Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese Communist leader, who was primary force behind the revolutionary spirit of the Vietnamese. He led his people to independence and achieved what he had always desired, freedom.
Ho was born in the town of Kim Liên, Annam. He was born under the name of Nguyen Sinh Cung, but was called, Nguyen Tat Thanh, in accordance with Vietnamese custom at the age of 10.
Ho attended a French high school in Hue during his teenage years. He could not comprehend how France, that had taught expressions, such as "Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!" could oppress Indo-China.
During this time, the French were building schools, hospitals, roads and technology improvements to the area. While the French taught him that they were trying to improve the area, Ho taught other students that they were only doing this for themselves. He also taught the others how Vietnam has been invaded constantly for the past 2,000 years and that France was no different than the other countries. Ho recieved this information from banned books that he was able to get hold of. He was kicked out of school in 1910 after being caught giving out copies of banned papers.
Ho Chi Minh went on to teach at a private school in Phan Thiet in Conchin-China. During his stay in China, he witnessed the Manchu Dynasty of China become overthrown. Therefore, Ho decided that Indo-China needed foreign support in order win a revolution against the French. He quit his job at Phan Thiet and went to Saigon to learn to become a cook because Ho knew that being a cook would allow him to get a job anywhere.
In 1912, Ho found a job for a French steamship liner that he held for two years. He traveled and worked throughout the Western world. During this time, Ho became acquainted with the ideas of German political theorist Karl Marx, which served as a basis of communism.
In 1917, Ho Chi Minh resided in Paris as World War I was near its end. Ho decided to take the pseudonym name Nguyen Ai Quoc, which translated into Nguyen the Patriot. He attempted to present a petition to the victorious Allied leaders attending the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles. This petition demanded self-determination for the Vietnamese people but was ignored.
After being rejected, Ho began to engage in radical activities. In 1920, Ho Chi Minh help found a group named the French Communist Party. In 1923, Ho was called to the USSR for training at the Moscow headquarters of the Communist International, also known as Comintern. Comintern was an organization created by Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin whose goal was to promote revolution throughout the world.
After Sun Yat-sen, leader of China's nationalist army, death in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek of Moscow was placed in power with military strategist Mikhail Borodin. Chiang appointed Ho to be Borodin's advisor and interpreter. Ho took this position but secretly began to plan Indo-China's first communist organization, set in Canton. Most of Ho's followers were sick of being in the Vietnamese Nationalist party and their leader, Pham Boi Chau. The group decided to hurl a bomb at the car of Indo-China's governor. After this incident, Pham Boi Chau disappeared.
In 1927, Ho Chi Minh was forced to leave China when local authorities cracked down on Communist activities, but he returned to the region in 1930 to create the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) in Hong Kong. Ho set up a training camp called the Whampoa Military Academy to teaching guerrilla techniques. At the academy, the followers were trained in suicide missions. They struck schools, plantations and mines of Vietnam, hoping to anger French authorities. Acting as a Comintern representative, Ho stayed in Hong Kong.
In 1930, Ho released the plans that his party had. They wanted to overthrow the French colonists and to make Indo-China free. They also desired an established group of government workers, stop taxes on the wrong things, maintain an eight-hour working day, restore the freedoms of speech and press, provide education, and have equality of the sexes.
In June 1931, Ho was arrested in Hong Kong during a crackdown on political revolutionaries. After his release from prison in 1932, Ho made his way back to the Soviet Union, where he spent several years in relative obscurity.
In 1938 Ho returned to China and served as an adviser to Chinese Communist Red Army during World War II, where he became known as "Uncle Ho." After Japan reached Indochina at the beginning of the war, Ho resumed contact with ICP leaders. In February 1941, Ho returned to Vietnam for the first time in 30 years. There, he met with a group of Communists on Marx Mt., to discuss new plans to free the country. Ho planned to create a new group called Vietminh to help fight for the independence of Vietnam. Ho eventually changed his name to Ho Chi Minh, which meant "He Who Enlightens."
The Vietminh received support from the American CIA, since they were helping the US fight the Japanese during World War II.
In December 1941, Ho was arrested by Chinese and was charged for being a spy to aid the French. He was constantly being moved, abused by guards, harassed by mosquitoes, given very little food and water. Chang Fa-kwei, leader of China, offered to free Ho if he turned over the copies of the reports on Japan and France. In turn, China would supply $100,00 per month to aid the Vietminh in its battles against Japan. Ho Chi Minh agreed to these terms.
In Vietnam, the Vietminh was becoming a enormous success since they were the only nationalist organization that was not restricted by the government of Vietnam. The Vietminh decided to mount a large offensive against Japan.
After Japan surrendered in August 1945, Bao Dai, the emperor of Vietnam who was backed by Japan, allowed the Vietminh to take power, which made Ho Chi Minh the "Supreme Political Advisor." The Vietminh seized power founded the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).
However, France would not grant Vietnam their independence that they desired so much. The French troops drove the Vietminh forces out of Saigon into the countryside. The United States urged the French to restore their sovereignty of Indochina. After negotiations with French representatives had failed, Ho Chi Minh decided to wage war.
For the following eight years, the Vietminh used guerrilla tactics to fight the French troops in the mountains and rice paddies of Vietnam. Ho won wide support from the Vietnamese in their struggle to end foreign rule. After the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which was one of the biggest losses in French history, the French withdrew from Vietnam.
During 1954, negotiations made at Geneva, Switzerland were created to compromise peace. A cease-fire was signed and Vietnam was also divided into two. The North retained the name "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" and consisted of Communist forces. The South was called "The Republic of Vietnam." Both sides agreed to national elections in 1956 to reunify the North and South under a single government.
Ho Chi Minh began to create the Communist Society that he had envisioned. The DRV administered socialist economic reforms, which were to develop industries and collectivize agriculture. However, these land reforms led to imprisonment and execution, as the higher classes did not wish to give up their land.
In 1956, the South Vietnamese leaders refused to hold national elections as was scheduled. By 1959 conflicts increased until Communist guerrillas organized a rebellion against the U.S. supported regime in Saigon, thereby launching the Vietnam War. Ho was often plagued by poor health during the 1960s. Ho Chi Minh died from a heart attack in Hanoi at the age of 79 in September 1969. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976 in his honor.
The people of Vietnam greatly admired Ho Chi Minh. They viewed Ho as a legend. He was the essence of Vietnam's struggle for independence. To the Vietnamese, he is the greatest patriot of their time who used all the resources he could to free his people from foreigners. To all, he is one of the most influential person of the 20th century.
Photos Courtesy of Vietnam Photos
