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The Failure of Communism in Vietnam
emediawire.com ^ | November 14, 2004 | Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh

Posted on 11/14/2004 6:46:34 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe

It should be clear to any realistic observer of politics in Indochina that the Communist Party and the Socialist Republic have failed Vietnam and the Vietnamese people in a dramatic way. When Ho Chi Minh enticed the peasants to join his guerilla army he promised them a future in which the people would rule, where they would be free, living in uniform happiness in a communal paradise. What he delivered though was a nation ruled by the Party elite, with no freedoms, no civil rights and no personal liberty. Vietnam was robbed of its ancient heritage and forced to accept the culture of communism. Instead of a socialist paradise they have obtained only poverty, hunger and misery. These facts have become so clear and brutal that even many of the Communist Party's most ardent supporters are admitting that they have failed.

Only a short time after conquering the government in South Vietnam the communist regime in Hanoi fought a war against the People's Republic of China. They claimed to be defending Vietnam from Chinese invasion as so often happened in history. However, in recent years the Hanoi regime has given up Vietnamese territory in the north to China, freely handing over the sacred ground for which so many Vietnamese have died over the centuries. It was this outrage which caused the famous writer Nguyen Vu Binh to criticize the socialist government. What should be pointed out is that Nguyen Vu Binh was a former writer for the Communist Party Journal, but at last even he was forced to see the truth that the regime was selling out to China.

There have been many other such examples. In 1990, the leading Communist official Tran Bach Dang told the author Stanley Karnow, "Our belief in a Communist utopia had nothing to do with reality. We tried to build a new society on theories and dreams--on sand. Instead of stimulating production by giving people incentives, we collectivized them. Imagine! We even collectivized barbers. It was preposterous. We were also consumed by vanity. Because we crushed the Americans, we thought we could achieve anything. We should have heeded the old Chinese adage: 'You can conquer a country from horseback, but you cannot govern it from horseback.'" Finally the Communists must look their failure in the face and confess their mistakes.

In a similar confession the unrepentant but realistic Dr. Duong Quynh Hoa, a high leader in the VietMinh, told the same author, "I have been a Communist all my life, but now I've seen the realities of Communism, and it is a failure--mismanagement, corruption, privilege, repression. My ideals are gone." In a later meeting she voiced the same outrage saying, "Communism has been catastrophic. Party officials have never understood the need for rational development. They've been hypnotized by Marxist slogans that have lost validity--if they ever were valid. They are outrageous." Few people deny that if Dr. Hoa had not been such a famous figure from the war against America she would have been arrested for making such statements. Even the famous Colonel Bui Tin, deputy editor of the Communist Party newspaper was forced by his conscience to confess the failure of Communism and the Socialist Republican government in Hanoi.

Colonel Bui Tin in particular pointed out the most alarming problems for Vietnam in his "citizen's petition". He said, "There is an alarming deterioration of traditional ethical, moral and spiritual values (and) confusion among the youth on whom the country's future depends." Remember that this man once fought for the vision of Marxism and Ho Chi Minh, and even he was forced to see the error of his youthful judgment. The same government he fought to create he now attacked as, "Bureaucracy, irresponsibility, egotism, corruption and fraud are becoming entrenched under an insolent reign of privileges and prerogatives," It is those exact same traditional values, ethical, moral and spiritual, which the Nguyen Dynasty and the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League are determined to see restored and defended, so that the youth of Vietnam might have a better understanding of their nation and its cultural roots.

Looking at the world at large, and the many crimes of the Vietnamese Communist Party, all free people must condemn a government that allows such things to happen. There should be no place in the modern world for such tyranny, oppression and disregard for human dignity. If even the awakened members of the Communist Party can see their mistakes and voice their protests, surely the other free Vietnamese of the world must take the same step and join with the voice of the Great Nguyen Dynasty in calling for the end of dictatorship and the establishment of a new democratic government, based on Vietnamese traditions, that will assure the rights of its people and hold government officials accountable to those who elected them.

"When we are not devoted to serve the People, we cannot have the right to ask for the favors from the nation."


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: communism; southeastasia; vietnam
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1 posted on 11/14/2004 6:46:35 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Where would we be if socialism was successful somewhere?


2 posted on 11/14/2004 6:56:19 AM PST by The Raven
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To: The Raven

Like California?


3 posted on 11/14/2004 6:59:21 AM PST by SBprone
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"I have been a Communist all my life, but now I've seen the realities of Communism, and it is a failure--mismanagement, corruption, privilege, repression. My ideals are gone."

Typical idealist. Millions of innocent people have to die and suffer before he gets to luxuriate in his disillusionment.

About a week into my first year at college I walked into the cafeteria to be regaled by a loud chorus of "take the eggs!" coming from the people who had gotten there ahead of me. The cafeteria was offering a choice between pancakes with bacon and sausage or scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage. The eggs didn't look very good, but the pancakes looked light, fluffy and golden brown. So naturally everybody, disdaining the advice, took the pancakes--myself included. It wasn't until I was seated and had taken the first bite that I realized my mistake--the damned things not only tasted abominable, but were heavy as lead to boot. There was nothing to do but join in the chorus of "take the eggs!" until the last pancake had been served and the last dupe taken his place amongst the swollen ranks of the disillusioned.

4 posted on 11/14/2004 6:59:38 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: The Raven
Where would we be if Karl Marx had never been born?
If there had never been any socialism?

Just my personal opinion, but I think this would have been a better world these last 100 years..

5 posted on 11/14/2004 7:03:23 AM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Perhaps Jane Fonda could fly over and cheer the Vietnamese Communists up!


6 posted on 11/14/2004 7:07:37 AM PST by trek
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To: Tailgunner Joe

And insight into the yield of "real" Communism, another case history (human nature at work!). Ah, the ideals of youth and those who never grow up!


7 posted on 11/14/2004 7:12:09 AM PST by RAY (They that do right are all heroes!)
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To: Drammach

>>Where would we be if Karl Marx had never been born?

Probably started with the French Revolution - at least that's the genesis of the modern Democrats (me thinks)


8 posted on 11/14/2004 7:13:29 AM PST by The Raven
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"I have been a Communist all my life, but now I've seen the realities of Communism, and it is a failure--mismanagement, corruption, privilege, repression. My ideals are gone."

If we could just once hear such clarity of thought from a leading Democrat - it might signal a revival within that party. Of course, we would probably have to let the Democrats completely trash our country before some of them would wake up. Fortunately for us, Ronnie Reagan wasn't going to let them do any more damage than they already had by 1980.

9 posted on 11/14/2004 7:15:05 AM PST by ghost of nixon
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Well, duuuuuh! We were telling that to them in the late 50s all through the 60s but did Kerry or Fondue get it? Nooooo! They all said we were dumb now. Who's the dumb Peace now?
10 posted on 11/14/2004 7:18:39 AM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: trek

She can take Komrade Kerry with her.


11 posted on 11/14/2004 7:18:42 AM PST by Fresh Wind (All we are say-y-y-y-ing is give Beast a chance!)
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To: Drammach
What happens if a "democratic" society simply keeps electing those that enact more and more social benefits? When does this become socialism? Is it possible, if it remains to the vote of the masses, socialism is inevitable - and, as always, followed by its inevitable failure?

Most, I understand, of the socialistic countries of Europe have very high tax rates (70%+) and are bankrupt.

12 posted on 11/14/2004 7:21:21 AM PST by RAY (They that do right are all heroes!)
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To: SBprone

Or all other Blue States? Surely Oregon and Washington rate mention as commie states.


13 posted on 11/14/2004 7:23:40 AM PST by Paulus Invictus
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To: Tailgunner Joe
an alarming deterioration of traditional ethical, moral and spiritual values (and) confusion among the youth on whom the country's future depends.

One of the symptoms of the communist infestation. Necessary if the New Social Order is to evolve. Chaos and misery are communism's handmaidens.

14 posted on 11/14/2004 7:25:23 AM PST by IronJack (R)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Screw 'em. They got what the deserve.


15 posted on 11/14/2004 7:28:42 AM PST by Pittsburg Phil
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To: Drammach
Where would we be if Karl Marx had never been born? If there had never been any socialism? Just my personal opinion, but I think this would have been a better world these last 100 years.

That's my opinion too.
Imagine Russia without the likes of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, with no Mao, Vietnam war, Castro (no Elian Gonzalez and family!), no Berlin wall, no Iron Curtain.
So MUCH of the entire planet suffered because of Marx's idea and those who adopted it.

Marx missed the whole point. He really believed that the middle/upper classes were so devoid of morality that they would NEVER help their brethern in need. He obviously didn't think much of their ability to embrace Chrisitan values.
He also believed that the working class was too stupid and devoid of backbone to help itself. It wasn't. It even unionized and made life better for itself.

Yes, his idea SHOULD have been an anathema. Too bad so many morons athiests people embraced it. Many Americans embraced it. The Communist Party WAS part and parcel of the Democrat party for a long time. Secularism masked the athiesm and hatred for our own Christian values.

16 posted on 11/14/2004 7:30:48 AM PST by starfish923
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To: Tailgunner Joe

A free market is what occurs naturally when people are free. Communism, socialism, and Marxism always have to be imposed, people always have to die, and the people who impose it on others never have to live in squalor like their subjects. Socialism, and its various offshoots are evil.


17 posted on 11/14/2004 7:32:50 AM PST by Casloy
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Give communism some credit...it protects the proletariat from being taken advantage of by the evil capitalists, and keeps them from outsourcing their jobs to other nations.

/sarcasm


18 posted on 11/14/2004 7:37:25 AM PST by Luis Gonzalez (Some people see the world as they would want it to be, effective people see the world as it is.)
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To: RAY
...."democratic" society simply keeps electing those that enact more and more social benefits? When does this become socialism? Is it possible, if it remains to the vote of the masses, socialism is inevitable - and, as always, followed by its inevitable failure?

You pretty much answered your own question there.. LOL..

Yes, that's one of the reasons america was set up as a "republic"..
Someone back then noted just what you did..
At some point in a democratic state, the people realize tehy can simply "vote" themselves money.. (benefits)
At that point democracy becomes socialism, and the inevitable decline of the society begins..

That was one of the reasons Senators were to be appointed by the legislature of each state, and not elected by the people..
It was also one of the reasons that, while the people elect their state representatives, it is the reps in the house that make the laws, not the people..
The representatives of the people, (house) and the representatives of the states, (senate) were supposed to be a controlling influence on the "mass psychology" of the people's political swings from Liberalism to Conservatism, which historically, at times can become extremist in their moods..
Congress was supposed to be a slow, deliberative body that evened out the swinging pendulum of public opinion and prevented radical solutions to common problems..
Congress is now a "reactive" body, that exhibits no control at all, either politically or fiscally..
Note any similarities to the present political situation ?

"Someone" also noted that democracy is a necessary step in the road to socialism, which is the intermediate step to communism.. ( Marx ? Engles ? Stalin ? )

Anyway, that's my opinion for what it's worth..

19 posted on 11/14/2004 7:43:10 AM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: starfish923
Ever seen the movie "Reds" ?
That's how close we were here in the U.S. at becoming socialist/ communist..
However, instead of a revolution starting here in america, it started in russia..
And all the bolsheviks went there to aid the revolution..

Luckily, they also died there, and never came back..

20 posted on 11/14/2004 7:50:08 AM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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