Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-k7p5g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T06:25:33.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patterns of Political Party Behavior in South Vietnam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Charles A. Joiner
Charles A. Joiner
Affiliation:
Temple University
Get access

Extract

Following the initialing of the Treaty of Hue in 1884 ceding Tonkin and Annam to France as “protectorates”, the Vietnamese Emperor Ham Nghi led a nationalist imperial party against consummation of the colonialists gains. This Nguyen imperial party, a regional guerrilla and terrorist faction based only in the north central section of the nation and operating from highland fiefs, relied upon violence, the personality of its leader, the mystic of his cause and the mystic of nationalism. This combative “party,” while hardly a party in the strictest sense of the term and perhaps not even a movement in the strictest sense of that term, was defeated with the capture of its leader in 1888. Yet this party has continued to serve in miniature as the model for subsequent political party activities in Vietnam. Nearly all of the numerous Vietnamese parties have more or less emulated the patterns of behavior of the first anti-colonial party and few in South Vietnam have gone much beyond modifying the tactics of that vanguard group.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1967 , pp. 83 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Hammer, Ellen J., The Struggle for Indochina (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1954), pp. 54–59Google Scholar. De Tham continued guerrilla resistance under the Nguyen banner until 1909. Buttinger, Joseph, The Smaller Dragon (New York: Praeger, 1958), pp. 383–4.Google Scholar

2. Fox, Guy H. and Joiner, Charles A., “Perceptions of the Vietnamese Public Administration System,” Administrative Science Quarterly (03 1964), pp. 443–481Google Scholar. Also: Dorsey, John T., “The Bureaucracy and Political Development in Vietnam,” in Bureaucracy and Political Development, edited by La Palombara, Joseph (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press), pp. 318–359.Google Scholar

3. Sacks, I. Milton, “Marxism in Vietnam,” in Marxism in Southeast Asia, edited by Trager, Frank N. (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1960), pp. 102–170.Google Scholar

4. “And above all, while proclaiming themselves nationalists and patriots, these leaders seemed to lack a minimum of consensus as to common goals. Nationalism in Viet-Nam in the 1919–40 period was overwhelmingly a movement of personalities, highly elitist and generally lacking in popular participation.” Phan Thien Chau, “Vietnamese Nationalism, 1919–40,” a paper delivered April 6, 1966 at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in New York.

5. Phan Boi Chau was betrayed to the French by Ho Chi Minh. Honey, P. J., “Introduction”Google Scholar to a work he edited, North Vietnam Today (New York: Praeger, 1962), p. 4.Google Scholar

6. An earlier attempt by Phan Chau Trinh to improve education for Vietnamese and to adopt closer relations with France led to this leader's brief imprisonment in Poulo Condore. Ho Chi Minh's father was a follower of Trinh. Warner, Denis, The Last Confucian (New York: Macmillan, 1963), p. 23.Google Scholar

7. Lacouture, Jean, Cinq Hommes et la France (Paris: Editions Du Seul, 1961), Ch. 1Google Scholar; and Chesneaux, Jean, Le Viet-Nam (Paris: Editions Sociales, 1955), Ch. 11.Google Scholar

8. There have been several Dai Viet Parties, labelled as civil servants parties, people's parties, and national socialist parties, as well as “Great Vietnam” parties.

9. Sacks, , op. cit.Google Scholar

10. Lancaster, Donald, The Emancipation of French Indo-China (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 76–8.Google Scholar

11. Matusita, chief of Japanese intelligence, was the principal instigator of sect, Dai Viet, and other party attempts to prepare a Vietnamese nation cooperating in the “Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere.” Devillers, Philippe, Histoire Du Viet-Nam (Paris: Editions Du Seuil, 1952), p. 91Google Scholar. Tran Van An, a Restoration League central committee member, was a leader of this attempt. In 1966, An was a leader of the Electoral Commission of the Ky government.

12. Ibid., Ch. 9.

13. A National Congress to aid Bao Dai in 1948, met in separate sessions because delegates from the north, center, and south refused to sit together. Fall, Bernard B., The Two Vietnams (New York: Praeger, 1963), p. 213.Google Scholar

14. Chesneaux, Jean, “Stages of the Development of the Vietnam National Movement 1862–1940,” Past and Present (04 1955), pp. 63–75.Google Scholar

15. Unquestionably the most comprehensive analysis of political party activity during the Diem era is to be found in Donnell, John C.'s “Politics in South Vietnam” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1964)Google Scholar. Also see Donnell, 's “Personalism in Vietnam,’, in Problems of Freedom, edited by Fishel, Wesley R. (New York: Free Press, 1961)Google Scholar, and “National Renovation Campaigns in Vietnam,” Pacific Affairs (03 1959), pp. 73–88.Google Scholar

16. Thai, Nguyen, Is South Vietnam Viable? (Manila: Carmelo and Bauermann, 1962), Ch. 4.Google Scholar

17. Scigliano, Robert, “Political Parties in South Vietnam under the Republic,” Pacific Affairs (12 1960), pp. 327–46.Google Scholar

18. Joiner, Charles A. and Jumper, Roy, “Organizing Bureaucrats: South Viet Nam's National Revolutionary Civil Servant's League,” Asian Survey (04 1963), pp. 203–215.Google Scholar

19. Scigliano, Robert, South Vietnam: Nation Under Stress (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1963), pp. 75–80.Google Scholar

20. Scigliano, Robert, “The Electoral Process in South Vietnam,” Midwest Journal of Political Science (05 1960), pp. 138–161Google Scholar. Also: Mai, Nguyen Tuyet, “Electioneering: Vietnamese Style,” Asian Survey (11 1962), pp. 11–18.Google Scholar

21. For a description of the various groups of exiles in Paris during the Diem period see Lamb, Helen B.'s “The Paris Exiles,” The Nation (08 10, 1963), pp. 65–68Google Scholar. During 1963 the Free Democratic Party of the exiled Dr. Pham Huy Co, in cooperation with General Nguyen Chanh Thi then in exile in Cambodia, was involved in a terrorist campaign in Saigon against the Diem government. Browne, Malcolm W., The New Face of War (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965), pp. 206–7, 222.Google Scholar

22. Perhaps the most important “neutralist” party remaining in exile after 1963 is the Committee for Peace and Reconstruction in South Vietnam headed by former Premier Tran van Huu. Lacouture, Jean, Vietnam: Between Two Truces (New York: Random House, 1966), pp. 237–241.Google Scholar

23. Browne, , op. cit., pp. 119–20 and Ch. 14.Google Scholar

24. The militant Phat Diem and Bui Chu Bishoprics which moved south from Tonkin after the partition still retain militia strength. Father Hoang, once a militant leader in Phat Diem under Bishop Tu and an elected provincial council member in 1953, remains the most important leader of the several Catholic struggle parties. The Buddhist “Boy Scout” and youth groups have supported Tri Quang as have military elements, while Tarn Chau maintains a formidable group of “Knights.” The best continuing accounts of the religious group conflict since 1963 are found in contributions of Robert Shaplen to the New Yorker and of Denis Warner to the Reporter.

25. For statements on Truyen's program for a revitalized Buddhism see Morgan, Kenneth W.'s “The Buddhists: The Problem and the Promise,” Asia (Winter 1966), pp. 72–84Google Scholar. Also see Higgins, Marguerite, Our Vietnam Nightmare (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 272–3.Google Scholar

26. Dr. Nguyen Ton Hoan, a Dai Viet leader, was Vice Premier for Pacification. One of his lieutenants was Minister of Interior and formally in charge of provincial appointments. Allen, Luther A., “Pacification in Quang Tri,” The New Leader (06 8, 1964), pp. 9–12.Google Scholar

27. Vietnam Press, 08 29, 1964.Google Scholar

28. Diem did create anti-communist cells and bases without appreciable success, as well as work with the National Union Front. Shaplen, Robert, The Lost Revolution (New York: Harper & Row, 1965).Google Scholar

29. See Fall, Bernard B.'s Viet-Nam Witness (New York: Praeger, 1966)Google Scholar, Ch. 4 for an account of the 1953 elections. Dr. Hoang Co Binh, who was elected mayor of Hanoi in 1963 despite the strong influence in Tonkin of Governor Nguyen Huu Tri's Dai Viet Party, was elected to the Saigon municipal council in 1965.

30. It was officially estimated that 5,091,843 voters would be registered for elections in September 1966, i.e., 72 per cent of the population in the government controlled areas. Vietnam (News Bulletin: Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam), June 1, 1966. In the May 30, 1965 provincial and municipal elections 4.5 million voted, some 70 per cent of eligible voters. The percentage ran as high as 85 per cent in Chau Doc Province, a predominantly Hoa Hao province. Washington Post, 04 24, 1966.Google Scholar

31. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Huu Co, Deputy Prime Minister, early in 1966 called for a two party system in a statement announcing that a “Democracy Building Consultative Council” would be formed. Vietnam (News Bulletin: Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam), 02 15, 1966.Google Scholar

32. Jumper, Roy and Hue, Nguyen Thi, Notes on the Political and Administrative History of Viet Nam (Saigon: M.S.U.G., 1962), pp. 81–35, 82–85.Google Scholar

33. Jumper, Roy, “Sects and Communism in South Vietnam,” Orbis (Spring 1959), pp. 85–96.Google Scholar

34. Joiner, Charles A., “South Vietnam's Buddhist Crisis: Organization for Charity, Dissidence, and Unity,” Asian Survey (04 1963), pp. 203–215.Google Scholar

35. Joiner, Charles A., “Administration and Political Warfare in the Highlands,” Vietnam Perspectives (11 1965), pp. 19–37.Google Scholar

36. Early in 1964 the Cao Dai formed a United Cao Dai and Lien Minh (Alliance) Veterans Committee under the chairmanship of Nguyen Thanh Phuong. Vietnam Press, 01 29, 1964Google Scholar. In general, despite certain “neutralist” elements, the Cao Dai party has supported the military tribunals.

37. In June of 1964 three companies of Social Democratic Party troops, which had been fighting the central government for several years under Pham Van Dom, rallied to the government. Vietnam Press, 06 20, 1964Google Scholar. Later three splinter Hoa Hao parties, under Trinh Quoc Khanh, Phan Ba Cam, and Truong Kim Cu, united in a shaky coalition, the Vietnam Social Democrat Party. Vietnam Press, 10 17, 1964.Google Scholar

38. For excellent descriptions of the procedure followed by the Viet Minh see: Giap, Vo Nguyen, People's War, People's Army (New York: Praeger, 1962)Google Scholar; Chinh, Truong, Primer for Revolt (New York: Praeger, 1963)Google Scholar; and, Tanham, George K., Communist Revolutionary Warfare (New York: Praeger, 1961).Google Scholar

39. The state-within-the-state program of the National Liberation Front is described by Burchett, Wilfred G. in The Furtive War (New York: International Publishers, 1963), Ch. 5Google Scholar, and in Vietnam: the Inside Story of the Guerrilla War (New York: International Publishers, 1965), pp. 59–62, 223–226Google Scholar. Also see: Carver, George A., “The Faceless Viet Cong,” Foreign Affairs (04 1966), pp. 347–372.Google Scholar

40. Marr, David, “Political Attitudes and Activities of Young Urban Intellectuals in Viet-Nam,” Asian Survey (05 1966), pp. 249–263CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The youth organizations often are bitter opponents. Catholic and Buddhist groups have been known to battle in the streets, and during the spring of 1966 the important Saigon Students Union supported the Ky regime against the Venerable Thien Minh's Buddhist youth group.

41. Joiner, Charles A., Public Administration in the Saigon Metropolitan Area (Saigon: M.S.U.G., 1962), Chs. 1, 6, 7.Google Scholar

42. “An Giang — A Blueprint for Development,” Saigon Post, 10 17, 1965.Google Scholar