Meeting Celebrates the life of Ho Chi Minh
Under the
exemplary leadership of Comrade Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Vietnam,
the Vietnamese people threw out the invading army of the world’s most powerful
and dominant imperialist country – the United States – and vanquished their
puppet South Vietnamese administration.
It was 35
years ago, in April 1975, that the world witnessed US diplomats, troops and
puppets scrambling to be evacuated from Saigon. That image, the culmination of
decades of struggle, inspired peoples across the world. And it continues to
inspire those who long for the day when imperialist troops and their puppets
will increasingly be sent packing from Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, etc.
The people of Vietnam fought for decades, with almost inconceivable heroism and determination, to free
their country from the grip of Japanese, French and American imperialists. We
in the imperialist heartlands need to know how this small country in Indochina achieved such a great victory and how if affects our struggles today.
On 22 May, the CPGB-ML held a Celebration
of the life of Ho Chi Minh, born 120 years ago, in order to pay tribute to
his life and learn more about the history of our anti-imperialist movement.
A film showing of Vinh Linh: the
steel ramparts movingly depicted the revolutionary optimism of men, women
and young children, living in tunnels under heavy US bombardment, using all
their meagre resources to overcome the enemy. Lives were transformed – an
expert female rice grower became a commander in the anti-aircraft gunners,
children were educated for the future they would build, peasants used their
crops for three purposes – to feed themselves, to feed the front and to plant
the next season.
Harpal Brar, chair of the meeting, emphasised
that the Vietnamese people were showing a new attitude to life, to freedom and
independence which was making them indefatigable. Their power was strengthened
by the Marxist-Leninist line put forward by ‘Uncle’ Ho and the Party. His
farsightedness came from an understanding that the final goals of the
Vietnamese people could only be achieved by following the path of the great
socialist October Revolution. The peoples of Vietnam, along with those of China and Korea thus built a bridge between the revolutionary movements in the imperialist countries
and those in the oppressed countries.
The comrade from the Vietnamese
Embassy, brought greetings to the meeting and was delighted to be celebrating
the 120th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Ho Chi Minh among friends. He
spoke of Ho Chi Minh as the hero of the Vietnamese people who had devoted all
his life to Vietnam and the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in
August 1945.
Len Aldis, Secretary of the
Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society, had just returned from the 35th anniversary celebrations in Vietnam and reported breathtaking
cultural and military displays, with warm applause for the women’s
contingents. He particularly recalled a huge changing display of a picture of
Ho Chi Minh, then a picture of the Vietnamese tank coming through the
Presidential Palace gates on the day that Saigon fell. Len also recalled the
millions who gave their lives during these decades of wars and still lie in
unknown graves.
In remembering the heroism, he spelt
out the crimes of US imperialism – millions killed and a country despoiled.
The crimes also included the non-payment of the $3.5 billion that Nixon agreed
to pay in Paris in 1973 for the reconstruction of north Vietnam; the Nixon-led
international embargo on Vietnam in 1973, remaining until January 1994 with the
support of ‘our’ government; the unexploded cluster bombs etc still in the soil
of the country, particularly in Vinh Linh, which could take years to clear; and
the chemical weapons, like Agent Orange, which resulted in abnormal births and
deformities of the children born in succeeding generations (nearly 4 million
cases), and now reaching the fourth generation of Vietnamese. And still not a
cent from Monsanto, Dow Chemicals and others, that were sued by the Vietnamese
and found guilty. The soil, the water and the fish, for example, are still
contaminated by the chemicals.
Iris Cremer, speaking on behalf of
the CPGB-ML highlighted the development of Ho Chi Minh as a Marxist-Leninist.
He had from a patriotic viewpoint come to read the works of Lenin and thus be
excited by the path of the October Revolution when in France as a young man, exclaiming I have “entire confidence in Lenin, in the Third
International”. Subsequently when presenting his views on the national and
colonial question to the 5th Congress of the Communist International in 1924 in
Moscow he was convinced that “the victory of the revolution in Western
Europe depended on its close contact with the liberation movement against imperialism
in enslaved colonies and with the national question, both of which form a part
of the common problem of the proletarian revolution and dictatorship”.
Iris acknowledged that these words of
Ho Chi Minh, written nearly a century ago, are still sadly
an indictment of many parties in the present communist
movement, both internationally and in Britain. She said it was disgraceful
that parties which call themselves socialist, and even communist, should be
prepared to trade off things like a rise in the minimum wage to give support to
the imperialist Labour Party which has been waging wars and carnage against
Iraq and Afghanistan, and was complicit in the brutal subjugation of the
Palestinian people by the Zionist state of Israel.
She dealt with the crimes of the
British government in relation to Vietnam. Just three weeks after Vietnam
Independence was declared in 1945, British troops, under the orders of the
Attlee Labour Government, landed in south Vietnam and helped the French regain
a foothold in Vietnam.
The details of this British crime are
available in a pamphlet entitled Saigon ’45: with the Japs in Vietnam written by Phil Kaiserman, a serving engineer in the RAF at the time. He set
the record straight regarding British history because he, quite rightly,
believed that “The subsequent attack by US forces [on Vietnam], the 3 million dead and the horror of Agent Orange can all be laid at the foot
of the ‘honourable’ Attlee government.” Iris encouraged all to recount
this history to all those who still have illusions in social democracy.
Iris concluded that the
waging of the national liberation and socialist struggle in Vietnam led by Comrade Ho Chi Minh according to the principles of Marxism-Leninism is a
lesson that all workers and oppressed peoples must for ever keep dear to their
heart.
Victory to all the peoples struggling
against imperialism!
Long live the
memory of Comrade Ho Chi Minh!