Democratic Republic of Vietnam

“ The August Revolution has recovered sovereignty for the nation and freedom for the people and set up the democratic republican regime. After eighty years of struggle, the Vietnamese nation has cast off the colonial yoke and subsequently overthrown the monarchic regime. ”

“ All Vietnamese citizens are equal in every respect in political, economic and cultural matters. Article 7. All Vietnamese citizens are equal before the law and can take part in public activities and the building of the Fatherland according to their abilities and moral qualities. Article 8. In addition to having equality of rights, persons belonging to ethnic minorities should be given every kind of help by the State so that they may quickly reach the common level of the nation. Article 9. Women are equal to men in every respect. ”

“ Primary education is compulsory and free. In the regions inhabited by ethnic minorities, students shall have the right to receive primary school education in the language of that minority. The State grants support to poor students. Private schools may be opened freely, and shall teach according to the State-issued curriculum. Article 16. Foreigners persecuted for their actions for freedom and democracy are granted the right of asylum on Vietnamese soil. Part C. Election, Recall, and Referendum Article 17. Elections are by universal suffrage. ”

“ Inspired by its tradition of solidarity and struggle based upon a system of broad democracy, an independent and unified Vietnam is advancing along the path of glory and happiness, in keeping with universal progress and in conformity with the aspirations for peace of the peoples of the world. ”

“ In the light of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought, carrying into effect the Programme of national construction in the period of transition to socialism, the Vietnamese people vow to unite millions as one, uphold the spirit of self-reliance in building the country, carry out a foreign policy of independence, sovereignty, peace, friendship and cooperation with all nations, strictly abide by the Constitution, and win ever greater successes in their effort to renovate, build and defend their motherland. ”

“ The Vietnamese revolution has moved into a new position. Our people must endeavor to consolidate the North, taking it toward socialism, and carry on the struggle for peaceful reunification of the country and completion of the tasks of the National People's Democratic revolution throughout the country. ”

“ Is it a question of the reunification of the country? They have conceived of it as a simple subordination to Red Imperialism. In North Vietnam, democratic liberties are scoffed at, sacred human rights trampled under foot. How could the Vietnamese people express their real will under this reign of terror where liberty is nothing but a word? ”

“ A mature American, with much the same qualifications as those given above for the selection of the next Ambassador, should be assigned to Vietnam for political operations which will start creating a Vietnamese-style foundation for more democratic government without weakening the strong leadership required to bring about the defeat of the Communists. ”

“ All national powers belong to the entire Vietnamese people regardless of race, gender, economic conditions, social class, and religion Article 2. The territory of Vietnam — North, Center and South — is a single, indivisible whole. ”

“ Article 47 The State shall build a revolutionary people's police which shall be a well-trained regular force to be gradually modernised; this police shall rely on the people and shall serve as the core of a popular movement to safeguard national security and social order, political stability and the citizen's freedoms and democratic rights, the lives and properly of the people and socialist property ”

“ Desirous to realize the reunification of the country through freedom and in freedom, the Government of the Republic of Vietnam has repeatedly, but in vain, summoned the Communists to re-establish and respect the fundamental liberties to which human beings are entitled. This appeal was made in order to create a favorable atmosphere for really free general elections. ”

“ Communists in the South no doubt shared the overall objectives of the DRV, and were aiming at unification of all Vietnam under the Hanoi government. Some rebel nationalists were no doubt aware of the communists' ambitions, but would have regarded such an outcome as acceptable, if not desirable. Others, disillusioned by the actions of the Diem regime after 1956, simply looked. toward the establishment of a genuine democratic government in the South. Some peasants may have been fighting to rid themselves of government, or to oppose modernization, looking only to village autonomy. ”

“ UNITED STATES, FRANCE AND VIETNAMESE NATIONALISM
SUMMARY
It has been argued that even as the U.S. began supporting the French in Indochina, the U.S. missed opportunities to bring peace, stability and independence to Vietnam. The issues arise from the belief on the part of some critics that (a) the U.S. made no attempt to seek out and support a democratic–nationalist alternative in Vietnam; and (b) the U.S. commanded, but did not use, leverage to move the French toward granting genuine Vietnamese independence. ”

“ Thus, backed by the U.S., Diem obdurately refused to open talks with the Hanoi government. He continued to maintain that the Government of South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Agreements and thus was not bound by them.
"Our policy is a policy for peace. But nothing will lead us astray of our goal, the unity of our country, a unity in freedom and not in slavery. Serving the cause of our nation, more than ever we will struggle for the reunification of our homeland. "We do not reject the principle of free elections as peaceful and democratic means to achieve that unity. ”

“ All citizens over 18 years of age without distinction of sex enjoy the right to vote, except for the insane and those deprived of civil rights. Anyone who stands for election must enjoy the right to vote and, in addition, be at least 21 years old and know how to read and write in Vietnamese. Citizens in active military service also enjoy the right to vote and to stand for election. ”

“ No Member of the National Assembly can be prosecuted for specches made or votes cast by him in the Assembly. In case he is caught in an illegal act, a Member of the National Assembly can be immediately arrested, but the Standing Committee of the National Assembly must be informed within twenty-four hours at the latest. The Standing Committee or the National Assembly itself, if it is in session, will decide the matter. If a Member of the National Assembly becomes disqualified for election, he must give up his seat. ”

“ The President of the Republic is elected by and from within the National Assembly by a two-thirds majority of its total Membership. If no-one is successfully elected in the first ballot, a simple majority is suffecient for the second ballot. The President of the Republic is elected for a term of five years and is eligible for re-election. One month before the end of the President's term, the Standing Committee convenes the National Assembly to elect the new President. ”

“ May say American people have welcomed attainments Indochinese in efforts realize praiseworthy aspirations greater autonomy in framework democratic institutions and it would be regrettable should this interest and sympathy be imperilled by any tendency Vietnam administration force issues by intransigence and violence. ”

“ We consider as best safeguard against these eventualities a continued close association between newly-autonomous peoples and powers which have long been responsible their welfare. In particular we recognize Vietnamese will for indefinite period require French material and technical assistance and enlightened political guidance which can be provided only by nation steeped like France in democratic tradition and confirmed in respect human liberties and worth individual. ”

“ It must promulgate democratic liberties to all political parties, groups, religions; it must release all political prisoners, abolish all internment camps and all other forms of concentration Fampil, and stop the forced draft of soldiers and the military training of youth, women, public servants, and enterprise, economic independence. It must abolish monopolies and improve the living conditions of all people.
"4. South Vietnam must carry out a foreign policy of peace and neutrality. ”

“ I run for the presidency because I want the Democratic Party and the United States of America to stand for hope instead of despair, for reconciliation of men instead of the growing risk of world war.
I run because it is now unmistakably clear that we can change these disastrous, divisive policies only by changing the men who are now making them. For the reality of recent events in Vietnam has been glossed over with illusions. ”

“ Ho, the Viet Minh, and the DRV government stressed their identity with the people, and their patriotic, democratic and nationalist goals, foregoing communist cant. Ho's own writings of the period are to point:18
"October, 1945: We must realize that all Government organs, from the Central to the Communal level, are the people's servants, that is to say they are appointed to work for the sake of the whole peoples interests. "October, 1945: We neither dislike nor hate the French people. ”

“ The numerous remaining Vietnamese political parties fall into the revolutionary category: they advocated Vietnam's independence from France and some degree of radical reorganization of the Viet polity. ”

“ In each province or municipality, urban center and commune, there exists a people's council elected by universal and direct ballot. The people's councils of provinces, municipalities, urban centers and communes elect in turn an administrative committee. ”

“ Preamble In the course of their millennia-old history, the Vietnamese people, working diligently, creatively, and fighting courageously to build their country and defend it, have forged a tradition of unity, humanity, uprightness, perseverance and indomitableness for their nation and have created Vietnamese civilization and culture. ”

“ Even if the present impasse were resolved, we believe that it would be extremely difficult, at best, for a Vietnamese government, regardless of its composition, to make progress toward developing a strong, stable anti-Communist government capable of resolving the basic social, economic, and political problems of Vietnam, the special problems arising from the Geneva agreement, and capable of meeting the long-range challenge of the Communists.... ”

“ All machinations and acts directed against the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the motherland, against the construction and defence of the socialist Vietnamese motherland, shall be severely punished in accordance with the law. ”

“ The Southeast Asia policy of the U.S. in the aftermath of the Geneva Conference was focused on organizing free Asian states against further inroads of Communism. The two Vietnams faced each other across a demilitarized zone. The DRV, manipulating a Viet Minh infrastructure in the South, waited for the elections, or for voracious political forces in the South to plunge the Saigon Government into chaos before election time arrived. South Vietnam began its attempt to establish complete control over its own countryside, and constantly decried the DRV's undemocratic handling of would-be migrants. ”

“ Within Laos and Cambodia there are no powerful movements directed against the governments which are relatively stable. However, Vietnam has been the battleground since the end of World War II of conflicting political parties and military forces. Ho Chi Minh, who under various aliases, has been a communist agent in various parts of the world since 1925 and was able to take over the anti-French nationalist movement in 1945. ”

“ For eight or nine years, the Vietnamese people suffered many trials due to the war: They passed from French domination to Japanese occupation, from revolution to resistance, from the nationalist imposture behind which hid communism to a pseudo-independence covering up for colonialism ”

“ If this democratic experiment fails, if some one million refugees have fled the totalitarianism of the North only to find neither freedom nor security in the South, then weakness, not strength, will characterize the meaning of democracy in the minds of still more Asians....
" (3) ...Vietnam represents a test of American responsibility and determination in Asia. If we are not the parents of little Vietnam, then surely we are the godparents...If it falls victim to any of the perils that threaten its existence...our prestige in Asia will sink to a new low. ”

“ In other words, from World War II on, the ICP was strong enough to lead, but not to dominate Vietnamese nationalism.
Second, the Viet Minh was sufficiently popular and effective to turn itself into a Vietnam-wide government that could have extended its authority throughout the country after World War II—except for the obstacle of reasserted French power, and, to a lesser degree, of indigenous political opposition in Cochinchina. The Viet Minh was always more powerful in Tonkin and Annam than in South Vietnam. ”

“ As soon as the people's hatred of the Communist dictatorship is sufficiently mature for it to succeed in overthrowing it, then general elections which are really free will take place in the whole of Vietnam, and will peacefully bring about the reunification of the country. ”