In spite of the ferocity of the ‘Denounce communists’ campaigns, and all manœuvres to evade the binding force of Article 14 (c) of the Geneva Agreement, the south Viet Nam administration has suffered a bitter failure in its anti-communist policy: the indignation of the broad masses of the people has been mounting, the Ngo Dinh Diem regime has clearly appeared as a fascist dictatorial regime while the U.S. imperialists’ policy of intervention and war in south Viet Nam has been laid bare.
At a conference held on March 27, 1958, by the ‘Party of Labour’ which is the party of the south Viet Nam ruling circles, Ngo Dinh Nhu, adviser to the administration, was compelled to recognize this failure, and exhorted his agents to intensify terror and repression; he went so far as to make this impudent declaration: “It does not matter whether the people love or hate us.”
The events in Iraq increased the fears of the south Viet Nam ruling circles, and they committed a frantic act: the food-poisoning of 6,000 political detainees in the Phu Loi concentration camp on December 1, 1958. This mass food-poisoning had been carefully prepared with a belt of troops posted around the camp to repress any opposition from the victims, and to prevent the local population from coming to their rescue. That very night, over 1,000 persons died instantly under the effect of the poison. The survivors who climbed up to roofs to cry for help were shot dead. Fire was also ordered to be opened on those who remained in the buildings, and urged for assistance. To remove all evidence, the authorities ordered the buildings to be set alight after pouring petrol on them. The survivors succeeded in extinguishing the fire. Later on, a curfew was proclaimed in the surrounding region, the bodies were removed and thrown into the sea, all traces were thus wiped out. At the same time, the survivors were removed to other prisons and concentration camps, and replaced with new detainees brought in from other jails with a view to making any investigation impossible.
Prior to this, the Vietnamese people had been ceaselessly protesting against the policy of terror and reprisal, and the Ngo Dinh Diem dictatorial regime. Progressive opinion the world over had also repeatedly condemned this policy. But never has the movement of protest at home and abroad against the U.S.-Diem clique spread to such extent as after the Phu Loi massacre.
This political failure dealt a heavy blow to the Ngo Dinh Diem regime. However, the Ngo Dinh Diem ruling clique stubbornly persisted in its bloody dictatorial policy. It advocated an even more ferocious repression to suppress any opposition and any popular aspiration for peace and national unity.
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