On 19th August 1945 the Viet Minh, led by the Indochinese Communist Party, which would later become the Communist Party of Vietnam, took over the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. Within two weeks, Viet Minh forces liberated most of the villages and rural towns across north and central Vietnam. Describing the August Revolution, the paper Nhan Dan states “The source of the 1945 August Revolution’s success was the wise and ingenious leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and its great founder and trainer, President Ho Chi Minh. Only 15 years after its establishment, the Party creatively applied the revolutionary and scientific principles of Marxism–Leninism to the country’s actual situation, proposed an appropriate revolutionary line, and hoisted the flag of socialism and independence”
The Viet Minh were a group created by the Indochinese Communist Party as a united front to bring about Vietnamese independence. The chairman of the Viet Minh was Ho Chi Minh, who founded the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1930. The Vietnamese Communist Party became the Indochinese Communist Party as the Comintern believed that the party should attempt to spread Communism throughout the region and not just in Vietnam.
Leading up to the revolution, the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference of the Viet Minh issued a resolution calling on the population to resist occupation and engage in guerilla warfare against the Japanese who had taken Vietnam from the French during World War 2. The Conference also called for the training of propagandists as well as having women take an active role in spreading this propaganda.
When the Japanese surrendered on 15th August, North Vietnam was to be surrendered to the Chinese and South Vietnam to the British. The Communist Party of Vietnam seized the opportunity and the People’s Revolutionary Committees which they had set up around the country took over the administrative positions. On 24th August, the Viet Minh declared a provisional administration in Saigon. While the Viet Minh took the north fairly easily, the South was an issue. Other nationalist groups as well as Trotskyists attempted to take political control. Under the British, there was a reassertion of French control over the South.
On 2nd September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese Independence. A declaration of independence was issued, which began, “’All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’ This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: all the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: ‘All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.’ Those are undeniable truths. Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.”
While the August Revolution achieved partial success, it was an Important beginning in the Vietnamese revolution to create an independent socialist state, free from imperialism from the French, British, Japanese and later the Americans. The experiences in 1945 with organising the people and guiding them to victory was an important milestone that led to the reunification of Vietnam in 1975.
