created its own local administration to help run the country-side in its control.
Villages were given – for the first time ever – a real say in governing themselves.
Rents were reduced, and in some cases land was redistributed to the peasants (although the
Viet Minh relied on landlords, too, for support, so couldn’t afford to antagonise them too
much). Debts were often written off.
Education was increasingly provided.
The tax system was changed to relieve the burden on the peasants.
VIET CONG: Factors Leading to Formation of Identity
Longer-term factors: Shared Heritage
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(See ‘Viet Minh’)
(Longer-term? Shorter-term?) Shared Beliefs and Values
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(See ‘Viet Minh’)
Hope arose out of the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu that the Viet Minh would
have a strong bargaining position at the Geneva Conference, and that China and Russia
would support its claims to a fully independent nation. (This was followed by the
disappointment of the Geneva Accords).
Shorter-term factors: Shared Experiences
(See ‘Viet Minh’)
Occupation by the Japanese, and the subsequent famine (p.17)
Declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), 1945 (p.17)
Successful war against the French (First Indo-China War, ending with the battle at Dien
Bien Phu)
Opposition to Diem’s regime
 Nepotism dictatorship [favouring his family]; Catholicism; seen as pro-American; Diem
isolated from the ordinary people of Vietnam (pp.33, 34, 38, Res A, p.40)
 Cancellation of elections scheduled for 1956 (p.34)
 Persecution under the ‘Denunciation of Communists’ campaign and ‘Law 10/59’, in which
many innocent people were caught up (pp.35, 38 and Resource C, p.37)
 Failure to carry out effective land reform; the abolition of election of village leaders;
disruption caused by ‘strategic hamlet’ programme (pp.35, 42)
Opposition to increasing US involvement
 Support of French in First Indo-China War (p.22)
 Policy of ‘Two Vietnams’ and support of Diem (pp.31, 33)
 Economic impact on local Vietnamese of the increasing US involvement; prostitution,
corruption (pp.33, 54)
 ‘Americanising’ the war with a full commitment of US combat troops after 1964 Tonkin
Gulf Resolution passed (p.54)
 Bombing of North Vietnam; Agent Orange, bombing and napalm in the South (pp.52, 54, 56
and Resource D, p.59)
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VIET CONG: Expressions of Identity
Political/social
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Formation of the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Viet Cong in 1960, a broad-based
coalition of Vietnamese nationalist groups, as well as the Viet Minh ‘winter cadre’ or ‘stay
behinds’ from the time of the partition of Vietnam. Its goal was a unified Vietnam free
of foreign intervention. (p.38, Ho quote in the green ‘box’; pp.38-39, and Resource A,
p.40)
Land reform and propaganda campaigns to win ‘hearts and minds’ of the Vietnamese
peasants (p.39)
Political aim behind the Tet Offensive (see below) was to undermine support for the war
within the US itself by showing the American public that their leaders had been deceiving
them with regard to ‘winning the war in Vietnam’
Insistence during post-Tet Offensive negotiations that the VC form part of the
government in the South
Military
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Formation of the People’s Revolutionary Army, commonly referred to as the Viet Cong
(p.39)
Beginning of guerrilla campaign in 1961 against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
(ARVN) and US forces (p.40, and Resource B, p.41)
Targeting of ‘strategic hamlets’ and villagers who supported the Diem regime or followed
its instructions (pp.40, 55 and Resource B, p.58)
New VC tactic of full scale battles begins in 1963 (p.43)
Tet Offensive (pp.61-63)
 Diversionary battle at Khe Sanh
 VC attacks on more than 100 centres in the South
o Hue, Saigon (US Embassy)
 (Huge VC losses, resulting in its virtual destruction)