PDP7: “Selected Writings”
Author Bio: Ho Chi Minh was the president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and is also the author of the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence. He was born into poverty, but his father was a scholar which enabled him to receive an education and eventually move onto becoming a school teacher. He traveled to France as a cook for a ship and gained an interest in politics and organized Vietnamese ex-patriots. Along with these ex-patriots, Ho Chi Minh organized other Indochinese revolutionary parties in China and Europe. After World War II, he moved his organization into Hanoi and issued the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence. After issuing the declaration, he fought for the final liberation of Vietnam but died before the country reached that point.
Date/context: The culmination of these writings and speeches from Ho Chi Minh take place after World War II and also after the French had colonized Vietnam. Although the French would not leave the country until 1954, Ho Chi Minh had lived in the country for all of his life under the French colony. This means that he was able to write about how it affected people and what happened on a first hand account like he does in one section of this document. This also means that Ho Chi Minh was promoting independence around the time and in doing so was able to write these documents and speeches.
Summary: The first section is on Ho Chi Minh declaring that the Provisional Government of the new Viet Nam are breaking off all relations of a colonial character with France. This meant that all treaties would be canceled and that all privileges that the French had in Vietnam would be annulled. The French colonized Vietnam and deprived the people living their of the majority of their rights. The French would react quickly with violence to prevent uprisings and would destroy the economy of the country by taking the goods that were produced their. They created many unjust taxation methods and made the majority of the population extremely poor. When the Japanese invaded Indochina, the French allowed them to enter the country and were eventually defeated by the Japanese. The Japanese surrendered the allies of Vietnam and gave the opportunity for the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam to gain power in the country. This gave the people of Vietnam to declare their separation from the French officially. The second section is on the victory that the country had against America but also how the country needs to continue to fight for their freedom. Ho Chi Minh explains that the country has had a great victory because the United States was forced to stop bombing the territory of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.Ho Chi Minh praises his fellow countryman and fighters for the efforts that they had put in and how it has led to the United States stopping the shelling. He is uniting the people over the victory and then uses this in the second part of the section to encourage the people to continue their determination to win and then achieve a peaceful national reunification. South Vietnam still had many American and satellite troops inside of the region and the people would have to continue fighting to get the troops out of the country. Ho Chi Minh states a list of things that he wants to accomplish in order to have genuine peace in independence and freedom. America would have to put an end to the war and aggression towards Vietnam and also remove all the troops that were in the country. Vietnam would then have to reunite the North and South zones and be free from foreign intervention.
Key Quotation: “The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their freedom and independence.”
Identifying Characteristics: The author, context, and origin characterize these selected writings. To start, both excerpts are written by Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Vietnamese revolutionary movement and he was the president of the Democractic Republic of Vietnam; these writings demonstrate his leadership and his strong appeal to the people. Secondly, these documents' context define them. Both the "Declaration of Independence of the Democractic Republic of Viet Nam" and the "Appeal to the Nation" were written after wars and colonization; the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence came after World War II, after the Japanese were forced out of Indochina by the Allied armies, and the "Appeal to the Nation" came after the American bombing of North Vietnam. Lastly, the origin of these documents characterize them. They both came from Vietnam, a country that had suffered long under French and then Japanese colonists; Vietnam had also been torn apart by long and greatly damaging wars. In summary, these selected documents, written by Hi Chi Minh, are characterized by their author, context, and origin.
ReplyDeleteConstructive Feedback: This primary document post is very detailed and well-written; however, it missed a few pieces of information that are relatively important. To begin, it is worth mentioning that Hi Chi Minh is a communist convert. This detail is important to include because it changes the reader's perspective of his writings. Secondly, the Vietnamese people's grievances against the French should be included. These grievances include the the fact that the French built more prisons than schools, they "sucked [the Vietnamese] dry" in economics, and they have stolen the Vietnamese rice fields. Finally, a greater description of the requirements needed for the Vietnamese to stop fighting should be included. Ho Chi Minh wrote the list to insist that all American and satellite troops retreat from South Vietnam, the U.S. put an end to all aggression towards Vietnam and abstain from all breaches of Vietnam's sovereignty and security, the internal affairs of South Vietnam be settled without foreign interference, and Aldo that the reunification of the North and South Vietnam be settled without foreign intervention either. In essence, the primary document post is very well-written and detailed, but it still missed a few details that are important to the summary and the reader's understanding and perspective of the selected writings.
Correction: "and Aldo that the reunification of the North and South Vietnam be settled without foreign intervention either" should just be "and that the reunification of the North and South Vietnam be settled without foreign intervention either."
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