An Incomplete Independence
Hello friends, the Vietnamese communist party proclaims that the independence of Vietnam has been absolutely established after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Personally, I see that Vietnam is only independent on its territory but the political ideology of Vietnam is still depended on other communist countries. Today, I would like to argue about the effect of political ideology in the social organizations of Vietnam, so that we can correlate the incomplete independency of Vietnam in term of the political ideology. I hope that we shall look at the above proclamation in different angles after this argument.
Independence is clearly defined "Independence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally is exercising sovereignty." In the light of this definition, the independence of a nation not only has sovereignty of territory but also has self-control on the governance of society in the territory. If one of these conditions is not fully satisfied then the independence of the nation is considered incomplete. Obviously, Vietnam has sovereignty of territory, but the political ideology of Vietnam is built on the fundamental of communism which is derived by other countries. So the society of Vietnam is built in the way of communism or other countries looking at the world, because "The political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order." With the communist political ideology, the society of Vietnam and many other communist countries in the world are organized and structuralized by the same blueprint for social order. Historically, all communists in the world were easily united to found a Communist International organization in Moscow in March of 1919, because they had a common idea of leading the social and political order in term of communism. The idea of the communist international was that overthrew capitalism and implemented an International Soviet republic in the world. The Communist International was dissolved in May 15th of 1943 because Stalin would like to avoid World War II Allies suspecting the Soviet Union was masterminding to overthrow capitalism in other countries. Stalin also believed that the members of the Communist International were well trained to perform the idea of the Communist International in their own countries without the existence of the international communist organization. In fact, president Ho Chi Minh, a member of the Communist International, and his fellows were deeply influenced by the idea of the Communist International was that overthrew capitalism and implemented an International Soviet republic in Vietnam. By implementing the idea of the Communist International, the society of Vietnam would become a social subset belonging to a larger social set of the communist community, where Soviet Union was a leader having a lot of influence on it at that time. Therefore, a change in the political ideology in the communist community or in Soviet Union shall influence a change of the ideals, principles, doctrines to build the society of Vietnam. Inferring that the government of Vietnam is not a self-government created by its residents and population but the government of Vietnam is imposed by communist community or Soviet Union through its political ideology. In the other word, the independence of Vietnam is an incomplete independence because it does not have self-control on the govermence of its society.
Family, education, religion, economy and government are typically social organizations in most society in the world. The social organizations are supplemented each other in term of social development. Family is the basic social unit to provide workforce for economy. Education is a social organization used to train skill for the workforce to enhance the economy. Government is a social organization to rule a country by making law, issuing administrative decisions, and so forth. Education is funded to operate by the government, and in the meanwhile the fund of operating the government is depended on the health of the economy through taxes and bond. Religion is a social organization to guide social ethics in the right way so that people in the society can live moral. In this way, the religion not only promotes the social ethics of the workforce for the economy but also provides ethical government officials to regulate the society. So, all five major social organizations are depended on each other to develop the society. Political parties have appeared in society to regulate and rule the social organizations. Each political party has its own political ideology to explain the fundamental of its own actions and programs applying on the society. The Vietnamese communist party has been in charge of governing the society of Vietnam, and so the fundamental of communism is a guideline used to organize and regulate all social organizations in Vietnam. Therefore, the society of Vietnam is depended on other communist countries in term of organization and regulation because the communism is also implemented in other communist countries.
a) Family is basic element to play an important role for the foundation of society, and so building family is also the same meaning to lay the foundation of the society. The communist party decides that the children in the society must be raised in the spirit of communism and so their thoughts can be set by the political ideology of the communism. The children shall be the main force to lead the society in the trend of communism when they grow up, and they shall raise their children as they are raised. The entire society shall be dictatorship of proletarian after a few generations. To implement this advocate, the communist parties in worldwide has created a communist icon of patriotism and heroism to guide children's mentality. Lenin and Stalin are the communist icons of patriotism and heroism in Soviet Union. Other communist countries have also followed this strategy to create the communist icon of patriotism and heroism for their own. President Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Kim II-Sung are the communist icons of patriotism and heroism in Vietnam, Cuba, China, and North Korea, respectively. Beside that, the communist governments have also created the young communist icons of patriotism and heroism to lure the children's mentality. The children shall look at these communist icons as growth models, and they shall become loyal to the communism or the communist regime when they grow up. Vietnam is the communist country followed this strategy through the communist icons such as president Ho Chi Minh and other communist heroes; Therefore, we can say that the family organization of the society of Vietnam is not independent in Vietnamese people's will but it is a pattern created and imposed by Soviet Union or communist community, inferring that Vietnam is subject to other communist countries in the family organization.
b) Education system is a social organization used to train well being workforce for the society. The communists have taken this opportunity to create a new educated class trending toward the communism. In this way, this new educated class shall become the main workforce to establish power in ruling the society in the trend of communism. The main purpose of the education system in communist countries is to educate and train students to become instruments to serve the communist regime. With this advocate, the education system of the communist government not only teaches Marxist-Leninist and the dialectical materialism in school to guide student's ideology, but also organize Communist Youth League in school to manage student's activities. In this way, the students have a habit to be ruled and so they shall not complain or protest to be ruled when they are out of school to participate into the workforce in the society. The Education curriculum is designed to concentrate on the communist ideology and theory and so many subjects such as politics, sociology, economic, biology and so forth are explained how they works in the term of Marxist-Leninist and the dialectical materialism, respectively. Books and publications which have different ideology other than the communist ideology are prohibited to read or possess by law. Especially, history is rewritten and distorted facts to maximize the leading role of communists in librating people and to minimize the role of noncommunist events that could affect the communist ideology, theory, and reputation. The education system is organized and regulated by a common pattern in all communist countries in the world. Vietnam's education system is also theorized and organized in the manner of this advocate. Therefore, we can say that the education organization of Vietnam is not independent in Vietnamese people's will but it is a pattern created and imposed by Soviet Union or communist community, inferring that Vietnam is not independent on the decision of its own education system.
c) Religion is a social organization that people have common faith to gather together to practice their pray and ritual. Normally, there are many religions in a country and the population of each religion is quite numerous. Religious faith deeply affect on people's behavior and thoughts about the concept of society and human. In fact, religions have held a very important position in the society. In the view of communism, religion is considered as a political organization and the religious faith is considered as an ideology. In addition, communist party always wants to impose its unique political ideology to control and perform the social development. With these thoughts, religions are considered as political rivals in the view of the communist party and it does not allow these ideologies to coexist in the society. So it is not surprised that communist party usually wants to prevent the expansion of religions and to oppress the religious practices. The prevention of religious expansion and the practices of religions are managed tightly in the same pattern in all communist countries in the world, and Vietnam is not an exceptional about that. Particular examples happening in Vietnam is that the communist government of Vietnam takes the lands of Buddhist Temples and Catholic Church, etc and oppresses all religions in Vietnam in many different forms as you known. Therefore, we can say that policy towards religion in Vietnam is not self controlled in Vietnamese people's will but it is a pattern created and imposed by Soviet Union or communist community through political ideology, inferring that Vietnam is not independent in term of policy towards religion.
d) Planned economy is an economic system in which all business enterprises are controlled and directed by government. Most communist countries in the world have implemented the planned economic system since the proletarian revolution succeeded. In the planned economy, the leadership of the communist countries makes all decisions to control and regulate the production, distribution, exchanges, and consumptions of goods and services within their own countries and within the communist community. The planned economy is collapsed in the communist world because the communist government's decision on the supply of goods and services does not meet the demand of the market or vice versa. The communist government had realized that they needed to move the planned economic system to the market-based economic system in 80's and 90's. The market economy is an economic system in which all business enterprises are controlled and regulated by private owners. On the contrary to the planned economy, the private owners of the business enterprises decide make all decisions on what kind of goods and services needed to produce, on how the distribution of goods and services should be, and what price the customer should pay for the goods and services. All business decisions are depended on the demand and supply of the market, meaning that the goods and services are depended on the customer's interest. As a follower of the communist community, Vietnam's economic system had implemented the planned economic system since the Vietnamese communist in power of ruling Vietnam, and then communist government of Vietnam has moved the planned economy to the market economy since 80's because the communist community decides to change the economic system. Therefore, we can say that Vietnam's economic system is not self-controlled in Vietnamese people's will but it is depended on the policy of the communist community that Soviet Union and China are dominants, inferring that Vietnam is not independent in term of policy towards its own economy.
e) Communist governments in the world are almost organized in a similar structure which consists of politburo, national assembly, etc. Marxist-Leninist and Maoist is the primary political ideology used as a guideline to explain the operation and regulation of the communist governments. Many policies are derived on the fundamental of Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, and a derivative thereof. The communist ideology and the similar structures of the communist states have created big similar social movements in the communist countries in the world. Stalin executed the Great Purge in Soviet Union to remove his political oppositions from his power in 1930. Mao Zedong executed the Land Reform in China to remove the power of traditional village elite from 1946 to 1953. As the follower of the communist community, the communist leadership of Vietnam executed the Land Reform from 1953 to 1956. The Land Reform in Vietnam not only removed the power of the traditional elite and the rich, but also purged many village-level opposite communist party members by claiming that they were landlords. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the Land Reform in Vietnam. So the main purpose of the Land Reform in Vietnam was to purge the opposite people in the society, and so the communist party of Vietnam could be easier to control the society in the spirit of communism. Another big social movement happened in China in 1955-1956 was Hundred Flowers Campaign that Chinese communist government encouraged scholars and intellectuals to raise their views of ongoing social problem with a slogan "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend." This social movement was a political trap to lure intellectual dissidents with Maoist and communism appearing in public. So Mao Zedong could arrest all of them to kill or imprison to clean up the opposition in the society. As the follower of Chinese communist party, the communist leadership of Vietnam had launched a similar campaign in 1958 called "Nhan-Van and Giai-Pham affair." The communist party of Vietnam encouraged intellectuals to express their opinion about the freedom and democracy of Vietnam. With this encouragement, Nhan-Van newspaper and Giai-Pham periodical were two newspapers formed to reflect views against the North Vietnamese Government. The two newspapers were led by a groups of intellectuals who denounced the communist party leaders had violated freedom and democracy. They also demanded the communist government must respect the constitutions to stop violating freedom and democracy. This campaign was a political trap that the Vietnamese communist party leaders lured all political dissidents appearing in public, after that, the Vietnamese communist party leaders arrested the political dissidents to execute or sent them to re-education camp. Beside the big social movements, the communist government of Vietnam is also responsible to make policies implicitly or explicitly to oppress and inhibit the other social organization such as family, education, religion, economy (argued above) in order to establish the International Soviet Republic or the communist community in Vietnam. With the above argued discussion, we can say that the communist government of Vietnam is not a self-control government in Vietnamese people's will but it is a government imposed by the communist community, inferring that Vietnam's independence is incomplete independence.
Every social organization of Vietnam is depended on the operation and regulation of the communist community in which Soviet Union and China have a lot of control and influence. Obviously, a change in the society of Soviet Union or China makes a significant change in the society of Vietnam accordingly. Soviet Union and China do not need to invade Vietnam by using the power of military. They just use the political ideology of communism to invade into the thoughts of a number of people, and use these people as instruments to implement their interests and control in Vietnam.
People's Republic of China has proclaimed to build a local government on Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands which are belongs to the territory of Vietnam. The perverse behavior of China has created a social movement of Vietnamese people in the world through demonstrations against China. In the meanwhile, the communist government of Vietnam has kept silence or raised a weak voice, and even thought oppressed these demonstrations. The reactions of the Vietnamese communist government have indicated the weakness and coward to confront with China. The weakness and coward is not because Vietnam does not have a strong military or a strong economy, but because the mentality and thoughts of the leadership of Vietnamese communist party is not independent from that of Chinese communist party. They have the same political ideology in the spirit of brotherhood. In my opinion, China shall not respect Vietnam in term of bilateral relation, land territory, and sea territory unless Vietnam has a complete independence which pluralism is a main key to implement.
The military of a nation is the armed force used to resolve a national problem when the civil society and the government can not solve the problem. Either communist soldiers or national soldiers are always independent in politics when their nation is in danger. They are real patriots and they are ready to sacrifice their lives for country. They shall put the interest of country and people above the views of political ideology when necessary. Many Vietnamese youths of either sides participated into Vietnam War with a common high-minded dream which took back the independence of Vietnam and bring a happy lives for Vietnamese people. Did they kill each other because of this common high-minded dream? No, bad people took the advantage of enthusiasm of youth to interest for their dark conspiracy. The communist army overthrew the government of South Vietnam, but the dream of an independent and freedom Vietnam has been never implemented since the unification of country. The invasion of China into Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands is event that the soldiers of both sides should sit together to fight for fatherland. Vietnam People's military, former communist soldiers and old national soldiers should stand up together to protect the fatherland and their common high-minded dream. They together should outlaw the dark conspiracy and national traitors to take back A COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE for Vietnam.
The Vietnamese communist party has falsified to claim the independence of Vietnam. Vietnam truly has sovereignty of territory but the mentality, thoughts and social organizations are still depended on other communist countries such as Soviet Union and China through the political ideology of communism. I think that pluralism is the only way to have a complete independence for Vietnam. Please give some more input and forward this email to many people as possible. Thank you and have a good day.
Dallas, 01/10/2008
Cuong Pham