Vol - XLVIII No. 42, October 19, 2013 | Sam
Noumoff<
http://www.epw.in/authors/sam-noumoff>
- Web Exclusives <
http://www.epw.in/web-exclusive>
Vietnam’s general Vo Nguyen Giap was popularly known as the “Red
Napolean”. A pioneer of modern guerrilla warfare, his role in the
Vietnamese armed forces stellar victories over the colonial militaries of
Japan, France and the United States inspired millions in the global South
in their own anti-colonial struggles. A tribute on his passing away.
Sam Noumoff (sam.noumoff@mcgill.ca) served in the 1970s as Director, Centre
for East Asian Studies and in the 1980s as Director of the Centre for
Developing Area Studies before retiring from McGill University, Canada.
In the early days of October news was released of the death of Vietnam’s
general Vo Nguyen Giap, at the age of 102. Second in reverence only to Ho
Chih Min, general Giap came to symbolise the success of what has come to
be, more recently, defined as asymmetrical warfare. At the outset of the
modern Viet Nam independence struggle the *Viet Minh *numbered in the
hundreds and increased from small scale guerrilla units to more
conventional large scale battle formations, defeating in turn the French
colonial occupation forces and the mighty United States (US) and its
neo-colonial puppets.
*Socialist Rebel*
Giap, as many other revolutionary leaders, came from a comfortable land
owning family. His father, functioning as a low level bureaucrat under
French colonial administration, was imprisoned in 1919 for nationalist
agitation, where he died as did his sister. He attended the same Lycée as
Ho Chih Min, and Ngo Dinh Diem, the latter going on to become president of
South Viet Nam until he lost US support and was assassinated in 1963. Giap
was expelled from the Lycée for nationalist agitation, followed by his
arrest in 1930, spending a bit more than a year in prison. He took a BA in
Law at the University of Hanoi, but failed the certificate exam due to his
time consuming political activity. His inability to practice law led him to
a position as a history teacher, where he became familiar with Napoleon and
T E Lawrence. He later came to be known by his adversaries as the “Red
Napoleon”.
Prior to leaving for China in 1940 he founded a socialist youth newspaper.
He returned to the Viet Bac, the northern six provinces of Viet Nam
inhabited mostly by minority people, in 1942. When I visited that area in
1973 the commanding generals all expressed pride in this being the secure
area whenever the Viet Minh needed an impenetrable refuge. On the lighter
side one of them leaned over at dinner and asked if I wanted the address in
Hanoi of Ho Chih Minh’s girl friend, who was still alive. He was kicked
under the table by one of his comrades. While Giap no doubt gained from his
experience in observing the development of the Chinese revolution on the
ground, the adversarial challenges he was to face, on any scale, were, no
doubt, significantly greater than that faced by Mao. This is no diminution
of the latter.
On Christmas day of 1944 Giap was charged with the first military assault
on a Vichy French outpost, which he captured. Four months later the Viet
Minh force numbered 5,000. Two hundred of them were selected for training
and arming by the US special forces in the attempt to drive out the
Japanese forces who controlled the country with the cooperation of Vichy
France. In August of 1945 Giap led his forces into Hanoi, tactically
retreating back to the Viet Bac the following year when French forces
re-occupied the country. It took another eight years of guerrilla level
fighting before the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu took place. The French
fortified the outpost hoping to sever Viet Minh supply lines, believing in
their technological superiority.
*Nemesis of Empire*
Giap developed what I would call the noose strategy, of digging tunnels
around the French forces and surrounding them with units fortified by
Soviet tanks and artillery. Ironically the first artillery salvo fired by
Giap’s forces was a 105 mm gun which had been captured by North Korean
forces during the Korean war, sent by rail across China and installed in
the perimeter of Dien Bien Phu. This gun had been kept covered in satin in
1971 in the basement of the war museum in Hanoi. French forces surrendered,
and after the US refused to provide critical support, the French announced
their withdrawal. Richard Nixon, who was then vice president of the US
urged the use of tactical nuclear weapons in support of the French, a
proposal which president Eisenhower rejected.
The US incrementally came to replace the French in Viet Nam through their
domino principle – if Viet Nam “falls” to the communists it would be
followed by similar liberation wars in South East Asia and ultimately
threaten Australia and New Zealand. In 1968 Viet Nam’s Communist Party
concluded that a major military offensive would spark a nationwide
rebellion. The date was set for the Tet holiday period. There has been some
suggestion that Giap was less than enthusiastic, as he left for medical
treatment in Hungary, returning to Viet Nam after the offensive began. As
Minister of Defense, Giap nonetheless coordinated the attack with
horrendous casualties on both sides.
Tet did for the US what Dien Bien Phu did for the French; it precipitated
the decision to withdraw. Giap had achieved the political goal. While the
anticipated nationwide rebellion failed to materialise, The morale in the
south Vietnamese military began to crumble. Five years later, in 1973, I
visited the Thac An river which was the front dividing the southern and
northern armies, and one officer commented that the commander of the
southern forces had informally communicated to the National Liberation
Front command that if he received an order to open fire across the river he
would fire to miss, as none of his men wanted to be the last soldier to die
in the war. The South Vietnamese government survived for another 7 years
after Tet before Giap’s tanks broke into the presidential palace in Saigon,
capturing the then President, “Big” Minh. Vietnam was again reunited as one
country. During this period the Soviet Union provided material military
support and the Chinese sent in 320,000 troops.
*Revered and Respected*
In 1980, Giap retired as Minister of Defence, followed two years later by
resigning from the politbureau of the communist party. He stayed on as
Deputy Prime Minister and central committee member until 1991. Many western
commentators have suggested that he was marginalised in the post 1975
period, but have failed to consider that age and health may have been the
basis of his withdrawal.
At the age of 99 Giap expressed support for an expert committee report
which expressed severe reserve on a major bauxite extraction proposal as
damaging to the ecology in the central highlands of Vietnam as well as
concern over national security asking who would invest the $1 billion
required for infrastructure modification. A few years earlier I was asked
to explore with the Aluminium Company of Canada (ALCAN) if they would be
willing to pick up the tab, but was informed that Australia was top of
their list followed by India and, maybe half a century later, Vietnam.
Vo Nguyen Giap was a complex man in complex times, but as we can see from
the thousands who rushed to his home on the announcement of his death, he
remained a leader to be cherished and revered. Having visited with his
father-in-law on two visits to Hanoi, I can testify to how he was respected
by both the general population but as well within his family.
_______________________________________________
Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list
Marxist-Leninist-List@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
/fdata%2F1225890%2Favatar-blog-1008871430-tmpphpAX9pHW.jpeg){kind=avatar}
