Vietnam

[freethinker]

Tell me about Vietnam-

Why did Socialism fail in Vietnam?
Is it Capitalist Today?
Do recent trends in the poverty rate show that Vietnamese Socialism is actually working?

[The Idler]

Why Socialists Oppose The Vietcong (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialism-or-your-money-back/swinging-sixties/why-socialists-oppose-vietcong)

[freethinker]

thank you

[Binh]

The working class never ran Viet Nam, north or south. The notion that socialists opposed the National Liberation Front (NLF, or "Viet Cong") is incorrect.

[KurtFF8]

That article about "Why Socialists Oppose the Vietcong" is interesting considering most socialists actually very much so supported the Vietcong's struggle against the South and the USA.

[Red Commissar]

That article about "Why Socialists Oppose the Vietcong" is interesting considering most socialists actually very much so supported the Vietcong's struggle against the South and the USA.

The way I read the article it is reminiscent of some of the problems we had more recently with the Middle-East, especially in regards to Libya, when it came to 'anti-imperialism'. Over what position to take with the war if 'both' groups were not 'socialist', at least as far as their (narrow) views were concerned.

That being said I'm not sure of what role or influence the Socialist Party of GB had in their nation. I do know that stateside though that there were unfortunately 'socialists' who sold out to the government. The SDUSA I believe adopted a more pro-US stance (against Communist or Soviet aggression or something) when it came to Vietnam.

As for the OP, the Vietnamese nation is no longer socialist. Whether it was in the past is up to your own interpretation, but like many other 'socialist' states it enacted market liberalization (Doi Moi) in order to integrate into the market once the Comecon began to run into troubles and it became doubtful the Soviet Union would be able to hold them up any longer. With the Soviet Union's fall later on it accelerated the process to integrate themselves into the global market in order to preserve their political position, much like their counterparts in China.

[The Idler]

Since the SPGB reject Lenin's theory of imperialism, they're unlikely to belong to the Third Camp position which says it is "against both imperialisms" let alone sell out to the US govmt.