Ideological Premises
After the operations of nationalization of private industry and business enterprise in the North (1959), the Communist rule launched a political struggle against what they called defeating the bourgeois ideology and petty freedom. Those concepts that are crucial in the Western democracies such as free enterprise, Western parliamentary systems, freedom of the press and of movement, and the like were all taboos to the regime. The aim of this political struggle aimed to orient not only party-members and the working class but also the people s towards assimilating the sooner the better the socialist ideology.
Right after the completion of the Maoist-style agrarian reforms in the North, Party Secretary-general Truong Chinh, in his speech at the Third Congress of the Vietnamese Workers' Party (1960) stressed that "the aim of the present revolution is that the entire people, particularly the working people, should thoroughly absorb the socialist ideology, that they should abandon their previous outlook on life and on the world and replace it with Marxist viewpoint. Thus, Marxism-Leninism will assume a leading role in guiding the moral life of our country and will become the framework within which the thoughts of the whole nation are formed. It will serve as the foundation upon which the ethics of our people will be built."
The Transfer of Property Ownership
After the takeover of South Vietnam, the new political regime found itself in face of a society that was abysmally dissimilar in every aspect to the one under the first Democratic Republic of Southeast Asia. It is out of these differences that, in the years that immediately followed 1975, theorists and historians of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party devoted themselves to inquiries into the social and political problems in the newly-liberated regions. Ideological approaches then led the Party s theorists to believe that there was an urgent need to realize a systematic transformation of the society of the South.
In agreement with the rule of development, the processes of this transformation were modeled on those of the plans that had been carried out in the North in the period following the takeover of Hanoi in 1954. It consisted, first and foremost, of evaluating, extenuating, and delineating all means of production of the economy and all the social, cultural, and religious institutions in the South before April 30, 1975.
To achieve their purposes, the Communists called for the appropriation of properties of the bourgeoisie, the landlords, and the religions then transferred their legal ownership to the working class and peasantry. They called this the transfer of private ownership to the people’s ownership, in conformity with rules of what they called the Revolution of the People's Democracy. They established priorities and criteria to liquidate the properties and establishments in the industry and business enterprises and those in the economic, political, and social private sectors.
The religions, religious organizations, establishments, and agencies were no exception. Industrialists, businessmen, religious dignitaries, priests and monks were alike. They belonged to the category of capitalist bourgeoisie. By dint of such coercive socialization and nationalization, all private means of production, private social and cultural institutions, establishments, and agencies came under the control of the Communist administration. The Party and State believed by means of their programs of socialization, they would drastically eradicate both the supra- and infra- structure of the South, hence the disappearance of the deep-seated bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie, and the puppets, henchmen of imperialism, and counterrevolutionary elements.
Do Muoi, the veteran chief organizer for the campaigns of dislocating the supra- and infra- structures of the bourgeois capitalism in the North after the takeover of the North in 1954, again, was nominated by the Vietnamese Workers’ Party Politburo as the Chief of the Trade and Industry Reforms Bureau in the South. Upon his nomination to the post, Do Muoi immediately formed a Steering Committee and eleven task force groups to accomplish his mission. Members of the task force were recruited from the cadres in the army and the security police. Six of the eleven task force groups were placed under the command of Tran Van Danh, the Vice-commander of Military Zone 7 --Saigon and the surrounding areas. The other five groups were assigned to work under the direction of Cao Dang Chiem, the chief of the Security Service of Saigon. Upon the completion of the operation of dislodging the capitalists of 1977-`978, the amount 0f wealth amassed was valued at 6 billion dollars (Bui Tin, Hoa Xuyen Tuyet, 1993:79).
The Administration of the Economy
The Communist administration, in practice, launched successive search-and-destroy operations to destroy the capitalist economy, first in Saigon, then throughout the provinces in the South (1977-1978), Corruption was first manifest in the South. The greatest amount of booties, which was valued at 6 billion dollars as stated, was divided among the nomenclature. Practically, by the takeover of power in the South by force and in violation of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1973, Hanoi applied, first and for most, the so-called socialist economic transformation, coercing the people of the South into accepting against will a economic transformation.
Under that socialist economic transformation, the capitalists in the industry and business in wealthy residential quarters were targeted with frequent visits of the local cadres and heartily encouraged to offer their industry factories and trade enterprises to the State. Having offered their properties, many of them were welcome with promises of favors. They were even granted positions in the newly-established state enterprises. Many of them were given permission to make visit tour to the socialist North to witness the grandiose achievements of the Party and State. Nevertheless, the reverse proved to be true. Quite a few capitalists tried to escape the country before their trip. Others left the country in secret after their visit. Ngo Quang Thu, the owner of Saigon Tractors’ Factory on Tran Hung Dao Boulevard evaded Saigon after his tour overwhelmed with fear in the socialist North. The multimillionaire Hoang Kim Quy was sent to camp for reeducation and later died of hard labor. His wealth was dispersed. Ung Thi, the best known wealthiest capitalist of Saigon besought favors beside the Saigon Military Management Council to let him leave the country, having voluntarily offered to the State all his estate and hidden wealth.
The processes of voluntary offering of property to the State by the capitalists in the South were, in general, similar to the ones applied under the direction of Do Muoi during the appropriation of private industry and business enterprises in the North (1959-60). The proprietor had the right and favor to offer to the State his property, both real estate and hidden wealth. The authorities declared that this was only done on a voluntary basis. No one was forced to do that. Property offer was done in the presence of local teams of cadres and guards! There were procedures to be applied. The proprietor had to apply for an application following the instructions given to him by the team of inspection of the local ward.
Having completed the application, the proprietor had to wait for the State's approval. He also had to apply for a job in a State joint-venture company created by the local authority and wait to see whether or not if the State would hire him. There was no official formula. For convenience’s sake, the cadres would also show him how to write the application. This application must be written in a frank and earnest manner, affirming with such statement as his reeducation of the State was for him and his family a great honor and happiness and also an opportunity to strive to make himself a worker, a hidden desire he had long been brooding, and his offering of possessions to the State --establishment and business enterprise-- which fact was entirely voluntary. He had to ask the authorities concerned to accept his offer and promise to willingly carry out all the State and Party's policies.
The difference between the operations of defeating the capitalists in the South and the ones carried out in the North during the years 1959-60 was that the wealth of the capitalists in the South was extremely bountiful, and it was ready at hand to take and easy to gather. Rows and rows of renting houses of the landowning capitalists, assembles of trucks, long lines of steering boats of the traders in the transportation industry, large factories with hundreds of power looms, agricultural equipment and machines, radios and televisions assembling machines, manufacturing works for soap, cigarettes, light bulbs, water filters, canned condensed milk, fish sauce, and so on, were offered to the Party and State (Bui Tin, Hoa Xuyen Tuyet, 1993: 83-84).
A Policy for National Reunification
The Vietnamese in the South, imbued with the compassion for freedom and democracy, could hardly accommodate themselves to Communist ways of life. Socialist transformation was something bizarre to them. A veteran Communist would think the Communist seizure of power in the South was a means to an end for unification of the country. The Vietnamese Workers’ Party Secretary-general Truong Chinh, who earnestly insulted the French colonialists for having divided Vietnam and disabled her economy, called for an outright national reunification with plans of socialization to revolutionize the newly-liberated South. Being the architect of the task, the Party leaders quickly carried out their plans without popular mandate, and in violation of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1973 by which the Democratic Republic of Vietnam pledged to abide.
In practice, the ill-conceived plans of unification would only result in a disarray of economic and political difficulties. To finalize their purpose, the Communists updated and executed the in haste the law-orders and decrees promulgated in the North .in 1955. These plans of were nevertheless all lumbering versions of the ones previously applied in the North. They were not only unrealistic but also haphazardly done. Worse still, they were corrupted by subsequent delinquent plans and poor methods of management of groups of cupid and inexperienced executioners. Setbacks and pitfalls accumulated, and difficulties mushroomed, thus creating chaotic political incidents and economic crises. It was a real damage to the political and economic stability of the South and a prolonged slackness on national reunification.
The agrarian reforms policy in the South, on the other hand, aggravated stagnancy to the development of economy in the South. The most serious mistake was that the concept of economic development of Hanoi. The Party leaders, prejudiced in their judgments, pretended that the economy of the South should not outgrow and surpass that of the North. Many State cadres even maintained that Hanoi should be given top primary priority in the building of socialism. So, all medical equipment at Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon, for example, should be disassembled and brought to Hanoi... to construct socialism! In this manner of sheer voluntarism, only one year after the liberation of the South, the Party altered late President Ho Chi Minh ' s last will and testament and crossed out such terms as Democracy and Prosperity and substituted them with the nominative "Socialist Republic".
It was not until September 1990 when Vu Mao, the special secretary to the late President Ho, disclosed the news in the daily Nhan Dan (The People) that the public be aware of the truth. The unexpected disclosure aroused deep astonishment and controversy among party-members and cadres and the people. Questions were raised as to whether Ho' s successors had altered his testament and to what extent the Vietnamese Workers’ Party and the National Assembly had altered it. No one voiced his or her opinions on the matter. No matter what the question would be, the voluntary alteration of the testament of Ho Chi Minh was an act of deceit and defiance to the people.
The Party proclaimed grandiose programs. It announced the bypassing of the period of capitalism. It elaborated plans for a quick, strong, and steady move toward socialism. It gave top priority to heavy industry, including the manufacturing of fighting jets, and reversed the agricultural production by increasing the yield from 12 to 21 million tons of grain in five years. The plan for heavy industry soon fell into oblivion. The standard for grain production could be achieved 10 years later, and only after the abolition of the system of agricultural communes.
The Division Of War Booties
In 1978, at the end of the operations for appropriation of private industry and business, commonly known as the campaigns of Dislodging of the Capitalist Compradors, directed by Do Muoi , reports to the Central Party Committee said that the local authorities had confiscated 400 kgs of metal or of gold color. As these words imply, metal of golf color referred to real gold or metal plated with gold, which file and rank cadres substituted for real gold. The people of the South knew their wealth in their pockets inside out, particularly, the Chinese merchants who accumulated their wealth during the Vietnam war (1960-1975). The Vietnamese were only concerned about politics. The Chinese, in contrast, were only interested in business, making profits, speculating stocks, and hoarding merchandise to bring in lucrative interests. Many of them became rich merchants, cunningly and without risk.
To everyone’s surprise, only two or three unlucky wealthiest Chinese merchants got entrapped by the local inspection teams during the campaigns of dislodging the capitalist compradors throughout Saigon , and the State could confiscate some hundred kilograms of gold. The immense hidden wealth of the Chinese merchants, in practice, was right there, in their warehouses and homes, inside the walls and under the floor. It was well beyond reality when throughout the South, from the Binh Dinh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien provinces in the North to the My Tho, Long Xuyen and An Xuyen cities in the South, the State cadres could only find some four hundred kilograms of gold. It was a real fable!
Scenes of cupid Chinese merchants who committed suicide during the State expropriation occurred almost everyday and everywhere. Evidences of theft of public wealth were numerous and varied according to circumstances. An open division of war booties between and among the corrupted cadres in power and with authority occurred in broad daylight. It took place at the golf course near the Tan Son Nhat Airport, in the People’s Army Headquarters, and within the walls of the barracks in the Go Vap District and the Ministry of Public Works office buildings on Le Loi Street in Saigon. Distant or near relatives of party members rank and file cadres also had their shares. Well, in a way, the division was only a fair play! If you just wait, you would never have a share! It would be wiser to divide. I divide, you divide, and he divides. We all share, and everyone is happy! (Van Duc, VNHRW, 17 (1993)).
The Population Relocation
Parallel to repressive measures of which the new regime had made use to stifle any possible sources of political opposition, it carried out the policy of population relocation. Although the policy was heralded on economic grounds in the newspaper, it turned out to be an instrument of social and political control. It was a means of defusing tension in congested cities, which were burdened with unemployed and socially dislocated people even after most of the rural war refugees had been repatriated to their native villages before April 1975. These conglomerations of refugees had swelled the urban population 45 per cent of the southern population total in 1975 (up from 33 per cent in 1973).
The Communist authorities, sought to address the problem of urban congestion by relocating many of the metropolitan jobless population in the new economic zones. They hastily set up in virgin lands, mostly malaria-infested jungles as part of a broader effort to boost agricultural output. In the populous precinct of Binh Thanh District, Saigon, troopers of the municipal military council and opportunists were sent to individual households of the puppet rank and file officials to warn against or even order with threat their family members to leave the city. Obedience to their instructions would be rewarded. Favors would be granted, and their relatives currently detained in concentration camps would be freed and return home sooner. As a result, between 1975 and 1976, more than 600,000 people were moved against will from Saigon, to distant economic zones.
Houses and properties of the households of the puppet military and civil administration at Thanh Da Quarters, in Saigon for example, were expropriated and, most of them, fell into the hands of the vanquishers from the North. Waves after waves of Saigon residents were driven out of the city. At the Binh Tay Market in Cho Lon --Saigon Chinatown-- the biggest center of merchandise distribution of the South, almost all merchandise booth disappeared. Private properties were confiscated, and the owners and their families were to go and live in the economic zones. Almost everywhere in the city, men, women, children, and even old men and women in their seventies were seen in line at police headquarters to be asked to which economic zones they wanted to go (Van Duc, VNHRW,16 1993).
This massive relocation of the population, blandly called the state redistribution of the labor force program, began after the country’s reunification in 1976. It became thereafter an integral part of the security effort of population control. At least, 5 million people were uprooted from their home places in this process, known as an effort to break the outmoded machine. While the program was in part economic in its motivation, the main purpose of the relocation was to break up the existing traditional social structure. By assigning the individuals to new economic zones, for instance, care was taken to scatter the ones from a single urban area or village to separate distant locations. The organization of life of these people in the new settlements was then placed in the hands of and supervised by the Communist Party members, most of whom were without basic education. Without a government plan of development, the new settlers quickly became the victims of ignorance and misery.
The economic zones were, in reality, barren land of virgin forests without irrigation. Because of the barely tolerable living conditions in the new settlements, a considerable number of settlers escaped or bribed their way back to the city. Without a shelter, they survived miserably from hand to mouth at the mercy of travelers on the Saigon River banks, in public parks, and along street sidewalks. Nevertheless the new economic zones continued to be established. The program came to be widely perceived as a model of economic development.. In fact, the authorities were said to have used it as a threat against those who refused to obey party instructions or to participate in the activities of the mass opposition. (Cima, 1989: 111)."
