Vietnamese Communism 1925 1945

From a cell of nine men in 1925, the Vietnamese Communists grew by December 1976 into a massive party with over 1.5 million members and the organizational and military capabilities to defeat the United States. What factors account for the outstanding success of the Indochinese Communist Party? In this book, Huynh Kim Khánh traces the Vietnamese Communist movement from its inception as a radical youth group founded by Ho Chi Minh (then Nguyen Ai Quoc) to its half-planned, half-accidental victory in 1945.

How National Contradictions Rival Political Ambitions, And Conflicting National Interests Have Affected Indo-China From 1945 To 1985 Is The Theme Of The Book.

Ho Chi Minh (1890 - 1969), born Nguyen Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyen Ai Quoc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945-1955) and president (1945-1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War until his death in 1969. Ho led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. He lost political power in 1955-when he was replaced as prime minister-but remained the highly visible figurehead of North Vietnam-through the presidency-until his death. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

Ho Chi Minh (19 May 1890 - 2 September 1969), born Nguyen Sinh Cung, also known as Nguyen Tat Thanh and Nguyen Ai Quoc, was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945-55) and president (1945-69) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (NLF or VC) during the Vietnam War.He led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. He officially stepped down from power in 1965 due to health problems, but remained a highly visible figurehead and inspiration for those Vietnamese fighting for his cause-a united, communist Vietnam-until his death. After the war, Saigon, the former capital of the Republic of Vietnam, was renamed Ho Ch� Minh City.

Imagined Ancestries of Vietnamese Communisim illuminates the real and imagined lives of Ton Duc Thang (1888�1980), a celebrated revolutionary activist and Vietnamese communist icon, but it is much more than a conventional biography. This multifaceted study constitutes the first detailed re-evaluation of the official history of the Vietnamese Communist Party and is a critical analysis of the inner workings of Vietnamese historiography never before undertaken in its scope. In prominence and public visibility second only to Ho Chi Minh, whom he succeeded in the presidency, Ton Duc Thang in fact lacked any real power. Author Christoph Giebel reconciles this seeming contradiction by showing that it was only Ton Duc Thang who could personify for the Party crucial legitimizing �ancestries�: those that linked Vietnamese communism with the Russian October Revolution, highlighted proletarian internationalism among its ranks, and rooted the Party in Viet Nam�s south. The study traces the decades-long, complex processes in which famous heroic episodes in Ton Duc Thang�s life were manipulated or simply fabricated and�depending on prevailing historical and political necessities�utilized as propaganda by the Communist Party. Over time, narrative control over these tales switched hands, however, and since the late 1950s the stories came to be used in factional disputes by competing ideological and regional interests within the revolutionary camp. Based on innovative archival research in Viet Nam and France and on analyses of biographical writings, propaganda, and museum representations, the study challenges core assumptions about the history of the Vietnamese Communist Part and sheds light on divisions within the revolutionary movement along regional, class, and ideological lines. Giebel uses the fictions and contested facts of Ton�s life to demonstrate that history-writing and the constructions of memories and identities are always political acts.