TRU'O'NG - CHI~H

PRESIDENT
HO-CHI-MINH
BELOVED LEADE~
OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE

FOREIGi J LANGUAGES PUBLISHIKG HOUSE

HA.'OI 1966
PRESIDENT
'A ,

HO-CHI-MINH
BELOVED LEADER OF THE
VIETNAMESE PEOPLE
TRU'O'NG - CHINH

PRESIDENT
'A ,

O-CHI-MIN
BELOVED LEADER OF THE
VIETNAMESE PEOPLE

FOREIGN LAKGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE

HANOI - 1966
President H(} - CHi - MINH
FOREWORD

Insurrections followed each other, men died as heroes,

but the colonial regime remained unshaken, apparently un-
shakable. Our scholars in the name of the King and of Con-
ficius, led the peasants to battle, but they fought with out-
of-date arms and ideas of past ages. Against the foreign
imperialists' modern weapons and Machiavellian schemes,
this was derisory. Even more so were the attempts by our
urban bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie to tail after Western
capitalism. Such was the state of Vietnam before I930. A
whole nation, proud of its centuries-old history, fought
heroically, but for many decades, every insurrection was
doomed to failure. The road to independence seemed blocked,
a wall rose, unshakable, impregnable, obstructing the path
of the future. Eyes turned towards the two elder nations of
Asia: China and India. But in spite of immense efforts,
at the time these two great countries either remained under
subjection or sank into anarchy.
In the dark night, a light flashed, a voice resounded.
Imperialism, it said, is powerful but ridden with contradic-
tions, OUr weakness only stems from OUr inability to mobilize
the main forces of the nation, the masses of thz people, from
au/' inability to define an adequate overall political line, ap-
propriate strategy and tactics, suitable forms of organization
We lacked an ideology that made it possible for us to mo-
bilize and organize the people, and showed us the road of
human progress. Such an ideology exists, it is that of the
working class, it is Marxism-Leninism.
However, to possess a compass did not necessarily mean
that one knows how to sall one's ship over a stormy sea.
One had to apply that theory to Vietnamese realities, to
create that party of steel which was to define the line to
be followed by the people's struggle at each stage, that
national front which rallied all forces and that people's
army which spearheaded the revolution. This work, immense
in effectiveness and scope, was to be done by a man of
indomitable energy and unequalled ludicity, a profoundly
humanitarian man symbolizing the progress of his epoch and
national tradition, an ardent patriot ani an internationalist
as well. That man is H8-Chi-Minh, Uncle H8 as he is
called by all Vietnamese. H8-Chi-Minh pursued the work
for nearly half a century and has achieved it at last in
relying on the Party he had founded. Many a fighter of
the South cried out before being hit by the bullets of a
firing squad: "Long live President H8-Chi-Minh. In the
remotest villages of Vietnam, North and South, every little
child, as soon as he can speak, babbles to his mother "I will
be good, Uncle H8 will be pleased".
Such is the man whose short biography we publish here-
after, written by one of his closest collaborators, Tru'o'ng-
Chinh, a member of the Political Bureau of the Vietnam
Workers' Party.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE

PRESIDENT HO-CHI-MINH
BELOVED LEADER OF THE
VIETNA~LESE PEOPLE

The 19th May of this year is the 70th * anniversary

of Coml'ade H6 - Chi - Minh, President and Secretary
General of the Vietnam Workers' Party and President of
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Vietnamese
working class and people are engaged in patriotic emula-
tion, endeavouring to record outstanding achievievements
which they will offer to their beloved leader as birthday
presents.
On this occasion, let us study the life and work of
President H6-Chi-Minh, and try to understand and learn
from his thinking, moral greatness and style of work so
as to be able to better serve the Party and the people.

* Article carried by Hoc Tap (issues 01 May and July

1960), a political and theoretical review of the Vietnam
Workers' Party.
A SUMMARY OF THE LIFE AND WORK
OF PRESIDENT HO-CHI-MINH

In the history of the nations, there are great men whose

lives and works are closely bound to glorious stages in the
history of their respective countries. Such men often sym-
bolize the noblest virtues of their people; all through
their lives, they struggle for the freedom and happiness
of their people whose dearest aspirations and firmest will
their words and deeds bespeak. President H6 - Chi - Minh
is such a man.
He was born in 1890 into a poor peasant scholar's fam-
ily of Kimlien hamlet, Namlien village, Namdan district,
Nghean province, a place with long-standing revolutionary
traditions. His father was a Pha Bang*, who out of patriot-
ism had refused to collaborate with the French colonial-
ists and Nguyen feudalists and lived in poverty. As a
young man, H6-Chi-Minh was deeply influenced by his
social surroundings and family education. For successive
generations, the people of Nghean and Hatinh provinces
had waged a hard struggle against harsh natural conditions
and the heavy yoke of colonialism and feudalism to win

* Doctor of classical humanities (Pub.)

the right to live, but they had never been able to escape
misery and hunger. The peasants' spontaneous struggles
against dispossession of land, heavy taxation, forced labour,
etc. kindled in H6-Chi Minh's heart deep anger against
the aggressors and traitors. As a child, he had been told
stories about such heroes born in Nghetinh as Mai Hac
De, Nguyen Quang Trung and others, which had inspir-
ed him with patriotism, the will for independence and
the spirit of self-reliance. The anti-French Van Than mo-
vement led by Phan Dinh Phung, the Dong Zu movement
led by Phan Boi Chau, the Dong Kink Nghia Thuc move-
ment and the guerilla war led by Hoang Hoa Tham left
deep impressions in his mind: in his early adolescence,
he was already pondering over the causes of the success or
failure of every patriotic movement of the time.
In 1905, he went to Hue and enrolled in Quoc Hoc
school. But seeing that the only aim of the .1 Franco- Viet-
namese " schools was to turn out obedient agents and faith-
ful lackeys of the colonialists and feudalists, he left for
Phanthiet where he taught in a private school. However,
he soon went to Saigon, seeking some professional
traming.
By that time, he already thought that it would be
necessary for him to visit France and other European coun-
tries, II to see the people there at work and then come back
to help his compatriots". * The things that interested him
most in those countries were the Ideals of freedom, civil
rights, democracy, and the new developments in science
and technology. Why did he not think of going to Japan

* Tran Dan Tien: Glimpses of the life of H6-Chi-.11inlz,

President of the D.l<.V.

10
or China, as recommended by partisans of the Dong Zu
movement? Because in his opinion to rely on Japanese
help to drive out the French was tantamount to "driving
the tiger out of the front door while welcoming the wolf
in through the back door", and that Liang Chi-chiao's
thinking was reformist, and not thoroughly revolutionary.
So he became a galley hand on a ship belonging to the
Charg~urs Riunis, a French shipping company. And after
that, as a worker on ocean going ships, he travelled a great
deal. indeed around the world. He visited France, Great
Britain, Germany, the United States and several French
colonies in Africa. In capitalist countries, what struck him
most was the fact that a minority of capitalists could live
parasitically from their exploitation of the workers and
other toiling people, and lead a life of luxury and debau-
chery while the majority of the people, the labourers,
worked hard but lived in want and hardship. In the colo-
nies, he saw the suffering and humiliation of the oppressed
peoples, and the imperialists' barbarity, cruelty and
insolence.
As a worker and a man whose country had fallen under
foreign domination he felt deep sympathy with the work-
ers in imperialist countries and the people of the colonies.
Thinking of his compatriots pained him very much; love
for his country and his class kindled his heart. As he saw
it, patriotism was closely bound to proletarian internatio-
nalism.
In 1914, the First World War broke out. Vietnamese
youth were pressganged and died in great numbers for the
sake of French imperialism. He was then in England. He
left immediately fur France and got in touch with Viet-
namese patriots living there, such as Phan Chu Trinh and

11
Phan Van Truong. The anti-French movement of King
Duy Tan in 1916 and the insurrection of soldiers and pol-
itical prisoners in Thainguyen in 1917 had strong reper-
cussions which reached France, making him all the more
impatient to work for the liberation of his people.
In 1917, the Great October Socialist Revolution broke
out in Russia. The Bolshevik Party headed by Lenin car-
ried through the greatest revolution in history, the Octo-
ber Revolution, and set up the first proletarian State in
the world. The Soviet State declared that it would get
Russia out of the imperialist war, called on the nations
to restore peace, distributed land to the peasants, handed
over the factories to the workers, liberated the peoples
formerly under Tsarist oppression and founded a multi-
national State called the Union of Soviet Socialist Re-
publics.
The reverberations of the October Revolution shook the
world, and infused enthusiasm into the working class, toil-
ing people and oppressed nations. They could at last see
the road to liberation from oppression. exploitation and
war. Such was the road of the October Revolution, charted
by Lenin.
The glorious success of the October Revolution had a
decisive influence on the militant life of Ho-Chi-Minh,
who then went by the name of Nguyen-Ai-Quoc. He en-
d~avoured to study Marxism-Leninism and the experience
of the October Revolution and decided to adopt the course
followed by the Rus~ian people.
In Paris, he got in touch with Marxists and joined the
French Socialist Party (the French Communist Party was
then not yet founded). He organized the Group of Viet-
namese Patriots Living in France.

12
The First World War ended in 1918. The following
year, the Peace Conference was held in Versailles. It was
attended by delegations £l'om both victor and vanquished
countries. Besides, there were (unofficial) delegations re-
presenting oppressed nations who came there to demand
independence and freedom. As a representative of the
Group of Vietnamese Patriots living in France, Ho-Chi-
Minh came to the Versailles Peace Confer~nce where he
presented an eight-point demand of the Vietnamese people
and reque5ted that France and the other countries should
recognize the latter's urgent interests set forth therein.
But the purpose of the Versailles Conference was to di-
vide the spoils of war among the victor imperialist coun-
tries, at the expense not only of the vanquished but also
of the colonial and semi-colonial countries. Its results pro-
voked the indignation of the people of China and other
oppressed nations. Inspired by the October Revolution and
disappointed by the Versailles Conference, the working
class and people in many colonial and dependent coun-
tries seethed with revolutionary ardour.
In 1919, Lenin and Marxists who supported his stand
held a congress in Moscow, to set up the Third Interna-
tional, i.e. the Communist Intemational, and declared "the
death of the Second International". In 1920, the French
Socialist Party held a congre5s in Tours, at which was dis-
cussed the q uestioll of whether or not it should join the Third
International. The great majority of the delegates, among
them Ho-Chi-Minh, voted for joining. Then members of
the French Socialist Party who supported the Communist
International founded the French Communist Party and
H6-Chi-Minh became the first Vietnamese Communist to
be active in its ranks.

13
The resolution adopted at the Tours Congress and the
founding of the French Communist Party caused H6-Chi-
Minh to ponder over the following problem: how could a
revolutionary party of the working class, a Marxist-Lenin-
ist party, be set up in Vietnam?
With the help of the French Communist Party, he found-
ed the League of Colonial Peoples with the aim of fight-
ing against colonialism. He wrote the famous pamphlet
Proces de la colonisation fran{:aise and published the jour-
nal Le Paria, in which he exposed the heinous crimes of
the French colonialists and put forth the legitimate aspi-
rations of the people of Vietnam and other colonial
countries.
In 1922, Khai Dinh came to France to attend a colon-
ial exhibition. He wrote a play, the /I Bamboo dragon",
in which that puppet king was flayed.
In 1924, he went to the Soviet Union to attend the
Fifth Congress of the Communist International held in
Moscow (June 17 to July 8, 1924) and after that, inter-
national conferences of peasants, youth and women.
Before leaving France for Moscow, he wrote a letter
to his friends from African colonies, then engaged in pol-
itical activities in France, in which he showed the necess-
ity for them to "go back to their countries, penetrate
into the masses to awaken, organize, unite and train them
and lead them to fight for freedom and independence ".
In 1924, the revolutionary Pham Hong Thai attempted
the life of Merlin, the Governor General of Indochina,
when the latter visited Shamian in Canton. That same
year, H6-Chi-Minh arrived in China. When he came
to Canton, he got in touch with Tam tam xa, * a revolu-
tionary organization of the Vietnamese in China at that

• Organization of people upholding one and the same ideal.

14
time. Drawing experience from the attempt on the life of
Merlin, which had failed, he arrived at the following
conclusion: the assassination of this or that governor
could not overthrow the colonial regime or lead the revolu-
tion to victory. To this end, a strong political party
was needed, which would organize the masses, and give
them the leadership needed for carrying out an insurrec-
tion and wining power. Together with the Vietnamese
revolutionaries in Tam tam xa, he founded the Vietnam
Revolutionary Youth League. At the same time, he set up
the League of Oppressed Asian peoples.
The bomb thrown by Pham Hong Thai had failed to
kill the enemy but had helped awaken our compatriots.
In 1925, throughout the whole country, our people de-
manded amnesty for Phan Boi Chau, the revolutionary
who had been arrested by the French imperialists in
China, brought back to his country and sentenced to
death. In 1926, school strikes and meetings were staged
to commemorate the death of the revolutionary Phan
Chu Trinh who, after long years of exile in Poulo Condor
island and France, had been given his freedom and repatri-
ated by the French imperialists only the previous year.
A number of young students who were expelled from
school as a result of their participation in the strikes,
fled to Canton, where they studied revolutionary theory.
H6 organized training courses for them and sent them
back to Vietnam to set up organizations of the Revolu-
tionary Youth League. He wrote The Road of the Revolu-
tion, used as a manual of instruction for young Vietnamese
revolutionaries. He also published the journal Youth,
organ of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Revolu-
tionary Youth League. Both The Road of the Revolution

15
and Youth were illegally circulated in the country. They
were the initial step in the dissemination of Marxist-
Leninist thinking among our people.
The Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League was but a
transitional stage leading to the founding of a Communist
Party, the Communists within the League being organized
into" Communist groups" which would prepare for the
setting up of a Communist party in Vietnam.
During the years 1927-28, Vietnam Revolutionary
Youth League organizatio:1s within the country developed
very rapidly. Under the leadership of the League, the
workers rose up to demand wage increases and working
hour cuts, the abolition of corporal punishments and
fin~s. Strikes broke out at the Namdinh weaving mill
(August 1928 and July 1929), the Aviat motor-car repair
factory (1929), the Phurieng plantation in South Viet-
nam (August 1927), etc. In 1929, the movement spread
to the countryside: in many places the peasants staged
demonstrations demanding tax cuts and less forced labour.
Marxism-Leninism began to permeate the workers'move-
ment and the patriotic movement of the Vietnamese
people. Conditions for the founding of a revolutionary
party of the Vietnamese working class were rapidly ma-
turing.
In North Vietnam, the first Communist cell was set up
within the leading body of the Vietnam Revolutionary
Youth League and set itself the task of preparing for the
founding of a Communist party in Indochina. In May
1929, at the national congress of the Vietnam Revolu-
tionary Youth League held in Hongkong, the delegation of
North Vietnam proposed that an Indochinese Communist
Party should be founded. The proposal was not accepted

16
by the Congress. So North Vietnam delegation left for
home. In June !g2g, the Indochinese Communist Party was
founded in North Vietnam: a declaration was issued and
jour,uls published to propagate the Party' s line and pol-
icy. The best members of the Vietnam Revolutionary
Youth League enthusiastically joined the Indochinese
Communist Party. The organizations of the Vietnam Rev-
olutionary Youth League in North Vietnam were dis-
sOlved. Its organizations in South were seriously shaken.
Faced with this situatlOll, the Central Committee of the
Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League decided to transform
what remained of the League (mostly in the South) into
the Annamese Communist Party. Before the new require<
ments of the situation, the Tan Viet Revolutionary Party in
Central Vietnam and partly in South Vietnam was also
changed into the Tan Viet Communist League.
Thus in the year !g2g, in Vietnam, three Communist
organizations came into being, each claiming to be the
only genuinely revolutionary one. They criticized each
other, fought for influence, and all three tried to get in
touch with the Commu11lst International.
Conscious of this danger of division and sectarianism,
the Communist International sent to Hongkong Comrade
H6-Chi-Minh who convened a Unification Conference
(February 3, !930) at which the three Communist organiz-
ations of Vietnam were amalgamated into a single Com-
munist party. called the Vietnam Communist Party, a name
changed later into Indochinese Communist Party.
The Unification Conference discussed and passed the
Outline of the Party's Platform, which served as a basis
on which the Central Committee later drafted the Polit-
ical Thesis. If we read the Outline of the Party's Platform

2 - H6.Chi-Minh 17
and the Recommendations of Comrade Nguyen - Ai - Quoe
on the occasion of the amalgamation of the Vietnamese
Communist organizations and the founding of the Viet-
nam Communist Party, we will see that the Party's pro-
gramme then included the following points: to carry out
a bourgeois democratic revolution (then called the bour-
geois revolution for democratic rights) which would include
a land revolution, and aim at :
1. Overthrowing the French imperialists and the feudal-
ists, making Vietnam wholly independent;
2· Setting up a worker-peasant-soldier government;
3. Organizing a worker-peasant army;
4. Confiscating all big entreprises (industrial, transport,
banking, etc.) belonging to the French imperialists and
handing them over to the worker - peasant - soldier
government;
5. Confiscating all lands belonging to the imperialists,
turning them into public property and distributing them
to poor peasants;
6. Promulgating an eight-hour working day;
7. Cancelling all public debts, poll taxes, and exempting
poor people from all taxes;
8. Developing industry and agriculture;
9. Giving all democratic rights to the masses;
10. Establishing equality between men and women;

I I. Establishing" worker-peasa,1t style" general educa-

tion.
The Vietnamese revolution had entered a new stage. It
now possessed a unified general staff, and relatively clearly-
set aims and orientation. After that, the Party developed
rapidly and its influence spread among the popular mas-
ses. That is why, in spite of the fact that it was but

18
newly founded, it was able to lead the revolutionary
upsurge of 1930- 1931, whose climax was the setting up
of the Nghe- Tinh Soviets.
What should we gather from all the above developments?
They confirm the great importance of the role played by
H6 - Chi - Minh in the unification of the Communist
forces in Vietnam and the founding of our Party.
In 1930 and early 1931, H6 - Chi - Minh carried out
revolutionary activities in China. Although he did not
give direct leadership to revolutionary work within Viet-
nam, he nevertheless followed events closely. In a letter
to the Central Committee dated April 20, 1931, he critic-
ized some shortcomings in Party work: formalist style
of work, lack of realism, insufficient attention paid to
concrete situation arising in each locality, sectarianism in
mass organizations (trade union, peasants, youth and wo-
men's associations), not enough attention paid to the Anti-
imperialist League, etc. He also proposed the following
tasks:
1. To correct the above shortcomings;
2. To draft a detailed programme of action for every
district, every province;
3. To distribute the Party membership (the way the
army would its forces); those comrades given
assignments in particular region or special work, must
establish a programme of act:on ..•
4. Party committees closely follow and control the
execution of programmes of action;
5. Youth and Trade Union organizations should first
of all be unified and have their own independent lives.

19
H6-Chi-Minh then pointed out:
1/ All Party members, all Party cells must discuss the
Central Committee's directions and resolutions... This
aims at raising the level of the Party members, ensuring
that 11 directions and resolutions will be carried into
effect, and unifying the thoughts and actions of the Party
membership... "
In June 1931 H6 Chi-Minh was arrested by the British
imperialists In Hongkong, but the International Red
Relief Association asked a lawyer to defend him. and so
he regained his freedom and escaped from Hongkong,
then went to Shanghai where he resumed contact with
the Chinese Communist Party.
In 1933, he studied at the Lenin School, which trained
high-ranking cadr<:'s for the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union.
In 1935, the First Congress of the Indochinese Com-
munist Party was held in Macao (China). H6-Chi-Minh
engaged in work in the U.S.S.R. could not attend the
Congress.
In 1936 he returned to China.
In May 1936, the French Front Populaire won victory
in the election to the French National Assembly. A
Popular Front government came to power in France.
Thanks to the efforts of both the Vietnamese and French
people, many political prisoners in Indochina were reieased.
The Indochinese Communist Party launched the Indochi-
nese Congress movement, assembled the people's grievances,
and demanded that the French government should carry
out democratic reforms and improve the people's living
conditions. The movement was repressed by the reactionary

20
colonialists, but it led immediately to an impetuous
upsurge in the workers' movement in the big cities and
the coal districts of Hongai, Campha, Uongbi, Maokhe.
Tens of thousands of workers went on strike, demanding
wacre increase, the abolition of corporal punishments, the
eight-hour day, freedom to organize trade unions, etc. In
a number of places, the peasants also opposed heavy
taxation, land robbery by mandarins, landowners and the
Catholic Church, etc. The movement of struggle waged by
the worker-peasant masses reached a new peak.
On May Day of 1938, in Hanoi, our Party and the
Indochina Democratic Front organized a mammoth meeting
attended by 50,000 p~ople to commemorate International
Llbour Day and voiced the claims of workers, peasants,
administrative employees, small traders, shop-owners,
intellectuals and students. The Party made the best use
p)ssible of all legal and semi-legal means to conduct pro-
plganda and agitation among the masses, organize them
and lead them to struggle for their day-to-day interests.
Journals of the Party, the Democratic Youth League and
the Indochina Democratic Front were legally published.
Publishing house 3 were founded. While urging the masses
to buy newspapers and books, encouraging them to write
articles for the journals. a'1d organizing collective readings,
the Party at the same time founded friendship and mutual
aid association, etc. and gave leadership to the workers in
their struggle for freedom to organize trade unions. The
bases of the Party and the Democratic Youth League
became much stronger.
Meanwhile, Comrade Le Hong Phong, alternate member
of the Executive Committee of the Communist Interna-
tional, was sent back to Vietnam to give together with the

21
Party's Central Committee, direct leadership to the mo-
vement. H6 - Chi - Minh followed closely the democratic
movement within the country. From time to time, he
would send either to the Party Central Committee or to
the editorial boards of the Party's legal journals, letters in
which he made enlightening suggestions or penetrating
observations and criticism. He also sent articles to some
of the journals of the Party and the Democratic Front.
It is regrettable that owing to the conditions in which
illegal work was conducted, we could not keep those
letters. But reading the report sent by H6-Chi-Minh
(who then signed himself as Nguyen-Ai-Quoc) to the
Communist International in July 1939, we can see that
the directions he gave during the Democratic Front period
(1936 - 1939) were well-adapted to the situation then
prevailing and that they were faithfully carried out: e.g.
"I. At this moment, the Party should not put forward
such demands as national independence or the establish-
ment of a Parliament, etc. For this would mean falling into
the trap set by the Japanese facists.
It should confine itself to demanding democratic rights:
freedom of organization, association, opinion and the press,
a general amnesty for political prisoners, and to struggling
so that the Party could engage in legal activities.
2. To those ends, it should strive to organize a Demo-
cratic Front.
This Front will include not only Indochinese but also
progressive French people, not only the working people
but also the national bourgeoisie.
3. As regards the bourgoisie * the Party should adopt a
wise and flexible attitude, try to draw it into the Front,

* National bourgoisie - T.e.

22
win over elements that could be won over, and neutralize
those that could be neutralized. It should not leave it out
of the Front for this would mean pushing it into the hands
of the enemies of the Revolution, and strengthening the
reactionaries.
4. As regards the Trotskyites, no alliance, no concession
is possible. We must do our utmost to unmask them as
agents of the facists.
5. fo develop and consolidate its force, widen the scope
of its influence and perform its work successfully, the
Democratic Front should get in close touch with the
French Front populaire, for the latter also struggles for
freedom and democracy and can be of much help to us.
6. The Party should not demand that the Front
recognize its leardership, but should prove itself to be the
most self-sacrificing, active and faithful component part
of the Front. Only through struggle and daily work will
the broad masses recognize those who should be their
leaders.
7. To fulfil the above tasks, the Party should struggle
uncompromisingly against sectarianism, and study
Marxism-Leninism. It should raise the level of its cadres
and establish close relations with the French Communist
Party.
8. The Central Committee should control the Party's
pubiications so as to avoid mistakes in strategy and
tacticS•.. ".
In September 1939, the Second World War broke out.
Soon France was occupied by the Hitlerite fascists. In
August 1940, Japanese troops attacked Langson. The
French co onialists shamefully surrendered and opened the
door of Indochina to welcome in the Japanese. But the

23
Vietnamese people resolutely opposed both the Jap<lnese
and French facists. Three successive insurrections broke
out at Bacson (September 1940), in South Vietnam (No-
vemb~r 1940) and at Doluong (January 1941). The Bacson
insurrection gave birth to the first guerilla unit led by
our Party. At the beginning of 1941, this unit adopted
the name of Vietnam National Salvation Platoon.
b 1940, H6-Chi-Minh had come to Kwangsi and got
in touch with the Party. In February 1941, he arrived in
Caobang. Since he left the country, this was the first time
he returned to take in hand the direct leadership of the
movement.
In May 1941, the 8th Plenum of the Party Central
Committee met in Pacbo, a remote jungle village in Cao-
bang province close to the Chinese border. H6-Chi-Minh,
who then represented thE' Communist International, was
in the chair. We all know the great importance of that
meeting. It made a penetrating analysis of the situation
in Vietnam and the world, and came to the following
conclusions: France after surrendering to the German
fascists had now surrendered to the Japanese fascists, the
Japanese had invaded Indochina whose people now lived
under a double yoke; however, in the international arena
the Soviet Union and the Allied countries would cer-
tainly defeat the fascist aggressors, contradictions would
grow ever more acute between the Japanese and French
in Indochina; a great opportunity would then arise, one
that would happen only once in a thousand years; living
under the double oppression of the Japanese and French
fascists, the Indochinese people would certainly grow
politically conscious within a short time; the Party should
take advantage of the war situation to rally them into a

24
broad union, set up the League for the Independence of
Vietnam, i.e. the Vietminh Front, organize guerilla units,
make careful preparations for an armed insurrection aimed
at overthrowing the Japanese and French fascists, winning
power and founding the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The correct resolution adopted at the 8th plenum and
the call addressed by Nguyen-Ai-Quoc to our compatriots
following that plenum were strong stimuli to all our Party
and people. The line and policy put forward by the Cen-
tral Committee at that historic meeting were strictly
implemented by the entire Party membership and led to
the victory of the August 1945 Revolution.
During the time he spent in Caobang, besides overall
leadership and cadre training work, H6-Chi-Minh did a
rough ttanslation of the History of the C.P.S.U. (b),
translated Sun Tsu's Military Art, wrote Guerilla Warfare,
Experiences of Chinese Guerillas, Experiences of French
Guerillas. and edited the journal Vletnam Doc Lap
(Independent Vietnam).
In August 1942, he went to China to try and win
support from the Chiang Kai-shek government but he
was arrested by Chiang's troops and imprisoned for over
one year
Upon his release from prison, he got in touch with the
Vietnam Revolutionary League, an anti- Japanese, anti-
French organization of Vietnamese residents in Liuchow,
re-established contact with the Party, then returned to
Caobang where he resumed his activites.
In 1944, he went to Yunnan. At the end of the same
year, he returned to Caobang. In December, he gave ins-
tructions for the founding of the Armed Propaganda Bri-

25
gade for the Liberation of Vietnam in Caobang, Baccan and
Langson. *
As foreseen by the Central Committee ;lnd H6-Chi-
Minh, the Japanese clashed with the French in Indochina:
it was the coup de force of March 9, 1945. After a few
days' fighting, the Japanese fascists ousted the French
colonialits from the ruling machinery of this peninsula.
From March 9 to 12, 1945, tne C.C. Standing CommIttee
met in enlarged session at Dinhbang (Bacninh) for an
assessement of the situation and set forth new tasks. The
instructions entitled The Franco-Japanese clash and our
action issued by the Committee following that important
~ession marked a tuming point of great consequence in
the Indochinese revolutionary movement and gave it a big
impulse. Armed and unarmed demonstrations broke out,
participated in by from a few thousand to ten thousand
people under the slogan: tl Let's break into the paddy
storehouses and do away with famine! ., In the course of
this struggle, armed self - defence units were set up and
developed rapidly in the Midland and the delta. Guerilla
warfare expanded around the guerilla base areas. Many
war zones were organized. The Japanese troops were attack-
ed by both the Armed Propaganda Brigade for the Li-
beration of Vietnam and the Vietnam National Salvation
Brigade. These two groups of people's armed forces were
unified into the Vietnam Liberation Army at the North Viet-
nam Revolutionary Military Conference in April 1945.
In the summer of 1945, the Liberated Zone came into
being comprising six provinces in Vietbac*. Our people now
had a vast anti-Japanese base. Revolutionary people's power

* Northernmost part of Vietnam.

26
took over the administration. Revolutionary People's Com-
mittees were founded in the liberated zone and Liberation
Committees in those regions where revolutionary bases were
being developed and the Yietminh had won political super-
iority among the people but where the puppet adminis-
tration still temporarily existed.
In May 1945, Ho-Chi-Minh from Caobang went to Tan-
trao, a village in Sonduong district, Tuyenquang province.
At his suggestion, a National Conference of the Party and
a People's Congress were successively convened to discuss
the expansion of the guerilla war, the preparations for a
nation-wide general insurrection and the founding of a
Provisional Government, etc. Both were held at Tantrao at
the time when the heroic Soviet Army had just annihilated
the main forces of the Japanese fascists in Manchuria and
the Japanese had surrendered unconditionally.
At the Tantrao Congress, the people's delegates for the
first time met Ho-Chi-Minh, their respected and beloved
leader. The Congress elected a National Committee for
the Liberation of the Whole Country, which was the Pro-
visional Government of new Vietnam, and appointed him
its president.
From August I I to 23, 1945, the Vietnamese people
rose up and carried out a general insurrection to conquer
power throughout the country. On August 19, 1945, the
insurrectionaries took over Hanoi, the capital.
On September 2, 1945, the Provisional Government
presented itself before the people, and President Ho-Chi-
Minh read the Proclamation of Independence at Badinh
Square in Hanoi.
On January 6, 1946, general elections were successfully
held all over the country from which the National Assem-

27
bly (First Legislature) was elected. President Ho-Chi-Minh
and many members of the Provisional Government and
the Vietminh Front were elected, by an overwhelming
number of votes.
To enlarge the national united front, the Party Central
Committee and Presid~nt Ho-Chi-Minh resolved to found
the national union of the Vietnamese people, the Hoi Lien
Hiep Quoc Dan Vietnam, Lien Viet for short.
At the begnining of 1946, a Constitutional Draft Commit-
tee was set up, presided over by President Ho. The Com-
mittee set to work diligently and 011 March 2, 1946, the
National Assembly passed the first Constitution of our
country.
Not only did President H6-Chi-Minh playa predominant
role in the founding of our Party, he also played a predo-
minant role in the founding of the national united front,
the people's liberation army and the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam.
Hardly had our Republic been born when thousands of
difficulties arose. Our people's revolutionary power seemed
"hung by a single hair ". In the North, 200,000 Kuomin-
tang troops with the American imperialists pulling the
wires, penetrated into the country allegedly to disarm the
Japanese but in fact to commit aggression in the North of
our country. They were bent on overthrowing the "Viet-
minh Government" and replacing it by a puppet admi-
nistration of the Vietnam Nationalist Party which would
be at the beck and call of the U.S.-Chiang clique. In the
South, the British imperialists g2ve support to the French
colonialists who tried to reCO:lquer South Vietnam and the
southern part of Central Vietnam, at the same time work-
ing out a plan for reconquering the whole of Indochina·

28
While the imperialists and colonialists were launching
those political and military attacks, the counter-revolu-
tionaries within the country, the pro-Japanese, pro-Chiang
and pro-French reactionaries were on the rampage. Some
of them had seized power in various localities, set up
bases to oppose the Vietminh and the Governmer.t. Sabo-
teurs were even active in the cities and factories.
President H6-Chi-Minh and Central Committee mem-
bers devoted themselves day and night to State affairs,
endeavouring to make the ship of the Revolution weather
the storm, avoid the reefs and forge ahead. The fight
against foreign aggressors and internal enemies was very
difficult and complicated. Our Party had no experience
in holding power, but its Central Committee kept firm
hold of the banner of Marxism-Leninism, the whole Party
kept in close touch with the masses, and President Ho-Chi-
Minh, leader of the Party and the nation, a time-tested
Communist militant with rich experience in revolutionary
struggle, together with the Party Central Committee, ma-
de a skilful use of tactics to maintain revolutionary pow-
er, foil all machinations of imperialism and rescue the
country from all dangers.
On the one hand, President H6-Chi-Minh called on the
people to unite more strongly to I t fight against famine,
ignorance and foreign aggression", on the other he pro-
posed that the cadres and people be educated in the spirit
of "industry, thrift, integrity and righteousness".
The Party Central Committee and President H6 strove
to safeguard peace so that the country, which had been
ruined by eighty years of colonial domination and years
of war, could be reconstructed. A preliminary convention

29
was signed on March 6, 1946 between President H6 and
the French representative Sainteny. In this accord, Viet-
nam recognized herself a member of the French Union
and agreed to the landing of 15,000 French troops in
North and Central Vietnam to replace the Chiang Kai-shek
troops, as well as to a cease-fire in South Vietnam, etc.
In May 1946, President H6-Chi-Minh and a delegation
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam left for France
where negotiations were to be resumed with the French
government. The negotiations were conducted at Fon-
tainebleau. But the Fontainebleau Conference ended in
failure, for the French colonialists refused to abide by
the principle of equality and mutual advantage.
While the Fontainebleau Conference was taking place,
a Peace Conference was also being held by delegates of
countries which had participated in the Second World
War. For the sake of the peaceful reconstruction of the
Fatherland and in order to contribute to the consolidation
of world peace, President H6-Chi·Minh signed the Sept-
ember 14, 1946 Modus Vivendi with the French govern-
ment. But as he said, 1I the more concessions we made, the
more encroachments were carried out by the French" :
in violation of the agreements signed, French troops at-
tacked us in Haiphong, Langson (November 19, 1946) and
in Hanoi itself (December 17, 1946). This led to the
outbreak of the nation-wide resistance war on the night
of December 19, 1946. A period of hard and difficult strug-
gle began.
In his appeal to our people to carry out the Resistance
War (December 20, 1946) President H6 said:

30
"Compatriots all over the country:
Vie want peace, we have made concessions. But the more
concessions we made, the more encroachments have been car-
ried out by the French colonialists, for they are bent on
reconquering our country.
Can we allow this? No! We would rather sacrifice all
than be robbed of our Fatherland and be enslaved.
Compatriots, let us rise up !
All Vietnamese, men, women, old, young, whatever their
religious creed, political affiliation or nationality, must stand
up to fight the French colonialists and save the Fatherland.
Let them use pickaxes, hoes, sticks. Everyone must do his
utmost to resist the colonialists and save the country.
Members of the army, self-defence units and militia!
The hour has struck to save the country. We must sacrifice
down to the last drop of OUr blood to defend our land.
Long live independent and unified Vietnam!
Long live the victory of the Resistance War!
This resounding and moving appeal mobilized the en-
tire people to wage a protracted resistance war, a people's
war varying from sabotage and harassing actions, ambu-
shes, surprise raids, to campaigns of different scopes cul-
minating in the great Dienbienphu victory.
This historic appeal by President H6 will re30und
through the centuries and be a source of constant encour-
agement to present and future generations of Vietnamese.
During the Resistance War, President H6-Chi-Minh
constantly reminded the people of these principles: "pro-
tracted resistance, self-reliance " ; he called on all to par-
ticipate in "patriotic emulation" with the fighters in the

31
frontline "striving to annihilate the enemy", the people
in the rear doing their utmost to "increase production
and practise economy" so as to be able to send supplies
to the front and improve the standard of living, and those
in the enemy's rear engaging in production work, sabota-
ge and guerilla actions, and participating in or supporting
the Resistance War.
In February 1951, on account of the need to strengthen
the leadership of the Party so as to win final victory for
the Resistance war, the Second National Congress of the
Party was convened. The Congress made an analysis of the
home and world situation, the people's national democratic
revolution in Vietnam, the Vietnamese people's resist-
ance war, the Vietnamese State of people's democratic
dictatorship. At the same time, the Congress passed the
Party's new platform and rules, decided that it would
henceforth go out in the open under the name of Vietnam
Workers' Party, and resolved that the people should be
mobilized for a protracted resistance until final victory.
A new Centt'al Committee was elected and comrade H6-
Chi-Minh appointed Party President.
President H6 said in his Political report to the
Congress:
II The immediate aims of the Vietnam Workers' Party
are to unite and lead the entire people in the Resistance
War until final victory is achieved, the country reunified
and complete independence won. It will lead the entire
people in carrying into effect new democracy and creat-
ing conditions for progressing towards socialism...
The Party's leading, most urgent task is to conduct the
Resistance War to victory, all other tasks depend on the
realization of this."

32
The Central Committee and President H6-Chi-Minh
recommended that national unity and international solid-
arity be strengthened, patriotism and proletarian interna-
tionalism be infused into the cadres, Party members and
the popular masses, initiative and creativeness be encoura-
ged among the soldiers and civilians in fighting and in
production. II All for the frontline, all for victory! "Every-
one should do his utmost to contribute to victory over the
enemy."
In order to wage a protracted resistance war, develop
the cadres' and Party members' strong points and overcome
their weak points, consolidate the worker-peasant alliance,
foster the forces of the resistance, and increase produc-
tion so as to ensure supplies for the resistance, the CeIi~
tral Committee and President H6-Chi-Minh resolved that
the Party and the army should undertake ideological re-
moulding, that work among the masses should be readjust-
ed, the people mobilized, land reform carried out during
the Resistance War and an agricultural tax applied.
The President wrote I I Rectification a/the style a/work"
to educate cadres and Party members in the spirit of I I in-
dustry, thrift, integrity, righteousness '. and according to
the motto: U private interests must give way to the public
interests" ; to strengthen their will to wage the resistance
war and to stick to the revolutionary stand of the work-
ing class; to inculcate upon them the mass line and
urge them to oppose embezzlement, waste, bureaucratic
methods, etc. President H8-Chi-Minh was the soul of
the national resistance.
After the restoration of peace and the complete liber-
ation of the North. the Vietnamese revolution switched
over to the stage of socialist revolution in the North,

3 - H6-Chi-Minh 33
whereas in the South the people's national democratic
revolution still continued. In this new stage, the Party
Central Committee and the President led the people to
rehabilitate the economy and complete land reform, un-
dertake the socialist transformation of agriculture, hand-
icrafts, capitalist industry and trade, and small trade; devel-
op the State and co-operative sectors of the economy;
mobilize the pe0ple in patriotic emulation under the motto
"gr~ater, quicker, better and more economical production"
so as to fulfil and overfulfil the State plan; develop eco-
nomy and culture; gradually carry into effect socialist
industrialization; build up the armed forces gradually into
a regular and modern army; set up the people's armed
police; in short, carry out socialist transformation and
build socialism in the North, ceaselessly improve the
people's living conditions and turn the North into a solid
base for the struggle aimed at achieving peaceful national
reunification, and at the same time give active support to
the patriotic struggle waged by our Southern compatriots
against the American imperialists and their lackeys.
Immediately before the signing of the Geneva Agree-
ments, President H6-Chi-Minh had said: like the Resist-
ance War, th~ struggle for the reunification of the coun-
try would be long and hard but it would certainly end in
victory. He set the following tasks to our entire people:
I I Resolutely to continue the struggle for the implementa-

tion of the Geneva Agreements, national reunification on

the basis of independence and democracy through peace-
ful means, and completion of the glorious cause of nation-
al liberation "*.

* Letter sent to the compatriots throughout the country

dated July 6, 1056.

34
Until the country is reunified, President H6-Chi-Minh's
heart will not be at peace. On one occasion, as he was
reading his report before the Natianal Assembly, his eyes
filled with tears when mentioning the cruel repression of
our Southern compatriots by the U.S. puppet clique.
All his life, he nurtures the desire to see his country
independent and reunified, his people free and happy. The
Resistance \Var ended in victory; in Geneva, the inde-
pendence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of
Vietnam, and of Cambodia and Laos, got international
recognition. But the American imperialists and their
asents have sabotaged the Geneva Agreements and
tried to turn the southern part of our country into a U.S.
new-type colony and military base. So our people must
ceaselessly strengthen their solidarity, heighten their vigil-
an:e, foster their fighting spirit, do their utmost to build
socialism in the North, be resolute in and give a strong
impulse to the struggle in the South against the U. S.-
puppet clique, so as to consolidate peace, achieve national
reunification, win independence and democracy in the
whole country, build a peaceful, unified, independent,
d~ml)cratic, prosperous and strong Vietnam, contribute to
the strengthening of the socialist camp and the consolid-
ation of peace in Southeast Asia and the world.
One of the most i:nportant actions undertaken by Pre-
sident H6-Chi Minh since the restoration of peace has
been the strengthening of solidarity among the socialist
countries, and at the same time developing friendly rela-
tions with newly-independent coutries in Asia, Africa and
Latin America.
In July I955, President Ho-Chi-Minh led a Party and
Government delegation on a friendship visit to the Soviet

35
Union, China and Mongolia. In July 1957, he again led
a Party and Government delegation on a friendship
visit to the other brother countries. In February 1958,
he paid a visit to a number of Asian countries, such as
India and Burma. In February 1959, he visited Indonesia.
Everywhere, he received a warm welcome from the peoples
and the governments. By hailing President Ho Chi-Minh,
the people in those countries showed their affection and
admiration for the people of Vietnam, heroic in fighting
and industrious in work, who victoriously carried out the
August Revolution and the Resistance War, and are suc-
cessfully building socialism in the North and waging an
indomitable struggle in the South to complete national
liberation

'j
II

PRESIDENT HO-CHI-MINH'S
REVOLUTIONARY LINE

From the day the French colonialists came to invade

and conquer our country, our people have never ceased
to struggle for freedom and independence. No sooner did
they fail in one attempt than they began at once another,
determined not to remain in slavery. Many heroes and
martyrs died for the country. Yet before the birth of our
Party, the Vietnamese revolution was not successful. Why?
The main cause was that there was no correct revolu-
tionary lin~ and no strong political Party to lead the people
in a revolution to overthrow the enemy.
President Ho-Chi-Minh was the first Vietnamese to
work out a correct revolutionary line and take concrete
steps in building a strong political party which would
carry it into effect.
Old-time revolutionaries, from Truong Cong Dinh,
Tong Duy Tan to Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, had
never analysed the world and home situation to deter-
mine the aims, needs, and tasks of the Vietnamese revolu-
tion; they had mver clearly defined the enemy of the
revolutio~, its motive forces, or the social class which

37
should lead it. As regards the foreign enemy, who came
to invade and conquer the country, those old revolution-
aries adopted the following views: Vietnam was conquered
by the French, the Vietnamese people were being oppress-
ed by France, so to wage a revolution was to oppose
II the French", lumping together the French colonialists

and the French working class and toiling people. who

were the Vietnamese people's friends and shared with
them a common enemy: French colonialism. Concerning
the enemy inside the country, they emphasized the need
to overthrow the Vietnamese traitors, which was correct;
however, they often failed to see clearly to what class
those traitors belonged and the reasons behind their
reactionary attitude.
The revolutionaries of the Can Vuong movement held
that the French colonialists should be driven out but not
that the feudalist regime should be abolished; they wanted
to overthrow the traitor king and mandarins, but would
support any king who would oppose the French and recap-
ture the power of the royal Court; they urged the peasants
to engage in anti-French guerilla war, but did not work
out any policy aimed at abolishing feudal ownership of the
land, did not distribute land to the peasants or give them
enough land to work on. Old revolutionaries such as Hoang
Hoa Tham, Nguyen Thien Thuat, Phan Boi Chau and
others held that the French colonialists should be driven
out, but they failed to see clearly that the enemy of the
Vietnamese revolution was the French colonialists and im-
perialists, and the feudalist landowners who had surrendered
to the imperialists and become their servants ill their
oppression and exploitation of our compatriots. They failed
to see clearly that the aim of the revolution was to win

38
national independence and build up a Democratic Repub-
lic in which the people would be masters of the country
and enjoy broad democratic freedoms. They said in general
terms that the revolution should free the people from
their misery and make the country strong and prosperous
but they were not aware that to attain this aim one would
have to give back land to the tillers and industrialize the
country. Nguyen Thai Hoc and the Nationalist Party
adopted Sun Yat-sen's "three principles" but they had no
concrete platform aimed at achieving national indepen-
dence, democratic freedoms and happiness for the people
in the concrete conditions of Vietnam.
The greatest shortcoming of the above revolutionaries
was that they failed to make an objective analysis of Viet-
namese society so as to see clearly the fundamental
contradictions which bogged it down and hindered its
development and to assess correctly the attitudes, aspira-
tions and revolutionary capabilities of the various strata
of the people. That was why they failed to fully grasp
the tasks of the Vietnamese revolution, of its enemy and
motive forces and of the class which should lead it. Their
common shortcomi:lg was to under estimate the peasants'
revolutionary role, even if they relied on the peasants,
they failed to see clearly that in our country, the essence of
the national problem was the peasant problem and the gist
of the problem of democracy was the land problem. It was
because those revolutionaries took the stand of either the
small feudalists fallen on bad times (for instance Phan
Dinh Phung), or of the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie
(for instance Hoang Hoa Tham), or of the national bour-
geoisie (for instance Nguyen Thai Hoc). In particular,
concerning the problem ofthe leadership of the Vietnamese

39
revolution, Nguyen Thai Hoc was the only one among
them who started his revolutionary activities when indus-
try had begun to develop in Vietnam and the Vietnamese
working class had seen the light of day and become an
important revolutionary force; all the others had lived
at a time when industry had not yet been developed, the
industrial working class had not taken shape, and so they
could not have been conscious of the leading role of the
working class in the national liberation or seen the im-
portance of the worker-peasant alliance.
On the other hand, President H6-Chi-Minh looked
at the Vietnamese revolution from the viewpoint of the
Vietnamese working class. Guided by Marxism-Leninism,
he clearly saw the aim, content and class character of the
Vietnamese revolution. The October Revolution and
Lenin's Thesis on the National and Colonial problem shed
a powerful light on the problem and helped him grasp it.
Applying Marxism-Leninism to the concrete conditions of
Vietnam, he was not long to see that the Vietnamese revol-
ution was a new-style democratic bourgeois revolution.
Its aim was to overthrow the imperialists and feudalists,
set up a Democratic Republic of Vietnam, win national
independence and give land to the tillers. He saw clearly
that the Vietnamese democratic bourgeois revolution
should develop into a socialist revolution so as to build
socialism in Vietnam. He held the view that the Viet-
namese revolutiol1 could win victory only if the popular
masses, the workers and peasants in particular, closely
united and if the revolution was led by the working class
on the basis of the worker-peasant alliance. He also saw
clealy that the Vietnam revolution was part and parcel
of world anti-imperialist revolution and that its most

40
impo.rtant international duty was to support the Soviet
Union, the fIrst proletarian State in the world. His opinion
was that the Vietnamese working class and people must
closely unite with the French working class and labouring
people and with the people in the French colonies in
order to overthrow their common enemy: French
colonialism. He wrote:
It Capitalism is a leech with one sucker adhering to the

proletariat in the f mother country' and another clinging

to the proletariat in the colonies; if only one sucker is cut
off, the other will continue to suck blood from the proleta-
riat, the animal will go on living and the sucker which
has been cut will grow again." *
That is why he held that the Indochinese people and
the French working class should be in close touch with
each other and engage in unified action. He also held
that the people of Indochina, those of the other French
colonies, and all oppressed peoples in the world. should,
on the one hand, unite with the working class in the
. f m1ther countries", and on the other unite with one
another, support one another, and combine their efforts,
to overthrow their common enemy: imperialism. For these
reasons, in France as well as in China, he organized a
Federation of the Oppressed Peoples.
Of course such complete and systematic views on the
Vietnamese and colonial revolution did not come to him
all at once. It was in the process of revolutionary struggle
that he gained an increasingly clearer view of the revolu-
tionary line in the colonies and today we see in retros-

* The Russian revolution and the colonial peoples.

41
pect that his thinking on that problem became daily richer
and deeper.
Concerning the leadership of the Vietnamese revolution,
Vietnamese revolutionaries before President Ho's time
considered that the prevolution in our country was to be
waged by outstanding heroes and scholars, who needed only
address a call to the masses for the latter to rise up as one
man and carry into effect their wishes. President Ho, on
the contrary, saw clearly that the revolution must be the
work of the broad masses, of the people, first and foremost
of the most wretched, oppressed and exploited strata, the
workers and peasants. Leadership of the Vietnamese revolu-
tion belonged not to any single outstanding individual who
would stand above all classses but to the Vietnamese
working class, who had only their bare hands, sold their
labour force for a living and were the most oppressed and
exploited. This class, although small in number, had a
very high revolutionary spirit and represented the most
advanced productive forces in Vietnamese society. History
had given the Vietnamese working class this sacred mis-
sion: while struggling to liberate themselves, they were to
liberate th~ whole nation from the imperialist and feudal-
ist yoke, from all exploitation and oppression.
Indeed, our opinion is that man makes history, we do
not deny the role played in history by outstanding per-
sonalities. However, if these personalities became outstand-
ing and performed great achievements it was because they
had taken firmly the stand of the vanguard class (in our
era, this class can be none other than the working class),
because they understood correctly the law of development
of society and grasped the concrete condition~ in their
countries; hence they could clearly see what they had to

42
do and how they could do it, in order to change those
conditions in accordance with the objective laws of social
development and eventually bring independence to their
nation and freedom and happiness to their people. In our
era, any leaders, outstanding personalities, heroes, who
wanted to urge, mobilize, encourage and lead the Viet-
namese people to carry out a revolution had to found a
revolutionary party, of which they were members. This
Party had to be that of the most revolutionary class, the
Vietnamese working class. The party had to be the organ-
ized part, the vanguard, the general staff of the Viet-
namese working class, who knew how to mingle, within
determined limits, with the broad masses of the people in
order to lead them. The leader would be the man with
outstanding qualities and rich experience, tempered and
forged by the masses' revolutionary movement, to whom
the organization had entrusted the task of heading the
Party's highest leading body and taking the helm of the
revolution.
According to the viewpoint of our Party and President
H6-Chi-Minh, the Vietnamese revolution was a democra-
tic bourgeois revolution of a new style in a colonial
country, a revolution often termed by the Party a people's
national democratic revolution. It was a revolution
waged by the people, that is the working class, the
peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie and the national bour-
geoisie, led by the working class on the basis of the
worker-peasant alliance. The aim of this revolution was to
overthrow imperialism and feudalism, achieve national
independence and give land to the tillers, and found the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a people's de-
mocracy.

43
After the overthrow of imperialism and feudalism, the
revolution did not cease, but On the contrary developed
into a socialist revolution, applying socialist transforma-
tion to agriculture, handicrafts, capitalist industry, carry-
ing out socialist industrialization and turning our country
from a backward agricultural country into a socialist one,
with modern industry and agriculture and vanguard cul-
ture and science.
In a talk with students of the People's University
(January 18, 1958) the President said:
"To progress to socialism, we must transform the old
society into a new one, in which man is no longer
exploited by man, a society in which equality will prevail,
which means everybody must work and has the right to
work. Each will enjoy the fruits of his labour, according
to the amount of work he supplies. If he has done no
work, he will enjoy no revenue."
The path of socialist revolution charted by our Party
and President H6-Chi-Minh leads through socialist trans-
formation and building in a backward agricultural country,
dil'ect to socialism bypassing the stage of capitalist deve-
lopment. This chart takes into account the temporary
division of the country into two zones.
In short, the revolutionary line of our Party and Pre-
sident H6-Chi·Minh is that of a complete revolution,
based on Lenin's doctrine of Marxi.st- Leninist "uninter-
rupted revolution". According to this line, it must win
complete independence (political, economic, and cultural)
for the nation, at the same time it must carry out a
genuine land reform, giving land to the tillers, and
achieve genuine democratic freedoms for the people; the
people's national democratic revolution must develop into
a socialist revolution. completely abolishing, by means of
socialist transformation and building, exploitation of man
by man and making the people free and happy and the
country prosperous.
Before President H6-Chi-Minh, many Vietnamese revo-
lutionaries held that in order to overthrow the impe-
rialists and feudalists one would only need to assassinate
or poison the enemy's chief administrative officials or
highest-ranking officers and the most wicked among the
Vietnamese mandarins, the most efficient running dogs of
the colonialists or one would only need to urge Vietnamese
soldiers (in the puppet army) to rise up and turn their
guns against the enemy: this would suffice to bring
victory to the revolution and independence to the country.
This viewpoint was current among the Vietnamese revo-
lutionary circles, from the Hoang Hoa Tham, Dong Zu,
Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc movements to that of the Viet-
nam Nationalist Party. The poisoning of French officers
in Hanoi (1908), the bomb-throwing in Hanoi hotel (1913),
the assassination of the provincial governor Nguyen Duy
Han in Thaibinh (1913), the bomb-throwing in Shamian,
Canton (1924), the assassinati::m of "coolie" recruiter
Bazill and soldiers' insurrections in Thainguyen (1917),
Yenbai (1930), Doluong (1940) did not bring the expected
results.
President H6-Chi-Minh is the first Vietnamese revolu-
tionary leader to have seen dearly the mistaken character
of those methods of individual assassination and soldiers'
insurrection. He became aware that patient work is needed
to bring about the triumt=-h of the revolution, that one
must conduct propaganda work among the masses to

45
enlighten them, organize and lead them to struggle for
their daily interests. Through their struggle, the masses
will know where lie the sources of their sufferings, who are
their friends, and who are their foes; they will learn that
in order to end their sufferings, they must progress from
daily struggles to armed insurrection, overthrow the
colonial and semi-feudal regime, win power for the people,
turn the means of production belonging to the colo-
nialists and feudalists into public property, or divide them
among the poor (for instance, the enterprises belonging to
the colonialists will become public property and the lands
of the feudalist landowners will be distributed to land-poor
and landless peasant:; and to middle peasants with not
enough land). Through their daily struggle~, the masses'
hatred for the enemy will deepen, their revolutionary
experience be enriched, they will cast off their illusion
and feel more confidence in their own strength as well as
in the vanguard Party's line and policies. In the crucible
of revolutionary struggle, the Party and its cadres will be
forged and tempered, their fighting spirit and ability for
leadership increased, the Party organization and the
masses' revolutionary organizations will become ever purer
and stronger.
President H6 - Chi-Minh's method of propaganda,
organization and struggle is the only correct revolutionary
method, that of Marxism-Leninism, that of the revolu-
tionary working class. As to the methods employed by
many of our revolutionary predecessors, they are char-
acterized by adventurism and individualistic heroism and
belong to non-proletarian classes.
To bring the Vietnamese revolution to victory, we must
have certain conditions; in other words, we must foster

46
favourable factors for the revolution. On this question,
when dealing with the necessity of land reform, during
the Resistance War, President He said:
« The key to the victory of the Resistance War is to
consolidate and broaden the national united {runt,
consolidate the worker-peasant alliance, and the people's
power, consolidate and develop the army, consolidate the
Party and strengthen its leadership in all fields, " *
The key to the victory of the Resistance War is also the
key to the victory of the Vietnamese revolution as a
whole.
President He-Chi- Minh often repeats that solidarity
makes strength. In a country such as ours, where
the working class is but small, in order to lead the
revolution to victory the party of the working class must
set up a broad national united front, practise H broad
union ", rally all that can be rallied, win over all that can
be ~ 011 over, so as to have the fewest enemies possible; the
aim is to have" Qore friends, fewer enemies", and isolate
to the utmost the imperialists and their lackeys so as to
overthrow them more easily.
The National United Front policy put forward by
President He is very flexible. Before the August Rev\)-
lution, the Viet Minh was founded. After the August
Revolution, owing to the necessity of alliance with such
political parties as the Viet Quoc and Viet each and with
democratic and patriotic personalities, the Lien Viet was
set up, which included the Viet Minh as well as the
others. The platform of Lien Viet was broader than that
of Viet Minh. During the Resistance War, at the time

"Report read before the ~ational Assembly, December 1953.

47
when our Party came out in the open, Viet Minh and
Lien Viet were merged together into the Lien Viet
Front. Following the restoration of peace, a new situation
and new tasks arose, new allies had to be drawn into the
Front. So the Party Central Committee and President H6-
Chi-Minh proposed that the Lien Viet Front be trans-
formed into the Vietnam Fatherland Front and pass a new
programme.
Concerning the problem of union within the Front,
President H6 said: " As regards the friendly parties and
organizations within the National Front, the Vietnam
Workers' Party's policy is one of tight and lasting union
and common progress. "
He also said:
" The Party must strive to rally the entire people so as
to give a great impulse to the resistance, it must practise
union with the friendly parties and organizations within
the Front. This union must not be only from the teeth
outwards; it must be expressed through actual deeds and
spring from a true spirit of union, it must be a true
union." *
However, in order to bring about true union with the
parties, organizations and personalities within the Front,
the President proposed that the Party should organize
political studies for them (during the Resistance War, it
gave them the possibility to participate in ideological
remoulding) and to use criticism and self-criticism to
help them develop their strong points and overcome their
weak points so as to progress together.

.. Speech at a meeting to present the Vietnam \Vorkers'

Party after its founding, ::\1arch 1951.

48
Towards the end of 1956, when our Party uncovered
errors in the carrying out of land reform and rectification
of Party organization, die-hard landlords, reactionary
bourgeois elements, together with religious counter-revo-
lutionaries and other saboteurs, raised their heads and
opposed the Party and the regime. Within the Vietnam
Fatherland Front, some people with rightist tendencies
availed themselves of the situation to attack the Party.
The Party Central Committee and President H6 held that
distinction should be made between friends and foes, that
enemies should be repressed whereas opportunist elements
within the Front should be criticized and opposed. Strug-
gle is necessary in order to strengthen union within
the Front; based on union, it is aimed at strengthening
union.
President H6 pays great attention to the consolidation
of the worker-peasant alliance, for it is the basis of the
National United Front. He highly values the role played
by the peasantry in the revolution and the Resistance
War. Said he:
tiThe great majority of our people are peasants. These
last few years, the Resistance War has scored victories
thanks to the peasant forces. In the days to come, it
will also be thanks to them that the resistance will
gain complete victory and our country be successfully
rebuilt." *
He also said:
tlWe must liberate the peasants from the feudalist yoke
and foster their forces, only by so doing shall we be able

* Report read before the National Assembly, Decem-

ber 1953.

-1- H6-Chi-Minh 3C 49
to mobilize this great force in the Resistance War and win
victory". *
For this reason, he asked the National Assembly to pass
a law on land reform so as to carry into effect the watch-
word "Land to the tiller" and consolidate the worker-
peasant alliance in the most concrete and effective way.
The consolidation of the worker-peasant alliance would
result in the consolidation and development of the Nation-
al United Front.
Concerning the consolidation of the people's power,
President H6-Chi-Minh holds that political power must
truly be of the people, from the people and for the
people. On the one hand, the people's power must be put
under the leadership of the working class, on the other,
it must have a broad national front character and be
representative of the various popular strata. However,
because the great majority of the people are made up of
workers and peasants, they must be adequately represented
in the organs of power, and especially in the National
Assembly and People's Councils at all levels. The worker-
peasant alliance is the basis not only of the National
United Front but also of the people's democratic power.
Nevertheless, other strata of the population (petty bour-
geoisie and national bourgeoisie) must also be represented
in the organs of power. Besides, there should be a num-
ber of democratic and patriotic personalities. But the
organs of power at village level must belong solely to the
peasants (in the people's national democratic revolution,
rich peasants may be represented in village people's
councils but not in the village administrative committee).

* Report read before the National Assembly, December

1953·

50
Even before land reform, landlords should not be allowed
in the village organs of power, for experience has shown
us that their presence there will prove a hindrance to the
carrying out of land and other policies of the Party and
State. In the Resistance War, through the mobilization of
popular masses for land reform, our village organs of
power had, in general, been consolidated. Landlords had
been driven out of village administrative committees and
people's councils, two-thirds of village administrative
committee members were landless and land-poor peasants,
<lnd one third middle peasants.
The organs of our State power must carry out the
tasks of the people's democratic dictatorship, that is
democracy for the people and dictatorship as regards
the people's enemies.
President H6-Chi-Minh often says: the cadres of our
State power are representatives of the people and at
the same time their "faithful servants". To deserve this
appellation, they must study hard and strive to heighten
their political, cultural and professional level; they must
.I' keep strict discipline, strictly abstain from revealing
official secrets" ; they must " practice solidarity with and
give help and advice" to their colleagues; they must be
dose to the people, help them in every field and strive to
win their confidence and love". *
The President constantly reminds the cadres and em-
ployees that they must keep away from "bureaucratism,
waste and embezzlement", and must pay the greatest
<lttention to the people' life. Says he:

* Letter to the personnel of governmental offices, dated

June 16, 1947.

51
"If the people are hungry, cold, ignorant or sick, this
is the fault of the Party and Government.
"That is why all Party and State cadres, from top to
bottom, must pay the greatest attention to the people's
life" *.
What is President H6's opinion concerning the build-
ing of the army? He asserts that a colonial people, heav-
ily oppressed, must wage armed struggle to overthrow
the domination of the colonialists and imperialists and win
back independence and freedom. To wage an armed
struggle, a people's revolutionary army must be organized.
Our people's army is in fact a worker-peasant army, the
great majority of whose members are peasants. The aim of
struggle of our army during the stage of the people's nat-
ional democratic revolution was national independence
and "land to the tiller"; in the present stage, it is to
build socialism in the North, support the patriotic struggle
of our Southern compatriots and realize national reunifi-
cation.
President H6-Chi-Minh pays great attention to educat-
ing the army. During the Resistance War, he paid
frequent visits to the fighting units, attended recapitula-
tive conferences on military campaigns and work drives,.
and visited training centres. On these occasions, he would
give advices and instructions. When unable to attend a
conference, he would send a message giving encouragement
and recommendations. He paid great attention to the
armymen's food, clothing and lodging, and to political
work in the army. The aim of this political work is to

* Speech at a meeting to boost production, July 1<)55.

52
bring about unity of mind between cadres and service-
men, between the army and the people, at the same time
undermining the morale of the enemy.
Concerning the relations between cadres and soldiers,
President H6-Chi-Minh has said: liThe cadres must love
the soldiers. They must look after the sick and wounded;
any unit commander, any political commissar must be a
brother, a sister, a friend to the soldiers."
He often reminds the armymen that "the army and the
people are like fish and water". That is why armymen
must protect the lives and property of the people; they
must not touch even Ita needle or a bit of thread belong-
ing to the people"; wherever they are stationed, they
must help the local people in production work.
As regards enemy soldiers, President Ho-Chi-Minh pays
great attention to the content of explanatory work among
them and the slogans used in it, and to the carrying out
of government policies concerning prisoners of war and
men who have surrendered.
He constantly educates the army, urging them to
heighten their vigilance and fighting spirit, their sense of
organization and discipline; neitheir to become compla-
cent in victory nor to lose heart in defeat; develop their
tradition of enduring hardships, overcoming difficulties
and fulfilling their tasks.
During the Resistance War, he instructed the army to
fight the enemy with arms seized from them; to engage in
an operation only when victory was certain; to annihilate
the enemy forces while developing our own; to fully grasp
the principle "protracted resistance and self-reliance".

53
Since the return of peace, he has called on the army
to train and study hard, heighten their political and
technical level, so as to gradually become a regular and
modern army, defend the peaceful labour of the people
of the North, keep order and security, help the people
in production, and carry out their own production work
in so far as possible. This is the practical way in which
our people's army has been participating in the building
and consolidation of the North into a strong base
for the struggle for the peaceful reunification of the
country.
Since the restoration of peace as well as during the
Resistance war, President H6-Chi-Minh has paid great
attention to the militia, for it is that part of the armed
forces which directly defends the people and production
work, at the same time, constituting an inexhaustible
source of manpower for the regular army.
Concerning the Party, President H6-Chi-Minh holds
that the new-style party of the working class, the Marxist-
Leninist Party, is the source of all victories for the
revolution. If the Party's line and policies are correct, its
organization pure and strong, the ideological stand of its
cadres and members firm and thorough going, this will
bring about all victories to our working class and people.
Indeed, the Party is the foremost factor for the victory
of the revolution. The experience gained by the Viet-
namese revolution is that only after the Party had come
into existence could there be a National United Front,
a people's revolutionary army, a people's democratic
power, etc.
In the Resistance War, President H6 set the following
twelve points concerning a genuine party:

54
I. The organization * should not be one aimed at
profit making. It must fulfil its mission of liberating
the nation, making the Fatherland rich and strong, the
people happy.
2. Its cadres must grasp revolutionary theory, and
theory and practice must go hand in hand.
3. Slogans must be put forth and directions given on
the basis of the concrete conditions prevailing and the
revolutionary experience gained in other countries, in our
own country and in specific regions.
4. The correctness of those slogans and directions
should be checked through work among the masses of the
people.
5. All the work of the organization must be constantly
checked. It must be carried out for the benefit of the
masses. The organization's cadres and members and the
people must be educated in the spirit of patriotism and
industry, thrift, integrity and righteousness.
6. Every work of the organization must be in conformity
with its principles and in close touch with the people.
Otherwise, not only shall we fail to lead the masses but
even to learn from them. Not only shall we fail to raise
their level, but we shall also fail to know their opinion.
7. Every work of the organization must maintain its
revolutionary character and be carried out in a fiexible
manner. Otherwise, we shall fail to grasp the various forms
of struggle and organization and to combine the people's
day-to-day interests with their long-term ones.

'" This word means the Party. The rectification of the style
ot work was written by President Ho-Chi-Minh before the
Party was made public, hence this allusion.

55
8. The organization must neither hide its shortcomings
nor be afraid of criticism. It must admit its shortcomings
so as to set them right, make progress and educate its
cadres and members.
9. The organization must select the most faithful and
zealous people and group them into leading nuclei.
10. It must constantly purge itself of degenerate elements.
11. It must keep strict discipline from top to bottom.

This discipline is: unity of mind,unity of action.

It is born of the members' consciousness of their duties
towards the organization.
12. The organization must keep constant control of the
execution of its resolutions and directions. Otherwise,
these resolutions and directions would amount merely to
empty words and harm the confidence of the people in
the organization.
To keep the organization strong and firm
None of these twelve points should be overlooked. *
The President pays great attention to the Party's cadres
and cells, for the cadres must fully grasp all Party and
Government resolutions and directions, take them to the
masses, carry out propaganda and education work among the
latter and mobilize them for action. The cell is the lowest
unit in the Party structure and is the base of the Party
among the masses. All Party and State work is to be carried
out by the masses 'under the leadership of the cells. If the
cells are good the Party will be strong and firm and every-
thing will be smooth sailing. That is why the cadres must
be constantly well looked after and the cells consolidated,

* Rectification of the style of work.

5G
the Party's higher-ranking authorities must keep an atten-
tive eye on the cells and help them in their work.
President H6-Chi-Minh' constant endeavour is to unite
and unify the Party, to keep it from all division and
factionalism. Ever since the Party was founded, whether
he is at home or abroad, he has constantly striven to
preserve the Party's ideological and organizational unity,
as well as its members' unity in action. "Only when the
Party is itself united," he says, "can it unite the people
in the struggle against the imperialists and their agents."
When dissension arises, the thing to do is to find out
who is right and who is wrong in the light of the Party's
resolutions and directions, then criticism and self-criticism
must be carried out. Says the President:
:. Strong unity is brought about by good criticism and
self-criticism, that is criticism and self-criticism based on
unity and aimed at unity. " *
To seek to bring about unity by avoiding criticism is
the" peace-above-all " spirit of the petty bourgeoisie, not
the spirit of the working class.
Since the return of peace as well as during the Resist-
ance war, the Central Committee and President H6 Chi-
Minh have held that ideological remoulding and study
sessions should be periodically organized for the benefit
of Party cadres and members, and criticism and self-
criticism brought into play in order to develop their strong
points, overcome their weak points, strengthen solidarity
and unity of mind within the Party so that, like an
army in battle, every move and action of the Party will

* Appeal made on the occasion of the celebration of the

anniversary of the August Revolution and Xational Day, 1954-

57
be taken in order and discipline and with full cons-
ciousness. Bad elements - people who have become
degenerate, corrupt or who indulge in exploitation -
should be purged from the Party, the Party should be
preserved against all penetration by the counter-revolu-
tionaries so that it can be pure and strong.
The Party, the National United Front, the army, the
people's power, such are the factors for the victory of the
revolution within the country. International solidarity is
another factor for victory, it is an expression of the ties
between our own people and those of the other countries.
in our camp, between our people and peace-loving people
all over the world.
We have already the Party, the National United Front,
the army and the people's power; if we strengthen inter-
national solidarity, our force will be all the more increased
and greater victories secured.
Says President H6-Chi-Minh:
"The ever stronger peace and democratic movement in
the world has helped us win victory. On the other hand,.
our victory will bring worthy contribution to the defence
of peace in Asia and the world. " *
President H6-Chi-Minh stands for world-wide solidarity:
solidarity between our people and those of the other
countries in our camp, especially the Soviet and Chinese
people, between ours and those of the newly-independent
nations, and of the colonial and dependent countries,
between our people and peace-loving people all over the
world, including those of imperialist countries.

* ibid.

58
He sets great store by brotherly co-operation with the
socialist countries and considers this a sure guarantee for
the uninterrupted development of peaceful national
reconstruction.
He approves of the five principles of peaceful co-
existence and considers them the basis on which to establish
friendly relations with neighbouring and other countries
and contribute to the safeguarding of peace in Indochina,
Southeast Asia and the world.
In short, President Ho-Chi-Minh's revolutionary line
is our Party's revolutionary line, the Marxist-Leninist
line in an agricultural and colonial country. It expresses
the close combination of Marxist-Leninist fundamental
principles with the realities of the Vietnamese revolution.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung's developments of the revolu-
tionary theory in colonial and semi-colonial countries have
greatly helped our Party and President Ho-Chi-Minh in
charting the line and policies of the revolution in out'
country.
The revolutionary struggle waged by our Party for the
last thirty years is the embodiment and testing of this line.
The victory of the August Revolution and of the protract-
ed Resistance war, the achievements recorded in all
spheres by our Party and State over recent years have
proved the complete correctness of this line.
III

PRESIDENT HO-CHI-MINH'S MORAL

GREATNESS - HIS STYLE OF WORK

President H6-Chi-Minh has devoted his whole life to

struggling for national liberation, the people's freedom
and happiness and the communist ideal. For generations
and generations his moral greatness will set a shining
example for our cadres and people.
A foreign writer has used the following words to depict
him: intelligence, humanity, courage. He symbolizes to
the highest degree the communist virtues in Vietnam and
is an epitome of the best qualities of our people. He has
developed the traditional virtues of the East: intelligence,
humanity and courage on a completely new basis.
Indeed, President H6-Chi-Minh is the genial leader of
the Vietnamese working class and people. He constantly
combines the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with
the realities of the Vietnamese revolution; in other words,
he applies Marxism-Leninism in a creative manner to
the concrete conditions prevailing in our country in order
to set forth correct lines and policies for our Party. His
revolutionary line, which we have summarized in chapter
II, proves that his is a powerful mind. His Marxist-

60
Leninist conception of the world and experiences in
struggle over long years give him power to predict events
long before hand. great sensitiveness to turning points in
history and ability to put forward adequate slogans aimed
at transforming the situation of the moment. His thorough
grasp of Marxism-Leninism, his habit of making a careful
study of the situation at any moment, of summing up and
learning from the experience in class struggle and in
production of the masses, his industry, devotion, simpli-
city, modesty and absolute loyalty to the cause of national
liberation and the communist ideal, such are the eminent
qualities which have made of him a clearsighted leader
beloved by the people.
One virtue that is outstanding in him is his love of his
fellow-human beings. This is not a feeling that stands
above all classes, but a class feeling directed towards the
workers, the immense love he feels for the toiling people,
for the people who suffer misery.
In his youth, he suffered seeing his compatriots living
under the oppression and exploitation of the colonialists and
the feudalists It was this very wretchedness from which
his country, his home and his people suffered that prompt-
ed him to go abroad to study revolutionary experience so
that he could return" to help his compatriots 't. He con-
sidered himself "a soldier sent to the front by the
people"*, a faithful servant of the people. In him, the love
for the people had become a fierce passion. He said:
"I have only one desire, an extremely passionate desi-
re, that of seeing our country completely independent, our

* Speech at a meeting to present the Hanoi candidates to

the Kational Assembly, April 1960.

61
people completely free, all our compatriots having enough
to eat and to wear and receiving an education."
This aspiration directs all his thoughts and actions, all
his life. Says he: At all times, in all places, I only pur-
(t

sue one aim: to serve my country and people. "*

During the Resistance War, on one occasion when he
thanked the people for the birthday greetings sent to him,
he said:
"I can only express my gratitude to you by resolutely
.enduring together with you all misery and hardships, by
resolutely pursuing together with you the Resistance War
until complete victory, by struggling together with you for
the present and future happiness and freedom of our
children ...
All this he has summarized in the following motto:
~(Faithful to the country, dutiful to the people ", for him-
self and for all Party and State cadres.
However, President H6-Chi-Minh's noble feelings are
not confined to his country and his nation, his heart is open
to the working class of all countries, to the toiling people
and oppressed peoples all over the world. At the time he
began his first revolutionary acti vities, he already combined
his love for his country with proletarian internationalism.
The basis for such a combination is his broad feelings of
class brotherhood towards the working class and the
toiling people.
Yet, love for the people and deep desire for the people's
freedom and happiness would not have sufficed. To human-
ity must be added courage. It is necessary to have a no-

* Address to the Vietnamese people before his ueparture

for France to negotiate a treaty with the French government,
May 1946.
ble ideal, but one must also have the determination to
act in order to realize that ideal. Our people's immense
love and respect for the President stem from the fact that
for nearly half a century now, he has struggled tirelessly
and endured all sacrifices in order to save his country and
his people. Determined to realize his aspirations, he has
kept intact the youthful fervour that filled his heart when
as a young man he left his country in search of truth. His
spirit is that of a man who "would neither be seduced
by riches, shaken by poverty, nor bowed down by power".
In his first d<lys of exile when he had to toil hard for
a living and in those he spent in imperialist jails, in mo-
ments of great difficulties for the revolution, he always
kept intact his revolutionary faith and optimism. Determin-
ation in struggle and revolutionary optimism are noble
qualities which permeate the whole of the President's
militant life.
His collection of poems Prison Diary is to some extent
an expression of his spirit, qualities and moral greatness.
Let us read some of the poems in that remarkable Diary:
Advice to oneself
Without the cold and desolation of winter
There could not be the warmth and splendour of spring.
Calamity has tempered and hardened me
.-ind turned my mt'nd into steel.
Listening to the rice pounding
How mHch the rice l1tttSt su,ffer under tlte pestle
Std, after the pounding, it comes ou,t white lthe cotton.
The same thing often happens to men in this world
Misfort1me's workshop turns them to polished iade.

63
At the end of four months

Fortunately
Being stubborn and patient, never yielding an
inch,
Though physically I suffer, my spirit is unshaken.
When he was in jail, the loss of a tooth or the stealing
of his cane by a warder were occasions for him to give
poetical expression to his staunchness. For instance writ-
ing about his tooth:
You are hard and proud, my friend,
Not soft and long like the tongue.
Or about his cane:
A II your life with me, you have been upright and
strong.
Together we have passed through seasons of snow
and mist.
Every line, every word of his poems seems to contain
" steel", and expresses the thoughts and feelings of a
great fighter. Hardships and difficulties have never shak-
en but only tempered his spirit and iron will. That is why,
when at last he got out of prison, his heart remained
" spotless and clean" :

After prison, a walk in the mountains

The clouds embrace the peaks, the peaks embrace
the clouds,
The river below shines like a mirror, spotless and
clean,
On the crest of the Western Mountains, my heart
stir as 1 wander
Looking towards the Southern sky and dreaming of
old friends.

64
Since the return of peace, in the name of the Vietnam
Workers' Party and the Government of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam, President H6-Chi-Minh has called
on the people to struggle ceaseiessly in order to "build
a peaceful, reunified, independent, democratic, prosperous
and strong Vietnam, contribute to the strengthening of
the socialist camp and the consolidation of peace in Indo-
china, Southeast Asia and the world".
In the stage of socialist revolution as well as that of
the people's national democratic revolution, the President
has constantly urged and educated the people to increase
production and practise thrift. Says he :
It To become rich, every individual, every family and
the whole country must increase production and practise
thrift.
Increasing production and practising thrift will result
in having everything in abundance.
He sets for the entire people an example of industry
and thrift. He says:
I I Labour is the sacred duty of every citizen to his Fa-

therland. Everybody, according to his ability and of his

own free will, must contribute his part of labour to the
building of the country. " *
Since the restoration of peace as well as during the
Resistance War, outside his working hours devoted to
Party and State affairs, he has always liked to do manual
work, planting trees, growing vegetables, etc. His simpl-
icity and thrift in matters of food, clothing and dwelling
place are well known to all.

* Appeal on :.\Iay Day, 1957.

5 - H6-Chi-:\Iinh 3B Go
For the sake of the socialist building in the North and the
struggle for national reunification, he calls on Party cadres
and members to practise I i industry, thrift, integrity,
righteousness", to I i put public interests above all" and
to do their utmost I i to serve the Fatherland, the people
and socialism. *
Here is the President's explanation on Ii industry,
thrift, integrity and righteousness" :
I i Industry means to increase one's output in whatever

work one is doing.

Thrift means not to waste either time or wealth, one's
own or the people's.
Integrity means not to indulge in embezzlement and
always to respect and safeguard public property and the
people's property.
Righteousness means that even in apparently trifling
matters one must be determined to do right and avoid
wrong.
The above four points must go together. " **
About I i putting the public interests above all", he
says: I i In your dealings with people and in your work,
you must put public interests above everything.
You must devote yourself to what is usdul to the
country and the people, and not to what you think may
bring you position and wealth .• ' ***

* Speech at a meeting to present the Hanoi candidates to

the ~ationalAssembly, April 1960.
** Address to the functionaries of Hanoi, November 1954.
*** Letter to the youth dated August 17, 1947.

66
And:
H In whatever action you undertake, you must not
think of yourself first, but of your compatriots, of the
entire people ... Advance boldly when the going is hard,
let others go first when it comes to enjoyment•• '
In 1958, at a Patriotic Emulation Congress, praising
the Revolutionary virtues of heroes and elite workers, he
said:
t l They * put the common interest of the nation above
their own personal ones. They wholeheartedly, and not
half-heartedly, serve the people. They are not afraid of
hardships; they strive to overcome all difficulties in order
to fulfil and overfulfil the tasks entrusted to them by the
Party and the Government; they don't make calculations
about what they would gain or lose personally; they don't
scramble for position and revenue. They don't try to keep
secret the tricks of their trades, or run down their fellow-
workers. They help everybody to progress. They don't
got conceited and self-seeking. "
Such is the example set by our heroes and elite workers
about H putting the public interests above all ". It is a
deep expression of the ideology of the working class. It is
the enemy of individualism, for.
It Individualistic people only see their own egoistic
interests and do not care about the public interests. They
only want enjoyment, and never volunteer for work•• , **
Everybody knows how the President dislikes conceited
and self-seeking people.

* The heroes and elite workers - T.e.

** Excerpt from an article carried by theXhan dan, December
9, 1959, entitled "Our Party has waged a heroic struggle and
won glorious successes. "

6i
Concerning study, the President often reminds us of
the words of Lenin, the teacher of the world proletarian
revolution: it To study, again to study, ever to study".
He himself has put these words into practice.
To the question U What is the aim of study'? ", here is
his answer:
"One must study in order to remould one's thinking
and heighten one's revolutionary fervour. This is a very good
thing. When one's thinking is not yet truly revolutionary,
one must study in order to rectify it. Only when one's
thinking is correct, can one act in a correct way and fulfil
one's revolutionary task.
"One must study in order to foster one's revolutionary
virtues; only then is one ready to sacrifice everything for
the revolution, to devote oneself body and soul to it, only
then can one give leadership to the masses and bring the
revolution to complete victory.
U One must study to foster one's confidence in the
organization, in the people, in the future of the nation,
in the future of the revolution. Only with firm confidence
can one act in a resolute way, show determination, and
consent to sacrifice when faced with difficulties.
" Study is aimed at action: the two must go hand in
hand. The former without the latter is useless. The latter
without the former is hard to carry through. " *
In answer to the question U Where to study'? " he says:
U Oue must learn at school, in books, from each other

and from the people. Not to learn from the people is a

very serious shortcoming. ,,**

* Directions on training and educational work, May 1950.

** Address to the functionaries of Hanoi, November 30, J954.

68
As regai'ds training, he has given the folloving instruction:
II Theory and pratice must go hand in hand".
The best way to study is to learn to apply IVIarxism-
Leninism to the concrete conditions prevailing in one's
country, to apply the stand, views and methods of
Marxism-Leninism in surveying, studying and analysing
the concrete situation in one's country and then to set
forth adequate Party lines, principles and policies adapted
to each stage, so as to lead the people in bringing the
revolution to complete victory. Marxism-Leninism only
puts forward general principles. It is up to the Commu-
nists in each country to imbue themselves with those
principles so as to apply them in a creative manner to
each situation, combining strict principles with flexible
tactics in solving the problems stemming from the revolution
in their respective countries. One must sum up the rich
experience of the revolution in one's country and draw
from it conclusions of a theoretical character. To do so,
one must energetically struggle against revisionism,
dogmatism and empiricism.
President H6-Chi-Minh's style of speech and writing
presents many original characteristics: the content of his
speeches and writings is exalted and moving; they touch
his audience deeply and conquer their hearts and minds;
they are vivid and simple, their meaning is easy to grasp,
and they are said and written in a way that is characte-
ristic of our nation and our people. The President very
much dislikes empty theorizing and arid and pretentious
quotations from the classics of Marxism-Leninism. He hates
hackneyed and inane cliches, long and obscure periods
and energetically opposes the unnecessary use of foreign
words and expressions.

G9
Many of his appeals and writings, especially since the
August Revolution, have a tremendous effect on the
people's spirit and fervour. Such sentences as the follow-
ing resound with the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese
people:
"All the people of Vietnam are of one heart: never to
accept slavery, and of one will: never to let their country
be conquered.
They have only one aim: to carry out the Resistance
War and win reunification and independence for their Fa-
therland.
Our people's unity of mind forms a brass wall defend-
ing our Fatherland. However ferocious and perfidious
the enemy may be, he will break his skull against this
wall."*
When peace was restored and the country temporarily
divided into two zones, the President said:
I I Vietnam is a unified country. North and South are
one family, which no reactionary force can divide. Our
country will certainly be reunified. "**
In his writings, the President uses short and concise
sentences, with stirring effect. Thus, stigmatizing the
French imperialists' schemes of dividing Vietnam, he said:
I I Our Southern compatriots are Vietnamese people.
Rivers may dry up, mountains may erode away, but this
truth will never change."***

* Appeal made On the occasion to mark six months of

national-wide resistance organized on June 19, 1947.
** Appeal made on National Day, September 2, 1957.
"** Address to the people before his departure for France.
:\Iay 1946.

,0
" So long as my Fatherland has not been reunified, so
long as my compatriots suffer, I can neither eat nor sleep
in peace." *
How moving, how full of meaning is this exhortation:
"You are the death volunteers. You are ready to die so
that our country may live. " **
"Vietnam is my great family. All the youth of Vietnam
are my childre"l and grand-children. The loss of anyone
of them is a wound in my heart."
President H6-Chi-Minh writes as he speaks, and he
speaks the language of the Vietnamese nation, of the
Vietnamese people. Let us read the following letter which
he sent to the children of Vietnam on the occasion of the
Mid-Autumn festival of 1945, a letter so full of love
and educating them in such a gentle and natural way:
"My dear nephews and nieces, your parents have
bought for you so many things: lanterns, drums, crackers.
flowers ... How happy you must be !...
I share your joy and happiness. Do you know why'?
First. because I love you so much, and also because only
a year ago, our Autumn festival took place when our coun-
try was still oppressed and you still children-slaves, whereas
at this year's festival our country is free and you the
young masters of an independent country.
'" For the present festival, I have no gifts to send you
but my loving kisses."

* Address to the people after his return from France,

October 1 ()-l6.
** Letter to the Hanoi death Yolunteers, dated January
27,1947·

71
President H6-Chi-Minh constantly educates the cadres
and people to engage in patriotic emulation in fighting.
production, work and study. Emulation is part and parcel
of his style of work and leadership.
During the Resistance War, he initiated the idea of
emulation in fighting against the invader, famine and
ignorance, emulation in training, in annihilating the enemy,
overcoming all difficulties, strictly carrying out all orders
and fulfilling all tasks; emulation in increasing produc-
tion, practising thrift, producing" more, quicker, better
and more economically", and struggling against em-
bezzlement, waste, bureaucracy; emulation in liquidating
illiteracy, so that everybody of school age should know the
three R's and after that be given complementary education.
Says the President: "To engage in emulation means to
love one's country, anyone who loves his country must
engage in emulation." Emulation means to help each
other progress, it means the transformation of man. Pre-
sident H6's words: "Labour creates the world, emulation
transforms man " have become a watchword, just as others
of his words have passed into the people's language.
The tasks for each emulation movement change accord-
ing to the revolutionary tasks put forward for each period
by the Party and Government. At present, to engage in
emulation means to devote all one's efforts to socialist
transformation and building in the North, struggling against
the American imperialists and their agents, giving active
support to the patriotic struggle of our Southern compa-
triots, and bringing about the peaceful reunification of
our country, it means to contribute to the consolidation of
the socialist camp and the defence of peace in Indochina,
Southeast Asia and the world.

72
In President Ho's opinion, emulation must not be con-
fined to the workers. Every Vietnamese citizen must fulfil
his task in the spirit of emulation:
" Emulation for all people
Emulation for all branches
Emulation every day
In that way we shall win
And the enemy will be defeated."
To get the best results, each branch of activity must
set concrete targets and adequate levels for emulation.
Emulation will lead to national liberation, social trans-
formation, the building of a new Vietnam, of a new
society, the transformation of man, the fostering and
forging of a new man - the socialist man, of a new hero-
the collective hero.
Concerning leadership, President Ho warns us against
bureaucracy and authoritarianism; he tells us not to
"work out plans and programmes behind closed doors and
then compel the people to carry them out "*. On the con-
trary, we must follow the mass line, ask for the people's
opinion, discuss matters with them, explain our policies
to them so that they fully understand them, gladly abide
by them and correctly execute them. Why should the
leading Party, leading organs and cadres ask for the
people's opinion and discuss matters with them? Because
the people's intelligence and experience are infinitely rich
and their force immensely great. Every policy we put
forward has direct repercussions on the people's interests.
That is why, in ordel' to work so as to grasp the

* Rectification of the style of work.

73
situation and the people's aspirations, when the policies have
been put forward, we must carry out explanatory work
among the masses and lead them in their implementation.
In the course of this implementation, we must listen to
the people's suggestions, and learn from their experience
so as to complete, modify or develop the policies which
must then be returned to the people for continued
implementation.
Says President H6 -Chi-Minh:
II Leadership in all practical work of the organization
must spring from the masses and then return to the

"This means we must assemble scattered opinions

among the masses, analyse, study and arrange them sys-
tematically. Then we must explain them to the masses,
make them adopt those ideas, abide by them and put
them into practice. While the masses are putting them
into practice, we must check the correctness of those
ideas. Then we must gather the people's suggestions,
develop their strong points, put right their shortcomings,
give all necessary explanations so that the people will
adhere to the ideas set forth and carry them into effect.
"If we keep acting in this way, we can be certain
that the next time will be better than the last, that our
action will then be more correct, smoother and more all-
round.
"That would be an extremely good style of leader-
ship." *

* Rectification of the style of work.

7-1
The President often urges leading organs of all branches
and at all levels to give "special direction" (in connexion
with overall leadership) and to increase control work.
Only then can they keep close to the movement, dis-
cover elite individuals and meritorious actions in a timely
way, expose bad individuals and bad actions, disseminate
good experiences and redress shortcomings and mistakes.
"Leadership must be collective, democratic, unified, and
cO:lcentrated. "* This is the way to avoid arbitrariness,
abuse of power, and bad co-ordination.
Experience has proved the correctness of President H6-
Chi-Minh's style of work and leadership.

* Closing speech at the 7th meeting of the Central Co m-

mittce of the Vietnam Workers' Party, March 12, 1965.

75
CONCLUSION

President H6-Chi-Minh merits are truly immense. The

Vietnamese working class and people are happy and
proud to have such a great leader. The best way to show
him our gratitude, to wish him good health and a long
life, is for us - Party cadres and members and the people
at large - to strive each in his own field of activity to
learn from him so as to overcome all difficulties and fulfil
our tasks.
Let us strengthen our unity, close our ranks and ad-
vance firmly under the glorious banner of President H6-
Chi-Minh, in order to build socialism in the North,
defend it, and support the patriotic struggle of our
Southern compatriots, bring about the peaceful reunifi-
cation of the country and contribute actively to the
strengthening of the socialist camp and the consolidation
of peace in Southeast Asia and the world.

/6
NOTES

1. Call ruollg (1885-1896): Royalist movement. Led by the

scbolars, this anti-French movement marie eleven big
uprisings, the typical of which ,yas started by Phan
Dinh Phung.
1. Duy Tan: A. king of the. -guyen dynasty. In 1916, after
an abortive attempt at rebellion he was arrested by
the French and deported to Reunion island.
3. Dong Zu (1904-1909): Go East. A patriotic movement
urging the youth to go and study in Japan. It was
led by Phan Boi Chau who advocated reliance on Ja-
pan to liberate Tietnam from French rule. The move-
ment was repressed by the French in collusion with
the Japanese.
4. DOflg ](il1h • 'ghia TIme: A patriotic organization set up
by democratic personalities to disseminate national
culture, \-ietnamese latinized script and revolutionary
ideas. It was soon banned by the French.
5. Hoang Hoa Tham (De Tham) : Leader of a peasant upri-
sing in Yenthe (North Vietnam) against the French
troops. Started in 1887, the insurrection lasted for
nearly thirty years. It caused serious losses to the
colonialists and had a great repercussion throughout
the country. Hoang Hoa Tham was murdered by a
traitor on February IO, 1913.

77
6. Khai Dinh: A king of the ~guyen dynasty. He succeeded
Duy Tan in 1916 and died in 1925.

7. Liang Chi-chiao (lc 73-1929): A Chillese writer and leader

of a reformist moyement in 1898.

8. J.fai Hac De: Leader of a peasant uprising against the

Chinese feudalists in 722, later proclaimed king.
9. Nguyen Qnang Trung (Nguyen Hue) : A national hero. He
led a peasant uprising in 1771 and by 1786 succeeded
in unifying the country after twenty years of partition
caused by tbe rIvalry between two feudalist famillies :
the Trinhs (~orth) and the _-guyens (South). In 1789
be smashed a 200,000 strong Tsing expedionary force
within five days.

Xguyen Thien TJmat (Tan Thuat): Leader of an anti-

French movement in Bai Say or Plain of Reeds (North
Yietnam). From 1885 to 1888 the insurgents launched
fierce attacks against the French troops and dealt them
heavy blows. After the movement bad collapsed ~guyen
Thien Tbuat fled to China and died in Xanning.

II. Pham Hong Thai (1893-192-1-): A revolutionary who

attempted to assassinate French Governor-General of
Indochina :'Ierlin when the latter stopped in Canton on
his way back from Japan (1924). After his failure he
drowned himself into the Pearl River.

Phan Boi Chau (1867-1941) : Leader of the Dong Zu mo-

vement and of many other movements against the
French colonialists from 190-1- to 1925. He was arrested
in Shanghai in 1925 and lived in forced residence at
Hue. He died on October 29, 1941.
13. Phan Clm Trinh (1872-1926) : A patriotic intellectual

78
who advocated capitalist democracy of reformist
tendency.
14 Pltan Dinh Plmng: Leader of an anti-French movement
(I '05 - IS96) which inflicteu. serioLls losses on the
French troops. He died on January 21, 1896. The colo-
Dlalists had his corpse burnt and the ashes mixed
with gun-powder for ammunition.
15 Plwn T-an Truong (1878- 1933): A patriotic intellectual
who co-operatel with Xguyen Ai Quac in writing the
T'ie/uaJJl Him (\-ietnam Soul) published in France.
Back in the home country he was editor of the ne\\s-
paper .-lnnam which published the Communist :-Ianifesto
tor the first time in Yietnam to propagate revolution·
ary ideas.
16, Tam TaJJl Xa: An association founded in China since
1923, His nembers included such revolutionaries as
Pham Hong Thai, Le Hong Phong, Ho Tung :.\Iau,
Tan .-\.nh...
17. TOlIg Dzty Tan: A patriotic intellectual and leader of
an anti-French uprising in Thanhhoa (North Yietnam) .
.-\.rrested and put into a cage, he calmly made poems.
\\'hen be had no more paper, he broke his bamboo
pen and disembowelled himself,
, Truong Cong Dinh (born Truong Dinh): A national hero
and leader of an insurrection in Gocong-Tanan (South
Yietnam). Despite the surrender of the Nguyen dy"
nasty to the French colonialists the patriots kept on
resisting the aggressors from Gocong, Tanan, Cholon),
:-Iytho to the '"amco river near the frontier with
Cambodia for 3 years (1861-1864)' Truong Cong Dinh
died in a fierce engagement with the enemy on August
20, 1864,

79
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