The Bloated Bureaucracy of Vietnam

 Before we dive into the discussion of the bureaucracy which chokes Vietnam like a boa constrictor, it would be useful for us to define “bureaucracy”. Many Communists throw the word around but do not know what it means. We take our definition from Alexandra Kollontai. Writing for the Workers Opposition, she states:

“Bureaucracy is a direct negation of mass self-activity. [...] Restrictions on initiative are imposed, not only in regard to the activity of the non-party masses [...] The initiative of Party members themselves is restricted. Every independent attempt, every new thought that passes through the censorship of our centre, is considered as ‘heresy’, as a violation of Party discipline, as an attempt to infringe on the prerogatives of the centre, which must ‘foresee’ everything and ‘decree’ everything and anything. If anything is not decreed one must wait, for the time will come when the centre at its leisure will decree. Only then, and within sharply restricted limits, will one be allowed to express one’s ‘initiative’. What would happen if some of the members of the Russian Communist Party – those, for instance, who are fond of birds – decided to form a society for the preservation of birds? The idea itself seems useful. It does not in any way undermine any ‘state project’. But it only seems this way. All of a sudden there would appear some bureaucratic institution which would claim the right to manage this particular undertaking. That particular institution would immediately ‘incorporate’ the society into the Soviet machine, deadening, thereby, the direct initiative. And instead of direct initiative, there would appear a heap of paper decrees and regulations which would give enough work to hundreds of other officials and add to the work of mails and transport.”[1]

Comrade Kollontai summarized it perfectly with just the first eight words. But we will add another elaborative passage from that same work for clarification.

“[W]hat system of administration in a workers’ republic during the period of creation of the economic basis for Communism secures more freedom for the class creative powers? Is it a bureaucratic state system or a system of wide practical self-activity of the working masses? The question relates to the system of administration and the controversy arises between two diametrically opposed principles: bureaucracy or self-activity.”[2]

What, then, is the state of the Vietnamese bureaucracy? After all, given the definition above, a good dictatorship of the proletariat should have minimal bureaucracy, as that would strangle worker self initiative. Ah, to have your innocence, reader! No, no such situation exists today, nor has it ever.

Vietnam is a country which prides itself on its rich cultural history and the preservation of cultures within its borders. As such our first subject of examination will be the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, which deals with the three named subjects. 

Say you are an archaeologist in Vietnam (this shall be our bird watching example) and you would like to do an archaeological dig. First, you would need to secure a permit for the dig site. Should you find any “relics” (official term used by the Ministry), then you would need to have approval for museums and specialists to study them here in Vietnam and abroad. Should you choose to instead duplicate your “relic”, likewise for a museum, you would still need Ministry permission. If you would like to have your “relics” preserved and restored, you would need permission from the Ministry to do so. Plans would also need to be formulated by the Ministry concerning the handling of these relics. Your relic, and the museum it may belong in, would also need to be “classified” by the Ministry. If need be, the location of these relics will change “according to state law.”[3][n1]

Now, step out of the archaeologist's shoes for a second. Suppose you work for the government (bear with us) and would like to use these relics in some fine propaganda. If you would like to film them, then you would need to obtain a permit for cinematography. The Ministry also has to “manage deposited films and archive documentary films and motion pictures produced at home and abroad.” If you would like to disseminate your film about these relics, then you would again need a permit from the Ministry. If you would like to show your film in a Vietnamese film festival, in Vietnam or abroad, you would need to consult the committees from the Ministry which coordinate these Festivals. It should be noted that the Prime Minister needs to approve “the implementation of the planning on state non-business cinematographic units.”[4]

Some of you may find archaeology and cinematography to be dreadfully boring, so now imagine yourself a physical education coach. First, in order to become a coach you would need to reach the promulgated criteria and grading set by the Ministry. Your athletes would, likewise, need to reach this criteria and grading. When creating your physical education curriculum, you will need to pass it by the Ministry to make sure it is good enough. Plans will need to be approved by the Prime Minister as well before continuing. At any point the Ministry may see it fit to retrain you, or move you to another “contingent of instructors and collaborators.” If you would like to hold a competition for a sport you teach, plans would need to be approved by the Prime Minister. The Ministry would also need to approve the rules for this competition. And participants will also need to be “graded” by the Ministry. And if you teach in a school or teach the military, you will need to coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security.[5]

Now we could talk all day about the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism but that would be silly. Let’s move on to another, more pressing example: the Committee for Ethnic and Minority Affairs (CEMA). The CEMA is another example of Vietnam embracing it’s cultural history. We shall see how well it does that.

If you are an ethnic minority in Vietnam, then your business is the business of the CEMA. Representatives of ethnic minority groups need to consult with the CEMA when organizing congresses of other minority groups (these congresses also need to be on both a district and provincial level), when organizing exchange activities, when exchanging “experiences between ethnic minority delegates”, and inspection by the CEMA is required in order to prove you are a “reputable person” among your ethnic group. If you would like to implement “ethnic minority policy” within the ministry, then the CEMA will first need to review and research the policy. If your policy is to be implemented then the CEMA will need to irregularly report to the Prime Minister on it, and may have additional agencies added onto it. Persons and agencies involved in this policy will also be reviewed by the CEMA. All bureaucrats involved in this process also have to have their salaries, titles, and the organizational structure they participate in reviewed by the CEMA, and the CEMA will need to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in order to accurately adjust budgets. The CEMA also needs to manage the “appointment, re-appointment, transfer, rotation, resignation, dismissal, secondment, reward, discipline, severance, retirement, implementation of the salary regime and other treatment regimes and policies for cadres, civil servants and public employees managed by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs in accordance with regulations”[6][n2]

Wow! What deadening of direct initiative throughout! Throughout, it is the duty of the working class to go to some unknown bureaucrat to receive permission to do something. Given these examples, it is little wonder that Tran Van Giau, the former leader of the “People’s Army”, remarked in 1988:

“Why have we, revolutionaries and resistance fighters, created such a bureaucratic State? The province of Thanh Hoa alone has more government officials than the entire colonial apparatus of old Indochina. How can the peasants allow such a State to exist? I am more than 70 years old, and I have never in my life seen peasants as impoverished as they are now: they have nothing to eat after the end of the harvest. The reason for this is that they allow the continued existence of a State that is as oversized as it is ineffective.”[7]

What is the solution, then? While it may seem hopeless, nothing is unfixable. Armed proletarian revolution, with it’s worker created organs of power allowing quicker, more direct, and often unrestrained, initiative, is the key to sweeping away this bureaucratic machine. The governing apparatus that currently rules Vietnam was not created in this fashion, but was instead the brainchild of a non-communist nationalist vanguard, bent on national independence but not much else. A genuine worker revolution would, of course, not go down this road!

Notes

[n1]  The official website for the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is unavailable. The official website for the Vietnamese government will give only a dead link and basic information on it’s page about the Ministry.

[n2] The official website for the CEMA is available.

Sources

[1] Kollontai, Alexandra. “On Bureaucracy & Self-Activity of The Masses.” The Workers Opposition, on Bureaucracy and Self-Activity of the Masses by Alexandra Kollontai 1921, Workers Opposition, https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1921/workers-opposition/ch03.htm.

[2] Idib.

[3] Vietnamese Communist Party. (2020). Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. ASEM Connect. http://www.asemconnectvietnam.gov.vn/default.aspx?ZID1=11&ID8=19363&ID1=2

[4] Idib.

[5] Idib.

[6] Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs. (2017, February 10). Functions, Tasks, Powers and Organizational Structure of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities. http://www.cema.gov.vn/gioi-thieu.htm

[7] Xuyet, N. (1997). Revolution and counterrevolution under colonial rule: And now? – Ngo Van Xuyet. Libcom.Org. https://libcom.org/history/revolution-counterrevolution-under-colonial-rule-now-%E2%80%93-ngo-van-xuyet