ElijahRyne
A Hermit that is NOT that Lazy…
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2021
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- 153
Let’s get some nonfiction opinion writing practice. Here is mine.
TLDR it is Ho Chi Minh, he managed to repel the Japanese, Chinese, and French while holding true to his ideals. While also founding a government and leading it through war with those stated above with the addition of the USA. Then, unlike Mao and Stalin, he relinquished his power for the betterment of his nation.
While part of me wants to give an American figure like John Brown, or a Republican from the French Revolutions, I must give it to Ho Chi Minh. He was born on 1890 in French Indochina, a French colony, to a poor scholar. A place where Vietnamese citizens were lower than their colonizers. Poor Non-French citizens were purposely non educated, could not vote, were seen as lesser by officials, were not allowed in politics, and much more. The French were purposely trying to infantilize the non-French citizens in their colony, so they would rely on their ‘Elite Masters’ for everything.
When Ho grew up he became a cook on a French steam ship where he traveled the world for a couple of years. Eventually he began living in France, where he became a socialist. He saw the idea of a highly democratic country, owned and run by the workers, and governed by the rule of law as the ideal society. He organized a group of Vietnamese citizens in France to sign a petition for equal rights for all people living in French Indochina, and sent it to Versailles Peace Conference which concluded WW1. The petition was ignored by those in the conference, but made him a hero with those in Vietnam.
Eventually he joined the French Communist Party, that was trying to emulate the Russian Revolution. Here he learned many tactics in starting and planing a revolution. In 1923 he went to the Soviet Union, where he became an active part of international socialist politics. Where he broke from the French Communist Party for its soft stance on colonialism. Marxists of the time, unlike other socialists and anarchists, believed only industrial workers, the so called proletariat, could create a successful socialist society. They believed that peasant revolutions would create a new Napoleon who would only play lip service to the peaceful ideals of the international. This split from his anti-imperialist goals and had been proven wrong by the success of the Russian revolution and the failure of the German one.
In 1924 Ho went to Guangzhou where he organized Vietnamese exiles into the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth AssociationThanh Nien. This is where he first began organizing and planning his resistance to the French empire. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek exiled the communists in Canton. Ho began traveling as a representative of the Communist International, the world organization of communist parties, in south-east Asia.
In Hong Kong, 1929, members of the Thanh Nien formed the Indochinese Communist Party, PCI. The PCI began organizing in major cities of Vietnam, but were reluctant to start with out Ho. In 1930 Ho rejoined them. He acted as the mediator between the USSR and other factions of the PCI. It was also around now that the French Colonialists became brutal in their crackdown. Ho was exiled to Hong Kong.
In 1935 Ho Chi Minh was one of the foundational supporters of the Popular Front. An idea where Communists would ally against Fascism and Colonialism, with all other leftist groups. This lead to lest suppression in French Indochina until 1937-38 when the Popular Front died. In 1941, after meeting with Mao, Ho and 5 others went back to Vietnam where he founded the VietMinh, he then went to Chiang Kai-shek to ask for help in his anti colonial struggle, but was arrested for being a communist. He stayed there for 18 months until his friends managed to get him released.
In 1945 the Japanese took over Indochina, Ho and the VietMinh fought against them with the collaboration of the USA. Eventually the Japanese surrendered after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Ho Chi Minh went to Hanoi. The people in the streets crowded in a euphoric frenzy as he proclaimed the founding of Vietnam. With the ideals that “All men are born equal: the Creator has given us invioble rights, life, liberty, and happiness!”
Yet that was not the end, the Japanese gave North Vietnam to Chiang Kai-shek while the French reconquered South Vietnam. Ho, while preparing for war if things went south, tried negotiating with France, but they refused. To them there was no independent Vietnam, only France and its over sea territories. Eventually Ho managed a settlement, the Chinese retreated from the north as Vietnam became part of a French Union, where Paris had the final word.
The settlement was unsatisfactory to both sides, so Ho went to Paris for a new treaty. That treaty though was broken when the French opened fire on the city of Haiphong on November 20th to November 23rd of 1946. 6,000 citizens were killed, there would be no more peace. Yet, Ho reached out one more time to France, who said the only way for them to stop was for full control.
They continued to fight for two years before the French negotiated to put the former puppet emperor as the ruler of Vietnam, Bao Dai. The French were trying to split the old elite to destabilize the VietMinh. Yet, they didn’t succeed. The VietMinh surrounded the French and Bao Dai’s forces in the cities. The French then surrendered when they were decisively defeated in Dien Bien Phu.
By this point Ho Chi Minh had given up power to other members of the VietMinh. While he was still in power, he decided to corporate power so that the nation could prosper without him. So, it was not him who negotiated peace. The peace agreement saw the separation of North and South Vietnam the North was controlled by the VietMinh and the South by Bao Dai. The two were scheduled to be united by popular vote in 1956, but that vote was never held by the south.
North Vietnam had little agricultural prowess, so they were forced to ask their communist allies for help. The conditions went against Ho’s ideals of freedom but there was no choice. The government began Soviet backed purges of Trotskyites and to assert self reliance they began a poorly executed land reform. The government also took more power because of its wartime state and began purging right wing nationalists. Yet, Ho had managed to balance his alliance with China and the USSR so that Vietnam would be independent.
Eventually the south began to revolt against their imperialist rulers who were backed by the USA. These revolutionaries became known as the Vietcong. Initially the North only supplied them, but in 1959 it was decided that the only way forward was full unification. At this point, while still being chief of state, Ho Chi Minh relinquished the position of general secretary to Le Duan. He no longer was the head of the government but still did influence policy and positions, but not because of his office, but because of the respect he had gained. He never started a cult of personality like Stalin or Mao. If you want to know how people saw him look at George Washington. He was in control of the military and much of the state during the revolution before being elected president and then giving up his power for the betterment of the nation. Even when he retired his position was the nations position
TLDR it is Ho Chi Minh, he managed to repel the Japanese, Chinese, and French while holding true to his ideals. While also founding a government and leading it through war with those stated above with the addition of the USA. Then, unlike Mao and Stalin, he relinquished his power for the betterment of his nation.
While part of me wants to give an American figure like John Brown, or a Republican from the French Revolutions, I must give it to Ho Chi Minh. He was born on 1890 in French Indochina, a French colony, to a poor scholar. A place where Vietnamese citizens were lower than their colonizers. Poor Non-French citizens were purposely non educated, could not vote, were seen as lesser by officials, were not allowed in politics, and much more. The French were purposely trying to infantilize the non-French citizens in their colony, so they would rely on their ‘Elite Masters’ for everything.
When Ho grew up he became a cook on a French steam ship where he traveled the world for a couple of years. Eventually he began living in France, where he became a socialist. He saw the idea of a highly democratic country, owned and run by the workers, and governed by the rule of law as the ideal society. He organized a group of Vietnamese citizens in France to sign a petition for equal rights for all people living in French Indochina, and sent it to Versailles Peace Conference which concluded WW1. The petition was ignored by those in the conference, but made him a hero with those in Vietnam.
Eventually he joined the French Communist Party, that was trying to emulate the Russian Revolution. Here he learned many tactics in starting and planing a revolution. In 1923 he went to the Soviet Union, where he became an active part of international socialist politics. Where he broke from the French Communist Party for its soft stance on colonialism. Marxists of the time, unlike other socialists and anarchists, believed only industrial workers, the so called proletariat, could create a successful socialist society. They believed that peasant revolutions would create a new Napoleon who would only play lip service to the peaceful ideals of the international. This split from his anti-imperialist goals and had been proven wrong by the success of the Russian revolution and the failure of the German one.
In 1924 Ho went to Guangzhou where he organized Vietnamese exiles into the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth AssociationThanh Nien. This is where he first began organizing and planning his resistance to the French empire. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek exiled the communists in Canton. Ho began traveling as a representative of the Communist International, the world organization of communist parties, in south-east Asia.
In Hong Kong, 1929, members of the Thanh Nien formed the Indochinese Communist Party, PCI. The PCI began organizing in major cities of Vietnam, but were reluctant to start with out Ho. In 1930 Ho rejoined them. He acted as the mediator between the USSR and other factions of the PCI. It was also around now that the French Colonialists became brutal in their crackdown. Ho was exiled to Hong Kong.
In 1935 Ho Chi Minh was one of the foundational supporters of the Popular Front. An idea where Communists would ally against Fascism and Colonialism, with all other leftist groups. This lead to lest suppression in French Indochina until 1937-38 when the Popular Front died. In 1941, after meeting with Mao, Ho and 5 others went back to Vietnam where he founded the VietMinh, he then went to Chiang Kai-shek to ask for help in his anti colonial struggle, but was arrested for being a communist. He stayed there for 18 months until his friends managed to get him released.
In 1945 the Japanese took over Indochina, Ho and the VietMinh fought against them with the collaboration of the USA. Eventually the Japanese surrendered after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Ho Chi Minh went to Hanoi. The people in the streets crowded in a euphoric frenzy as he proclaimed the founding of Vietnam. With the ideals that “All men are born equal: the Creator has given us invioble rights, life, liberty, and happiness!”
Yet that was not the end, the Japanese gave North Vietnam to Chiang Kai-shek while the French reconquered South Vietnam. Ho, while preparing for war if things went south, tried negotiating with France, but they refused. To them there was no independent Vietnam, only France and its over sea territories. Eventually Ho managed a settlement, the Chinese retreated from the north as Vietnam became part of a French Union, where Paris had the final word.
The settlement was unsatisfactory to both sides, so Ho went to Paris for a new treaty. That treaty though was broken when the French opened fire on the city of Haiphong on November 20th to November 23rd of 1946. 6,000 citizens were killed, there would be no more peace. Yet, Ho reached out one more time to France, who said the only way for them to stop was for full control.
They continued to fight for two years before the French negotiated to put the former puppet emperor as the ruler of Vietnam, Bao Dai. The French were trying to split the old elite to destabilize the VietMinh. Yet, they didn’t succeed. The VietMinh surrounded the French and Bao Dai’s forces in the cities. The French then surrendered when they were decisively defeated in Dien Bien Phu.
By this point Ho Chi Minh had given up power to other members of the VietMinh. While he was still in power, he decided to corporate power so that the nation could prosper without him. So, it was not him who negotiated peace. The peace agreement saw the separation of North and South Vietnam the North was controlled by the VietMinh and the South by Bao Dai. The two were scheduled to be united by popular vote in 1956, but that vote was never held by the south.
North Vietnam had little agricultural prowess, so they were forced to ask their communist allies for help. The conditions went against Ho’s ideals of freedom but there was no choice. The government began Soviet backed purges of Trotskyites and to assert self reliance they began a poorly executed land reform. The government also took more power because of its wartime state and began purging right wing nationalists. Yet, Ho had managed to balance his alliance with China and the USSR so that Vietnam would be independent.
Eventually the south began to revolt against their imperialist rulers who were backed by the USA. These revolutionaries became known as the Vietcong. Initially the North only supplied them, but in 1959 it was decided that the only way forward was full unification. At this point, while still being chief of state, Ho Chi Minh relinquished the position of general secretary to Le Duan. He no longer was the head of the government but still did influence policy and positions, but not because of his office, but because of the respect he had gained. He never started a cult of personality like Stalin or Mao. If you want to know how people saw him look at George Washington. He was in control of the military and much of the state during the revolution before being elected president and then giving up his power for the betterment of the nation. Even when he retired his position was the nations position
