On the Path to Socialism

The Geneva Agreements of July 1954 ended the Indochina War but partitioned the country into two zones with two different political administrations, the North came under the administration of the Communists and the South, the Nationalists. In the North, the Communist administration set in motion a "socialist transformation." The new policy aimed at transform the country’s infra- supra- structures into the new systems of socialism in accordance with the Maoist views of human life and society. In this way, not only all base structures of the social, economic, political, and cultural life of the society as a whole but also the behavior of the individual and the masses in every aspect must be transformed accordingly. To move on the path to socialism , the Workers’ Party of Vietnam, first, pushed forward the struggle for what they called the three-dimensional people’s democracy, essentially paving the way for the establishment of a socialist society. These goals were developed into theories, policies, and methods of reasoning and practices destined to level up the eradication of theories of representative democracy, of "imperialist" concepts of private ownership, and social, moral, and spiritual values that elements of feudalism ever cherished.

Eradication of the Bourgeoisie and Petty Bourgeoisie

This socialist transformation is, as conceived by Maoists, total and radical.

Only a few days after it took over the administration in Hanoi, the Ho Chi Minh government carried out with strict measures to eradicate the urban bourgeoisie A special tax was levied on goods "remaining in the store" in Hanoi. Cadres were sent to all the shops to list all goods. Tax-payment in Indochina bank-notes, which largely exceeded the price of the goods, was affected without delay The city petty bourgeoisie mostly went broke. The second measure was to change the bank-notes. The government ordered the entire population to change its Indochina bank-notes for its newly-issued currency. However, they only received a small amount of money in return The measure was applied to every individual. There was no exception whatsoever to any organization or establishment. The measure was a victory of the class of workers over the class of oppressors in a class struggle without violence. Vietnam became a classless society whereby every citizen enjoyed the same social status on an equal footing. The third measure was to collectivize private properties and annihilate the private ownership of private means of production. All came under the possession of the people. Private enterprises, and establishments including all religious and humanitarian institutions of the Churches or humanitarian organizations. The owners were to join the State occupiers and might be kept as managers.

This elimination of the petty bourgeoisie in the cities went hand in hand with the suppression of its "tri, phu, dia, hao" (intellectuals, rich peasants, landowners, notables) in the countryside. and the clergies of all Churches were included. In the countryside, the transformation affected with great changes the life of the people. The traditional village was radically deformed, culturally, socially, and economically. The Maoist-style agricultural commune, which replaced the council of administration, exercised control on every aspect of the peasantry’s social and-economic in conformity with the Maoist doctrine of class struggle. The commune’s agricultural cooperatives, on the other hand, governed all activities of the social and economic life of the peasantry. They conditioned all acts of the villagers who became all their members. Everyone contributed to socialist production. Every activity was devoted to the construction of the socialist fatherland.

Having destroyed the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie dispossessed all their properties, the Communist administration instituted all means and modes of production in accordance with the principles of the Maoisr - style socialism. State cooperatives formed the backbone of the economy. Subsequent to the land distribution, the agricultural commune system was established (September 1960) to regularize the economy in the rural areas., The Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam proclaimed its official policy to concretize a resolution passed by the Third Party Congress of the Vietnamese Workers' Party. New rulings came into force. One of them specified that Marxism - Leninism should play the dominant role in the moral life of the country. It is the ideology of all the people. It is the basis on which the people build a new morality. The religions and their faithful are not an exception.

Eradication of Religious Beliefs and the Religions

Article 4 of Decree 19/SL of December 19, 1953 stipulated that only superfluous cultivated land, cattle, and farm implement were confiscated. However, landowners were thrown out of their houses, guardian monks out of their pagodas, and pastors, out of their parishes. Many of them were brought to stand trials before the People’s Court for their crimes as the enemies to the people. The Decree on the Protection of Freedom of Conscience of June 4, 1955 stipulated that "the Government shall guarantee the freedom of conscience and freedom of worship of the people. Nobody is allowed to infringe upon these freedoms (Article I, Chapter I," that "churches, temples, pagodas, sanctums, religious institutes, and articles of worship belonging to any religion shall be protected by the law (Article 6, Chapter I)," and that in the process of land reform, a part of land property owned by religious groups which was requisitioned by the Government either with or without reparations for distributions to the peasants, shall be left to the church, pagoda, or sanctum concerned an area large enough to ensure the performance of religious dignitaries in order for them to carry out their religious activities (Article 10, Chapter III)." Contrary to the provisions stated by the laws, geniuses and saints were derided and monks and priests were ridiculed In many villages and parishes dignitaries and priests were executed. Communal houses, churches, pagodas, and temples were prone to vandalism. Many were transformed into offices, classrooms, and granaries. In the villages, neighbors spied on one another. Landlords and their families were mocked, beaten, or killed without mercy.

The new policy with an aim to put into practice the elimination of the "feudal" supra-structure --the old system of social and cultural values and all forms of religious practices and celebrations being characterizedas superstitious. Communal houses, churches, pagodas, and temples were transformed into the communes’ offices, granaries, storage sheds, classes, .and thus ceased to be centers for religious worship and seasonal ceremonies and celebrations. Many fell in ruins, and others were destroyed to the indifference of the authority. Many historical sites were prone to pillage. The centuries-old Tram Gian (one-hundred-compartment Pagoda) in Ha-Son-Binh Province is a case in point. The worship place was sacked. The construction materials and articles of worship were gradually dismantled piece by piece and taken away. It was until the recent years that it was reconstructed for commercial purpose.

The Religious Life

Nearly a million people, Catholics and non-Catholics, left their homeland to take refuge in the non -Communist South. Those believers, especially the Catholics, stayed in the North for one or another reason became the target of hatred and suspicion. Almost all faced difficulty in their religious life. The clergy suffered, in most cases, religious persecution. The Churches in the North were subdued with serious consequences not only as a result of this exodus but also of the animosity as a consequence of hostility. "Religion is the opium of the people." To carry out the policy of religiously inspired assimilation,, the Vietnamese Workers' Party, within 10 years, had eliminated all Buddhist organizations in North Vietnam. It instituted in their place the "Patriotic Buddhists Committees" and subdued them under the control of the Fatherland Front. At the same time, they closed down institutes of Buddhist studies. They prohibited young monks to continue their priesthood. Most pagodas were without monks. Religious education and renewals at monasteries were strictly forbidden. The Buddhist faith could only survive in the family." Even before their takeover of Hanoi, the Communists dissolved outright the Inter-zone V Patriotic Buddhist Congregations (1951), regardless of their great contributions to the Resistance. They forced all Buddhist organizations and followers to join the Lien Viet Front, the predecessor to the present National Fatherland Front. The Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, who was the president of Duddhist Associations of Inter-zone V including the provinces Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh nd Phu Yen, was arrested in 1952 and was only released subsequent to the Geneva Agreements (1954).