PREFACE. ‘A foul and savage enemy is riding roughshod over the soil of Viet Nam, The Vietnamese people are waging a heroic war of resistance, determined to avenge the blood shed. Will Viet Nam survive? Will the Vietnamese people succeed ? These are the ques- tions being asked by our compatriots and by many people in other Here is our answer: the Vietnamese people will not be reduced to bondage ! The movement for the liberation of Viet Nam is an integral part of the new democratic movement surging through the world. As for the enemy of View Nam, the French colonialist, they represent outofdate, decadent imperialism, whose fate has been sealed by history At pretent, the Vietnamese armed forces are still weaker than those of the enemy; it is therefore necessary to prolong the war of In the course of the fighting we will develop our forces, and gradually wear down the enemy’s strength, until the day we fan crush him completely. This war of resistance must be waged by ~ military, political, economic and the whole people, in every field cultural — so that, wherever the enemy goes be meets our fierce sand chokes him, giving him not 2 moment's respite in our country. resistance, which enci ‘This book sets out che guiding principles of the fight to the deach Against the reactionary French colonialist for the geoutine independence ation of the Fatherland, for the maintenance and devel- and eon pment of the dem the small contribution that the Viewamese people can make to the jc republican regime in Vier Nam, and for saleguariing of world peace and democracy= TRUONG-CHINH — SELECTED WRITINGS ‘Viet Nam's armed resistance is a just war. A just war generally receives considerable support and derives immense strength from the people. However, the experiences of che Abyssinian people in the struggle against che Telian fascists in 1935-1936 have shown that even a just war may fail i the military command commits blunders and if propaganda, mobilization and foreign policy are weak. There is a lesson in this for us To win final victory in this long and hard struggle is not an easy task. Success can only be achieved when the following fundamental conditions .are assured: the correctness of our political line, the achievement of compact national unity, the consolidation of our rear, the heroism of our army and people and the competence of ‘our command, ‘This war of resistance enhances the Vietnamese people's prestige throughout the world and enriches the best traditions of our nation, Our compatriots have all heard the sacred call of their Fatherland, and are. rising up in response. Determined to fulfil their duty obvious scheme was to reinvade ie ti Bar ttt ase intra the French reactionaries’ obvious scheme was to Imzaded to ccipy oar wns andere our Covsnicns On Ana 196, Valley tent he following secret diene to Colonel "Veaire conering our country. the invasion of "the Nang’ State” iphong and L. ‘Priced to Co To and prepare for an atick on the Nong Sete amd But that was not all. Following the Haiphong nt ae Mong” Ca Son incidents, the French colonialsts staged repeated pro “ave put of sou woop: in Go To and Van Han aed keep thew pla n incidents, poate ipl pening Foner den cations everywhere they had troops allowing Gener Vally's recive, Colon! Vicive sted in a reat © _ ‘it is commander on the oocipmion ef the Ming. Suie on Ane 21 BE ‘More oil was thus poured on the fire. The situ “Our acon may bined the occpion of the ne of age (Ganoi Hal Duong tlngay, Mong City the Spee of hich is Lag Sa tense. i, Reponing on Gribeli's woope we of bands to sir op voableria the ted the French Officials’ word Quang Yen region, in. preparation for the occupation by Freach troops of the Our people no longer trust cventualities. Earth Seduce ae oe cnc aa Snr rie seasnes to cope wit all eventual = fanoi and amy. as pop by the Tonkin Conbmining Conary. ems impo ramparts, combat trenches, barricades went up in Hanoi tation became {he procte elconetnees stationed. ales cotton at pald ot tty 1 te cyaene ee other places where French troops were stati e ear the poten! anes whch mus be tre ow heb the espe French colonialist ring- Meng Gal een, an mh ta ae On December 16, 1946, all the French colonialist ring rt Be kept in mind jing met in Haiphong. On the following Thee yatple, of dhceey oticc: a9 atin ao a leaders in. Indochina i 5 ff parsed eae ‘colonialist’ criminality. Faced with such clear prof, how can the French SOFted ura 2 invaders deny tht they ached and exci Vice Nom cance Babagee teach OOPS 1 E crossed the Where the validly in their propaganda sesing, Vine Newt of tachng an attack in Hanoi. On December 17, 1946, they cross stem ft98 ‘TRUONG-CHINE SELECTED WRITINGS barricade in Hang Bun Street in the Yen Ninh quarter of Hanoi, and fired on the headquarters of the self-defence forces in that street, Their fire was returned, Then the French forces, armed with mortars, machine-guns, cannon and gre nades, attacked the whole Yen Ninh area. They broke into hhouses, raped women, slaughtered children and_ pillaged property, creating a state of war right in the heart of Hanoi ‘The reactionary French colonialists in Indochina were tk- ing advantage of the Cabinet crisis in France — the Bidault Government had resigned, the Blum Government was not yet in power — to carry out a policy of fait accompli. From that day onwards, there was a state of generalized war between the Vietnamese people and the French colonialsts, a war provoked by the French colonialists On December 18, 1946, French forces occupied our Minis tuy of Finance and the Ministry of Communications and Public Works. At the same time, Morlitre, the butcher of Yen Ninh, sent an ultimatum to our Government, demand- ing that the self-defence forces be disarmed and threatening to assume control of public security in Hanoi. The French colonialists were trying hard to press their plans through. ‘The atmosphere of hostility between Viet Nam and France became extremely tense. Then, on the night of December 19, 1946, under severe provocation 0 the part of French troops in Hanoi, fighting broke out in the capital and hostilities spread throughout Viet Nam, Events have proved that it was the reactionary French colonialists who failed to keep their word, and who broke the Preliminary Agreement of March 6 and the modus vivendi of September 14. It was they who provoked war THE RESISTANCE WILL WIN oo and launched attacks on us throughout the country. They used force to invade our country and to partition it. We auld not continue making concessions to them, Had we done so, our Government would have become a puppet gov- cenment, and our people slaves. For that reason, we were compelled to resist, to fight the reactionary French colonial- isis, in order to defend the integrity of our country and to maintain our sovereignty. ‘As President Ho Chi Minh declared in his appeal of Dec. 20, 1946 : “Even if we must sacrifice everything, we are determined ot to lose our country, not to five as slaves”. ‘The French reactionaries insist in their propaganda that wwe attacked them first, on December 19. This is nothing ut an attempt to conceal their own crimes. They themselves attacked us as carly as November 20, in Haiphong and Lang Son, and on December 17 in the capital; they attacked us immediately after the signing of the Preliminary Agreement ‘on March 6, 1946, and even before. They whine shamelessly : “Viet Nam is acting im contravention of the agreements”, ‘and hope in this way to delude people and make them forget the French violations of the agreements. But in the face of stubborn fact, they must bear the full burden of responsibil- ity. in the eyes of history, in the eyes of the world and of the French people Honest people have to acknowledge today that our people do love peace and that our Governtnent pursues a very moderate policy, But when forced to fight, we do so with determination. The anger our people have long kept at bay Blazes forth today like lightning.