Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh Communist

Ho became increasingly radicalised as he settled in France. The Leninist revolution in Russia and the hypocrisy of western leaders, who ignored his pleas for Vietnamese independence at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, led him to become a founding member of the French Communist Party. This made him a target of the notorious French secret police.

In 1923, he accepted an invitation from Lenin's Bolsheviks to visit the Soviet Union. Here, Comintern trained him with the objective of forming an Indochinese Communist Party.

The Soviet communist doctrine thus became embedded in Ho's psyche. Perhaps his most important lesson was to be patient and wait until conditions become favourable for revolution. By 1931, Ho had formed the Indochinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, with Mao's Chinese communism also strongly influencing on his ideals.

Ho's wandering nature gave him something other juggernauts of communism lacked, as Bain highlights. However, he was a nationalist in equal measure, as we will see with the formation of the Viet Minh.

Viet Minh

As Ho sensed the time for revolution drew closer, he formed the Viet Minh while residing in China in 1941. The Viet Minh was a coalition of communists and nationalists with one goal, Vietnamese independence. It represented a unified front against foreign invaders and managed to liberate large swathes of North Vietnam.

The Japanese had occupied Vietnam since 1940, and the time had come for Ho to return to his homeland after a three-decade hiatus. Around this period, he adopted his most famous moniker, 'Ho Chi Minh' or 'bringer of light'. This tied in with the benevolent and approachable persona he sought to adopt. He became known as Uncle Ho, a far cry from Stalin's 'man of steel' alias.

Once back in Indochina, Ho began to put his playbook of guerilla warfare into action. By 1943, he proved valuable to the United States and its OSS intelligence units by undermining the Japanese with small-scale attacks.

Ho saved a wounded American soldier and brought him back to a camp. He slowly gained the trust of the United States operatives, who saw his value and began working in tandem with the Viet Minh.

Ho Chi Minh President

You might doubt Ho's desire to work with the United States. However, his proclamation of Vietnamese independence in Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi, after the Japanese defeat in 1945, might change your mind.

With words lifted straight out of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it was clear that Ho initially wished the United States would be his ally, despite their opposition in the Vietnam War. The freedom and hope of independence were short-lived, as French President Charles de Gaulle quickly reacted by sending his troops back in. What would follow was nine more years of struggle until the French surrender in 1954.

The French were now gone, booted out just like the Japanese. So what did the future hold for Vietnam?

Fig. 2 Vo Nguyen Giap (left) and the Viet Minh (1944).

Geneva Conference

Following the French surrender in 1954, the Vietnamese believed they had their freedom. But a conference in Geneva shortly after decided their fate. In the end, the country separated into North and South. Naturally, given his achievements, Ho Chi Minh won the elections in Hanoi. However, the Americans installed a puppet dictator, Ngo Dinh Diem, in South Vietnam. He was a Catholic and firmly against the communists. The war for Vietnamese freedom was only half won, but Ho accepted the treaty's conditions in fear of direct American interference.

To consolidate his power, Ho Chi Minh showed his ruthless streak in the immediate aftermath of the conference. He murdered opposition in the North on the pretence of land reform. This was a pure, unadulterated revolution in the style of Mao and Stalin. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people paid for it with their lives.

We must remember that despite Uncle Ho's wispy beard and warm smile, he could still be a communist tyrant.

Ho Chi Minh Vietnam War

As the Vietnam War between the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese, aided by the United States, began to escalate, Ho Chi Minh once more played a central role. He founded the National Liberation Front and the Viet Cong in 1960 to unsettle the South Vietnamese government.

This group was a communist-led and South-based insurgent force that fought against the U.S.-supported government of South Vietnam and its allies during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). They received support from North Vietnam and were allied with the North Vietnamese Army. They were not a continuation of the Viet Minh per se, although many of their members had likely been part of the Viet Minh in the past.

The Viet Cong destabilised the Diem regime through their network of communist spies, forcing the South to respond with their 'strategic hamlets'. As the war progressed, the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' became vital in distributing people and supplies from North to South. It was a network of tunnels running through Laos and Cambodia.

When the United States began its bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, in 1965, Ho Chi Minh had stepped back from presidential duties in favour of General Secretary Le Duan. He no longer made significant decisions due to ailing health and died in 1969. His countrymen stayed firm and used his memory to bring about his dream of a united Vietnam in 1975.

Ho Chi Minh Accomplishments

Ho Chi Minh eventually helped to bring light to his nation. Let's examine some of his most important accomplishments here.

For all of this, Ho Chi Minh remains the foremost name in Vietnamese politics.

Ho Chi Minh Legacy

The portrait of Ho Chi Minh is in Vietnamese houses, schools, and billboards across the nation. His visionary role in independence remains a source of pride today. Saigon, the former South Vietnamese capital, is now called Ho Chi Minh City and is marked by multiple statues of Ho, including one outside the People's Committee. Thus, Ho Chi Minh's hero status for a united Vietnam will never be forgotten.

Fig. 3 Ho Chi Minh statue in Ho Chi Minh City.