Kléber
30th January 2010, 18:52
http://www.wikiwak.com/image/Ta+Thu+Thau.jpg
Ta Thu Thau (1906-1945) was perhaps the most outstanding figure in the history of the Fourth International. Born into a poor family of the agricultural proletariat, he was a brilliant and hard-working student, always a political agitator, first a nationalist and then a socialist. He led the Trotskyist "La Lutte" group to sweep the city council elections in Saigon in 1939 with an 80% victory, although the French colonial authorities did not let them take their seats. The Trotskyists formed peasant-worker militias to fight against the French colonial regime in 1945 but they were almost physically wiped out by colonial repression, which succeeded not on its own merits but because the Indochinese Communist Party - who had been the Trotskyists' allies once and knew their identities - helped the French capture and execute them (during WWII all Communists in Allied imperialist colonies were ordered to support their imperialist governments). Ta Thu Thau himself was assassinated in northern Vietnam on the orders of Ho Chi Minh after meeting with him to discuss an alliance, despite having been guaranteed safe passage. Although their organizations were smashed, Trotskyist Viet Minh fighters would continue to be purged into the 1950's, although there are no cases of treason by Trotskyists against the ICP/VM/VC.
When the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact occurred the French authorities rounded up the Vietnamese Stalinists as a potential fifth column for an Axis invasion. The Trotskyists defended the Stalinists and were thrown in jail also. Partly because of their principled defense of the Stalinists, the Trotskyists were politically marginalized throughout WWII.
When the French returned in 1945 the Trotskyists organized a workers' council in Saigon and tried to fight back. The ICP, following Soviet foreign policy, officially had to support the French, and took an abstentionist "run for the hills" line, advocating everyone to form pro-ICP militias in the countryside but do nothing to stop the French troops. The ICP-affiliated militias in the south were losing popularity since the Trotskyists called for combat against France, so they surprised the main Saigon workers' militia by inviting their leaders to a joint planning meeting, then betraying and shooting them. Some ICP-affiliated militias refused to fight against Trotskyists, or even engaged in combat against French troops against the ICP's own line. However, the remaining Trotskyist units were surrounded and destroyed by French and ICP-affiliated forces. The Saigon workers' council itself was destroyed when a meeting of the proletarian leaders was ambushed by French police aided by ICP cadres. The council decided to surrender, despite possessing arms, and the leaders were executed; according to survivors the Trotskyists in ICP custody were sometimes tortured to death like traitors. Surrendering the council was, in my opinion, the greatest mistake of Vietnamese Trotskyism, but perhaps it shows that they had lost a lot of support, or the building had been surrounded in such a manner that defense was impossible. In any event, sufficient provision was not made for betrayal to the French authorities by the ICP.
The Russian Revolution equivalent of the ICP's treason would have been if, during the Kornilov Affair, while the Bolsheviks mustered to defend Petrograd, the S-R's had assassinated Lenin and kidnapped and murdered the Central Committee. I'm not saying the Vietnamese Trotskyists were perfect, but before anyone says "they would have failed anyway," consider how badly such a stab in the back would have damaged the Bolsheviks.
The Vietnamese Trotskyists made some fundamental mistakes. But these were tactical mistakes and not fundamental betrayals of the proletariat like the ICP's support for the French occupation. In my opinion (and obviously, I'm aided by hindsight here since they got destroyed) they didn't take security seriously enough. They put too much faith in the legality of the colonial system, and they underestimated the capacity of their old allies, whom they mistakenly thought of as "Mensheviks," to betray and murder them.
Let us learn from the lessons, mistakes, heroism and martial spirit of Ta Thu Thau and his comrades.
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/thau.html
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/onviet.html
http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/rh0302/ttt.html
http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/fourthint
I think it should come as no surprise that a "Socialist Republic of Vietnam" established by the sort of opportunist traitors who could commit such crimes, would rapidly degenerate into a brothel for foreign capital.
EDIT: I admit that I have not read the first-hand accounts of Vietnamese Trotskyists to such an extent as to totally outline the history of the Vietnamese workers' movement here. Very little of the relevant material exists in English; I don't read French or Vietnamese. What I say here is all based off second-hand accounts and the handful of primary or semi-primary materials online. Contributions and corrections from anyone who has read more first hand material about the subject would be much appreciated.
Ta Thu Thau (1906-1945) was perhaps the most outstanding figure in the history of the Fourth International. Born into a poor family of the agricultural proletariat, he was a brilliant and hard-working student, always a political agitator, first a nationalist and then a socialist. He led the Trotskyist "La Lutte" group to sweep the city council elections in Saigon in 1939 with an 80% victory, although the French colonial authorities did not let them take their seats. The Trotskyists formed peasant-worker militias to fight against the French colonial regime in 1945 but they were almost physically wiped out by colonial repression, which succeeded not on its own merits but because the Indochinese Communist Party - who had been the Trotskyists' allies once and knew their identities - helped the French capture and execute them (during WWII all Communists in Allied imperialist colonies were ordered to support their imperialist governments). Ta Thu Thau himself was assassinated in northern Vietnam on the orders of Ho Chi Minh after meeting with him to discuss an alliance, despite having been guaranteed safe passage. Although their organizations were smashed, Trotskyist Viet Minh fighters would continue to be purged into the 1950's, although there are no cases of treason by Trotskyists against the ICP/VM/VC.
When the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact occurred the French authorities rounded up the Vietnamese Stalinists as a potential fifth column for an Axis invasion. The Trotskyists defended the Stalinists and were thrown in jail also. Partly because of their principled defense of the Stalinists, the Trotskyists were politically marginalized throughout WWII.
When the French returned in 1945 the Trotskyists organized a workers' council in Saigon and tried to fight back. The ICP, following Soviet foreign policy, officially had to support the French, and took an abstentionist "run for the hills" line, advocating everyone to form pro-ICP militias in the countryside but do nothing to stop the French troops. The ICP-affiliated militias in the south were losing popularity since the Trotskyists called for combat against France, so they surprised the main Saigon workers' militia by inviting their leaders to a joint planning meeting, then betraying and shooting them. Some ICP-affiliated militias refused to fight against Trotskyists, or even engaged in combat against French troops against the ICP's own line. However, the remaining Trotskyist units were surrounded and destroyed by French and ICP-affiliated forces. The Saigon workers' council itself was destroyed when a meeting of the proletarian leaders was ambushed by French police aided by ICP cadres. The council decided to surrender, despite possessing arms, and the leaders were executed; according to survivors the Trotskyists in ICP custody were sometimes tortured to death like traitors. Surrendering the council was, in my opinion, the greatest mistake of Vietnamese Trotskyism, but perhaps it shows that they had lost a lot of support, or the building had been surrounded in such a manner that defense was impossible. In any event, sufficient provision was not made for betrayal to the French authorities by the ICP.
The Russian Revolution equivalent of the ICP's treason would have been if, during the Kornilov Affair, while the Bolsheviks mustered to defend Petrograd, the S-R's had assassinated Lenin and kidnapped and murdered the Central Committee. I'm not saying the Vietnamese Trotskyists were perfect, but before anyone says "they would have failed anyway," consider how badly such a stab in the back would have damaged the Bolsheviks.
The Vietnamese Trotskyists made some fundamental mistakes. But these were tactical mistakes and not fundamental betrayals of the proletariat like the ICP's support for the French occupation. In my opinion (and obviously, I'm aided by hindsight here since they got destroyed) they didn't take security seriously enough. They put too much faith in the legality of the colonial system, and they underestimated the capacity of their old allies, whom they mistakenly thought of as "Mensheviks," to betray and murder them.
Let us learn from the lessons, mistakes, heroism and martial spirit of Ta Thu Thau and his comrades.
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/thau.html
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/onviet.html
http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/rh0302/ttt.html
http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/fourthint
I think it should come as no surprise that a "Socialist Republic of Vietnam" established by the sort of opportunist traitors who could commit such crimes, would rapidly degenerate into a brothel for foreign capital.
EDIT: I admit that I have not read the first-hand accounts of Vietnamese Trotskyists to such an extent as to totally outline the history of the Vietnamese workers' movement here. Very little of the relevant material exists in English; I don't read French or Vietnamese. What I say here is all based off second-hand accounts and the handful of primary or semi-primary materials online. Contributions and corrections from anyone who has read more first hand material about the subject would be much appreciated.