The Anti-Colonial Movement in Vietnam

In: New politics: a journal of socialist thought, Band 6, S. 135-141

Abstract

A review essay on a book by Ngo Van, Vietnam 1920-1945, revolution et contre-revolution sous la domination coloniale ([Vietnam 1920-1945, Revolution and Counterrevolution under Colonial Domination] Paris: L'Insomniaq, 1995). Van's account of the 1920-1945 anticolonialist movement in Vietnam documents the intelligentsia's development from nationalism to communism; the establishment of the Indochinese Communist Party; electoral conflicts between supporters of Joseph Stalin & Leon Trotsky; & the Vietnamese working-class strikes, French government repression of the Indochinese Communist Party & supporters of Trotsky after the commencement of WWII, & the Viet Minh's declaration of independence from France & of war against Trotsky's supporters. Van's work is used to critique David Marr's The Quest for Power (1995); Marr's analysis of the history behind the 1945 Hanoi insurrection & his delineation of Japan's attempt to present itself as the liberator of Vietnam from European colonialism are commended. Nevertheless, Marr is criticized for ignoring the failure of the Viet Minh's initial strategy of negotiated independence from France. J. W. Parker