Download PDF of this full issue: v6n2.pdf (7.6 MB)

One Year After Victory: Indochina Rebuilding

By VVAW

One year ago, in April, Vietnam and Cambodia were liberated. These great victories were celebrated around the world. Pictures of liberation soldiers entering Saigon and Phnom Penh being cheered by thousands of people flashed at us TV screens and newspapers. Cambodian liberation flags were displayed on most all of the buildings of Phnom Penh. Vietnamese celebrated International Workers' Day, May 1st, with large, joyous rallies in Saigon, Hue, Da Nang, and Hanoi. In neighboring Laos, victory was just around the corner. And everywhere in Indochina and around the world great relief and joy abounded as the end of US domination came to an abrupt end.

In the face of the most overwhelming power the Indochinese won their wars of liberation. The US poured in millions of troops over a 10 year period, with approximately 550,000 military personnel at the height of the war. It conducted the most massive bombings in the history of the world. It used sophisticated military hardware, like the electronic battlefield. Thousands of helicopters, APCs, tanks and patrol boats were used to deploy troops to all parts of Vietnam. And all this was to no avail. Armed with a fierce determination to rid themselves of foreign domination, the Indochinese repelled every advance, forcing the US to negotiation table and eventually to withdraw ground troops.

After the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement the NLF waged a relentless struggle against the Saigon-led troops of Nguyen Van Thieu. Suffering military and political defeat at every turn, Thieu's government lost the support of all segments of the Vietnamese people exposing its corruption and criminality for what it really was: a puppet of US business interests. In sharp contrast, the NLF led by the Provisional Revolutionary Government, won the support and respect of the overwhelming majority of the Vietnamese people. It initiated programs in liberated areas such as schools, hospital care, and agricultural advancements. It was because the NLF had this massive support that eventually led them to total victory in Vietnam.

The victory proved that a small nation can defeat a large one, that a weak nation can defeat a strong one, and that armed with a correct political understanding it could defeat any army with overwhelming military superiority. There war was a just war in the interest of the working people and the peasants and against those who attempted to exploit them.

When the US first began to build up its forces in Indochina during the 1950s it was the world's undisputed imperialist power. In its efforts to move into every corner of the world it arrogantly assessed that it could crush the independence movement in Indochina as a warning to other nations who tried to fight off its domination. The Indochinese victories inspired the world's people to fight against imperialism. Struggles for liberation erupted in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the US a massive anti-war movement arose turning millions of Americans to protest the war. Veterans who fought in the war joined the demonstrations against it.

That's where VVAW came from. It was because of fighting in this rich man's war that we got together and built a nationwide organization to share our first hand experiences. In 1971 VVAW went to Washington DC in a demonstration called Dewey Canyon III where over 1,000 Vietnam veterans threw war medals away in disgust at the Capital steps telling Congress and the rich that we were against the war we forced to fight. In other war protests VVAW took over the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and the Betsy Ross home in Philadelphia and marched in ranks with millions of others all across the country during the war years. We warmly welcomed the victory of the Indochinese people.

Indochina Rebuilds

Now one year later, on the first anniversary of liberation Vietnam and Cambodia are moving forward to rebuild their countries from devastation of the war years.

In Vietnam a 492 member National Assembly was recently elected to move the two Vietnams together. Officials reported that a huge voter turn-out elected workers, farmers, intellectuals and representatives of religious groups. The Assembly will meet shortly to adopt a new Constitution, national name, flag, anthem and a new capital city. One official said that the aim was to build a Vietnam "peaceful, unified, independent...aiming at a new man, new cultural families and an ever more powerful, richer and finer socialist country."

All across Vietnam, the people are rebuilding the country. Factories damaged by the war are running full speed ahead. Rice harvests are predicted to be at a self-sufficient level for the first time in over a decade. Schools and hospitals are being built and the country is making the overall, rapid advances in reconstruction.

Cambodia is also making great leaps in reconstructing their country. The US ruling class tries to paint a different picture, however. They say that after liberation Cambodian troops killed over 500,000 people and forced the abandonment of Phnom Penh. This is a lie. It's the same like that they tried to get over on us about what was going to happen in Vietnam if the NLF won. While they couldn't get by with that one, they are perfectly content to make it up about Cambodia in attempt to paint a rotten picture of what freedom from their rule is about.

It is true though, that there have been many deaths in the country. According to Khieu Sampan, President of Cambodia, over 1,000,000 people were killed as a result of the war. He stated that hunger-related diseases took a heavy toll among children, the aged and the sick. And the US bombings forced hundreds of thousands of people into Phnom Penh.

After liberation people were moved out of the disease ridden city to work in the fields to restore the rice crops. Now there is enough food to eat and because of the success of the irrigation projects initiated, they expect a surplus crop of rice next year. With the swollen population of Phnom Penh gone, that is city is rebuilding itself from the ravages of war. Rebuilding Cambodia is imply a case of putting the overall needs of the people above the desires of a few whiners who never did an honest day's work in their lives.

The Cambodians recently held elections for a People's Congress and elected workers, peasants and members of the revolutionary armed forces. According to Radio Democratic Cambodia the Congress was held in "an atmosphere of great unity of the people and in an excellent situation in industrial and agricultural production in the country." Chau Teary, a Cambodian spokesperson in Paris stated, "The people have become the real masters of power."

Vietnam and Cambodia continue to give us inspiration. He people of both countries are making great strides as they struggle to continue their revolutions. We have a lot to learn from their struggle. For us veterans who fought against them, we now see that they weren't ever our enemies. In fact VVAW puts forward that we won't fight another rich man's war. As the US and USSR make war preparations, the lessons of Indochina become more and more important. There's no way that we will fight against the people of the USSR just as there's no way that we will fight against the Indochinese again. Our fight is right here at home against the rich who sent us to Indochina to do their dirty work.