A World Transformed

A World Transformed A World Transformed ThePoliticsofCulturein Revolutionary Vietnam, 1945–1965 ● Kim N. B. Ninh Ann Arbor Copyright ᭧ by the University of Michigan 2002 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America ࠗϱ Printed on acid-free paper 2005 2004 2003 2002 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ninh, Kim Ngoc Bao. A world transformed : the politics of culture in revolutionary Vietnam, 1945–1965 / Kim N.B. Ninh. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-472-09799-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 0-472-06799-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Vietnam—Politics and government—1945–1975. 2. Vietnam—Cultural policy. I. Title. ds556.8 .n56 2002 959.704Ј3—dc21 2002022501 To my parents, Ninh NgvcHbi and Nguykñ Kim Dung As in other spheres, the task of construction in the cultural arena has to begin with destruction: for a new culture to develop, it needs a cleared piece of land that contains no vestiges of feudalism or colonialism. The first task, therefore, is to completely eradicate the poisonous venom of the feudalists and colonialists. On one front, the government will resolutely suppress the disloyal culturalists and confiscate and nationalize the cultural organs belonging to the imperialists and the Viet- namese traitors. On another front, the government will generate a great propaganda effort to disclose the terrible consequences of the degenerate feudalist and cruel imperialist cultural poli- cies and also to support the new cultural policy of the independent Vietnamese government. On yet another front, to the best of its ability, the government will immediately abolish the customs and habits that directly hinder the critical work of the construction of the nation-state. Those decisive acts of destruction will naturally dis- please some people, especially those who are slaves to the old regime. They will raise their voices to criticize [us]: “There, those revolutionaries, those who destroy.” But what we do will refute those slanders brilliantly be- cause construction on the cultural revolution front will be much more important than destruction, as on other fronts of the revolution. No! Revolution is not only destruction. Revolution is also building, revolutionary primarily in the act of building, and building the grand plans that cannot materialize under antiprogress regimes. NguykñHùu [ang and Nguykñ [pnh Thi MétnmnvÃnhóa m&i (A new culture) Hanoi, 25 November 1945 Contents List of Tables xi Preface xiii List of Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 PART I From the August Revolution to [innBiknPh-, 1945–54 1. Constructing a Cultural Policy 15 2. Intellectuals and Their Responses, 1945–48 48 3. Toward a More Socialist Viewpoint 83 PART II The Construction of a Socialist State, 1954–65 4. Intellectual Dissent: The NhdnVÃn Giai Phfm Period 121 5. The Structure of a Cultural Revolution: The Ministry of Culture 164 6. Education and the New Intellectual Stratum 204 Conclusion 237 Appendixes A. List of Archival Fonds and Dossiers 245 B. Number and Types of Vocational Secondary Schools in 1960 250 C. Educational Levels of the 630 Highest Ranking Cadres in Central Organizations as of June 1959 252 Notes 253 Bibliography 293 Index 309 Tables 1. Geographical Backgrounds of Intellectuals 52 2. The 1951 Proposed Political Education Curriculum 107 3. The 1959–60 Student Selection Criteria for Universities and Vocational Secondary Schools 219 4. Categories of University Students between 1956 and 1959 220 5. Class Backgrounds of University Students in 1958 and 1959 221 6. Categories of Complementary Education Students and Their Expected Educational Achievements in 1960 227 7. The Worker-Peasant Complementary Education Program between 1956 and 1962 229 Preface The seed for this book was sown with my first visit to Vietnam in 1989.I did not have a concrete research topic in mind and in fact was not even sure that research was possible in Vietnam at that time. Fortunately I was spending a year at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, which was interested in establishing a research component on Indochina and was making contacts with Vietnamese scholars and institutions. It was via this connection that I obtained the necessary invitation for a brief visit under the auspices of the Institute of South- east Asian Studies in Hanoi. It was a defining experience to be in the midst of a Hanoi that outwardly seemed to have stood still, singularly captured by its own quiet rhythm. The initial reservation of the people I met gave way, however, to passionate conversations in offices and homes about history, life, missed opportunities, and transformative experiences. I was overwhelmed by the sense that stories needed to be told, the frankness of the discussion, and the intensity of the intellectual exchange. There was so much going on underneath the surface that I could not compre- hend and was not informed enough to even begin asking questions, although the sense of excitement was infectious. Young writers whose names I was hearing for the first time were making waves. Books and articles were read and discussed in detail. Scholars were keen to estab- lish contacts with their peers regionally and internationally. It was the beginning of a period in which the intellectual community became very active in discussing a wide range of political, economic, and social issues as Vietnam turned toward a more open policy. History, though, cast a long shadow, and I set out to return to Viet- nam for an extended period to better understand the context in which these issues were first defined and how that, in turn, has affected the shape of the current intellectual discourse. The exciting intellectual Preface environment that I discovered in 1989 was in full flower while I lived in Hanoi between 1991 and 1993. This book is the result of my interactions with many people in formal interviews and informal conversations, of the voracious consumption of a large number of Vietnamese-language books that became available during this period, and of archival research. I had the data, but I can honestly say that it took some time before they coalesced into some measure of coherence. This book could not have been realized without the assistance of many individuals and institutions. In particular, James Scott has of- fered much needed intellectual and spiritual support over the years. New Haven was more bearable whenever he was around, though Kay Mansfield’s warm presence provided the center toward which many of us gravitated. Chalmers Johnson, who first suggested that I focus on Vietnam, has been a steady source of encouragement since my Berkeley days. The list of those who have read all or parts of various drafts of this book is long, and they have contributed substan- tially to sharpening its content. I would like to thank James Scott, Chalmers Johnson, Ben Kiernan, Yitzhak Brudny, Ben Kerkvliet, Da- vid Marr, Terry Rambo, and Muthiah Alagappa. I am also grateful for the careful reading of and helpful comments on the manuscript by David P. Chandler, Rita Smith Kipp, and an anonymous reader for the University of Michigan Press. Crucial financial support came from a number of sources. A prelimi- nary field research grant was provided by the Yale Council on South- east Asian Studies. Funding for the actual field research came from the Social Science Research Council, the Institute for the Study of World Politics, and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. The writing phase was funded by a Yale University Dissertation Fellowship and a Pre-doctoral Fellowship from the East-West Center. Finally, I am grateful to have received a Luce Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Austra- lian National University, which made possible the necessary revisions. Exposure to the wide-ranging research projects of many has certainly added depth to my own work. In particular, Ben Kerkvliet and David Marr have fostered a truly supportive intellectual environment, which was augmented immeasurably by the generous hospitality of Ben and Melinda Kerkvliet. A leave of absence graciously provided by the Asia Foundation is also happily acknowledged. In Vietnam, the Center for Cooperative Research (Trung TdmH4p Tsc NghiknC7u) of the University of Hanoi, under the capable leader- ship of Professor Phan Huy Lk, facilitated all the necessary logistics and paperwork while NguykñVÃnKhsnh efficiently arranged interviews xiv Preface for me. Members of the professional staff at the National Archives also went out of their way to help me find relevant documents. This book could never have been written, however, without the insights gained during the exhilarating hours spent in the company of those who gener- ously shared with me their experiences and thoughts. With immense gratitude and affection, I thank especially ch. Ho¿ng Cem, ch. Trdn` [é, anh LÂi Nguy'n An,ˆ anh Ngw Thbo and family, and cw ch. VÃn Tdm among many others. It is likely that they will not recognize in this book what they shared with me, and I take sole responsibility for its content. Doing fieldwork in an environment in which one has relatives was both a curse and a blessing. They never quite understood my sorry excuse of being too busy with work to visit the most distant of rela- tions or attend countless family gatherings. On the other hand, my relatives have added much to my understanding of life in Vietnam.

Load more