The History of Communism in Vietnam: From the 1920s to Today

Founded almost a hundred years ago, the first official communist party in Vietnam traces its history back to colonialism and a struggle for independence from imperialist control. Through this movement, communism gained momentum and struggled through the decades to gain independence for Vietnam and to represent the rural peasants and working-class population of a country downtrodden by colonialism.

At a time when communism was on the rise, especially amongst the disenfranchised working classes and poverty-stricken people of the world, Vietnam was ripe for a powerful communist movement.

In the 1920s, communism was introduced into the political arena of French Indochina, of which Vietnam was a part. Three movements evolved during this time: the Annamese Communist Party, the Indochinese Communist Party, and the Communist League of Indochina.

Seeing an opportunity to spread communism into the French colony, the Comintern took action and sought to unite the movements into a single party. With this in mind, they sent a young Hồ Chí Minh to coordinate this unification. A native of Indochina, Hồ Chí Minh had all the hallmarks of someone who could succeed in this endeavor. He had helped form the French Communist Party in 1924 before traveling to the Soviet Union, where he garnered considerable respect as a member of the Comintern.

Hồ Chí Minh succeeded in his goal, and the three parties were united to become the Communist Party of Vietnam (Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam) with Trần Phú as its first Secretary General. Despite the former groups claiming to represent all of Indochina, the vast majority of those within the movement came from Vietnam, and the movement swung between representing Indochina as a whole and just Vietnam.

Founded in 1930, the party grew quickly as poor harvests in Indochina led peasant workers to flock to a movement that spoke for the working classes. Rallies and protests led to revolts, and the movement became especially prominent in the northern-central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, collectively known as Nghe Tinh. Wary of losing their grip on power, the French did not sit idly by and let the population be radicalized. Their response was violent.

In the Autumn of 1931, the French began a series of crackdowns on communists. Hundreds were brutally murdered, and thousands were incarcerated as the French sought to reassert complete control over the political sphere.

Among the victims of these reprisals were Trần Phú and several members of the Central Committee, who were captured and murdered on April 19, 1931. With the massive sweep to wipe out communist leadership, the French declared victory, and the next few years were spent with the French believing that the problem had been solved or at least that the threat was in remission.

The story of communism in Vietnam could hardly end with the murder of its leadership. Communist sentiment was still powerful, and with the backing of the Comintern, a revival was inevitable. The man to help guide this revival was Lê Hồng Phong (who at the time went by the name of Vương Nhật Dân), who served as the second General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (the Indochinese Communist Party at the time).

In Macau, outside of French control, the Overseas Commission of the Indochinese Communist Party was established and acted to communicate between the reduced Central Committee and the Comintern. Through this setup, communism once again became organized in French Indochina, with training programs, media, and restoration of party bases.

Despite these successes, communism in Vietnam saw little progress overall during the 1930s. Josef Stalin was instrumental in tempering opposition to the French government as the Soviet Union actively worked to shift the French government to the political left.

World War II shifted the political dynamic immensely. In September 1940, the Japanese launched a quick invasion of Indochina, which was under the control of the Vichy French government. Japan needed control of the area to prevent China from importing arms through French Indochina. The French and Japanese came to terms, and the Japanese were allowed to occupy Tonkin in the north, giving them effective control over potential arms shipments destined for China. The following year, Japan occupied all of Indochina.

The events of 1944 saw the liberation of France, and fearing Indochina would become belligerent against Japan, the Japanese launched a coup in March 1945. They deposed the colonial French government and set up the puppet states of the Empire of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang, and the Kingdom of Kampuchea.

The situation was difficult to discern from the perspective of the people of Vietnam and the communist elements therein. From one perspective, the overthrow of French colonial forces gave hope that colonial rule may be at an end. The Japanese occupation, however, was harsh, and the Japanese certainly did not want any communist uprisings in territories under their control.

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the official surrender, ending the Second World War. On the same day, Hồ Chí Minh declared independence as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), under the control of a national independence coalition called the Việt Minh, which had been created by the Indochinese Communist Party and Hồ Chí Minh in 1941.

Japanese troops in Vietnam surrendered to the Chinese in the north and to the British in the south who had entered Saigon. British occupation troops then deferred to the French government for decision-making. The Chinese recognized Vietnam’s independence, while the French did not. Thus, Vietnam was split politically in the two zones of control. The French overthrew the local DRV government and asserted control over Cochinchina (southern Vietnam) while the north remained beyond their reach of power.

Guerilla operations from DRV supporters began almost immediately. After negotiations failed to produce any results, war broke out across the entire country. By 1949, low-level skirmishes had evolved into a conventional war as the Việt Minh continued their struggle, armed with weapons supplied by the Soviet Union and the newly established communist China.

The struggle continued until the French were decisively defeated at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954.

With Việt Minh victory, the Geneva Conference of 1954 was held to iron out the details and conditions. The French withdrew completely, resulting in independence for Laos and Cambodia as well. In 1949, the French had created the State of Vietnam in the south as an anti-communist rival to the communist government declared in the north.

In 1955, the prime minister in the south, Ngô Đình Diệm, held a referendum, but it was not to assert the power of the Việt Minh. In a highly fraudulent referendum, he became president and declared Vietnam a republic.

With a communist government in the north and the authoritarian regime of Ngô Đình Diệm in the south, war continued. The North (DRV) received arms and support from the Soviet Union and China, while the Republic of Vietnam in the South received support from the United States. Ngô Đình Diệm’s regime, however, was brutal and undermined US efforts to establish legitimate anti-communist rule in South Vietnam. In 1957, a communist insurgency began in the South. By 1959, men and weapons from the North were being transported to the South in a war that escalated with communist victories over the South Vietnamese army.

The United States grew increasingly concerned over Diệm’s inability to deal with the communist threat. His brutality alienated the people of South Vietnam, especially Buddhists, as Diệm favored Catholic control in the country.

With CIA backing, a coup was launched in which Ngô Đình Diệm was deposed and murdered.

Meanwhile, communism in North Vietnam under Hồ Chí Minh was consolidated with agrarian reform and suppression of opposition. These policies echoed the application of communism inherent in Stalinism and Maoism. At the same time, a cult of personality evolved around North Vietnam’s leader, Hồ Chí Minh.

During the height of the Cold War, it was difficult for the United States to ignore the events happening in Vietnam. Gripped by a fear of communist expansion, the United States government took a keen interest in defending Vietnam from a complete communist takeover, as they feared the “domino effect,” the idea that communism would spread across the borders and cause communist revolutions in neighboring countries.

Thus, the decision to send troops into Vietnam was made. The north of the country was under communist control, and the Americans feared it would spread to the south. Assistance was ramped up from aid and military advisors to small groups of soldiers, and eventually tens of thousands of troops that would fight a bloody war against their communist adversaries, the Viet Minh from the north and the Viet Cong from the south.

A hugely unpopular war in the United States, public opinion saw mass protests and sit-ins across the states as many Americans demanded an end to a war that they viewed as pointless and not the concern of the American government. They grew tired of American casualties.

Although thousands of military advisors had been on the ground in Vietnam since the early 1960s, the first G.I.s intended for general combat operations landed in Vietnam on March 8, 1965. Their main goal was to secure the independence of South Vietnam, a state that was closely tied to the West and its capitalist policies, and therefore a state that could be easily controlled by Western influences.

American military presence would be a feature in Vietnam until its eventual defeat and withdrawal in 1975. On April 29, the Americans evacuated Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The following day, North Vietnamese troops entered downtown Saigon, and the South Vietnamese government surrendered.

Thus ended a bloody era defined by war and the attempted assertion of foreign power and political doctrines over Vietnam. Vietnam had finally thrown off the yoke of Western imperialism. Western powers had attempted to assert control over Vietnam and influence its policies by force of arms—an endeavor that resulted in the death of millions. With the final victory over the Americans, the Vietnamese were free to determine their own course. However, many others saw this not as Vietnam taking control of its own nation but as a Soviet victory in a proxy war.

April 30 marks the reunification of North and South Vietnam, as it commemorates the day that the North Vietnamese entered the center of Saigon and the South Vietnamese government surrendered to them. Unified in all but name, the actual proclamation of reunification would come over a year later.

On July 2, 1976, North and South Vietnam were officially merged into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Those in the South feared bloody reprisals from the North, but the expected mass executions never occurred. Hundreds of thousands, however, were sent to “reeducation camps,” which were brutal.

Power in the south was consolidated. Farms and factories were nationalized and a program of collectivization was implemented. Many Vietnamese, fearing the changes, fled the country during this time.

Political developments continued to err on the side of conflict. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge killed Vietnamese people in border villages. On December 25, 1978, the Vietnamese responded by invading Cambodia. Within two weeks, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, had fallen, and the Vietnamese had ended the genocidal reign of Pol Pot.

This created a difficult situation for China, which had supported the Khmer Rouge regime. China launched a brief invasion of Vietnam but withdrew after a few weeks. China claimed its punitive mission had been accomplished, but Vietnam suffered little political fallout. The Vietnamese continued to occupy Cambodia.

Throughout the 1980s, communism became difficult to maintain. The United States had imposed an embargo and pressured world bodies such as the International Monetary Fund to deny aid to the country, already afflicted by the destruction wrought by decades of war.

Peasant farmers had little incentive to produce. Their crops were exchanged for ration cards, similar to Soviet policies. Output wasn’t enough, and inflation soared. With the threat of resource shortfalls, Vietnam was forced to start importing rice. It was clear that new economic policies had to be implemented to avoid a complete collapse.

Despite the economic difficulties, communist practices had succeeded in drastically reducing poverty throughout Vietnam, as well as introducing nationwide access to education and a free healthcare system.

To stave off the economic crisis, the government started introducing carefully monitored capitalist reforms. At first, farmers were allowed to sell surplus produce. This was followed by more reforms, which allowed for free trade. Private businesses were encouraged, and the Vietnamese economy opened itself to the world market, accepting foreign investment. These policies started in 1986 with the accession of Nguyen Van Linh as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

While the country still remained officially a communist state, like China and the Soviet Union under Lenin, it relaxed hardline communist economic policies and allowed for more economic freedom. This represented a belief that communism had to be implemented gradually rather than the country shutting itself off from a world where capitalism ruled supreme.

Nevertheless, the move towards a freer market satisfied the US policymakers in Washington, and the US lifted embargoes on Vietnam in 1994. The economy started growing rapidly, and Vietnam was admitted to the World Trade Organisation in 2006.

This new prosperity was not evenly distributed. Large company owners received the bulk of the economic benefits while others remained impoverished. This dynamic continues to the present day. Protection for the working class has become weaker while education and healthcare are no longer free.

Vietnam Today

GDP growth in Vietnam paints a bright picture. The country represents one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and the fastest in Southeast Asia. Modern brands can be found in bustling cities teeming with commercial activity. Behind this success, however, the country is plagued by unsurprising challenges. Of great concern is the level of corruption that has been a feature for many decades.

Vietnam continues to be a one-party state with the Communist Party of Vietnam in control of the government, which exercises authority over the media, censoring anything that is threatening to communist rule.

On an international level, of significance is the tensions with China over ownership of the South China Sea islands.

Vietnam is a complex country with a complex history. For decades, it fought against colonialism and subsequently became a testbed for communism. The difficulties in promoting this system led to the adoption of capitalist policies. These policies solved certain problems but created more in their place.

From an academic perspective, it is difficult to determine whether Vietnam today represents a failure of communism or the neoliberal practices of capitalism.