Status Updates From Ho Chi Minh: A Life

Mostly just skimming through bibliography and notes b/c am interested in how the book was put together — have been done w/ the actual book for about a week or so now.

nice

- Last then back to reading (late 1944-1945 in Vietnam near the Chinese border) — HCM wins American military support and uses it to procure equipment for the Viet Minh, takes advantage of the alliance between the US + USSR vs. Germany/Japan (who kicked out the French), consolidates the Viet Minh + army in the countryside, declare a national insurrection against the Japanese and seizes government power in the cities

- *another note: interesting that HCM isn't too active (at least relative for revolutionary standards of the time) in military affairs — that's left mostly to Giap, Pham Van Dong, etc. — he's more of a diplomatic emissary type
- Around 1944 at the border — he's basically lobbying for American military support for the Viet Minh, playing politics and brokering tactical alliances with US military intelligence...

- *additional note to his time in Guangzhou with the KMT and the Vietnam Nationalist Revolutionary League (Dong Minh Hui) — learns to sort of fight and do military stuff also a la the Hobbits being trained by Boromir in basic combat prior to the journey to Mt Doom...
- spent the latter half of 1943-44 on the Chinese-Vietnamese border, observing and preparing the VCP to seize power from the French as WW2 dragged on...

- gets himself in the good graces of high ranking KMT generals to get released, does and spends some time hanging around pro-nationalist but not Communist Chinese-KMT sponsored revolutionary groups
- makes himself useful, is given more free reign over org (and if not makes it pro-Communist, at least makes it not anti-Communist) to clean it up, then finally dips back into Vietnam as the war is about to end...

- ...in and around Kunming + Viet border, coordinating closely with Zhou Enlai et al to prepare to get back to Vietnam for "revolution", plus reorganize leadership that was purged/killed by French + plagued by infighting
- around this time, reasserts control and establishes the Viet Minh
- once that got settled, headed back towards Chongqing, got arrested (?) by Chiang-led KMT/warlord forces...

- *correction again — sort-of but wasn't directly INVOLVED in settling intra-party and movement disputes in Vietnam, was mostly stationed as Comintern rep. in China, but wrote articles/memos and kept in contact with select VCP/ICP leaders, was more of a general admin support guy + diplomat
- took him up to 1940 to reestablish FORMAL contact with his VCP colleagues in China, meets Vo Nguyen Gap, Pham Van Dong here...

- [1938-39, cont.]...nationalist groups, communists, pursue tactical alliances to combat Japanese and fascist-aligned opposition given again, WW2, helped re-organize the embattled VCP/ICP post-French crackdown and sort-of again mediate between pro-Stalin conservative left hardliners such as Ha Huy Tap and non-USSR elements of the antifascist movements
- same time was also working w/ Zhou Enlai, Whampoa Academy

- [mid-1930s, Moscow]...pro-USSR local party members in Vietnam (not that HCM wasn't, more of that he was more of an old school Lenin-allied independent type), continuing to keep a low profile b/c Stalin purges, presumably
- [1938-39, outbreak of WW2, USSR and China]...joined up with a delegation to assist the CCP under Mao in fighting the Chinese Civil War + the Japanese b/c WW2, helped broker alliances between...

- [1931, back in Hong Kong]...was waiting for orders from USSR when he then got arrested by the British, was subject to a minor conflict between British/French authorities (UK didn't know who he was), got sort-of released/sort-of deported to Moscow
- Hung around the USSR again, teaching at the Stalin School and organizing young Vietnamese recruits (again), got himself politically sidelined by more orthodox...

- Was "away from the action" in the late 1920s to 1930s in Vietnam as early uprisings blew up as he was more of a USSR agent/mediator around this time, watched original VCP/ICP leaders get killed/executed/arrested by the French, regrouped in China-Hong Kong (again) — purportedly "laying low" also given that this was around the time of Stalin's Great Purges + post-Shanghai Massacre

- After that was sorted, headed back to China, lobbied hard for the VCP/ICP to NOT be subordinate/answerable to the Chinese or Singaporean communist parties (given that the Comintern seemingly wasn't all that...organized at the time b/c new org not familiar w/ Asia), before heading down on Soviet directives to organize communist parties all across SEA similar to the one in the Udon Thani region of Thailand

- *correction not Vietnam but rather Hong Kong to assist in mediating factional disputes between non-USSR-aligned nationalist groups and USSR-aligned regional communist movements (see the likes of Tran Van Cung), also spent time along the Vietnam/Thailand border setting up and teaching in schools and communist party cells, cultivating goodwill w/ Thai locals

- [still in China]...got sort of caught out by French police again in Shanghai, then fled to Hong Kong, where he tried to go back to Vietnam w/ Soviet support but got sent back to France instead...where he sort of threatened to quit unless he was sent back to Vietnam/Indochina
- Went back to Indochina, established a Soviet/ICP proto-cell along the Thai border, before heading down to Vietnam and mediate yet more...

Cont. of sequence of events:
- [in China]...organized a school, helped mediate general leadership conflicts/disputes within Chinese revolutionary movements and serve as part of the Soviet diplomatic team-ish to the likes of Sun Yat Sen, trained, taught, received younger Vietnamese recruits for education/military training thru a revolutionary school he set-up, wrote more articles and education materials

General progression of HCM events post-France:
- Escaped warrants for arrest by French police/secret police, escaped and/or headed to the USSR via Germany on a German passenger ship
- Spent time in the Stalin School, became a Comintern agent specializing in "Asian affairs", networked with leaders, served as liaison officer and wrote articles
- Was then posted to China to help advise/organize KMT + CCP...

Players that are no longer involved:
- Le Hong Son (former high ranking member of the VCP/ICP), executed
- Le Hong Phong (former high ranking member of the VCP/ICP), deceased/executed
- Nguyen Thinh Minh Kai (ditto, HCM's ex-wife), executed by the French
- Tran Phu (former HCM rival for party leadership, USSR-endorsed), executed by the French
- Lam Duc Thu (HCM friend/patron, French informant), sidelined

Names again to remember and mark properly time passed in the book:
- Key players aside from HCM: Vo Nguyen Giap (secretary of the interior and head/creator of the VLA), Pham Van Dong (secretary of finance), Chu Van Tran (head of defense), Tran Huy Lieu (minister of propaganda)
- Some other key players: Truong Chinh (general secretary of the ICP/VCP), Tran Van Giau (embattled southern head of the ICP/VCP)