I am writing these lines in May 1970.
Gone are the days when the name of Viet Nam could not be found on the maps. Our Fatherland with its four thousand years of history, together with the neighbouring lands of Cambodia and Laos, was then just a strip of land on the Pacific coast, lying between India and China and bearing a vague name invented by the colonialists: French Indochina.
Gone also are the days when the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam was just an island of freedom, amidst the rolling waves on the vast sea of capitalism in the South-East Asian region. Few were the brothers and friends to recognize us at once. And few were also those who were able to realize the full significance of that historic event.
Gone are the days when imperialism ruled the roost.
Today, every piratical act of the imperialists on this Indochinese peninsula has become a dangerous step and one liable to punishment. Every crime committed by them here will shock the conscience and feelings of hundreds of millions of people in various regions of the world. All the expensive cosmetics given by colonialism to its agents and puppets have proved of no avail. The formation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam, born in the midst of the fierce struggle was at once greeted warmly by the whole of progressive mankind as a long-awaited event. The Royal Cambodian Government of National Union was recognized by tens of countries throughout the world as soon as it was set up.
Today, when the millions of Chinese Kuomintang troops have become ghosts of the past, when Chiang Kai-shek is spending his last days on the island of Taiwan, it seems difficult for us to recall the moments of danger when nearly two hundred thousand Chiang troops were pouring into North Viet Nam from several directions.
The newly-born Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, surrounded as it was by imperialist wolves, had to do its utmost, fight with courage and intelligence, try every means in order to survive. Under such difficult circumstances, “the Party had to resort even to painful ways to save the situation”, as Uncle Ho put it later on. Every question, every affair of the Party, the country and the people affected him deeply.
The Party of our working class was fifteen years old when it won power. That day was the beginning of a new spring for the land bequeathed by our forefathers. But news of that grand event did not reach all our friends abroad.
In August that year, Uncle Ho had written a letter calling for a general uprising, signed with the name of the revolutionary Nguyen Ai Quoc. Early in September, he appeared before the people under the name of Ho Chi Minh. It was a pseudonym he had used a few years before in order to conceal his real identity from the Chinese Kuomintang. The revolutionaries were coming back to the people after years of hiding from the enemy. But all Party activities were still conducted in secrecy. Party cadres made no official appearance in public. Almost all Party members carried on activities on behalf of the Viet Minh. Our Party decided to avoid doing anything that might provoke the enemies of the nation and the class. But they still recognized us.
Many days after the establishment of the revolutionary power, it had not yet been recognized by any country. Chiang’s generals were obliged to enter into a relationship with us in order to get provisions and accommodation. When they met Uncle Ho, they had to refer to his official title and function and address him as President. But in all written communications to him, they only addressed him as “Mr. Ho Chi Minh.” They regarded our administration as a de facto and not a de jure one.
The economic situation was extremely difficult. A large part of the cultivable lands in the North was lying fallow. The flood was followed by a protracted drought. A number of factories handed over by the Japanese could not yet be put back into operation. Foreign trade came to a standstill and goods were in very short supply.
We were not able to issue a Vietnamese currency yet. The treasury taken over from the old regime totalled less than one million piastres in tattered notes. One million in paper notes fast sinking in value to build a new power and a new life! And this while the French-held Bank of Indochina was trying its hardest to cause financial disruption. In addition to that, the market was flooded with Chinese yuans from the Chiang troops, which further aggravated our financial and commercial difficulties.
The people’s standards of living were very low. The number of unemployed soared rapidly. In many places, people were living on a thin rice gruel and some were still dying of starvation. Cholera broke out along with an epidemic of typhus brought in by the Chiang troops.
The French aggression, which broke out soon in Nam Bo, made all those difficulties even more critical.
Under such circumstances, what we had to do was to build a new society, a much more difficult task than that of demolishing the foundations of the old society. Moreover, this task was to be taken in hand by the working class for the first time in our history.
Anyway, the situation was no longer the same as in former times. The revolution had triumphed and the newly-won power could provide it with new means and new possibilities to defend itself. The most urgent task at the moment was to consolidate and preserve this revolutionary power.
In early September, many decrees were promulgated by the Provisional Government.
The old mandarin system was abolished. The colonial and feudal administration was utterly shattered. The Government decided to hold general elections throughout the country to elect a National Assembly. This was followed by a decree on organizing people’s councils and administrative committees at various levels on the basis of universal suffrage. The people’s councils were to be directly elected by the people. They were representative bodies. The administrative committees elected by the people’s councils were executive bodies representing both the people and the Government. Through those elections, the people’s power was firmly implanted at the grassroots level, the unity of the whole nation was broadened and the worker-peasant dictatorship was ensured.
The draft constitution was made public so that every citizen could make his contribution to drawing up the first constitution of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.
The Government decided that land rents should be reduced by 25 per cent and all long-standing debts in rural areas abolished.
The eight-hour working day was enforced. Owners of factories and business firms had to give advance notice before dismissing any workers, who were entitled to dismissal allowances. The workers also had the right to undergo military training while receiving full pay during this period.
Literacy classes became compulsory and free of charge. A decree set up a Popular Education Department for the whole of Viet Nam, organized evening classes for workers and peasants, and ordered the abolition of examination and tuition fees at all levels.
As early as the beginning of September, the annual poll-tax imposed by the French on every man from the age of eighteen upward was abolished together with many other absurd taxes.
In face of the economic and financial difficulties, how was the Government to get funds for the necessary expenditure, and especially for the large defence requirements?
For the time being the only way was to call for voluntary contributions by the people.
On the 4th of September, the Independence Fund was instituted.
A week later, Uncle Ho called on the people in the whole country to take an active part in the “Gold Week.” Many eagerly offered even their dearest keepsakes: a pair of ear-rings from an old woman, carefully kept since she was a girl; two wedding-rings from a couple; a parcel brought in by an eighty-year old woman, which contained the family heirloom: a seventeen-ounce gold ingot wrapped in red silk; one family gave all the jewelry owned by its members.
Within a short time, people from all walks of life had contributed twenty million piastres and three hundred and seventy kilograms of gold to the “Independence Fund” and the “Gold Week.”
President Ho paid especial attention to determining the relationship between the new government officials and the people. In October, in a letter to people’s committees at provincial, district and village levels, he wrote: “Government organs from national to village levels are all servants of the people.”
In former times, Tran Hung Dao advised his king that the best policy was “to spare the people’s forces in peace time so as to strike deep roots and strengthen the base.” Nguyen Trai blamed Ho Quy Ly for failing to preserve national independence because he had failed to pay adequate attention to the people’s forces and had concentrated his efforts solely on building defence works. Our greatest national heroes have always set great store by the people’s forces in the fight against aggression.
President Ho called for “eradicating famine and illiteracy and annihilating foreign aggressors.” He said: “We must rely on the people’s material and moral forces.” But he was unlike our forefathers in this for he pointed out that all was aimed at “ensuring the people’s happiness.”
In his letter to the people’s committees, he wrote: “Independence for the nation without happiness for the people is a meaningless independence.”
“Happiness for the people” was what he stressed in the Declaration of Independence: “All the peoples have a right to live and to be happy and free.”
The happiness that he wanted for the people was a full happiness. This happiness did not lie only in the gain which the revolution had just brought to the whole people. It would continue to come to the working people in the struggle to eradicate the roots of all human sufferings, to build a new society in which all forms of exploitation of man by man were abolished. In this great struggle, the Party and President Ho have chosen the shortest possible way for our people.
“Happiness for the people” was the aim of the seizure, strengthening and defence of power. It was President Ho’s ideal and also what his heart craved for.
In his letter to the people’s committees, President Ho also pointed out some mistakes committed by Government officials arising from arbitrariness, abuse of power, favoritism and arrogance, etc. He concluded the letter in these words: “For the sake of the nation’s happiness and the interest of the country, I must stress that the words justice and integrity must be engraved on our hearts...”
In December, Uncle Ho wrote an article entitled “Self-Criticism” carried by various newspapers. He wrote:
“My fellow-countrymen have entrusted me with looking after the destiny of the nation, out of their love and confidence in me. My duty as a helmsman is to steer such a course as will lead the boat of the Fatherland safely through the storms to the shore of the people’s happiness...
“Although we have won back independence for five months, we have not yet been recognized by any countries.
“Although our soldiers have fought with great bravery, our resistance has not yet been victorious.
“Although administrative officials have done their work well and are honest, corruption has not yet been wholly eradicated.
“Although the Government has made great efforts, the administration is still not running smoothly in many places...
“One might explain away those shortcomings saying that they are due to lack of time, lack of experience, or other reasons.
“But, I must tell you the truth: such successes as we have achieved are due to the common efforts of the people while the shortcomings mentioned above are our own faults...”
The labouring people had recognized the new State as their own. It was a very new thing. In the nation’s history, the feudal courts and ruling apparatuses had always been used by the few from the exploiting classes to rule over the majority of the people, the labouring people. They always furthered the interests of the few and brought sufferings to the many. Today, the State had become one of the majority, of the labouring people. It was working every minute to defend the people’s interests and bring happiness to them what it could not yet achieve, it would certainly do so in the future.
Our fellow-countrymen saw in Uncle Ho the noblest image of the people, of the nation, of the revolution, of the new power, of the new regime.