FACING THE DILEMMA

FACING THE DILEMMA

By Van Nguyen

The integration of the market economy of the South into the concentration economy system of the North created serious mistakes in the operation of the economy in the South. Opposing views over the orientation of the country’s economy surged, cleaving the Party’s theorists and party members into two camps.  The one claimed radical change; the other resisted without a solution. Contenders for came up with measures favoring the approach to market-oriented economy. Hardliners addressed conservation of the established model of concentration economy.  Even  the Party Secretary Le Duan was at a loss. There is really no model for a transition from a self-esuriency economy to an encompassing advanced socialist economy. One should do whatever necessary to save the economy unless one always precedes it in lines with the principles of Marxism-Leninism

To the distress of the depression, penuries in foods, commodities, and necessities of life aggravated the situation. Shortage of rice in the cities was alarming. Miscalculations in the management, circulation, and distribution of goods unpredictably complicated the operations of the economy, resulting in an irreversible ailing economy. Rotten sweet potatoes and moth-eaten rice became the main staple of most families of cadres and city-dwellers. In addition, the frontier wars with Kampuchea and China increasingly brought about bad effects on every aspects of the life of the people. Vietnam was on the brink of a crisis, economically and politically.

At the end of 1978, the national economy deteriorated alarmingly. Reports on the economy of the South in early1979 by the central inspection pointed out those certain economic measures were inefficacious. The Central Party Congress, in August 1979, acknowledged the economic failure was partly created by the vain hopes and the hilarious atmosphere subsequent to the glorious victory over the American imperialists and henchmen in April 1975. Difficulties accumulated as a result of subjectivity and miscalculated shortcomings. Notably, the monopoly of power incorporated in the absolute supremacy of the Party leadership in the decision making process. I he inflexibility resulting from it stifles individuals’’ initiatives and creativity which are vital for the operation of the economy. The inaptitude of the nomenclature, the malfunctioning mechanisms of the State system of subsidies added weight to paralyzing the lop-sided operations of the economy. There should be a rapid action to put an end to the impotent practices that hampered the circulation of products, ameliorate the economic system of production, give impetus to  broader  initiative in all trades and at all localities and  places of business to  help boost production for the society

In 1979, plans for rectifications were put into action amid the controversy over the orientation for the economy between the contenders for radical change and the conformists. The moderate faction urged the leadership on accelerating rapid transition to the market-oriented economy. The hard liners preached conservation of the concentration economy system, out of fear of ideological deviationism. The trend towards change prevailed, and for a period of time, the Communist Party leadership agreed with reluctance to precede this transition following the example of China and adapt to the economy to the global economic development. It stressed, in particular, the revision of economic reforms programs and the reevaluation of the State strict control over the economic sectors.  

In August 1979 the Party Central Committee Congress admitted failures in the economic reforms in the South in the past years. The glorious victory over the American imperialists and henchmen had not satisfactorily contributed to the economic development of the country. The insurmountable impediment to the development of the country had not only resulted from the sabotage of the enemy. Rather, the natural causes mainly originated from the shortcomings of a subjective character. Impractical and ill-conceived plans and measures in solving problems left by the old political regime and errors sand mistakes by the new administration as well created difficulties to the economic development of the country. 

Pessimism was pervasive, and worries about the existence of the regime were ever expanding. A sound and safe economy was a real matter of life and death. Vo Van Kiet, the then Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary faced up the increasingly pressing economic difficulties, looking for a way to break the deadlock. He achieved measures on his own initiatives in solving the problem other than merely following directives, decisions, and resolutions through overlapping lines of authority. He made plans by himself to overturn managerial complications coming from the dispute over authority between various factions, the mismanagement of public affairs of the authorities, and the corrupt practices that paralyzed the administration and the economy as well.

Saigon suffered severe scarcities of foods and commodities. The purchase of rice, in particular, met with utmost difficulties. Rice in stock at State granaries was sufficient enough for several days. The peasants in neighboring provinces refused to sell their product on the official prices. They were often coerced to sell it under force. In many places, the military was mobilized to control the situation. The alternate member of the Politburo Vo Van Kiet acted on his own initiatives. The Chief Department of Provisions of Ho Chi Minh City was given the green light in dealing with the rice-growers.  The product was purchased on the market prices. The new mode of purchase relived the market and retrieved the city-dwellers from severe shortage of foods. Strict orders on circulation of merchandise from one province to another, which was conditional on local authorities ‘permission, were unbound. The conduct of affairs at State trades and industry establishments, companies, and cooperatives became comparatively flexible. In his capacity as an alternate member of the Politburo, he sought to facilitate the operation of the economy at the base.        

On October 14, 1980, at the Party Central Committee Congress under the chairmanship of Party Secretary-general Le Duan,  Vo Van Kiet justified his case, pointing out the shortcomings in the realization of  trade and industry reforms policy in the South, which, in his opinions, would lead to the danger of destroying the legitimacy of the People’s Democracy. Other participants contributed to the analysis of the country’s ailing economy calling for rectifications and implementations for economic recovery. The erroneous conduct of affairs of the nomenclature should be of primary concern. They nevertheless came up with no solution and plan; neither did the Politburo produce a resolution.

The Fifth Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party affirmed that the Party’s policies “are absolutely correct, only the measures are at fault. The instantaneous economic difficulties, in the views of the Party, are the inevitable consequences of the nine years of war and the destructive plots of the imperialists and their henchmen. In that regard, the Party devises a number of “undoing measures “in the form of the Soviet NEP (New Economic Programs) under Lenin. The Party called on the capitalists to participate in the joint business ventures to develop state capitalism. Nevertheless, the zeal proves to be ineffective. The economy slides down, and it goes quickly into the abyss.” (Do Trung Hieu, 1995:60-61) 

Scarcities of foods and necessities of daily life, the mismanagement in trade and industry, bureaucracy, and unemployment were critical in the provinces and cities of the South, and Saigon as well. The economic system patterned after the concentration economy in the North collapsed. The economic situation in Saigon was increasingly critical. Authorities in the State industry enterprises and trade corporations in Saigon were running businesses mostly on whims and wishes. To disentangle difficulties, Vo Van Kiet made frequent visit tours at local offices and central departments in Saigon to redress the balance and solve problems. He discussed problems with the authorities in charge, finding out errors and rectifying wrongdoings. This conduct of affairs is an anomaly in a totalitarian regime. It is a deviation from ideological precepts in the concentration democracy. It is a breach on the principles and mechanisms of the Party supremacy in the conduct of public affairs and the management of the economy. The question became a matter in dispute among theorists and party members: “the Party secretary of Ho Chi Minh Party Committee has committed a foul.”

CRISIS AND RENOVATION

CRISIS AND RENOVATION

By Van Nguyen

   On September23, 1976, Vice-Premier Nguyen Duy Trinh, in the declaration on the policy on the trade and industry in the South, maintained that the government set forth a strategy to found  a socialist economy for the whole country, erasing step-by-step the differences of each region, promoting economic bases for a self-sufficiency economy, redistributing the labor forces, creating a fair distribution that guarantees the welfare of the people, especially the working class, and eliminating all forms of injustice and dishonest and illegal practices. In the following years, the economy was nevertheless increasingly stagnant. Shortages of agricultural products and industrial productions of daily commodities remained major problems.  Until the end of the 1970’s, an inhabitant in Hanoi would dream if he could be in possession of a radio on permission. Trade and Industry reforms in the South were without predicament.

   In 1980, two decades on the path of socialism, the population in Hanoi still survived on State ration tickets operated by general goods stores and regulated by the State subsidies system. People had to sit in line in front the store from early morning for food rations. It was real joy if one could get some portions of rice of quality. Worm-eaten rice was sold to ordinary people at State rice stores, and rice of good quality was provided for cadres at special stores. Goods and commodities were scarce. Superior cadres and party leaders were supplied with large portions, goods, and commodities of best qualities by the super State trading stores on Ton Dan Street.  State trading stores flourished but the economy deteriorated.  By 1970, the ideal dream of the inhabitants in Hanoi was to be in possession of a bicycle, a ventilator, and a pair of plastic sandals.

Agricultural productions were staggering after consecutive programs of agrarian reforms. Means of production were still rudimentary, and the methods were far behind the times. Modes of management were rigidly carried out with the new laws, rules, and regulations that mostly were impractical, unpopular, and unreasonable. During the early stages of Land Reform (1953), attempts were made to requisition the lands and properties of landlords. Article 4, Chapter II of Decree No. 197 SL of Dec. 10, 1953 stipulated that “only lands, livestock, and agricultural implements will be liable for requisition, and other property will be exempt.”  Nevertheless, the landlord and his family were forced to leave their house without possessions. Different forms of confiscation were applied to landlords of all categories, French colonialists, traitors, reactionaries, and non-reactionaries. Confiscation was total for the first category, might be total or partial for the second, and with redemption for the third. Application of the third form of confiscation nevertheless existed on paper. 

The results published in a communiqué relating to the Hanoi suburban area by the Land Reform Committee announced that the oppressed peasants had confiscated or requisitioned from the landowning class 20,482 mau (18,220 acres) of rice-fields, 511 animals, 6,150 agricultural implements, 1,032 houses, and 346,903 kgs of foodstuffs.  They had also compelled landlords to pay back as excesses of land-rent 155,o69 kgs of paddy, and 6,429,950 $VN dong. All these had been shared between 24,690 landless peasants and poor worker families, comprising 98,113 people. On the average each landless peasant received 2 sao 9 thuoc (0.205 acres).  However it was small, the gift of more than 2 sao was a treasure to a landless peasant or poor worker.

The moment of joy soon dissipated. The agrarian reforms failed “to satisfy the need for land for those whose benefit of the allegedly had undertaken. It was able to give 15 million landless and poor peasant’s family’s slightly more than one acre each. Welcome as these gifts were, they were not enough to turn the poor peasants into enthusiastic supporters of the regime. On the contrary, the injustices and atrocities produced widespread resentment, on rest and openly rebellion (Butteinger, 1968:424).

The State imposed new progressive agricultural taxes on the lands the peasants received from the State. They were two and three times higher than the taxes they had previously paid. Other measures gradually conditioned them to adapt themselves to a pattern of life they had never experienced.  

  Following the repression of the peasants in Nghe An Province and the oppression against the intellectuals in Hanoi, the Vietnamese Workers’ Party carried out its policy of collectivization.  Agricultural communes were established in the countryside to appropriate and redistribute land of the “landlords” and “rich peasants” categories of the population.  The peasants were organized to work in collective farms for the State, from farming to building roads. After harvest, the peasant was given only one fourth of the crop. The other three fourths went to tax payment, the Trade Office, the National Bank and other State agencies. Every cooperative member was not starving but undernourished. He remained miserable as he had ever been. Having no incentive and individual profit, the peasant grew reluctant and careless in their work. The production decreased. As a result, the Communists were successful in destroying the class of exploiting landlords but were faced with serious economic problems. Of most significance, they could only condition with force the peasants to adapt to the Communist pattern of life.  

    In the early 1960’s, this system of agricultural communes “was modified to adapt to the one which is destined in the long run, to establish cooperatives. This system would, in turn, be amalgamated into full scale agricultural collectives. At the same time, the government implemented the neo-Stalinist development policy at the macro-economic level, emphasizing the rapid development of heavy industry and, of course, waging increasingly costly war against the American-backed government in the South. Only massive aid from other CMEA countries allowed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to continue these policies, to the point where their armies could invade the South and inflict a humiliating defeat on the American and South Vietnamese Armies, By any objective standard, the economy of North Vietnam in 1975 was at a very low level of economic level (Adam FForde, 1989:14).  

    Hard times persisted subsequent to the “liberation of South. Slow but steady waves of migration of miserable inhabitants from the provinces of the Tonkin Delta moved to the South. Stories about a prosperous South exited the classless peasants in a rush for the land of dream. Supporters of the regime, individuals, families, and small and large groups of people sought to settle in the “royal territories” in the Central Highland under the Bao Dai government (1940-1954), the aggrovilles under the Ngo Dinh Diem government (1954-1963), the lower lands in the eastern provinces, and the southernmost fertile basin of the Bassac River. New settlements were seen in Tung Nghia (Da Lat), Blao, Dzi Linh, Pleiku, Dak Lak, and Ban Me Thuot. Excessive land exploitations of the newcomers pressed hard the indigenous ethnic minorities to move their ancestral habitations farther into the remote uncultivated areas. Giia Kiem (Long Khanh Province), Ho Nai (Bien Hoa Province), and Go Vap (Gia Dinhh Province) whose inhabitants were largely Catholic refugees from the North after the country’s partition in 1954 attracted  Catholics from various parishes in the North. The one time Cai San aggrovile in Long Xuyen was the land of dream of quite a few immigrants from Bui Chu and Nam Dinh parishes. Uncountable immigrants from large provinces and cities such as Thanh Hoa, Thai Binh, and Haiphong sought to make a living in Saigon where they could practice all kinds of trades. Without skills, many of them lived from mouth to hand. It was not a surprise to see bands of beggars trailing visitors for almonds on Tu Do Street and along Dong Khanh Boulevard.    

Bad effects as a result of the economy reforms following the takeover of Saigon led to gradual economic crisis in the South.  In 1978, Do Muoi, in his determination to sweep off the “remnants of imperialist bourgeoisie at their refuge,” established the lop-sided economic system patterned after the system of State trading and manufacturing corporations in the North, upturning the established economic life. The economy of the South soon collapsed following the confiscation of private properties. In the late 1970's and the early 1980's, foods, medicines, and consumer goods were chronically scarce as agriculture, and manufacturing industry steadily came to a standstill. The effects of prolonged war disruptions, corrupt and inept management, and the cost of the military occupation of Cambodia added weight to the crisis The administration was also under pressure to face social ills and problems such as urban unemployment, vocational training, homelessness, the care of orphans, war veterans, and the disabled, the control of epidemics, and the rehabilitation of drug addicts and prostitutes

Hundreds of thousands of families in the cities were forced to resettle in the new barren economic zones. People had to eat horse-feeding grain as the main, instead of rice. Thousands of families of rank and file officials of the old regime, fearful of political suspicion and persecution, left the country in search for security in distant places. Wealthier families sought to leave the country for freedom, risking their lives in small boats floating onto the sea in the hope to be saved by foreign merchant ships. Vietnam, under the eyes of the world, was no longer an enjoyable place to live. It even ceased to be a military power when the uneven battles ended on the China-Vietnam frontiers in 1979.  It truly slid down pitilessly when the war in Kampuchea began to come to a close later on in 1989, the communist rule truly faced serious difficulties and problems economically and politically.

THE NATIONAL RESTORATION MOVEMENT

THE  NATIONAL RESTORATION MOVEMENT

By Van Nguyen

    Upon completing the takeover of the Capital City of Saigon, the communist administration upstaged campaigns f0r pacification destroying the remnants and vestiges of American imperialists and their henchmen, dismantling and outlawed all institutions of the suprstructue and bases of the infrastructure of the South.  Leaders of various cultural, religious, political, and social institutions, personalities and intellectuals of various professional groups, the personnel of the old administration, and other concerned individuals from all walks of life met in secret and pledged to serve national integrity, sovereignty, and independence, struggling against the brutal oppression and repression of the communist regime. Among them were veteran members of the National Party for Restoration of Vietnam (Viet Nam Phuc Quoc Dong Minh Hoi) that had operated under the spiritual leadership of Prince Cuong De and the patriot Phan Boi Chau during French domination.  Symbolized as pillars of the alliance were Nguyen Phuoc Cuong Hung, Phan Vo Ky, Ho Tan Khoa, Ta Quang Hoi alias Ta Nguyen Minh, Hoc Nang Nguyen Van Phat,  Doan Viet Nhan, Pham Quoc Bao, Tran Van Ha, Nguyen Van Thai alias Thai Nam, Gian Chi Nguyen Huu Van, Nguyen Van Dinh al, Nguyen Van Diem alias Ly Thai Nhu, Vu Toan Tu, Tran Thanh Dinh, Tran Huy Phong, Tran Trieu Viet alias Tran Viet Son,  Le Quoc Tuy, Dinh Van Trinh alias Nguyen Ly Cao Nhan, and others.

  Certain fractions in the alliance committed themselves to a struggle in all forms, militarily and politically, for a free, non-aligned, and independent Vietnam. They formed the “Mat Tran Thong Nhat Toan Luc Quoc Gia” (The Unite Front of National Forces). The principles and methods for operation varied with each affiliated organ’s potential human and material resources, initiatives, means, situations and circumstances. Cooperation and coordination were the broad criteria for action among and between various elements of the same organ and members of different lines of organization. The Fronts militants engaged the communists, mostly in and around the western Bassac River provinces. The military components of the Front suffered disbandment in 1980, subsequent to frequent attacks by the communist security forces in Rach Gia under the direction of Nguyen Tan Dung. Other underground anti-communist groups or individuals operating elsewhere also sustained great losses due to lack of material resources. Many of them operated on their own initiatives, and some of them were still active until the later times.

The Washing Area League for Human Rights (1978) published two important documents, the Disinherited Vietnamese's Manifesto signed by eight public figures and the Testament of Patriotic Prisoners in Vietnam drafted by Dinh Huy Binh and endorsed by 49 prominent political prisoners, among whom were 82-year-old revolutionary scholar Phan Vo Ky, imprisoned by the French; 80-yearold nationalist revolutionary Ta Nguyen Minh, 16 times imprisoned by the French, Diem, Thieu, and Communist governments; Father Tran Huu Thanh, President of the Anti-Corruption Movement under Thieu; 80-year old nationalist revolutionary Nguyen Van Thang, 4 times imprisoned by the French, Diem, and Communist governments;. The lawyer Tran Van Tuyen; and the lawyer Vu Dang Dung, President of the Lawyers Association; Professor Mai Van Le, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Hue University. The Testament denounces:

 “We, workers, peasants, proletarians, clergymen, artists, writers, and patriotic intellectuals, presently detained in various prisons in Vietnam, wish, first of all, to express our warmest thanks to progressive movements all over the world, all struggling movements of workers and intellectuals; and all those who, over the past decade, have supported     movements fighting for human rights in Vietnam, and for the freedom and democracy of exploited and oppressed Vietnamese.

 In the name of our belief in a just cause, we want to alert you, our justice and freedom-loving friends, as well as international opinion, to a policy of imprisonment never before applied in the history of mankind and the cruelty of which no one can measure, a planned cruelty imposed on prisoners in all prisons throughout Vietnam. In fact, apart from 400,000 soldiers, officers, and civil servants of the former Government now serving the sentences in the concentration camps, the present Communist Government has detained close to 400,000 people from other walks of life: laborers, peasants, workers, patriotic intellectuals whose past is in no way, have connected with the former puppet Government in Saigon, and, who, on the contrary, have achieved a certain notoriety among the people for their past struggle for peace.

  In fact, shaken in the face of massive opposition from all social levels, the Security forces of the current Government has indiscriminately imprisoned old people, women and invalids. It has also detained without the least hesitation the mad, children, and even the newly-born. Among thousands of cases, we can cite the arrest of the journalist Doan Ke Tuong, his wife, and-day-old baby, the journalist Dang Giao, secretary-general of the daily journal Song his wife and 7-day-old baby, Mr. Phan Vo Ky, 82 years old, secretary-general of the High Council of Religions in Vietnam, the Venerable Thich Quang Do, secretary-general of the Unified Buddhist Church in  Vietnam (An Quang Pagoda), Reverend Nguyen Van Bo, director of the Fatima Diocese, Saigon, and so on.

  On the other hand, despite the already impressive number of persons left by the Thieu Government. The existence of which at one time was severely condemned by international opinion, the Communist Government can no longer find enough room to incarcerate their numerous prisoners. Apart from the accelerated construction of new prisons, the Secret Police has hastily had to transform schools, hotels, office buildings and even orphanages into prisons. And such has been the case with Hotel Dai Nam, Dai Loi Building in central Saigon, and Long Thanh Orphanage.

   .... In this moment of agony, we, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese prisoners, appeal to you to intervene in Viet Nam through all means to terminate immediately this situation--and this medieval cruelty of the present Government.

     The holocaust of the Jews in 1945 dying in the crematoria was an enormous wound for humanity. But in Vietnam hundreds of thousands of people are tortured, oppressed and living in perpetual anguish, dragging out their lives in suffering and madness. If it is true that humanity today retreats in fear before the growth of communism, and above all the so-called 'invincibility' of Vietnamese Communists who have defeated the all-powerful American imperialism, then, we, prisoners in Vietnam, request the International Red Cross, world humanitarian organizations, and men of good will, to send each of us urgently a dose of cyanide so that we may end our suffering and our humiliation. We want to die at once. Help us to do this. Help us to die at once. We shall be eternally grateful to you (Washington League for Human Rights, 1978: 10).  

  Sources inside Vietnam reported that right after the Communist takeover of South Vietnam, numerous members of organizations operated anticommunist activities clandestinely inside the country. Many were listed as reactionaries. They were arrested and convicted on charges of "activities aimed at overthrowing the government."

Tran Tu Thanh, secretary-general of the League for the Protection of Civil Rights, published four lists of political prisoners who were detained in prisons and reeducation camps. Twenty-six (26) prisoners were detained in Ba Ria-Vung Tau; eighty-three (83) in the camps Z30A (K1) and Z30B (K2), Xuan Loc District, 52 (62.65%) of whom served life imprisonment sentence and 20-25 years' imprisonment sentence; one hundred and one (101), 37 of whom (46.98%) served life imprisonment sentence and 20-25 years' imprisonment sentence in camps Z30D (K1) Ham Tan District, Thuan Hai Province; and two hundred forty-three (243), 167 of whom (68.72%) served life imprisonment sentence and 20-25 years' imprisonment in camps A20, A30, and HT1780, Xuan Phuoc District, Phu Yen Province.

The veteran political prisoner Nguyen Khac Chinh compiled a list of 105 political dissidents who were detained at Ham Tan Camp. Among them were: Dinh Cong Anh, Caodaist Le Cong Can, Professor at Can Tho University; the Reverend Tran Cong Chuc, Catholic priest; Venerable Dong Van Kha, Buddhist monk; Reverend Tran Khac Kinh, Catholic priest; Reverend Nguyen Van Thin; Catholic priest Reverend Do Tri Thuyen, Catholic priest; Ho Van Ba, Nguyen Trung Truc RVN Army;  Phan Xuan Ba, Anti-Communist Patriots' Front; Phan Van Cau, National Self-Determination Front; Phan Dinh Hieu, Vietnam National Party; Huynh Van Chon, Vietnam Patriots' Front; Nguyen Van Chung, Vietnam National Revolutionary Party; Nguyen Van Danh, Youth Organization for National Restoration; Huynh Van Dung, Front for Freedom and National Salvation; Huynh Van Dong, Front for National Security; Nguyen Van Duc, Black Dragon Organization; Nguyen Huu Duc, Bao Long National Restoration; Nguyen Van Duc, Human Rights Front; Nguyen Van Hoanh, Front for National Restoration; Bui Hoa, Civilian and Military Front for National Restoration; Le Van Mon, National Restoration Army;  Ha Van Hang, Front for National Restoration; and Bui Xuan Phuong, National Revolutionary Movement.

THE OPPOSITION

THE OPPOSITION

By Van Nguyen

  After the takeover of Saigon, the communist administration executed strict measures to eliminate “the remnants of American imperialism and the puppet government.”   Cadres and servicemen of A 16 in Saigon and other provinces were given orders to sweep off any opposition that might arise. They ought to eradicate then quickly and cleanly, punished them mercilessly at their very bases or sent them to reeducation. All political organizations affiliated with the American imperialism and the puppet government had to be destroyed. This campaign for pacification was carried out in line with the XI and II2 operations expropriating all Churches’ properties and closing all their abbeys, seminaries, and cultural, humanitarian, and educational establishments.

    Non-cooperation and Sabotage

Political security control was rather inefficacious. On September 3, 1975, reports to the General Security Directorate revealed that only a small number of personnel of the old regime at the base registered for reeducation. The “gang of military chaplains” was thin. Only 2/1,000 chaplains, 46/150 psycho-warfare officers, 142/100 intelligence agents, and so on   presented themselves in person. During the first phase, only 4,800/10,200 reactionaries registered themselves for reeducation. Arrests were affected to deal not only with the reactionary elements serving in the administration and the military but also elements in the cultural social and political organizations in the South.   

In fact, right after the fall of Saigon, multifarious anti-communist groups were voluntarily associated with one another to fight back the communist administration. They operated clandestinely inside the city and in the suburban areas, largely in Catholic parishes in Tan Binh, Phu Nhuan, and Thu Duc. One of the most active group was the Dan Quan Phuc Quoc (Civil and Military National Restoration) led by Nguyen Viet Hung. Their activities targeted individual cadres and troopers stationing in each street post or ward military headquarters with sabotage. On February 10, 1976, Nguyen Viet Hung, the leader of the group was arrested.  His men dispersed, but continued to fight.

  On February 13, 1976, the security forces of Ho Chi Minh City launched attacks on the Vinh Son Cathedral on Tran Quoc Toan Street. Gun fires exchanged. The security overwhelmed the cathedral, seized radios and loudspeakers, printed materials, and other properties. The Catholic priests Nguyen Quang Minh, Nguyen Huu Nghi and three collaborators were arrested. The attack on a Catholic cathedral aroused awe amid full appropriation of the Catholic Church’s properties.

Clashes exploded openly. The explosion at Ho Con Rua (Tortoise Square) was most phenomenal. The place is a historic sight constructed by the French administration in 1878. The incident was t raised concern over the new administration’s capacity to secure the peace and order in the city. The explosion remained a mystery, Authorities failed to bring into light the evidence or proof of whether or not the incident is an act of wishful sabotage.  It caused one dead and four injured. The official journal Saigon Giai Phong (Saigon Liberated), on April 3, 1976, ran a short paragraph, accusing the reactionaries for vile acts of sabotage to cause public disorder and insecurity. It announced that authorities had laid hands on the criminals, but produced no proof of the sabotage   Twenty-four hours after the explosion, the poet Tran Da Tu and his wife, the female writer Nha Ca were arrested. On the same night; two other writer, Trinh Viet Thanh and Nguyen Manh Con were detained. A mass arrest of waters lasted until April 28 1976. Doan Quoc Sy, Duyen Anh, Mai Thao, Vu Hoang Chuong, Nguyen Sy Te, Hoang Hai Thuy, Duong Hung Cuong, Duong Nghiem Mau, Nhu Phong Le Van Tien, Khuat Duy Trac, and many other writers and intellectuals were one by one arrested. The writer Nguyen Manh Con, the novelist Duong Hung Cuong, the writer Nguyen Hoat, the scholar Ho Huu Tuong, the poet Vu Hoang Chuong, the film actor Kha Nang, and the essayist Le Khai Trach died in prison.

In reality, the people in the South, in general, had an aversion for “the Revolution.” Opposition to it was commonplace. The administration opened attacks on the “hangouts” of the reactionaries. On April 6, 1976, the authorities killed six reactionaries in an operation in the area of Tung Nghia, Lam Domg Province. The leader Tran Duy Ninh and eight other reactionaries were taken alive. On April 8, 1975, 43 targets in Saigon were eliminated across the board.   Operations for pacification prior to after a big event, the general sections day, for example, mass arrests of people for unfounded reasons still occurred. Until his release from a reeducation camp or prisons, “the criminal did not understand for what reason he committed a crime.  

   After April 1975, prominent politicians and leaders of political paties in the South were the primary target of elimination. Among them were the former prime-minister Phan Huy Quat, the leader of the National Party Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang Vu Hong Khanh, the leader of Greater National Party Dai Viet Tran Trieu Viet alias Tran Viet Son, the leader of Greater Social National Party Dai Viet Quoc Gia Xa Hoi Ta Nguyen Minhl, and the prominent member of the Greater Viet National Party Duy Dan Tran Thanh Dinh.  Three last leaders of the Association of Lawyers of the Republic of Vietnam--Tran Van Tuyen, Ly Van Hiep, and Vu Dang Dung--became prisoners of the Communists for their national cause. Tran Van Tuyen sacrificed himself in the Ha Son Binh reeducation camp in 1976; Ly Van Hiep was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime presumably in 1981 or 1982. (The date was uncertain since the trial was conducted behind closed door). Vu Dang Dung spent 6 years in reeducation camp without a trial for his participation in the Lawyer Tran Danh San's organization of human rights activities.

     On April 18, 1977, two years after the fall of South Vietnam, the lawyer Tran Danh San openly read to the public the Disinherited Vietnamese's Manifesto on Human Rights in front of Saigon Cathedral. He was arrested and detained for 10 years without trial. During the first five years, he was lastingly put in fetters, which caused him disabled.  The lawyers Nguyen Huu Giao and Tran Nhat Tan were also detained for 10 years. The lawyer Trieu Ba Thiep and Vu Hung Cuong were detained for 6 years.  The lawyer Nguyen Huu Doan and the slate lawyer Nguyen Quy Anh were detained for 18 months. The first lawyer to be brought to stand trial in court was Nguyen Khac Chinh. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with forced hard labor on charges of "treason and activities intending to overthrow the people's administration. Members of the Saigon Association of Lawyers were coerced to attend ‘thought reform” programs. The association was outlawed, and those lawyers who refused to abide by the new law and order were detained and sent to reeducation camps.

  Demands for Respect for Freedom and Human Rights

 Personalities representing various social and political organizations continually denounced the Communist crimes and pledge to firmly struggle for the respect for freedom, democracy, and human rights for Vietnam. Typical of these denunciations is the manifesto signed by eight personalities, including Lawyer Tran Danh San, President of the Anti-militarist Progressive Youth Force in 1965; Professor Pham Bieu Tam, Vice-President of the Association of Patriotic Intellectuals; Professor Ton That Duong Ky, Vice-President of the National Liberation Front South Vietnam, banished to North Vietnam by the Saigon Government on March 19, 1965, for pacifist activities; Huynh Thanh Vi, President of the Vietnam Press Association; Lawyer Nguyen Huu Giao, Vice-President of the Students Union in 196; Lawyer Trieu Ba Thiep, President of the Students Struggle Committee; Lawyer Nguyen Huu Doan, Professor of the Saigon Students Union; and Professor Nguyen Van Thang, Secretary-general of the Saigon Students Union in 1969 rallied in a protest on April 18, 1977 to voice demands for freedom and human rights. Six of them read out a manifesto on the steps of Saigon Cathedral. The manifesto specified the utter tragedy these public figures suffered in excruciating terms as follows:

  

      “We, with what remains of our failing strength, with what remains of our mutilated spirits, resolve to struggle nonviolently for the respect of Human Rights in Vietnam. Our strength is diminished by hunger and privation. Our spirits are mutilated; with heads bowed and back bent, we must obey blindly, unconditionally, and irrevocably the orders of one Party and a tyrannical government we have chosen nonviolence, as it is the only way of avoiding the bloodshed and sacrifice of a people martyred relentlessly over the past decades.

Peasants of the world! Look at your brothers in Vietnam. The Vietnamese peasant labors in the sweltering heat of the tropics, at the mercy of nature, only to find fields is forced to spend his rare moments of leisure undergoing indoctrination lessons and senseless discussions. His harvest confiscated in the name of building a so-called "socialism." The water buffalo, after pulling the plough all day is allowed a few moments of rest.

Workers of the world! Imagine the working conditions of the Vietnamese laborer.  Forced to work all month long without hope of a different week, all week without hope of a different day, all day without hope of a different hour, he is to receive in the end nothing but a pittance of a wage and, on top of this, be obliged to declare that he is working of his own free will. He has to offer his sweat, blood, and tears to the Party leaders and, for propaganda's sake, must publicly proclaim that his acts are guided by the providence of the government, of the omniscient, all-clairvoyant Party. The most sacred right of the worker is the right to strike. In Vietnam, even this basic right has been denied.

  Clergymen, scientists, artists, and progressive intellectuals of the world! May all those praying in churches leave their prayers! May all those engrossed in their research come out of their laboratories! May all those who create break up their pens and throw away their brushes! All!  All! Look at the tragedy of Vietnam! A country where churches and pagodas are turned into indoctrination centers--where all principles, even the very laws of nature, are distorted to fit the regime's propaganda--where writers and journalists are forced to put their pens to the service of the Party and Government, to cover up the cruel errors they have committed.

All Vietnamese, whether they be peasants, workers, or intellectuals, have no other alternatives but to: - Resign to the inevitable and blindly obey the orders of this new race of peculators--Communist cadres--in order to receive a miserable wage, the meager crumbs of a meal and perish in despair; - Die of hunger and exhaustion in one of the many concentration camps that have been set up all over the country. The entire harvest of the peasants and all goods produced by the workers are taken over by the State and redistributed according to the State's own criteria.

We have seen: - Workers and peasants forced to work unpaid during their leisure hours for fear that their family's rice ration be cut and that they will die of hunger. - Old people and women feigning smiles and enthusiasm in meetings and gatherings for lack of enthusiasm can be punished by the refusal of rice rations and basic necessities for the whole family.- Prisoners who, even after their release, must keep silent, not daring to tell about the horrors they have seen in the prisons. They are haunted by the constant fear that if they are caught speaking out, their wives and children will be deprived of their rice rations and die of hunger. One might find the courage to sacrifice one's own life, but who can bear to see his loved ones sacrificed because of his own acts? This is the reason behind so many pathetic and unthinkable cases, such as the case of the father who, in order to ensure a proper rice ration for his son, urges his son to denounce him. Otherwise, both of them will die. This is only one of many, unimaginable to those who have not lived in Vietnam (e.g. a woman denouncing her husband, a man denouncing his own brother). Murdered or tortured to death. Moreover, the Government has confiscated all private property, even that of the workers who have been chased out of towns and now have to work on country sites and in the camps.

   

Intellectuals in the world! Wake up! The present regime uses food as a pressure to govern the people, compelling them to obey, breaking all resistance. Any individual thought, however constructive it may be, although it may never be put into action, is branded reactionary and can entail arbitrary imprisonment for he who dares express it. Those who run the Law Courts, the Police, representatives in the National Assembly are all, in fact, political cadres who follow the directives of the one Party. Whereas the propaganda machine grinds out principles of tolerance, humanity, freedom, and democracy, the reality is completely different. More than twenty percent of the former regime's officials detained in concentration camps have been

 Proletarians of the world! Wake up! To save the human being, this conscience is inherent in man; you must all struggle to put an end to the barbaric cruelty and the violation of human and civil rights by the government in Vietnam today. There is not a moment to lose, and, on the basis of clauses 13 and 63 of the United Nations Charter, you, progressive nations, governments, international organizations, and, particularly, U.N.O must intervene to end by all means this savage violation of human rights, this calculated extinction of liberties, this policy which reduces man to the state of an animal, resigning himself totally, blindly obeying orders.

Every hour that passes marks the death of thousands of people in concentration camps and prisons. Every day that passes is one more day of torture and suffering for millions of Vietnamese. They live in waiting for the outcry and action of humanists all over the world (The Washington Area League for Human Rights, 1978: 5-7).