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Politics, Protest and Revolution: the Origins and Evolution of the Urban Networks of the NLF and the Communist Party in Central Vietnam, 1930-1975

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Politics, Protest and Revolution: the Origins and Evolution of the Urban Networks of the NLF and the Communist Party in Central Vietnam, 1930-1975 Politics, Protest and Revolution: The Origins and Evolution of the Urban Networks of the NLF and the Communist Party in Central Vietnam, 1930-1975 Aaron Lillie A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2021 Reading Committee: Christoph Giebel, Chair Laurie Sears Raymond Jonas Program Authorized to Offer Degree: History ©Copyright 2021 Aaron Lillie University of Washington Abstract Politics, Protest and Revolution: the Origins and Evolution of the Urban Networks of the NLF and the Communist Party in Central Vietnam, 1930-1975 Aaron Lillie Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Associate Prof. Christoph Giebel, International Studies and History This project combines political history, social history and memory to convey a perspective of the war through the eyes of the people of Central Vietnam who participated in the urban movement of the Vietnamese Revolution. It is intended to address conspicuous gaps within the historical record through an examination of how and why urban networks of the Communist Party, the Việt Minh and the NLF evolved and attracted new members in Huế and Central Vietnam in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Beginning with the inception of the Communist Party in Huế in 1930, this project tracks the various affiliated underground network’s development and evolution through World War II, the French War of decolonization, the Diệm government, the Struggle Movement and the Tết Offensive, concluding in the early 1970s. It offers a view of the Vietnamese revolution and the iv Vietnam Wars (1945-1975) from the perspective of the people in Huế and Central Vietnam who joined the, the Communist Party, the NLF and the student and Struggle Movements. Chapters 1 and 2 follow the development of the Communist Party and affiliated networks in central Vietnam through the 1940s and 1950s. Based primarily on recent interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, Chapters 3,4 and 5 are a narrative which incorporates a collection of perspectives of NLF underground agents, dissidents and political activists, who, riding a wave of anti-American nationalism and Buddhist and student anger at the undemocratic policies of the military government in early 1960s central Vietnam, made a choice to become committed revolutionaries. Chapter 5 also addresses the Tết Offensive in Huế and surrounding controversies in some detail. v Dedication This work is dedicated to all my friends and loved ones in Vietnam who donated their time and energy to this project vi Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my wife for assist me during interviews and for her patience, her tolerance and support me during what turned out to be a long writing process. I also am especially grateful for the contribution of my primary mentor at the University of Washington, Christoph Giebel whose ideas provided inspiration for my research. Additionally, would like to thank other mentors at UW that have helped guide me along the way including, Laurie Sears, Bill Rorabaugh and Glennys Young as well as Vince Raphael, Purnima Dhavan, Raymond Jonas and Christina Sunardi. I would also like to thank my colleague Huong Thi Diu Nguyen for her advice and assistance. Among the many people in Vietnam to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, I would like to acknowledge and express my thanks for the immense contributions to my research by the following participants in the urban movement in the 1960s in Huế and Central Vietnam: Chu Sơn, Đỗ Hùng Luân, Dương Đình Na, Lê Công Cơ, Nguyễn Đắc Xuân, Tô Nhuận Vỹ, Vỡ Ky Nam, Trịnh Túc, Nguyễn Xuân Hoa, Nguyễn Thúc Tuân, Nguyễn Văn Ninh, Pham Thi Nga, Võ Quê. Additionally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the participants and scholars of the urban movement whom I interviewed for taking the time to speak with me. I have been extremely fortunate to have been able to rely on the guidance and assistance of number of very capable members of a younger generation of academics and scholars in Vietnam without whom my work would have been impossible. I would especially like to acknowledge the contributions of Dương Thi Hương Trà and Vinh Linh Nguyên. I would also like to thank Cô Tươi, Cô Yên and all of the other patient and talented Vietnamese language instructors at the Trương Đại Học Khoa Học Xã Hội và Nhân Văn who provided me with important insights and the linguistic tools I needed to understand years of accumulated books, documents, interviews and other materials in Vietnamese gathered for my research. vii The University of Washington libraries have proven and invaluable resource over the years. I would like to thank Judith Henchy and all the staff at the UW libraries for their advice and assistance during the 8 years of this project. I am also grateful to Lê Công Cơ and the staff at the Duy Tân University Library in Đà Nẵng for providing me with a number of relevant books and other materials as well as access to their archive. Thanks also to Robyn Davis and the FLAS program for facilitating several years of intensive Vietnamese language study. viii Abbreviations ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam DRVN Democratic Republic of Vietnam DMZ Demilitarized Zone NLF National Liberation Front PAVN People’s Army of Vietnam PLAF People’s Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam PRG Provisional Revolutionary Government RVN Republic of Vietnam VC Việt Cộng ix Table of Contents Abstract......................................................................................................................................iii-iv Dedication ......................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................vi Abbreviations................................................................................................................................viii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………….ix-xiii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 The Importance of Reframing the Conflict to Understanding the Revolutionary Perspective…...4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….20 Terminology……………………………………………………………………………………...21 Sources and Methods………………………………………………………………………….…24 Chapter 1 The City of Huế as a Center for Tradition and Culture and a Cradle of the Vietnamese Revolution………………………………………………………………………………………28 Religion and Religious Practices in Thừa Thiên Huế ….……….………………………………32 The Origins of the Communist Party in Huế…………………………………………………….33 Early Revolutionary Newspapers………………………………………………………………..48 The Network Revitalized………………………………………………………………………...51 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….56 Chapter 2 The Network in Thừa Thiên Huế Before 1968………………………………………………..59 The Communist Party Leadership of the Urban Movement of the NLF in Central Vietnam…...67 Võ Chí Công……………………………………………………………………………………..67 Lê Tư Minh………………………………………………………………………………………69 Trương Chí Cương……………………………………………………………………………….72 Hồ Nghinh (aka Ba Phước)………………………………………………………………………73 Nguyễn Trung Chính…………………………………………………………………………….74 Nguyễn Đình Bảy………………………………………………………………………………..75 Phan Nam………………………………………………………………………………………...76 Hoàng Kim Loan…………………………………………………………………………………76 x Phan Thanh Pha………………………………………………………………………………….77 Hoàng Lanh………………………………………………………………………………………78 Tốn Thất Dương Ky……………………………………………………………………………...79 Lê Quang Vịnh…………………………………………………………………………………...80 Nguyễn Dóa……………………………………………………………………………………...81 Nguyễn Đình Chi………………………………………………………………………………...81 Thích Đôn Hậu…………………………………………………………………………………...82 Underground Families in Huế…………………………………………………………………83 The Thiên Tường Family………………………………………………………………………...83 Bửu Đáp and Family……………………………………………………………………………..84 Hoàng Bá………………………………………………………………………………………...85 Lê Khắc Quyến…………………………………………………………………………………..86 Nguyễn Hữu Đính and Family…………………………………………………………………...88 Nguyễn Hữu Trí and Family……………………………………………………………………..89 Tộ Nhuận Vỹ…………………………………………………………………………………….90 Nguyễn Khoa Điềm……………………………………………………………………………...91 The NLF Led Student Movement in Huế……………………………………………………..92 Lê Công Cơ………………………………………………………………………………………93 Nguyễn Thúc Tuân………………………………………………………………………………97 Nguyễn Thúc Lư………………………………………………………………………………..102 Dương Đình Na…………………………………………………………………………………103 Trịnh Túc……………………………………………………………………………………….105 Nguyễn Thúc Tần……………………………………………………………………………....107 Nguyễn Văn Ninh………………………………………………………………………………108 Phạm Thị Nga…………………………………………………………………………………..109 Lê Văn Hảo……………………………………………………………………………………..110 Hoàng Phủ Ngọc Tường………………………………………………………………………..111 Hoàng Phủ Ngọc Phan………………………………………………………………………….112 xi Nguyễn Đắc Xuân………………………………………………………………………………112 Photos…………………………………………………………………………………...…116-122 Chapter 3 The Growth of the Urban Movement in Huế, 1960-1965…………………………………..123 Thanh Lương Village and a Meeting of Likeminded Youth…………………………………...131 Printing and Distributing Agitprop in Huế……………………………………………………..141 Political Training and Indoctrination…………………………………………………………...150 The Buddhist Movement…………………………………………………………………….....155 Ngày Phat Dan through the Eyes of Professor Erich Wulff……………………………………156 Nguyễn Đắc Xuân………………………………………………………………………………160 The Buddhist Movement and Lê Công Cơ’s Youth Association……………………………....165 Increasing Politicization of the Movement……………………………………………………..173 From Buddhist
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