Posted on 11/03/2025 7:35:37 AM PST by MtnClimber
Even as New York City looks poised to try one more time to make socialism work, multiple countries that have gone down the socialist road are trying instead to turn off. Notable examples include Argentina, where President Xavier Milei’s party just scored a notable victory over the Peronists in legislative elections; and Bolivia where, in the August 2025 first round of the presidential election, after nearly 20 years of explicitly socialist rule under the MAS Party, accompanied by economic stagnation, the MAS candidate for President got just 2% of the vote.
Can we add Vietnam to the list of countries moving away from socialism? A November 1 piece at American Greatness by Stephen Young and Bradley Thayer asserts the thesis that we can. The headline is “Did We Just Win the Vietnam War?” Excerpt:
Half a century after America’s withdrawal, Vietnam has quietly vindicated U.S. sacrifice—abandoning Marxism for nationalism and embracing the very ideals America once defended. . . . While few Americans have noticed, Vietnam’s new General Secretary of the Communist Party, To Lam, has replaced Marxist-Leninism as the Party’s governing ideology with something more authentically Vietnamese: Truong Ton Dan Toc, or “Vietnamese nationalism.”
Young and Thayer cite some serious evidence in support of their thesis. My overall conclusion: Vietnam is making some meaningful strides in the right direction, but still, Young and Thayer are getting ahead of themselves.
Here are the main points that Y&T make in support of their thesis:
- In a speech on April 27, 2025, Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam “presented his party as one dedicated to Vietnamese nationalism, not Marxist-Leninism, saying that honor will always be given to those who sacrificed for the Vietnamese people’s “happiness and prosperity” and “their truong ton [nationalism] and development.”
- “On May 4, 2025, the Politburo of the Vietnamese Communist Party adopted Resolution 68, putting private enterprise at the center of economic development. The resolution gave responsibility for national wealth creation to self-management, self-effort, and self-empowerment. The rights of private property will be guaranteed and protected. The Vietnamese state will henceforth ‘serve and support’ private enterprise and not contradict the ‘principles of the market.’”
- On October 8, 2025, in remarks closing the 14th Session of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, “To Lam doubled down on his new vision for a non-Communist, truly Vietnamese Vietnam. Democracy must be guaranteed with discipline and transparency, with elections as broad-based politics to earn the trust of the people. Private enterprise must be pushed forward for national development. The benefit of the people must become the objective of the government’s new economic policy. Finally, dogma, meaning turgid Communist dogma, must be eliminated.”
These are all excellent points, and I certainly wish the Vietnamese people the best in their efforts to leave Communism behind and move forward to capitalism, democracy, and prosperity. However, the Communist Party has been in power continuously since the 1970s, and remains in power. No elections are scheduled, nor are any serious preparations for elections under way. Current GDP per capita is only about $4700 — a pitiful level, representing the fruits of decades of excessive government control of the economy.
The transition away from socialism or Communism is not simple. Once private business is allowed, some businesspeople start to succeed, and become rich. That makes them a threat to the power of the governing elite. And then the push-back begins, where only those businesspeople under the thumb of those in power are allowed to succeed. And the party re-tightens its grip. This is what has happened in China during the reign of Xi Jin-Ping.
In January 2019 I took a trip to Vietnam, and wrote a series of posts about my observations. Here is an excerpt from my post of January 16, 2019:
So with the perspective of the last 44 years, who “won” the Việt Nam War? The U.S. is very close to achieving all of its principal objectives without having risked any more lives or fired any more shots since 1973. Probably, about the same economic situation would prevail today if there had never been any Việt Nam War. Although proclaiming itself a “socialist republic,” Việt Nam is not part of an aggressive and militaristic communist bloc that continually threatens its neighbors. Its citizens are chasing prosperity through private property and free exchange just as fast as they can chase it. The only thing left of “socialism” is a government sector much larger than it needs to be or than it should be.
It would be nice if today’s government of Việt Nam could find itself feeling secure enough to stand for election like grown-up governments do; but there is no current prospect of that. On the other hand, achieving a government willing to conduct periodic elections was never really one of the main objectives that the U.S. was hoping to accomplish with its military force those many decades ago.
To Lam’s recent statements represent additional progress from where Vietnam was six years ago. But the progress is slow and incremental, rather than the sudden reversal painted by Young and Thayer. Hopefully, the change will continue, without the backsliding seen in China. I’ll believe that Vietnam has truly come out of its long winter when an election is held and advocates of a free economy win a decisive victory.
So has the U.S. finally won the Vietnam War? Basically yes. But the main lesson is that a free economy most often cannot be established by military force. With almost all academic elites teaching and believing economic nonsense, people need to learn the lessons of freedom through their own bitter experience. Little by little, Vietnam is getting there.
Manhattan Contrarian ping
Vietnam’s digital identity transformation taking shape
Digital transformation is progressing in Vietnam as the country’s government pursues “Project 06” to modernize its economy and public services. The new national identity system is a cornerstone of the digital transformation plan, which includes civil registration, digital ID and authentication.
With the transition from outdated paper-based identification systems to sophisticated, biometric-based digital IDs, millions of citizens will have better access to their data and improved protection from cybercrime. This digital ID card will integrate multiple public services, including healthcare and social insurance, to make them more efficient and accessible.
from another article..
VNeID, or Vietnam Electronic Identification, is the official digital identity platform and "super app" from Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security. It's a key part of Vietnam's digital transformation plan to create a digital government, digital economy, and digital society by 2030. The platform uses a central national database for identity, population, and authentication, providing a unified digital ID for everyone in the country.
Well at least they’re not socialists..
None of what’s going on in Vietnam - and a lot of other countries, like "our friend" Argentina - is compatible with democracy. Articles like this are PR, pure and simple.
From Co-Pilot:
**Religious freedom in Vietnam remains highly restricted, with increasing government control and repression of independent religious groups.**
Vietnam’s approach to religious freedom is shaped by its one-party system under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which tightly regulates religious activities. While the constitution nominally guarantees freedom of belief and religion, the reality is far more constrained:
### 🔒 Government Control and Legal Restrictions
- **The Law on Belief and Religion (LBR)** imposes a multistage registration process for religious groups, giving authorities broad discretion to approve or deny recognition.
- Local officials often use vague provisions tied to “national security” or “social unity” to arbitrarily restrict religious practices.
- The government favors **state-sponsored religious organizations**, marginalizing independent groups and denying them legal status.
### 🚨 Repression and Crackdowns
- In 2024, Vietnam saw **one of the most aggressive crackdowns on dissent in decades**, targeting religious minorities alongside journalists and activists.
- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended Vietnam be designated a **“Country of Particular Concern”** due to escalating violations.
- Reports include **arrests of Khmer Krom activists**, surveillance of former political prisoners, and harassment of unregistered religious communities.
### 📉 Civil Liberties and Broader Context
- Vietnam scored **20 out of 100** in Freedom House’s 2025 report, classifying it as “Not Free.” Religious freedom is part of a broader pattern of restricted civil liberties.
- The CPV’s dominance means **opposition voices and independent religious leaders** face systemic suppression, often under the guise of maintaining social order.
### 🛐 Impact on Religious Communities
- Minority groups such as **Montagnard Christians, Hmong Protestants, and independent Buddhists** frequently report harassment, denial of worship rights, and forced renunciations of faith.
- Even mainstream groups like the Catholic Church must navigate **state interference**, especially in leadership appointments and property use.
Vietnam’s religious landscape is marked by a duality: formal guarantees of freedom on paper, and pervasive control and repression in practice. Independent religious expression is often treated as a threat to state authority.
**Vietnamese citizens can generally travel within the country freely, but international travel is subject to government control and can be restricted for political or legal reasons.**
Here’s a breakdown of travel freedom for Vietnamese citizens:
### 🧭 Domestic Travel
- However, **ethnic minorities and religious groups** in remote areas may face surveillance or restrictions, especially if they are involved in activism or unregistered religious activities.
### ✈️ International Travel
- **Vietnamese citizens can apply for passports and travel abroad**, but the process is tightly regulated.
- The government can **deny or delay passport issuance** for individuals deemed politically sensitive or involved in activism.
- **Exit bans** are occasionally imposed on dissidents, former prisoners, or those under investigation.
- For most citizens, **tourism and labor migration are common reasons for travel**, especially to countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America.
- Vietnam’s passport ranks moderately in global mobility indexes, offering **visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to around 55 countries**.
### 🛂 Government Oversight
- The Ministry of Public Security monitors international travel, especially for those with political or religious affiliations.
- Citizens returning from abroad may be questioned or monitored, particularly if they attended conferences, met with foreign NGOs, or expressed dissent.
In short, while everyday domestic travel is easy and international travel is possible for most, **political and religious factors can significantly limit mobility for certain individuals**.
This is only serious and believable if it continues. More likely, supporters will be murdered.
That is the way of commies.
Is Vietnam any more authoritarian than Singapore?
Vietnam, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary all abandoning socialism. New York set to embrace it.
Interesting Wikipedia article on Vietnam:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam
They share your view that it remains a Communist country which includes government control of major industries, severe censorship of citizens and the media.
Over time the economy has been improving and tourism has been thriving—but it remains to be seen if that will have any significant impact on the form of government.
They were fortunate that Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, before the end of the war, the new leaders weren’t as tied to the whole Comintern thing, like Ho was, and once they Soviet Union collapsed, they did what they had to do to stay in power.
Vietnam is now no different from any one-party state in Africa or Asia, a state which simply seeks to preserve its power and corruption wealth, while maintaining stability and steadily developing the nation. Unlike Africa though, Vietnam the intelligence and energy of Vietnamese behind it.
In fact, we can say for our foreign relations, that this post-Soviet one-party socialism is preferable - as there is NO globalist or religious-radical component to it. It’s all about materialism, money and nation-building. The standard model of diplomacy in the 18th and 19th centuries.
One could even argue WE are more leftist-ideological than they are.
Excellent post on all counts.
If Vietnam minds their own knitting that is a win for everybody—and yeah we should learn from that.
International Karens are everybody’s enemy.
Catholics had been restricted from employment in government, large and/or foreign industries, etc. They wer, however allowed to go to university and many did, becoming engineers and accountants and managers who were then not allowed to work as employees. They compensated by building consulting companies and hired their services to the government agencies and to the big companies they were not allowed to work directly for. Some Party smart guys figured out that they were paying a lot more for "" services than would be the case if they had hired those people directly. so those restrictions came off.
Buddhists are, themselves rational and observant people and not wedded to one type of system. They saw that the Catholics could trade in international markets and build businesses because Christians trust each other to make and keep bargains. Almost all other cultures can only trust members of their families and clans which limits them.
Việt Nam is becoming prosperous at a rapid rate. It is not Chinese capitalism which is actually State capitalism and is showing signs of failing because governments tend to make wrong decisions.
But China may be more interested in returning the north to Chinese administrative control as it was for over a thousand years, 111 BC to 939 CE.
Vietnamese are very pragmatic people. If it don’t work, stop doing it...........
“The war exacted an enormous cost: estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians, 20,000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 US service members died”. It only took that many dead bodies to figure out that socialism/communism might not be the right way to govern.
Obviously you have never been to Vietnam!
I see an opening. Think China and their historical contempt for each other. We give them the $4 billion Kissinger promised and they give is back Cam Ran Bay.
The $4 billion could be military equipment.
You must DEFEAT socialism.
VA also.
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