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Vietnam: Building A New Society

By VVAW

The Vietnamese revolutionary fighters have won their war for freedom and independence. Since overthrowing the US imperialists and their puppet regime in Saigon on April 31, the workers and peasants, guided by the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) are consolidating their victory and wiping out the last remnants of over a century of exploitation by France, Japan and the US.

On the first day of liberation, the people of Saigon came out in celebration enjoying three different marches on International Worker's Day. One week later a victory rally was held attended by over 30,000 people waving PRG flags and carrying portraits of Ho Chi Minh. Life was getting back to normal after the first tumultuous week, with people shopping and carrying on daily jobs. People who had fled Saigon were returning by the busload. Others who were in Saigon for several years, were able, for the first time, to return to their hamlets and farms without fear of being brutalized by war.

For the last thirty years Vietnam was controlled by the French and then by the American corporations and their stooges, Thieu, Ky and others. This system was based on making money for a few parasites who were living off the labor and sweat of the Vietnamese people. In the face of war, corruption, death, starvation and destruction the Vietnamese people fought unceasingly to overthrow this bankrupt system. Now South Vietnam is under a new system that is taking up the task of wiping out this exploitation and hard times. Under the old regime over 1,000,000 were unemployed and the Vietnamese see this as one of the main problems to overcome. Shortly after the liberation 3,000 workers stormed into the headquarters of the South Vietnam labor movement and formed a new revolutionary trade union organization. The leadership of the old trade unions were supporters of the Thieu regime. Now under new government, the workers have control of the factories and have voluntarily been working longer hours to aid the reconstruction of the country. Under these new councils the government will find jobs for the people who have been unemployed for a long time.

Many of the people who came into Saigon during the last few years were from the countryside. The PRG has made it known that all people who left their villages will be welcomed back with open arms. In one case a member of a family went back to his ancestral home and was greeted by a National Liberation Front soldier who said "Hey stranger, you're welcome to come back and farm the land again." Very impressed, the man went back to Saigon and took his family back to the village. With families returning to the farmlands, the unemployment in Saigon will be alleviated and food shortages will be wiped out. One of the first things that the PRG did after liberation was to open the storage areas that contained rice supplies so that people who were starving would be able to feed themselves.

Under the Thieu regime over 200,000 Vietnamese were put in jails for opposing his tyrannical rule. With the liberation of Vietnam, the PRG is releasing these political prisoners. Families of prisoners are being urged to join in the plans to welcome them home.

As part of changing the society, there is the awesome task of wiping out the decadent things introduced by the American occupation, including "porn" magazines. In mid-May several hundred students marched through the streets of Saigon gaining support for getting rid of these alien things from the culture. Under the bankrupt economy of Thieu, prostitution flourished with over 500,000 prostitutes in the country. Under the leadership of the PRG these women are being re-educated by giving them productive jobs, while at the same time giving them an education and teaching them politics, so that instead of having to resort to prostitution they can become full members of society. The problems with drug addicts will be treated along the same lines.

While the Vietnamese move on in reconstructing their country the US ruling class and the press are trying to paint the liberation as a defeat for the American people. Clouding over the real victory for the working people of America they attempted to draw sympathy to the thousands of orphans that were, in fact, kidnapped by the American government and brought to this country, In addition, the many refugees that are now waiting to become residents include major war criminals and those who committed crimes against the Vietnamese people. Nguyen Kao Ky, former Vice President of South Vietnam, and the former police chief of Saigon, among others, have escaped their just punishments by fleeing Vietnam. The PRG is holding people's trials for similar people who remained behind, and who deserves the stern justice they are getting.

But no matter how they try and hide the truth from the American people, it is clear that the Vietnamese have won a major victory in liberating their country and overthrowing the system of exploitation that leeched off the workers and peasants. This same handful of parasites that oppress the American people that oppressed the Vietnamese people. When US working people go out on strike, demands decent living conditions and fights unemployment and police repression, we are fighting the same class of people that the Indochinese people beat.

THE VICTORY OF THE INDOCHINESE A VICTORY FOR ALL OF US!!