Hồ Chí Minh and the Role of Symbolism in Mobilising People in the Việt bắc – Tuyên truyền in the Prelude to Điện Biên Phủ

Hồ Chí Minh and the Role of Symbolism in Mobilising People in the Việt bắc – Tuyên truyền in the Prelude to Điện Biên Phủ Rob Hurle, PhD Australian National University Abstract Prior to the decisive battle at Điện Biên Phủ in 1954 the people, particularly in the northern Việt bắc region of Vietnam, were prepared to contribute to a long and fierce battle Key to this preparation was the availability of explanatory material and the wide dissemination of the concepts of independence and unity Some well-targeted tuyên truyền (propaganda) was used to engage and mobilise the people The principles used were developed by Hồ Chí Minh during the 1940s and were particularly produced to appeal to the rural (and largely illiterate) population of the Việt bắc, by using symbols which were familiar and meaningful for them Apart from the visual material, the symbols also took the form of verse and appealing literary allusions Introduction The Resistance War Against French Colonialism, which culminated in victory for the Việt Minh at Điện Biên Phủ in May 1954, was an asymmetric war The French were very well armed: they possessed a navy, air force and mechanised transport and, as Christopher Goscha quotes Trường Chinh in 1950, the then Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, “we have none of those things” Goscha discusses this asymmetry in general as it occurs in conflicts between liberation forces and the industrialised Western colonial powers This type of conflict generally forces the leaders of the decolonisation movements to rely upon the “surrounding geography, resources and people” He argues that the Việt Minh was forced to collapse the distinction between civilians and combatants, leading to a situation of what he terms “total war” where a great proportion of the population is involved directly in warfare, if not as participants, then as victims For an example of people’s involvement in the Resistance War, consider that it is estimated that building and maintaining the roads and supply routes just for the Vietnamese forces at Điện Biên Phủ involved about 20,000 civilian workers (dân công), most of the work being carried out by hand During the assault on the fortress it is estimated that 20,991 bicycles and 11,000 small boats were used to supply the Việt Minh army; and that 261,451 men and women dân công and 500 pack horses took part Christopher Goscha “A 'Total War' of Decolonization? Social Mobilization and State-Building in Communist Vietnam (1949-54)”, War & Society, vol 31, no (August, 2012): 136-162, p 142 Some may disagree with this term, but it is the phrase used by Goscha and others See John Prados “Assessing Dien Bien Phu”, Chapter 11, in The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis, pp 215-239, edited by Mark Atwood Lawrence and Fredrik Logevall Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007, p 219 and Bernard B Fall Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu Philadelphia/New York: L B Lippincott Company, 1967, pp 482, 484, 487 For estimates of the numbers of dân công involved in building and maintaining supply routes see Fall, Hell in a Very Small Place, p 128 March 2014 Most of the supply activity for the Điện Biên Phủ battle took place in the northern part of Vietnam, the Việt bắc, where the area is diverse and the terrain ranges from river flats with wetrice cultivation to limestone karst mountains where agriculture is very difficult Most people in the Việt bắc live in traditional villages, the village (làng) being seen as “the basic cell of Vietnamese society” The northern area is also home to a number of minority ethnic groups These two features, the villages and the diverse ethnicity, are characteristic of the Việt bắc and present problems in mobilising and unifying people for an undertaking as large and as important as the Điện Biên Phủ battle This paper examines the work that began some 15 years prior to the battle, work that motivated the population and drew their support for the Việt Minh army, the People’s Army of Vietnam The key player in the development of mobilisation materials, including tuyên truyền directed particularly at Vietnamese villagers and diverse ethnic groups was Nguyễn Ái Quốc, better known as Hồ Chí Minh Hồ Chí Minh’s work in the early 1940s On 28 January 1941, Hồ Chí Minh (as Nguyễn Aí Quốc) returned to Vietnam, living in a cave at Pắc Bó in the north of Cao Bằng province, after nearly 30 years absence from the country.8 He had been living in China in order to avoid capture by the French colonial authorities while he was working for the USSR-based Comintern (Communist International) Hồ Chí Minh probably chose the Cao Bằng area for his initial base in Vietnam because it was close to the border with China, but also because it was inhabited by people who had to be mobilised if a fight for independence was to be successful, that is peasants who were already troubled by the effects of French colonialism It is reported that Hồ Chí Minh had met, and Christopher E Goscha “'Hell in a Very Small Place' Cold War and Decolonisation in the Assault on the Vietnamese Body at Dien Bien Phu”, European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol 9, no (2010): 201-223, p 206 This publication also gives a good account of the human cost on the Vietnamese side of the Điện Biên Phủ battle ibid., pp 217-218 Nguyễn Từ Chi (1980) “The Traditional Viet Village in Bac Bo: Its Organizational Structure and Problems”, in The Traditional Village in Vietnam, pp 43-142, edited by Phan Huy Lê, Nguyễn Từ Chi, Nguyễn Đức Nghinh, Dương Kính Quốc, Cao Văn Biền, Phan Đại Dôn, Huy Vũ, Tô Lan, Nguyễn Khắc Tụng, Nguyễn Đanh Nhiệt, Chương Thân, Phạm Xuân Nam and Nguyễn Sinh Hanoi: Thế Giới, 1993, pp 43-142, p 47 See also Nguyễn Khắc Tụng (1981) “The Village: Settlement of Peasants in Northern Vietnam”, in The Traditional Village in Vietnam, pp 7-43, for a discussion of the different types of village to be found in northern Vietnam See Pierre Brocheux Ho Chi Minh: A Biography, translated by Claire Duiker Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, p 69 There is some minor dispute about the dates but I am accepting the dates and the account of the living arrangements (that is, in a house owned by Mr Lý Quốc Súng and then, a few weeks later, a move to the cavee) as given on the plaques installed by the Vietnamese Government at the point where Hồ Chí Minh entered Vietnam See also Duiker Ho Chi Minh, pp 248-251 Sophie Quinn-Judge writes that “Ho Chi Minh is said to have returned to Vietnam in February 1941, but he may actually have spent most of his time in the villages on the Chinese side of the border” See Sophie Quinn-Judge Ho Chi Minh: the Missing Years 19191941 London: Hurst & Company, 2003, p 248 Hồ Chí Minh left Saigon on the French vessel the Amiral Latouche-Tréville on June 1911 See William J Duiker Ho Chi Minh Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2000, p 44 March 2014 been impressed by, some ethnic minority people ( Hoàng Văn Nọn and Hồng Đình Giong) who were members of the Communist Party from Cao Bằng in 1935 and this fact, coupled by the favourable geography of the area, probably also influenced his decision Once established at Pắc Bò, Hồ Chí Minh began to lead his team 10 in planning for the establishment of the Việt Minh organisation and began to engage with the people of that area to show them that independence for Vietnam was a realistic aim, worth fighting for As part of the strategy to motivate and mobilise the people in the Việt bắc area he began to produce tuyên truyền11 that appealed to the people According to a Việt Minh document of 1945 looking back at this period, the most important types of tuyên truyền were the newspaper Việt Nam Độc Lập, books, songs, exhibitions and the Hồng-Phong (Red Wind) propaganda team 12 Of these there is very little trace today of the exhibitions and the work of the Red Wind propaganda team, and few of the songs survive in their original form Some of the books and a few copies of Việt Nam Độc Lập are available Of the books, the two that were purportedly written by Hồ Chí Minh and that are accessible are his History, Lịch sử Nước Ta and Việt Minh Ngũ tự kinh The History has been reprinted many times since but the reprints differ subtly from the original version of 1942, which I have used here I have been unable to find copies of another three booklets which were published about the same time Use of Poetry and Ca Dao in Việt Nam Độc Lập In August of 1941 Hồ Chí Minh began producing the newspaper Việt Nam Độc Lập for the local-area rural communities 13 From August 1941 to August 1942, when he returned to China, Hồ Chí Minh himself produced more than 30 editions of this influential little newspaper 14 Around four hundred copies of each issue were produced, the aim being three issues per month, each one comprising two pages After Hồ Chí Minh’s return to China, responsibility for production was taken over by Phạm Văn Đồng until April 1945 15 10 11 12 13 14 15 See Phạm Xanh Hồ Chí Minh: the Nation and the Times 1911-1946, 2nd edition Hanoi: Thế Giới Publishers, 2008, pp 102-105 These names may be aliases, as they not seem to be either Táy or Nùng names Brocheux lists the other members as Trường Chinh, Hoàng Quốc Việt, Hoàng Văn Thụ and two other unnamed individuals See Brocheux, Ho Chi Minh, p 73 Brocheux has further details on others who may have been involved on pp 68-72 The Vietnamese term “tuyên truyền” is often translated into English as “propaganda”, but the English word has quite a negative connotation and is often interpreted as “official lying” The Vietnamese term, particularly during the 1940s and 1950s, did not have that same implication For that reason, I prefer to use the Vietnamese word here rather than the English-language one Kinh nghiệm Việt-minh Việt-bắc (Originally published: 1945) Hà Nội: Tổng Bộ Việt Minh, 1946, (Copy available in the Library of the People’s Army of Vietnam), pp 14-16 See Phạm Mai Hùng (Head of Compilation Board) Báo Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945) [The Newspaper Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945)] (Originally published: as Newspaper series) Hanoi: NXB Lao Động for Bảo Tàng Cách Mạng Việt Nam, 2000 ibid., pp 5-7 ibid., pp March 2014 Hồ Chí Minh used several devices which served as important symbols to the intended audience In particular, ca dao appear regularly, almost every issue having one in its masthead For example, the first issue had: 16 Nhiễu điều phủ lấy giá gương Người nước phải thương cùng! That is: The rich red silken brocade covers the [rough crude] mirror stand The people of one country must care for one another That is, a valuable item still needs something not so valuable to enable it to be displayed properly, otherwise it is of little or no value – an allusion to the interdependence of members of a community Ca dao such as this one are very popular in the rural communities throughout Vietnam and the Việt bắc, as discussed above, is largely composed of farming villages Another device used to capture readers’ imagination in Việt Nam Độc Lập is poetry, largely in the lụcbát (6-8) form popular among Vietnamese speakers and particular to Vietnam While Hồ Chí Minh was producing the paper, and after he returned from China in August 1944, each issue had a section called Vườn văn, or Garden of Literature, containing poetry, most written by Hồ Chí Minh himself A striking example of Hồ Chí Minh’s ability to write in a way which connects with the local people is shown in the poem, The Thread’s Song, written by him and published in issue number 122, dated April 1942 17 The verse incorporates a number of symbols and allusions that would be immediately recognisable and have special appeal to people living in the more-or-less self-sufficient rural areas of the Việt bắc: Ca sơi Mẹ tơi đóa hoa, Thân tơi sạch, Xưa yếu ớt vơ cùng, Ai vị đứt, rung rời, The thread’s song My mother is a beautiful flower, Inside my body is white, I am cotton, Days of old I was feeble and tangled, Anyone can crumple, break, shake me loose, Khi thành rồi, When I had become a thread, Cũng yếu ăn ngồi không ngon, I was still very weak just alive, Mạnh sợi con, What strength does a little thread have, Khơn thiêng biết có vng trịn cho No magic power can tell what use can best be made of me Càng dài lại mỏng manh, Becoming thinner as I become longer, Thế gian sợ chi anh xoàng! Is anyone in the world afraid of such a 16 ibid., pp 17 ibid., p 85 March 2014 Nhờ tơi có nhiều đồng bang, plain one! Họp sợi đọc, sợi ngang nhiều, But, thanks to my many companions, Threads meeting together, many Dệt nên vải mỹ miều threads lying together, Đã bền lụa lại điều da Together weaving a beautiful cloth Stronger than silk but brighter than leather Đố bứt xé cho ra, Đó lực lượng, vẻ vang Challenging anyone to tear it *** That is power, that is glory Hỡi cháu Hồng Bàng, *** Chúng ta phải biết kết đoàn mau mau Calling all children of Hồng Bàng, Yêu xin nhớ lời nhau, We must have unity, quickly, quickly, Those who love one another, Việt-Minh hội mau mau phải vào remember to speak together, Must quickly join the Việt Minh The theme of the verse is “unity is strength”, a recurring theme in much of the Việt Minh tuyên truyền Hồ Chí Minh also makes reference here to the foundation myth of the Vietnamese people, the Hồng Bàng family line Allusions to the founding myths occur commonly in Hồ Chí Minh’s work for the common people and also serve to further the cause of unity, they comprise a symbol of common ancestry and therefore of common purpose 18 The verse makes a metaphor of things that were familiar to the rural people, to cotton thread and the process of consolidating and strengthening it by spinning and weaving it Throughout the Vườn văn section, the poetic forms that Hồ Chí Minh used were nearly all in either the lục-bát form, the song-thất form or a combined song-thất lục bát form The lụcbát form has alternating lines of six and eight syllables with a complex rhyming scheme, the song-thất verse has double lines of seven syllables each, and the song-thất lục-bát form has pairs of seven-character lines followed by a six-eight pair 19 The use of these forms is widespread in the folk traditions of the Vietnamese people and the lục-bát form, in particular, occurs only rarely outside Vietnam and is thought to be particularly suited to the cadences of Vietnamese speech The late Huỳnh Sanh Tông comments: In the last analysis, both verse forms [lục-bát and song-thất] can be traced to two basic meters that reproduce the common cadence of Vietnamese speech Vietnamese sayings and proverbs are often folk poems in miniature 20 18 In the mythical origin story, the Hồng Bàng family gave rise to Lạc Long Quân, the common ancestor of the Vietnamese people See Hà Văn Thư and Trần Hồng Đưc Tóm tắt Niên biểu Lịch sử Việt Nam, 12th edition Hà Nội: NXB Văn hóa-Thơng tin, 2005, pp 10-12 19 For a thorough description of these poetic forms, see Huỳnh Sanh Thông “Introduction”, in An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries, pp 1-25, edited by Huỳnh Sanh Thông New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996, especially pp 8-14 20 Huỳnh Sanh Tông, “Introduction” in An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems, p March 2014 Hồ Chí Minh himself comments about the poetry: Thơ ca ngắn câu, dài 50 câu Nó có vần, có điệu, dễ học, dễ hiểu, dễ thuộc, dễ nhớ Nó lại êm tai dễ nghe Bất kỳ già trẻ, học Bất kỳ nào, vừa làm vừa học Each poem is at least lines and at most 50 lines They all rhyme and have a tune, they are easy to learn, easy to understand, easy to recite, easy to remember They are pleasant and easy to listen to They are useful for young and old, who can also learn them They are useful at any time, can be recalled while working or studying 21 Thus Hồ Chí Minh positions the poetry firmly within a Vietnamese tradition and establishes the newspaper Việt Nam Độc Lập as being part of the community in the rural Việt bắc The aim was for the message “independence for Vietnam” to become part of the shared community experience among the listeners and readers of the paper and for it to be more than a slogan, but for it to become a commonly-shared ideal Another section with a different appeal was Tin Thế Giới (“World News”) which appeared in nearly every issue The main news reported was on the progress of the Second World War in Europe, the information probably obtained by the Việt Minh from short-wave radio Colonial wartime censorship prevented most people in Vietnam obtaining news from outside the country 22 and, for the largely rural readership, Việt Nam Độc Lập would have been a source of such information, unavailable even in the urban areas, which could keep them in touch with faraway events and provide an analysis of the impact that these events would have For example, issue numbered 207 of March 1945 informed the readership that: Recently the three leaders of Russia, England and America met in conference in the Crimea in Russia in order to discuss many important matters about the task of fighting the fascists, and preserving world peace The three countries have decided to create an international assembly, in San Francisco, to preserve world peace, and to invite all peace-loving countries to become members 23 and added, hopefully, that “the question of our Vietnam will be considered at the San Francisco assembly” This assembly was ultimately to lead to the formation of the United Nations Organisation The purpose of the Tin Thế Giới section, as with much of Hồ Chí Minh’s writing, appears to have been to raise the sense of unity among the people to whom his work was directed In many ways, news of the world was privileged, that is, not generally available beyond a foreign urban elite in Vietnam at the time but Việt Nam Độc Lập made world news available to the general population in the readership area It also served to widen the horizons of the rural folk 21 Phạm Mai Hùng (ed.) Báo Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945), p 132 22 See Shawn Frederick McHale Print and Power: Confucianism, Communism and Buddhism in the Making of Modern Vietnam Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004, pp 57-58 23 See Phạm Mai Hùng (ed.) Báo Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945), p 444 The conference “in the Crimea” is the Yalta conference at the end of World War II in Europe, and the San Francisco meeting referred to is the establishment of the United Nations March 2014 of the Việt bắc, to encourage them to see themselves as part of a wider world, beyond the village, and to see themselves as part of an entity called Vietnam whose future was as an independent nation equal to others in the wider world Lịch sử Nước Ta In 1942, Hồ Chí Minh also wrote a number of booklets, one of which was his Lịch sử Nước Ta, two pages of which are reproduced below as Illustration and Illustration 2.24 Illustration 1: Trần Hưng Đạo Illustration 2: First page of the History The History has drawings (presumably in Hồ Chí Minh’s own hand) of various well-known figures from Vietnamese history Trần Hưng Đạo is there, as are the Hai bà Trưng (the Trưng sisters), Lý Thường Kiệt, Đề Thám, Bà Bùi Thị Xuân and Trần Quang Toản The History is hand-written, printed on paper which is possibly locally made dó25 paper, and is in the lục-bát poetic form so that it can be more easily remembered by listeners and readers These two features – the paper and verse-form – function as symbols, placing the History firmly into Việt bắc traditional forms 24 The first page of this document contains two lines (referring to Triệu Đà) which are not present in modern versions of the History This probably reflects the fact that there is dispute as to whether Triệu Đà can be called Vietnamese, or perhaps he should be seen as Chinese 25 See Bùi Văn Vượng From Dó Paper to Vietnamese Folk Prints (Từ giấy dó đến tranh dân gian Việt Nam) Hanoi: NXB Thế Giới, 2003 for a description of the manufacture of dó type papers March 2014 It is possible to develop an index of important historical periods as expressed in different historical texts by calculating the number of pages per time period I have done this for Hồ Chí Minh’s History and the results are shown at Illustration 3.26 Apart from the most recent period, the two periods of greatest importance in Hồ Chí Minh’s text are the Tây Sơn period (page in the text, plus one drawing) and that of the Trần kings (page of the text, plus two drawings) Thus it appears that he is holding up the example of the Tây Sơn brothers, who led a revolt against the ruling Nguyễn and Trịnh families (beginning in 1773 in the south and spreading to the north in 1786), 27 as ones to be emulated The loyalty, honesty and bravery of the far-sighted Trần kings is also held up as an ideal of leadership A central theme of the history is khởi nghĩa – uprising Most of Hồ Chí Minh’s heroes are that because they have led uprisings against one oppressor or another The word khởi nghĩa occurs eight times in the text and eight times in the list of important dates on the last two pages of the History In my view this is quite significant and illustrates that one of the purposes of the text is to encourage another uprising during the 1940s In this context it is significant that the list of important dates finishes with the achievement of independence in 1945, a rather hopeful prediction, since the booklet was written in 1942 Pages per 100 years (Including pictures) 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 10 11 Page number Illustration 3: Index of importance for historical periods Throughout the History, the importance of unity is paramount The times of restoration of the land are those when the people were united behind a popular leader The times of disunity invited uprisings and invasion by the enemy Page 12 of the text concludes the work by proclaiming an organisation, the Việt Minh, as the new leader of Vietnam and, like the great leaders of old, people such as Trần Hưng Đạo, the other great men and women of the Trần dynasty and the Hai Bà Trưng, it will lead a united people towards a new independent state of Việt Nam 26 This can be done on a comparative basis for other historical texts too A current research project is to investigate other histories, such as Trần Trọng Kim’s work 27 George Dutton The Tây Sơn Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam (Originally published: 2006, University of Hawai'i Press) Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2008, pp 1-3 March 2014 Another of Hồ Chí Minh’s booklets from the same period is his Việt Minh Ngũ tự kinh (“Việt Minh Five-character Book”), an explanatory booklet about the Việt Minh, with a title very similar the classic booklet Tam tự kinh (“Three-Character Book”) used to teach Chinese language and, particularly Confucian, culture Alexander Woodside comments that: Everywhere that Viet Minh organizations appeared, noontime or evening reading classes were held for illiterate adult peasants, as well as daytime classes for children The text used in these literacy classes was a new “Five Character Classic” especially written for them by Ho Chi Minh Like classical primers, it was an instrument of indoctrination 28 The verse in the booklet is, again, arranged in poetic form, with a complex rhyming scheme in couplets Both the verse form and the “classical” nature of the book serve as symbols appealing to the target audience Later Use of Symbolism Hồ Chí Minh’s use of symbols that had particular meaning for the Vietnamese people, particularly those in the Việt bắc, was taken up by other artists and makers of tuyên truyền once the Resistance War Against the French began in earnest in December 1946 Many artists left Hanoi once war broke out, moving mainly to the Việt bắc, and working there to produce tuyên truyền for the Resistance Much of the propaganda art work was produced under difficult circumstances, usually using improvised materials, until the opening of the Resistance Fine Arts School in 1951 29 Following are some examples of the posters which were produced, many of which, following Hồ Chí Minh’s example, incorporated symbolic references to features which were important in the Việt bắc and wider Vietnamese community Illustration shows a poster from Lạng Sơn, production date unknown but probably about 1947 The text is in ca dao (lục-bát) form and reads: Bãi công bãi thị ơi! Hey everybody, go on strike! Khơng bn khơng bán với lồi thực dân Don’t trade, don’t sell to the colonials The word loài (type, kind, species) as used on the second line deserves some comment, as it does double duty First, it is used to form the lục-bát rhyme with in the previous line (although the verse could easily have been rewritten so that với did this job) Second, it makes the reference to the French as “the colonial species”, a belittling epithet in the eyes of the local people for the colonial overlord In other material, the term bọn (meaning “gang”) is used to describe the French enemy, but that is not used here The colours have been added by hand after the printing process The picture shows a young Vietnamese woman, an itinerant seller 28 Alexander B Woodside Community and Revolution in Modern Vietnam Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976, p 221 29 Trần Khánh Chương “Một sưu tập quý”, translated by Lê Thị Thúy Hoàn, in Năm Kháng Chiến Qua Tranh Tuyên Truyền Cổ Động [9 years of resistance war through propaganda paintings and posters], pp 7-10, edited by Triều Văn Hiền, Trần Hải Nhị, Lê Thị Thúy Hồn and Ngơ Thị Ba Hà Nội: SAVINA for Bảo Tàng Cách Mạng Việt Nam, 2007, pp 7-8,10 March 2014 10 Illustration 4: Don't trade with or work for the enemy in this case, carrying her goods on her shoulder pole (đòn gánh) turning her back and walking into the green forest away from the “colonial species” while, in what is almost a separate picture, a male Vietnamese worker is picking up his tools, including his Vietnamese carpenters’ saw, and walking away from a colonial building The type of carpenters’ saw depicted is peculiar to Vietnam and, due to the difficulty of using it skilfully, can be considered a symbol for an experienced and talented tradesman 30 or, as here, as a general symbol for skill Similarly, the woman’s carrying pole is a symbol of strength and expertise, as one can carry quite heavy loads over long distances with such a tool 31 The use of these two tools as symbols places this picture firmly into the home socio-cultural environment of peasants and workers in the north of Vietnam for whom these tools are essential parts of their daily lives The people in this picture are not merely “peasants”, they are skilled, resourceful and strong On 11 June 1948 Hồ Chí Minh issued his Lời Kêu Gọi Thi Đua Ái Quốc32 – a “Call for Patriotic Emulation” The thi đua campaign of the late 1940s required some explanation for the people and a propaganda campaign was launched to explain the concept Among other things, the tuyên truyền targeted three particular enemies – the French colonialists (giặc Pháp), 30 This is so in modern Vietnam (personal observations over many years, particularly while working in Hanoi with artisans installing art works in 2002) and I am assuming that the same symbolism was most likely to have been in operation in the late 1940s in northern Vietnam 31 Vietnamese friends tell me that they still refer to setting up a “đòn gánh” situation, where appropriate tools are put in place, or situations engendered, so that they are sure to win 32 See Hồ Chí Minh (1948) “Lời kêu gọi thi đua quốc”, in Hồ Chí Minh: Chiến tranh nhân dân Việt Nam, pp 161-163 Hanoi: Nxb Quân đội nhân dân March 2014 11 the enemy of ignorance (giặc dốt, that is, illiteracy) and the hunger enemy (giặc đói) Illustration shows a poster produced for the new lunar year of Kỷ Sửu (wood/buffalo, which began on 29 January 1949) urging action against the enemy of hunger All of the people are being urged to unite to increase production so as to destroy the hunger enemy – in 1949 the Illustration 5: Increase production to kill the enemy of hunger great hunger of early 1945, in which maybe 1-2 million people perished, would still have been an active memory 33 The picture in the poster is one of prosperity The scene takes place under the đào tree (a symbol of spring), the granaries are full of rice, chickens, a duck , a pig and pigeons are active – the chickens reproducing – and the two children are proudly showing off their new clothes that they have been given for Tết Nguyên đán, the spring and new lunar year festival In this picture (which resembles a Đông Hồ print) there is even a contented cat (perhaps waiting for his share of the mice from the rice store) in this village which has become 33 There is some doubt as to the extent of the deaths due to the famine of 1944, but no doubt as to the psychological trauma of the event See David G Marr Vietnam 1945: The Quest for Power Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, pp 96-107, esp pp 104-105, and Văn Tạo and Furuta Motoo Nạn đói năm 1945 Việt Nam - chứng tích lịch sử Hanoi: Institute of History of Vietnam, 1995, the latter, in particular, for an estimate of the death rate March 2014 12 prosperous by following the tenets of thi đua All-in-all the scene shown is quite beyond the reach of the majority of ordinary families but, nevertheless, can be considered as “aspirational” and contributes to the general understanding of what thi đua could mean for ordinary people Other posters in this particular series show a thi đua village fighting the other two enemies – French soldiers in one case, and illiteracy in the other Fighting the enemy of illiteracy was a particular problem in the early period of the Resistance Against French Colonialism and a number of posters address the need for raising the level of reading and writing in the villages of the Việt bắc Illustration shows another example from 1949 (again, the spring of the year Kỷ Sửu), from Yên Bái This poster shows a number of interesting features designed to be particularly meaningful for the people of the area The text reads: Xuân sang hoa tươi cười Có chàng đốt chữ phải chui cổng mù Cịn anh biết đọc chưa? Nếu chưa xin sang nhà, em kiêng Spring comes, fresh flowers and leaves smile A young ignorant man wants to slip under the gate of illiteracy Can you not yet read? If no, then please don’t come to my house, I don’t want you Illustration 6: Learn your letters if you want to visit me March 2014 13 The text has been written as if from a young woman to a man, who is trying to “slip under the gate” of literacy, but she will not accept him until he knows his letters It is shameful to be illiterate and it may be more difficult to find a partner As in many similar posters, the appealing lục- bát form is used for the verse This is another strong example of a poster firmly embedded within the village traditions of the Việt bắc area and taking its symbolism from the folk cultures of northern Vietnam An old toad (con cóc) is teaching literacy to the young ones (as in the well-known Đông Hồ print), 34 teaching first the “i t” (pronounced “ee-ter”), which is as symbolic as is “ABC” in the English language, that is, it stands for the first steps in learning to read and write a language with a phonetically based script This particular symbol is commonly used in the tuyên truyền wherever literacy is discussed and there are many other examples – it is a symbol of basic learning The text of the poster carries another symbol, in the suggestion of an amorous encounter, such encounters being a staple of folk ca dao songs in lục bát verse form The young man referred to wants to come in to the woman’s house by slipping under the “illiteracy gate” (which did exist as more than metaphor – village gates through which only the literate could pass), but she wants one who is wise enough to get an education for himself The words are used to raise respect for literacy and to enhance the status of those who have the ability to read and write Developments in the 1950s By the beginning of 1950, the War of Resistance had been running for more than three years and several developments were beginning to emerge Among them were: • • • The Chinese Kuomintang had been defeated and a Communist Government had been installed in Beijing, and Chinese advisors were appearing to aid the Việt Minh war effort and insisting that the Việt Minh “rethink its entire ideological programme for mass ideological training” 35 It became apparent that there were substantial numbers of Vietnamese, particularly in the south, who had been persuaded to fight for the French This required the development of a new and specialised kind of tuyên truyền.36 The casualty rate among Việt Minh supporters was growing and the somewhat naïve tuyên truyền discussed earlier was losing its effect Further, at the end of 1949 the Việt Minh command had decided to launch a General Counter 34 The toad is a well-known symbol in Vietnam, as in the saying Con cóc cậu ơng trời Nếu đánh cóc trời đánh cho meaning “The toad is the uncle (mother’s younger brother) of the heavenly god If anyone hits the toad heaven will strike back (i.e., you’ll be hit by lightning).” 35 See Bent de Tréglodé Heroes and Revolution in Vietnam, translated by Claire Duiker Singapore: NUS Press in association with IRASEC, 2012, pp 60-61 36 See, for example, the Việt Minh publications Công tác vận động ngụy binh ý kiện việc phá tuyển mộ [Mobilising Soldiers Working for the Other Side and Several Ideas About the Task of Destroying Recruitment] Hanoi: Tổng Cục Chính Trị for Cục Địch Vận, 1951, and Vấn Đề Tuyên Truyền Ngụy Binh NXB Vệ Quốc Quan L.K III, 1950 (Copies in the author's collection) This is an on-going topic of study March 2014 14 Offensive and “this meant achieving a divisional army” and moving away from population-based guerilla warfare as the main fighting force 37 • • Problems were emerging in the Việt Minh fighting forces and “rectification” campaigns were needed The French consolidated their power in the south (Cochinchina) by making Vietnam an Associated State within the French Union, headed by the former emperor, Bảo Đại, a development which was recognised internationally, particularly by the United States 38 It is not the purpose of this paper to explore these developments in detail and the broad effect on Việt Minh tuyên truyền from 1950 has been discussed elsewhere 39 The last example of tuyên truyền as a poster is related to the rectification campaign within the army mentioned above and is shown at Illustration This is extracted (frame 6) from a larger poster which appeared as an insert into the National Defence Army newsletter number 10 issued some time in 1950 It shows the effects of a rectification campaign in an Illustration 7: Before (left-hand) and after (right-hand) rectification army unit in Liên Khu 10, which includes the two provinces of Lào Cai and Hà Giang 40 In the left-hand (“before”) drawing, the Toà án binh (“Military Court”) sign is back-to-front, 37 Goscha, A ‘Total War’ of Decolonization, p 138 See also pp 141-142 for a outline of the effects of this decision on the general population 38 The State of Vietnam under Bảo Đại did not actually come into existence until February 1950, and was recognised as such by the United States and Britain shortly afterwards See Bruce McFarland Lockhart The End of the Vietnamese Monarchy New Haven: Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1993, pp 171-172 39 See, in particular, de Tréglodé Heroes and Revolution in Vietnam March 2014 15 indicating we are inside the court-room watching proceedings In the dock are two (maybe three) characters wearing what appear to be French berets, and I take it that these represent artists or writers In the right-hand (“after”) drawing these two artists walk free, drawing books under their arms, cigarettes in their mouths, while mice and spiders play on the dock This poster shows that many of the artists and writers who left the cities for the regions after 1946 finished up working in the People’s Army and were not immune to the temptations of corruption The text reads: Trước Tòa án binh xử liên tiếp vụ cán hủ hóa (đặc biệt khu [illegible – possibly và] 115) Before The military courts try a succession of corrupt cadres (especially at regional headquarters 115) Sau Vành móng ngựa mốc meo màng nhện After The dock has grown mouldy, cobwebs spreading here and there Before the retraining and reorganisation there is a lot of corruption occurring and many army personnel are involved, but the retraining program has solved that problem and the military court has no more work to Conclusion Mobilising people for any enterprise in any society is an uncommon skill and requires a close association with, and understanding of, the target population Hồ Chí Minh’s success in motivating and energising people in the Việt bắc relied to a large extent on his deep understanding and knowledge of the culture of the rural communities, as well as a strong empathy with the rural people and an intelligent choice of material upon which to base the tuyên truyền He began developing tuyên truyền in the early 1940s and taught cadres the techniques of using symbols that were meaningful to the target audience so that the mobilisation material was culturally significant and thus resonated with them Much of this material comprised posters and songs and other material which engaged with rural people and persuaded them to unify and take an active part in the War of Resistance Bibliography Brocheux, Pierre Ho Chi Minh: A Biography, translated by Claire Duiker Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007 Bùi Văn Vượng From Dó Paper to Vietnamese Folk Prints (Từ giấy dó đến tranh dân gian Việt Nam) Hanoi: NXB Thế Giới, 2003 40 See Nguyễn Quang Ân Việt Nam Những Thay đổi Dịa danh Giới Hành 1945-2002 Hanoi: NXB Thông Tấn, 2003, pp 53-54 March 2014 16 Công tác vận động ngụy binh ý kiện việc phá tuyển mộ [Mobilising Soldiers Working for the Other Side and Several Ideas About the Task of Destroying Recruitment] Hanoi: Tổng Cục Chính Trị for Cục Địch Vận, 1951 (Copy in the author's collection) Duiker, William J Ho Chi Minh Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2000 Dutton, George The Tây Sơn Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam (Originally published: 2006, University of Hawai'i Press) Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2008 Fall, Bernard B Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu Philadelphia/New York: L B Lippincott Company, 1967 Goscha, Christopher E “'Hell in a Very Small Place' Cold War and Decolonisation in the Assault on the Vietnamese Body at Dien Bien Phu”, European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol 9, no (2010): 201-223 Goscha, Christopher “A 'Total War' of Decolonization? Social Mobilization and State-Building in Communist Vietnam (1949-54)”, War & Society, vol 31, no (August, 2012): 136-162 Hà Văn Thư and Trần Hồng Đưc Tóm tắt Niên biểu Lịch sử Việt Nam, 12th edition Hà Nội: NXB Văn hóa-Thơng tin, 2005 Hồ Chí Minh (1942) “Lịch sử nước ta”, in Tồn Tập, Vol of 10, pp 215-224 Hà Nội: Viện Mác - Lê-nin, 1983 Hồ Chí Minh (1948) “Lời kêu gọi thi đua quốc”, in Hồ Chí Minh: Chiến tranh nhân dân Việt Nam, pp 161-163 Hanoi: Nxb Quân đội nhân dân Hurle, Robert James “Mobilising People in the Việt bắc: Posters, Folk Poetry and Pamphlets in the War Against French Colonialism” School of Culture, History & Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, 2014 Huỳnh Sanh Thông “Introduction”, in An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries, pp 1-25, edited by Huỳnh Sanh Thông New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996 Kinh nghiệm Việt-minh Việt-bắc (Originally published: 1945) Hà Nội: Tổng Bộ Việt Minh, 1946 (Copy in the author's collection) Lawrence, Mark Atwood and Fredrik Logevall, eds The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007 Lockhart, Bruce McFarland The End of the Vietnamese Monarchy New Haven: Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1993 Marr, David G Vietnam 1945: The Quest for Power Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995 McHale, Shawn Frederick Print and Power: Confucianism, Communism and Buddhism in the Making of Modern Vietnam Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004 March 2014 17 Nguyễn Quang Ân Việt Nam Những Thay đổi Dịa danh Giới Hành 1945-2002 Hanoi: NXB Thơng Tấn, 2003 Nguyễn Từ Chi (1980) “The Traditional Viet Village in Bac Bo: Its Organizational Structure and Problems”, in The Traditional Village in Vietnam, pp 43-142, edited by Phan Huy Lê, Nguyễn Từ Chi, Nguyễn Đức Nghinh, Dương Kính Quốc, Cao Văn Biền, Phan Đại Dôn, Huy Vũ, Tơ Lan, Nguyễn Khắc Tụng, Nguyễn Đanh Nhiệt, Chương Thân, Phạm Xuân Nam and Nguyễn Sinh Hanoi: Thế Giới, 1993 Phạm Mai Hùng (Head of Compilation Board) Báo Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945) [The Newspaper Việt Nam Độc Lập (1941-1945)] (Originally published: as Newspaper series) Hanoi: NXB Lao Động for Bảo Tàng Cách Mạng Việt Nam, 2000 Phạm Xanh Hồ Chí Minh: the Nation and the Times 1911-1946, 2nd edition Hanoi: Thế Giới Publishers, 2008 Prados, John “Assessing Dien Bien Phu”, Chapter 11, in The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis, pp 215-239, edited by Lawrence, Mark Atwood and Fredrik Logevall Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007 Quinn-Judge, Sophie Ho Chi Minh: the Missing Years 1919-1941 London: Hurst & Company, 2003 Trần Khánh Chương “Một sưu tập quý”, translated by Lê Thị Thúy Hoàn, in Năm Kháng Chiến Qua Tranh Tuyên Truyền Cổ Động [9 years of resistance war through propaganda paintings and posters], pp 7-10, edited by Triều Văn Hiền, Trần Hải Nhị, Lê Thị Thúy Hồn and Ngơ Thị Ba Hà Nội: SAVINA for Bảo Tàng Cách Mạng Việt Nam, 2007 Tréglodé, Bent de Heroes and Revolution in Vietnam, translated by Claire Duiker Singapore: NUS Press in association with IRASEC, 2012 Vấn Đề Tuyên Truyền Ngụy Binh NXB Vệ Quốc Quan L.K III, 1950 (Copy in the author's collection) Văn Tạo and Furuta Motoo Nạn đói năm 1945 Việt Nam - chứng tích lịch sử Hanoi: Institute of History of Vietnam, 1995 Việt Minh Ngũ Tự Kinh Cao Bằng: V.M Tuyên Truyền Bộ, 1944 (Copy in the author's collection) Woodside, Alexander B Community and Revolution in Modern Vietnam Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976 March 2014 ... together, Must quickly join the Việt Minh The theme of the verse is “unity is strength”, a recurring theme in much of the Việt Minh tuyên truyền H? ?? Chí Minh also makes reference here to the foundation... by H? ?? Chí Minh himself A striking example of H? ?? Chí Minh? ??s ability to write in a way which connects with the local people is shown in the poem, The Thread’s Song, written by him and published in. .. consolidating and strengthening it by spinning and weaving it Throughout the Vườn văn section, the poetic forms that H? ?? Chí Minh used were nearly all in either the lục-bát form, the song-thất form