As Ho Chi Minh, then known as Nguyen Ai Quoc, encountered Marxism-Leninism in Paris and Moscow from 1920 to 1924 (see “Ho encounters French socialism” 5/5/2014), he endeavored to bring the international communist movement to a more advanced stage of genuine internationalism, moving it beyond a context defined by the movements of Western and Eastern Europe. He believed that the key was Lenin’s “Thesis on the National and Colonial Questions,” which affirmed the importance of the national liberation struggles in the colonized regions and the oppressed nations.
His reading of Lenin’s “Thesis” was not only a moment of an intellectual conversion experience; it also provided him with a basis for active engagement in the communist movement, in which he in effect was functioning as a delegate of the colonized peoples. He wrote in 1960 concerning the impact of his reading of the “Thesis on the National and Colonial Questions:”
His reading of Lenin’s “Thesis” was not only a moment of an intellectual conversion experience; it also provided him with a basis for active engagement in the communist movement, in which he in effect was functioning as a delegate of the colonized peoples. He wrote in 1960 concerning the impact of his reading of the “Thesis on the National and Colonial Questions:”
“Formerly, during the meetings of the [French Socialist] Party branch, I only listened to the discussion. . . . But from then on, I also plunged into the debates and discussed with fervor. Though I was still lacking French words to express all my thoughts, I smashed the allegations attacking Lenin and the Third International with no less vigor. My only argument was: ‘If you do not condemn colonialism, if you do not side with the colonial people, what kind of revolution are you waging?’
Not only did I take part in the meetings of my own Party branch, but I also went to other Party branches to lay down ‘my position’” (Fall 1967:6).
Nguyen Ai Quoc’s effort to broaden the perspective of the international communist movement to include the perspective of the colonized was constant in the years following his conversion experience. In 1921, he was the driving force in the Communist Party’s forming of a new organization of colonial subjects living in France. In 1922, he founded a new journal dedicated to the interests of the colonized peoples of the French empire. As a delegate representing Indochina at the International Peasant Conference in Moscow in October 1923, Quoc maintained that the Comintern “would become a genuine Communist International only when it included representatives of the Asian peasantry as active participants” (Duiker 2000:91). In an article published in 1924 in the International Press Correspondence, the official organ of the Comintern, Quoc argued that it may appear that the question of Indochina is of little interest to European workers, but in fact the international capitalist class draws its strength from the exploitation of the colonies, from which it obtains raw materials for its factories, a reserve army of cheap labor, and markets for its manufactured products. In the same year, he wrote a report on the conditions of Annam, noting that the industrial proletariat comprised only 2% of the population; that the peasantry had revolutionary potential, because of its patriotism; and the intellectuals of the scholar-gentry class were the most politically active sector (Duiker 2000:78-79, 90-91, 97-98; Fall 1967:29).
During his time in Moscow, Nguyen Ai Quoc wrote a book on the process of French colonialism (published in English as French Colonization on Trial), which he had begun in Paris (Duiker 2000:67, 96). He describes the exorbitant rent, taxes and fines and the forced labor imposed on the colonized in Vietnam and in other regions of the French colonial empire. He maintains that indiscriminate violence with impunity is a common practice in French colonialism, including patterns of violence against women. He contends that colonialism presents itself in accordance with the ideals of fraternity and equality in order to hide its exploitative nature. He asserts that French Catholic priests are among the abusers and exploiters (Fall 1967: 69, 71, 84-90, 93, 100, 106-10; Ho 1968: 200, 204, 236, 237, 241, 259-63).
Addressing the Fifth Congress of the Communist International on June 23, 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc asserted:
During his time in Moscow, Nguyen Ai Quoc wrote a book on the process of French colonialism (published in English as French Colonization on Trial), which he had begun in Paris (Duiker 2000:67, 96). He describes the exorbitant rent, taxes and fines and the forced labor imposed on the colonized in Vietnam and in other regions of the French colonial empire. He maintains that indiscriminate violence with impunity is a common practice in French colonialism, including patterns of violence against women. He contends that colonialism presents itself in accordance with the ideals of fraternity and equality in order to hide its exploitative nature. He asserts that French Catholic priests are among the abusers and exploiters (Fall 1967: 69, 71, 84-90, 93, 100, 106-10; Ho 1968: 200, 204, 236, 237, 241, 259-63).
Addressing the Fifth Congress of the Communist International on June 23, 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc asserted:
“I am here in order to continuously remind the International of the existence of the colonies. . . . It seems to me that the comrades do not entirely comprehend the fact that the fate of the world proletariat, and especially the fate of the proletarian class in aggressive countries that have invaded colonies, is closely tied to the fate of the oppressed peoples of the colonies. . . .
You must excuse my frankness, but I cannot help but observe that the speeches by comrades from the mother countries give me the impression that they wish to kill a snake by stepping on its tail. You all know that today the poison and life energy of the capitalist snake is concentrated more in the colonies than in the mother countries. The colonies supply the raw materials for industry. The colonies supply soldiers for the armies. . . . Yet in your discussions of the revolution you neglect to talk about the colonies. . . . Why do you neglect the colonies, while capitalism uses them to support itself, defend itself, and fight you?” (quoted in Duiker 2000:99-100)
In Nguyen Ai Quoc’s “Report on the National and Colonial Questions” at the Fifth Congress of the Communist International as well as other writings of 1924, he was critical of the communist parties of the West for lacking contact with the colonized peoples and for ignoring the colonial question, thus not following in practice the theory of Lenin on the colonial question. He believed that the international proletarian movement could not attain success without alliance with the colonized peoples, which he viewed as constituting a considerable force of revolutionary opposition to world capitalism. At the same time, he understood that Third World nationalism without communism would not liberate the colonized peasant. Furthermore, he understood that the peasantry, while possessing an orientation toward spontaneous rebellion, was unaware of communism, and that the peasants needed organization and leadership in order to form an effective struggle. He thus saw the need to educate Western workers and the Western communist parties on the importance of encounter and alliance with the anti-colonial struggles in the colonies, and at the same time he recognized the need for the spreading of communism among the peasants, workers, students, intellectuals, and merchants of the colonies (Ho 2007:24-38).
By 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc had developed the basic components of a synthesis of Marxism-Lenin and the patriotic nationalism of the Confucian scholars, a synthesis that would involve a subtle reformulation of Lenin, as we will discuss in subsequent posts.
References
Duiker, William J. 2000. Ho Chi Minh. New York: Hyperion.
Fall, Bernard B., Ed. 1967. Ho Chi Minh On Revolution: Selected Writings, 1920-26. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Ho Chi Minh. 1968. Páginas Escogidas. La Habana: Instituto del Libro.
__________. 2007. Down with Colonialism. Introduction by Walden Bello. London: Verso.
Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Third International, communism
By 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc had developed the basic components of a synthesis of Marxism-Lenin and the patriotic nationalism of the Confucian scholars, a synthesis that would involve a subtle reformulation of Lenin, as we will discuss in subsequent posts.
References
Duiker, William J. 2000. Ho Chi Minh. New York: Hyperion.
Fall, Bernard B., Ed. 1967. Ho Chi Minh On Revolution: Selected Writings, 1920-26. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Ho Chi Minh. 1968. Páginas Escogidas. La Habana: Instituto del Libro.
__________. 2007. Down with Colonialism. Introduction by Walden Bello. London: Verso.
Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Third International, communism
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