Down with Colonialism!

by Hồ Chí Minh, Walden F. Bello (Introduction)

Walden Bello on Ho Chi Minh’s inspirational anti-imperialism. Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Vietminh and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, having defeated Japanese and French colonialist became a hate figure of the USA during the Vietnam War. Anti-globalization activist Walden Bello shows why Ho Chi Minh should still be read by anti-imperialists the world over.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Theory, Audiobook, Asia

226 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2007

About the author

Vietnamese Communist revolutionary and statesman who was Prime Minister and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

Reviews

[E Money The Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of essays. Not too many. Just enough to convey Uncle Ho’s thoughts over time without beating too much of a dead horse - as tends to occur in such collections.

By far the best section is “The Path That Lead Me to Leninism” and I would point a person who is barely trying to piece together who Uncle Ho is here first. Why even care about this random old communist from a thousand miles away? Well Vietnam was colonized. The so-called Western Powers, but mainly the French, briefly the Japanese in WW2, and Americans, used torture, massacres, r***s to keep the Vietnamese people in a desperate situation ripe for exploitative labor. Literacy was below 10%, white Europeans could just pop and out of nowhere and take your house or whatever they wanted, and Vietnamese people would be expected to carry white officers on their backs so that they wouldn’t have to get their shoes muddy. That type of shit.

Anyways a young Ho Chi Minh is traveling around a lot outside of Vietnam for work but is really pondering to himself how to get free. How does Vietnam free itself from this hell? A lot of people are pondering the same questions all over the world at this time, especially the global south. In France, Uncle Ho follows some colleagues of his to a socialist meeting and they’re discussing whether the group should join the 2nd or 3rd International. In normie-speak they are really deciding how to view the newly formed Soviet Union. Ally to the cause of global workers or obscene deviation?

Uncle Ho writes, “What I wanted most to know - and what was not debated in the meetings - was: which International sided with the peoples of the colonial countries?” So he goes on to ask and learns, well, only the 3rd International cares about that. Lenin wrote books on it! “I gradually understood that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations throughout the world from slavery.”

So there you go. Why is Uncle Ho a communist? Because he wants Vietnam to be free. It was the only set of ideas at the time anywhere in the world that had such a path forward. Liberalism and capitalism only offered slavery. Full stop.

Another great section occurs when Uncle Ho writes the declaration of independence for Vietnam against the French and quotes sections from the US declaration of independence from Britain. The ideas the same. Liberty and freedom. If all men are created equal then it should include people of color and the people of the so-called 3rd world. Right?

Unfortunately America said no. Anyone with an honest view of Thomas Jefferson knows he only saw white people as people so yeah… anyways spoilers the US invades and slaughters some 3 million people (millions more outside of Vietnam too) and Uncle Ho passes away only a few months after US troops withdraw.

Another section that is very interesting! After the French withdrawal with the Geneva Treaty in 1954 and split at the 17th parallel into North and South, the two Vietnams develop vastly differently. Majority of hospitals and public education institutions are built in the North. By 1959, North Vietnam alone has 1.5 million students in general education. Leaning to read finally (remember that 10% figure from earlier?)! 8500 students in North Vietnamese universities - only 582 were in universities in the ENTIRE INDOCHINA REGION prior to North Vietnamese independence. More stats on doctors, nurses, and hospitals follow the same trend but you get the picture. Meanwhile South Vietnam was mostly focused on building mass graves under Diem.

Walden Bello has a great introduction and I greatly appreciated the Notes section in the back and the Chronology section in the front. Important to flip between as one reads each section to get the full global context of what Ho Chi Minh is speaking about and why.

[David Steece, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a collection of essays, this is unsurprisingly, a mixed-bag. Some, like his lengthy history of the postwar era, offer insight into Ho's worldview—and by extension a sizable body of the Lao Dong party. The early essays about French colonialism are short, sarcastic and tragic. Ho recounts French crimes with a bitter humor that was surprisingly modern. Like John Oliver or something. Later the minutes of his contributions to meetings of the French communist party display the fierce nationalism that animated his movement.

Others, particularly towards the end, are rather empty. Even for me, a dyed-in-the-wool Leftist it all becomes a bit much. Full of propagandistic language and exhortations, he often sounds like he's just saying the same thing again and again. As many are speeches and letters, this may be forgiven by their readers, but combined in a volume it devolves into self-parody. Sacrifice. The Party. The certainty of victory. When he obsesses over the importance of "unity" within the party, you're reminded of the DRV's various crackdown's on artists, musicians, and writers, and its sad.

I love Uncle Ho, but by the mid 60s he had faded into irrelevance, younger, more radical Party members like Le Duan and his coterie pushing him aside to advance their plans for full-scale War in the South.

"Down With Colonialism!" is worth a read if you're looking for an example of Ho's polemics, but personally I'm looking forward to reading some of his more autobiographical works (like "The Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh,"

The Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh

where hopefully his wit and style (evinced in the early essays of this volume) will be allowed to operate.

[JC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho Chi Minh’s charisma is intoxicating. A moving speaker and writer. The introduction by Walden Bello was excellent. I had the chance to see Bello speak at an online Southeast Asian socialism conference last year, and he's truly a wonderful Southeast Asian speaker and thinker also (recently arrested under the Marcos Jr. government in the Philippines, though later released). I agree with Vijay Prashad’s departure with Bello however, in that Ho Chi Minh was not only an important practical figure in catalyzing a strong anti-colonial movement in Vietnam, but also a very important theorist in his own right.

I found his voice unexpectedly compassionate and patient, something that surprised me while reading this. He possessed a sort of grandfatherly tone I have not found in the writings of either Marx or Lenin — remaining assertive, yet understanding and considerate. For example, this is his articulation of a critique of bureaucracy (which I find is so vital and necessary, because it is something that is so central to Marx, despite the bad reputation socialism has garnered to opposite effect):

“Whether they are committed deliberately or not, embezzlement, waste, and bureaucracy are allied with colonialism and feudalism because they hamper our war of resistance and our national reconstruction...

There are people who are enthusiastic and faithful in struggle; they fear neither dangers, hardships, nor the enemy, thus they have served the revolution well; but as soon as they hold some authority, they grow arrogant and luxurious, indulge in embezzlement, waste, and unconscious bureaucracy, thus becoming guilty in the eyes of the revolution. We must save them, help them recover their revolutionary virtues. Others, while pretending to serve the Fatherland and the people, indulge in embezzlement and waste, and harm the Fatherland and the people. We must educate them, and lead them to the revolutionary path.

Embezzlement, waste, and bureaucracy are evils left by the old society. They spring from self-interest and selfishness. They are begotten by the regime of “exploitation of man by man.””

This type of patience was also something I found in Mao’s writings recently and for some reason found very surprising. How all this played out in reality however, in the dirty reality of praxis, is another matter and I think we should learn from the mistakes of past socialists and re-imagine resistance in better ways as we move forward. Bello in the introduction, for example, criticizes the way Ho Chi Minh engaged so severely with Trotskyists in Vietnam, and this sort of sectarianism is still very damaging in leftist movements today, in my view. All good communists I know and have worked with have strong beliefs and principles they stick to, but understand the invaluable importance of working with other leftists who hold to different principles, tactics, and tendencies.

This book was also a fascinating glimpse into Southeast Asian history (issues of American imperialism and French colonialism, efforts in land reform and industrialization, struggles with poverty and the need for thrift). I particularly enjoyed one section of the book where Ho Chi Minh described his experiences in France as well as first encountering the work of Lenin, and how drastically it changed the way he engaged in politics. He writes:

“Lenin was the first to realize and assess the full importance of drawing the colonial peoples into the revolutionary movement. He was the first to point out that, without the participation of the colonial peoples, the socialist revolution could not come about. He found the necessary methods for effective work in the colonial countries and stressed the need to turn to account the national revolutionary movement in these countries.”

It was also fascinating to read about Ho Chi Minh’s time in China:

“During my stay in Canton in 1924-27, I kept a close watch on the revolutionary movement in our country while performing tasks entrusted by the Chinese Communist Party. The worker-peasant movement was surging up in China. From May 1925 onward, political strikes occurred in virtually all big cities. The biggest was the strike in protest against the British imperialists in Hong Kong, in which more than 250,000 workers participated and which lasted 16 months. The peasant movement also began to spread, especially in Hunan (where it was led by Comrade Mao Tse-tung) and in Kwangtung (where it was led by Comrade Peng Bai).”

I was also very intrigued by some of Ho Chi Minh’s comments on the early years of socialist Vietnam and the honesty he discussed different sectors of the economy, where he admitted many parts were still not socialist in nature and were effectively run under the logic of ‘state capitalism’ and also the voluntary nature of how peasants were engaged in cooperative rural experiments:

“In many regions the peasants set up work-exchange teams, an embryonic form of socialism. A number of experimental agricultural co-operatives were formed, and about 10.7% of the craftsmen joined production groups. Private capitalist industry and trade began to switch over to State capitalism in low or medium forms: working on government orders, using raw materials provided by the State, retailing goods from State-owned wholesale trading organizations, etc.”

Ho Chi Minh also discusses failures in some those years and fiercely criticizes some party members for their luxurious indulgences at the expense of the people:

“Listen to this: Doan Ket and Ngo Quyen communes in Thanh Mien district have illegally killed many pigs and buffaloes for their feasts. Cadres and Party members who did those things were setting bad examples. This has happened because of the lack of democracy. The Party’s rank-and-file dare not speak out, the people dare not speak out. How can the co-op members not feel irritated? How can the co-op progress in such conditions? While the people work day and night, a few seize upon the least occasion to eat and drink, and, believe me, they don’t do things by halves. The above are a few bad examples, but we have also many good examples.”

Another criticism Ho Chi Minh levelled at many in the Communist Party was the sexism that was still prevalent among ranks:

“This is also a common shortcoming in our Party. Many still underestimate the women’s abilities, because of their prejudices and narrow-mindedness. This is utterly wrong. At present, many women are holding responsible posts at basic level. Many are doing a very good job. There are women managers of large farming co-ops who are not only zealous but also efficient. Women co-op members generally have many good qualities: they are less liable to commit embezzlement and waste, indulge in revelry and display domineering behaviour than some of their male counterparts. Am I right? If what I say is not true, please correct me. (“You're right, Uncle.’’) I hope that you will seriously correct your biased and narrow-minded attitude toward women. And the women, especially you who work at district level, must fight hard against this attitude. For if you don’t fight, the men who hold prejudices against women will not readily mend their ways.”

Finally, in elaboration of the previous excerpt on the lack of democracy present in some communes, I would just like to note that this theme of democracy and workers managing their own enterprises was a recurring one that I think is worth concluding with here, because it seems so important to what Ho Chi Minh’s anti-colonial project was about:

“Democracy means to rely on the masses, correctly to follow the mass line. Hence, to be successful, the movement against embezzlement, waste and bureaucracy must rely on the masses.”

“In everything you must get the participation of the masses. Nothing can be done without the masses.”

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely adequate collection of essays written by a man who said that he did not need to write anything because Mao had already done so for him.

The only thing gained from this collection if you've already become accustomed to Leninism is the correct application in a particular situation and some historical minutiae, such as how the Vietnamese party was formed, educated, etc.

Interesting, adequate, five stars.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fortunately, there is much more to this man than the sources presented or the introduction given. This is the second time I have tried this series by Verso and the second disappointment.

[pugs · Rating 5 out of 5]

if these speeches don't get you pumped idk what will, s tier orator. these aren't lectures, i don't know what some reviewers were expecting. the titles and content manage to contextualize the situation of each speech, and bello offers a very fine introduction, but he could have added a preamble or postscript to, not all, but numerous selections, as not everyone knows the entire history. though that's my expectation, perhaps unfair, like other reviewers. for pure primary content, this is a 5 star collection. anything more, sure the stars fade away, but it never claims to be anything more than speeches. cool format overall, nice to return to when feeling a bit hopeless.

[Calum · Rating 4 out of 5]

uncle ho will live forever 💜🇻🇳

[Farah Farooq · Rating 3 out of 5]

might be my favourite socialist uncle

[Andy P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent audiobook. Will probably go back and read the written text now.

[Stefan Gugler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though Uncle Ho wasn't (in his own words) particularly prolific in 'extending theory' since Sun Yat-sen and Mao might have had all the dialectical and farmer-centric revolutionary ideas already, it was really nice reading his adaption of anti-imperialism to the Vietnamese material circumstances. Even though he fought two massive wars, he feels always down to earth and humble. He never condemns the people of a particular state (e.g. American citizens) but is careful in condemning the (somewhat reified) state and its higherups (the US state, Eisenhower and friends).

The first half of the book is mainly about the French occupation, which was very intersting in its own 'historical' right, as here in the west, we are more familiar with the Vietnamese resistance war against the United States (aka the 'Vietnam War') and not with the previous predicaments.

At times it was a bit rambly or thin in theory but nevertheless, in the context of a speech, entertaining or yielding insight in the revolutionary life 50 years ago. I'm a bit relieved he didn't talk so much about protracted people's warfare, which I somehow never got into (Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Mao, Clausewitz, and friends) depite my expectations.

The series is pretty well collected and has decent forewords. It's a bunch of essays that can easily be skipped and browsed.

[Caris · Rating 3 out of 5]

“In 1939, World War Two broke out.

At first, it was an imperialist war between the German, Italian and Japanese fascist imperialists on one side and the British, French and American imperialists on the other.

In June 1941, the German fascists attacked the Soviet Union, the fortress of the world revolution, which had to fight back and to ally itself with the British and Americans against the fascist camp. Thence-forward, the war became one between the democratic camp and the fascist camp.

Owing to the immense forces of the Red Army and the Soviet people, and to Comrade Stalin's correct strategy, in May 1945 Germany was crushed, and in August 1945 Japan surrendered. The democratic camp had won complete victory.

In this victory, the greatest success in the military field as well as in the political and moral field was that of the Soviet Union.

Thanks to the success won by the Soviet Union, the countries of Eastern Europe, which formerly were bases or parts of fascist Germany, have become new democracies.

Thanks to the success won by the Soviet Union, semicolonial countries such as China, and colonial countries such as Korea and Viet Nam have driven out or are driving out the aggressive imperialists to wrest back freedom and independence.

Thanks to the success won by the Soviet Union, national liberation movements in other colonies are rising.

The United States was successful in the financial field. While the other countries were pouring their forces into the war and were devastated by it, the United States made big profits.

After the war, the German, Italian and Japanese fascists were annihilated. The British and French imperialists were going downhill. The Soviet Union very quickly recovered, and developed its work of socialist construction. But treading in the steps of Germany, Italy and Japan, the US has now become the ringleader of the fascist imperialists.”

[Shulamith Farhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho Chi Minh's leadership of the Vietnamese revolution was extraordinary. France and America were utterly defeated by a ragtag army of illiterate peasants. Students around the world were inspired by this victory. I wish I could say that I liked this book. I didn't. HCM is a trivial Stalinist. He is scared of "scholarly words," "negativism," and "formalism." He overestimates the tactic of secrecy.

HCM degrades theory from speculation to folk fables. At best, he arrives at Mao Zedong level "dialectics". Mao (and, a fortiori, HCM) never got further than synthetic cognition. Recall: synthetic cognition is close to the end of the SL, right before the Idea. For those who haven't memorized Georg's thought, here's the summary. Hegel distinguishes between analytic and synthetic cognition. Analytic : apprehension :: synthetic : comprehension. Hegel concludes that in synthetic cognition "the Concept is not for itself, is not at the same time determined in and for itself according to its unity." Only in the Idea is the Concept approached in and for itself. Why does this matter? Synthetic cognition is trapped in finitude. This is bad, since "the principle of philosophy is the infinite free Concept, and all its content rests on that alone, the method proper to Concept-less finitude is inappropriate to it." Without the Idea, dialectics is a betrayal of liberation, and can only boast of its many impressive successes. It's not difficult to go further: synthetic cognition was Fichte's idea of dialectics. Subject-Object unity is intuitive, and obviously better.

Guerillas should take Lenin's advice to heart - no one understands Marxism until they have studied Hegel.

[Andres Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you do not condemn colonialism, if you do not side with the colonial people, what kind of revolution are you waging?”
 
Ho Chi Minh, the first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was a communist revolutionary who led Vietnam to independence and fought off U.S. imperialists during the Vietnam War.
 
A collection of essays and speeches from the 1920s-1960s, this book documents Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts on imperialism, revolution, guerilla warfare, Marxism, and independence.
 
Much like the Haitian people fought against French, English and Spanish imperialists, the Vietnamese people fought against French, Japanese and American imperialists during the Vietnamese Revolution. 

The basis of the Vietnamese Revolution was national independence and the unification of liberated North Vietnam and occupied South Vietnam. The tasks included land reform, wiping out illiteracy, building schools, hospitals and health centers, and developing industry and agriculture.

The underlying endpoint was to steer the economic system of Vietnam towards socialism. Ho Chi Minh explicitly calls for a Marxist-Leninist line: the ideological basis to develop Vietnam into a socialist state.

[Brian Mikołajczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays by Ho Chi Minh spanning from WW2 through the expulsion of the French colonialists to the Vietnam War (American War).
Ho Chi Minh is a staunch patriot/nationalist who wants independence for his country against foreign invaders and influence. In one of his essays, he even invokes the American Declaration of Independence and Woodrow Wilson's "right to self-determination".
A communist, of course, Ho Chi Minh was adamant to unite Vietnam under the party rule even though his writings express admiration for democracy.
An excellent read.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this at night to fall asleep. Most of these speeches are out of context so I don't really know how to take them. But when I do actively listen, I try to think about the context and let myself be transported to a time and place when HCM's words were being heard by the Vietnamese people. It helps me understanding the party, its priorities at the time, its prior wounds from French imperialist forces.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho Chi Minh sprak en schreef inspirerend en het is heel erg interessant om te lezen hoe hij vanuit Leninisme toch probeerde om een zo breed mogelijk anti-imperialistisch front te creëren en hier ook in geslaagd is. Stel je wordt belegerd door Frankrijk EN Japan EN Amerika en je moet vanuit niks een partij en een leger en een politieke structuur bouwen en je wint de oorlog terwijl je tegelijkertijd een hele generatie leert lezen en een land weet te voeden. Dick Schoof could never

[Comrade Zupa Ogórkowa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho Cho Minh was a brilliant revolutionary and this is demonstrated in the expression of his thought… the book’s weaknesses aren’t unique to Minh but a common problem of books that are essay compilations in that sometimes the essay is topical or slogany or represents the authors earlier less developed writing skills or can be repetitive.

[Eurethius Péllitièr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. While I generally enjoy analysis it was good to read practical straightforward action

[AppoX7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read on Vietnam.

[Duy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bản dịch rất hay về các bài viết của Hồ Chí Minh, từ khi còn trẻ tới bản di chúc.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a handful of must-reads in here. Unfortunately, Bello’s compilation taken all at once contains too much redundant prose.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its important, every once in a while at least, to get history from a primary source. We don't always need the past to be run through some filter and turned into a narration; often we can learn a lot just by listening to what was going on at the time. Down with Colonialism! is a collection of the writings and speeches of Hồ Chí Minh, the famous leader of Vietnamese independence. The selection of Hồ Chí Minh's work covers a wide time frame, from his early days where he first addressed the questions of colonization within Marxism to his last comments on the struggle for unification. While I say that it is often good to get history straight from the horse's mouth, I also would not belittle to usage of context in the role of interpreting what is read. The main problem here - and this is solely my own - is that I know next to nothing about French Indochina, Vietnamese independence, or the life of Hồ Chí Minh. Without knowledge of the historical context, these writings often loose their relevancy. A cursory timeline is included (not very helpful) as well as a glossary (staggeringly useless), but unless you come equipped with some prior knowledge, get ready to read some rather repetitive pieces of writing. Hồ Chí Minh may have helped to lead Vietnam to victory, but not because he was a very inventive theorist; as is pointed out in the rather worthwhile introduction and throughout the various texts, Hồ Chí Minh is a staunch Leninist and not much else. So if you are looking for some groundbreaking Marxist theory, you wont find it here. If you are looking for a worthy supplement to a general history of the time and place, this is a great addition.

[C is for **censored** · Rating 1 out of 5]

The star rating given reflects my opinion within ‘the official goodreads rating system’.

1 star: Didn’t Like it
2 stars: It’s Okay
3 stars: Liked it
4 stars: Really Liked it
5 stars: It Was Amazing

I don’t really give a rat-fuck that there are some who think I ‘owe’ an explanation for my opinion. Nope, nada, and not sorry about it.

Sometimes I may add notes to explain what my opinions are based on, and sometimes I don’t. I do this for me, on my books, in my library and I don’t ‘owe’ any special snowflakes a thing. Fuck off if you don’t like it and stop reading my shit.

Particularly given the ‘modifications’ to reader’s personal content going on (and outright censorship), unless particularly motivated I will not comment in detail.

It would help if GR was forthcoming in the new ‘appropriate’ and would make a site-wide announcement delineating the new focus from a reader-centric site to one that is now for authors and selling.

[Lu 3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho Chi Minh was such an amazing and unappreciated communist leader with such interesting and universally applicable thoughts on colonialism and its effects on the many nations affected by it (specifically from from western powers!). I really enjoyed having a window into the mind of one of the greats :))

[Camden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection if you want to know what of Ho Chi Minh's writings/speeches were widely spread and influential, but most of it is just rhetoric- good for understanding him and history, but not too much new to learn.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection. A timely read as the US revs up the imperialism machine again. The introduction does a great job of seating the works in historical context.

[William West]

Historically fascinating. The speeches are fiery, even in translation.