Left-Communist Group of Vietnam

  The 1930s-1940s proved to be a period of intense social upheaval and proletarian action in colonial Vietnam. Faced with the Stalinist class-collaborationists of the Viet Minh, and the colonial empire of France, the proletariat in Vietnam tried to forge its own communist path. Proletarian elements grouped around the League of Internationalist Communists tried to push this path along, and help the proletariat realize it’s force as a distinct class. Although the struggle ended in victory for the bourgeoisie, and the League had most of its members liquidated by the Viet Minh, drawing lessons from the period is still crucial. That is what we have set out to do in this piece. The Proletariat as the Revolutionary Class The most immediate lesson one can draw from the period is that the proletariat is the only revolutionary class in the capitalist epoch. It was the industrial and rural parts of the proletariat which formed the embryos of a dictatorship of the proletariat. Notable among th...

As we have looked at previously, the “Communist” Party of Vietnam has a plentiful history of being non-communist. An often overlooked dimension of this, which we will attempt to cover briefly in this piece, was the Land Reform Program (henceforth referred to as the LRP) which lasted from 1953-1956 in what was then the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (“North Vietnam”). Before we begin, it is important to dispel illusions about the LRP perpetuated by reactionary forces, both red and white. Firstly, the Program was not a genocidal blood bath. Claims like these are backed up by “evidence” originating in imperialist institutions from anti-communist authors. A notable example is one Hoang Van Chi, the author of the book From Colonialism to Communism , who was credited by C.I.A. agent George Carver as being a “cadre” of the Viet Minh. Chi was never in the Viet Minh, although he was a part of the Ministry of Information in South Vietnam under the Diem dictatorship. Chi was also funded by the Co...

  One would be hard pressed to find a country that is more hated, more despised on the Left of Capital, than Israel. This is not a sentiment without reason of course. The State of Israel is a puppet of American imperialism, a virtual apartheid state colonizing Palestinian land. The American bourgeoisie, among others, is quick to label anti-Zionist dissent as “anti-Semitic”, as Israel is one of America’s most committed allies. Surely the mighty Socialist Republic of Vietnam has taken a stand against them then? Surely it has joined other countries in restricting Israel’s power and influence, in an anti-imperialist show of solidarity? Unfortunately for Vietnam’s cheerleaders it has not. In fact Vietnam has been more than happy to be an ally to Israel The relationship between the two is rich, but it has not always been this way. In fact it has only recently started to become more intimate. Vietnam recognized Israel as independent in 1993, lagging behind other countries by a few decades...

  Recently there has been a vivid display of reactionary sentiments and views by those in the Vietnamese diaspora in America. At a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, one of many, a crowd of Vietnamese flew the flags of various reactionary groups with reactionary slogans accompanying. Prominently featured was the three striped flag of the Republic of Vietnam (“South Vietnam”) and the Trump 2020 flag. This show of support for the American regime is the result of numerous components, which we have attempted to identify below. Yellow Red Scare The most prominent factor we have to take into account is the diaspora’s relationship to present Vietnam. The ideological and legal predecessor to the modern “Socialist” Republic of Vietnam was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (“North Vietnam”), which many Vietnamese tried to escape from during the American War in Vietnam. This was largely due to its allegedly communist characteristics, and the fear of suffering under the regime. The resulting inter...