Today you are meeting to discuss the review of four years of people’s war versus the war of destruction in the various regions of the North, I am very glad to address your meeting. Let me convey the cordial greetings of President Ho Chi Minh, the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Committee to all the participants in this congress and all cadres and fighters of the regional armed forces, to all our fellow-countrymen and all cadres and Party members in the various regions.
On many previous occasions I have talked about people’s war versus the U.S. war of destruction in the North as a whole. Today I would like to deal with the brilliant successes and immense strength of people’s war in the various regions of the North, i.e. in the various provinces, and take this opportunity to set forth some views about the progress, new potentialities, and important position of regional military work.
Over the past years, under the direct leadership of the regional Party organizations, the gallant fight and creative labour of our people and armed forces accounted for a worthy part in the common achievements of the North and of the country as a whole, and our people’s war in various regions attained a rather high level.
The people’s war versus the war of destruction was a nation-wide and all-sided resistance with new features. Hence the abundant and valuable experiences gathered by the various regions in all fields.
The first experience consists in having the entire people fight the enemy, in having the entire people hit back at enemy aircraft to defend our airspace, and at enemy vessels to defend our territorial waters, in conducting wartime mobilization in such a way as to expand our regular troops and at the same time to build and develop our regional armed forces, and make comprehensive preparations to guard against the expansion by the enemy of the “limited war” of aggression to the whole country.
As the war goes on, the various regions have continued to maintain and boost production and to build socialism, the immediate aim being to help bring the resistance to victory and the long-term one being to push socialist revolution forward. That is why they have also gained experience in changing the economic orientation, building socialism in wartime conditions, and closely combining combat duties with the task of building socialism. We must stress that this is the first time in our history that people’s war has been conducted on the basis of a socialist regime, unlike the former resistance against French aggression and the current resistance in the South against U.S. aggression, waged on the basis of a people’s democratic regime in the liberated areas.
Another experience of great importance consists in strengthening the leadership of regional party organizations in an all-sided way, in combat and production, in ideology and organization, so as to bring the power of people’s war into full play in all regions.
The American imperialists’ perfidious design is to perpetuate the division of our country. But in their war of aggression they have looked upon Viet Nam as one single battlefield, thus tacitly and unwittingly admitting that Viet Nam is one. They have introduced a large expeditionary force into the South, considering this as the main battlefield at the same time attacking the socialist North with air and naval forces, considering it as a battlefield. That is why the resistance waged by the people and armed forces of the North against the American imperialists’ war of destruction, for the defence of the D.R.V.N. is at the same time part and parcel of the common resistance waged by the entire nation against the limited war of aggression, for the defence of the great rear base of South Viet Nam, the great fighting front. Therefore, the experiences gained by people’s war in the North in opposing the enemy’s war of destruction are also those gained by people’s war against their “limited war” of aggression in the socialist rear base. Meanwhile, in the South, our countrymen and the Liberation armed forces are getting the better of over 1,200,000 American and puppet troops, winning great successes, and gaining very precious experiences in the fight against American ground, air and naval forces.
And so the experiences drawn by our people and armed forces in both zones of the country are very rich; they complement each other and complete the experiences acquired by our entire nation in the resistance against American aggression, for national salvation. In practice, people’s war in the various regions in both the South and the North has proved to contain extremely great potentialities. That is why we must not only sum up the experiences obtained in the North but also strive to learn from those secured in the various regions of the South. Only so can we substantially strengthen regional military work, develop the tremendous power of the regions and contribute to bringing our resistance to complete victory, and at the same time make good preparations for the long-range building of our armed forces and the consolidation of our national defence.
The summing-up report prepared by the command of the military zone is fairly complete and to a degree reflects the ideas of the leadership of the provinces concerned. This is very good. I would like to add my comments on the following subjects:
1. The entire people fight the enemy and oppose their war of destruction by air and naval forces.
2. Wartime mobilization; building and development of regional armed forces.
3. Change in economic orientation; building of socialism in the various regions in wartime.
4. The strengthening of the leadership of regional Party organizations.
1. The entire people fight back the air and naval war of destruction
Against the U.S. imperialists’ modern air and naval forces our armed forces and countrymen in the North waged an unusual people’s war: the entire people hit back at enemy planes and vessels, carried out defence and “dodging” work, and ensured the functioning of communications and transport. Owing to the particular features and specific goals of the war of destruction, the above-mentioned three fronts, of which combat was the primary one, were closely related to each other and all of them actively contributed to defeating the enemy, foiling their main design against the North of our country. On these fronts worked side by side the anti-aircraft units of the regular forces and the regional forces, the communication-transport-maintenance units at the centre and the provinces and villages. The forces at the centre played a part of utmost importance. The widespread regional forces had also a very important role.
a) As regards combat tasks, we successfully implemented this directive: the entire people hit back at enemy planes, taking the anti-aircraft units of the three armed forces as the nucleus. This is a new development in people’s war in our country. We had acquired experiences in our resistance mainly against ground forces, but not against air force. With our Party’s sound line, our people’s determination, intelligence and creative power, we launched a plane-hunting mass movement and achieved splendid results.
Our young anti-aircraft defence and air force developed by leaps and bounds. Regional anti-aircraft units also grew more experienced. Militia and self-defence members, young and old, men and women, no matter what their nationality, in the plains as well as in the hill regions, managed to down up-to-date U.S. jets. Regional forces of provinces and districts also grounded enemy planes. Our people valiantly fought and served the fighting, captured air pirates, built defence works and roads for anti-aircraft guns and missiles, helped the army in every respect. We used all available weapons from rifles, machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns of various calibres up to missiles and modern planes. With anti-aircraft units of both the regular forces and the widespread regional forces and all kinds of weapons, we wove an extensive network of fire with key points, many layers and many directions, to trap enemy planes at every altitude, place and moment. The strong fire-power in the socialist North inflicted very heavy losses on the enemy air force and struck fear into American pilots.
The impact of the regional armed forces in antiaircraft defence could be felt in the number of enemy planes brought down by the militia, selfdefence and regional forces. Keeping watch round the clock and using automatics of various kinds, while working in the fields or in the factories, and sometimes simply using rifles, militia and selfdefence members managed to shoot down modern jets: those of Quang Binh province downed over 100 enemy planes and many militiawomen also participated in this. Provincial anti-aircraft units gave a good account of themselves, some of them blasting up to 70 or 80 enemy planes — a high record indeed.
The impact of the regional armed forces could be seen in their co-ordination in combat with the regular anti-aircraft units to knock down as many enemy planes as possible, forming an efficacious flak at different altitudes and in different places.
On the other hand, in the war of destruction, the enemy air force was in a position to strike at any target in our rear. To cope with the enemy’s mobility, we had to build an extensive air defence system with focal points. Thanks to the close coordination between the air defense forces of the regular army and of the regional troops, and between the regional troops and the militia and selfdefence forces, we satisfactorily met that complex combat requirement.
Another major role of the armed forces was their important assignment in air defence: fighting enemy planes flying at low altitude. The regional forces and militia and self-defence units kept watch, detected adverse aircraft and helped the people organize air defence, and therefore succeeded in protecting their lives and property and defending production, helping them to live a normal life under the conditions of a gruelling war.
The regional armed forces in the coastal areas successfully hit back at U.S. vessels and U.S.-puppet commando-boats. In co-ordination with regular artillery units operating at key centres, regional gunners fired at enemy boats, provided cover for the people’s activities within their gun’s range and opened up new possibilities for the regions to defend our rather long coast-line.
Together with the people, regional troops and people’s security forces honourably discharged their responsibility by grounding adverse planes, wiping out commandos, keeping order and security, and foiling the enemy psywar moves.
Along with operations of the regular forces, courageous and effective actions of the regional armed forces stimulated the people’s fighting spirit and production zeal, and strengthened their determination to defeat American aggression, and their confidence in the final victory.
As regards operational thinking, the very fact that Vietnamese militia and self-defence units were able to knock down U.S. jets with infantry weapons bears a very important significance. It gives a concrete expression to the high level of our people’s traditional military thinking: to fight a big force with a small one and to use all weapons available to worst an adversary possessing up-to-date ones usually superior to ours. One can say that the successes of our militia and self-defence forces supply part of the answer to the question why the Vietnamese people have got the better of the American aggressors.
b) Parallel to the directive “The entire people hit back at enemy planes and vessels” is this one: “The entire people actively take part in civilian air defence.” The past years’ fighting has highlighted the extremely important significance of the civilian air defence which frustrated the enemy’s objective and reduced to the minimum our losses in life and property.
“To wipe out the enemy so as to defend ourselves, to preserve our forces to wipe out the enemy,” this fundamental principle of every war has to be thoroughly grasped when opposing a people’s war to a war of destruction. Indeed, to fight the enemy air force is not like dealing with their infantry, especially when one does not yet possess a strong air force and long-range missiles to destroy their planes on the ground at their bases or on the wing to their targets. In these conditions, in order to bring our initiative into full play and reduce our losses, it is of utmost importance to nullify or lessen the effectiveness of the adversary’s air strikes, and on this basis to turn their attacks into opportunities for us to wipe them out. Therefore, targets of eventual enemy strikes must be kept secret, protected by defence works, camouflaged, scattered and moved from place to place. Civilian air defence as well as the change of orientation in economic activities have a strategic significance, in the sense that they aim at neutralizing or diminishing the destructive effect of the enemy’s raids. The satisfactory functioning of civilian air defence makes it possible for the regions to carry out fighting, maintain production, keep communications and transport going for a long time. Moreover, in many areas, especially in the southern provinces of the Fourth Military Zone, where the adversary intensified their attacks during the “limited bombing” period, our losses were smaller than previously due to better air defence measures.
In this domain the people’s efforts were truly considerable. Throughout the North the population dug tens of millions of shelters, tens of thousands of communication trenches, adequately organized first aid, and made good the aftermaths of enemy attacks. We evacuated to the countryside millions of people living in the places worst hit by the enemy and in cities and other urban centres, dispersed many factories, offices, storages, schools and hospitals. Some provinces played hosts to hundreds of thousands of evacuees and helped them in their work and life. These were very great achievements and at the same time new experiences of the various regions in this war.
Civilian air defence work is directly related to the people’s life, feelings, ways and customs, and to the production and combat activities of various bases, government services and branches of activity. We must, therefore, adequately perform the job of educating the masses, cadres and Party members in their tasks and of conducting deep and broad political mobilization, and at the same time pay the utmost attention to organizational work, relying on the socialist relations of production, and, in rural areas, mainly on the co-operatives. Once the task of reinforcing civilian air defence is set forth, we must engage in organizational work, adopt concrete measures and correct policies with a view to fulfilling this task. We must have manpower to dig trenches and shelters (for instance the trench-digging teams of the co-ops), elaborate policies to ensure in every way good conditions for this activity, adopt a sound line in building shelters, for instance building priority shelters for families of war invalids and war martyrs, organize first-aid and transport of the wounded, adopt concrete lines and policies concerning evacuation and dispersion, etc. In many regions, effective models of shelters have been worked out and popularized, as well as efficient material and technical means which have made it possible to build better shelters with less labour. In the recent period, our people have built many types of highly effective shelters against the American imperialists’ savage bombing and shelling: individual shelters, collective shelters, shelters for cattle, shelters for movable property, mobile shelters in the fields, shelters in sandy beaches, and solid and complex shelter systems.
Co-ordinating the resistance against the war of destruction with the preparations against the enemy’s eventual expanding of the “limited war,” many regions paid attention to coupling the building of shelters with the erection of combat villages.
Civilian air defence was very successful and has demonstrated our people’s engineering capacities and the immense inventive power of people’s war.
c) The communications and transport front was also an important part of the people’s war against the war of destruction.
One of the enemy’s major objectives was to strike at our communications and transport and check all assistance of the great rear to the great fighting front. To this effect, the adversary at times concentrated three-fourths of their air attacks. The military report of Grant Sharp, U.S. commander in the Pacific, revealed his vicious schemes and measures and strenuous efforts to bomb scattered targets as well as networks of targets, especially our most important communication lines. This report also admitted the bitter U.S. failure on this front, where our people’s feats were remarkable.
Indeed, they unmistakably spelled out the grim determination to outwit the enemy, the courage, cleverness and organizational skill of the regional armed forces and people. The entire people were mobilized to maintain communications and transport in good order under all circumstances, this being regarded as a central emergency task. To repair what the enemy fiercely destroyed was a real combat job, especially in a country with an intricate terrain, so many rivers, bridges and roads difficult of access. To get the better of the enemy here, one must have a tight hold on all the forces of transport, of road-building and road-mending, and of selfdefence to protect the communication lines. Leadership in this tasks became part of military art, which requires a good understanding of the enemy situation and ours, a close co-ordination between the central and regional forces. Organizationally, the forces ensuring the smooth running of communications and transport were set up along the line of the three categories of armed forces: centrally-directed forces and forces of the regular army; the specialized units of the province; and widespread militia and self-defence forces at the grassroots. The centrally-directed forces and the regular forces were most important, especially in the uninhabited or sparsely populated areas and at key points subjected to heavy attacks. But the regional forces played also a part of great consequence, without which our tasks in communications and transport could not have been fulfilled in the past years.
Experience proves the potentialities of the various regions, provinces and villages to be very great. The point is to develop these potentialities in the most rational way: any job a region can tackle should be entrusted to it, on condition that this will not affect the unified leadership of the central level and the mobility and flexibility in the overall activities of the transport and communications branch. Over the past years, transport and communications work was best ensured in those provinces which put adequate emphasis on it, which received adequate reinforcements, which knew how to use adequately both army engineers and young volunteers, which were adequately strengthened as regards their fighting forces, which benefited from resolute command and concentrated and unified leadership, and where the central forces were effectively combined with the militia, self-defence corps and people at the grassroots level.
2. To mobilize the manpower needed by the war, to set up and develop the regional armed forces
In the tough fight against the war of destruction, every region actively encouraged the youth to enlist in the army while steadily building and strengthening its armed forces, and militia and self-defence forces.
a) To meet the requirements of the war, our regular forces, especially the modern arms like the antiaircraft force and the air force, were considerably expanded in a short time, in both number and quality, and did well on the battlefield. This was made possible by the great contribution of the various regions to the strong reserve forces built there since the years of peace.
As production, combat and service to the front had to be carried out simultaneously, successful mobilization of an adequate contingent of young people to serve in the army was in itself a tremendous achievement of the regions. It was possible thanks to the patriotism and love for socialism of our people and youth, to the leadership and organizational ability of the regional Party organizations and government services, and to the superiority of our socialist system. It also threw light on the new progress of regional military work and military organs.
It was the first time that the regions had to draft so many young men. In peace time, we had made good preparations for wartime mobilization by working out relevant laws, statutes and regulations. When the war broke out, we further realized the necessity of combining the enforcement of State laws with a careful political education, of carrying out the ideological mobilization of the masses, of following the mass line and of relying on the Party cells, co-operatives, State farms, enterprises, offices, schools, mass movements like the youth’s “three readies,”(2) the women’s “three responsibilities.”(3)
In those regions where the mass line was followed and which possessed a strong mass movement, in particular the youth movement, the work of selecting men for the armed forces was always fulfilled, even overfulfilled, both quantitatively and qualitatively. A point to be stressed is that the various regions should pay full attention to strengthening the movement wherever it is still weak, and at the same time to getting a good hold on it wherever it is advancing, so as to bring about overall progress. All regions should act in such a way as to perform their duties towards the resistance.
Organizationally, we have adequately solved the relation between production and combat, and in replenishing the regular forces and setting up on the spot combat forces, with an adequate mobilization rate for each region. The selection of men for the armed forces was well done wherever this task was combined with that of giving a strong impetus to other regional works: fostering and developing nuclei of regional forces; building militia and selfdefence corps; building reserve forces, ensuring strong on-the-spot combat forces with adequate mobilizable reserves; paying full attention to the carrying out of policies vis-à-vis members of the armed forces in the rear.
Over the past years, the overwhelming majority of the youth enlisted have proved to be courageous and staunch fighters, faithful to the Party, dedicated to the people, capable of rapidly mastering military knowledge. They are worthy of being the cream of the youth of the socialist regime, patiently educated and trained by the Party. This was another great achievement to our beautiful socialist system.
The various regions should ceaselessly strive to heighten the quality of their selective services, so that every soldier and cadre setting out should be a fighter with high resolve, courage and military skill, eager to join the fighting and able to fulfil his duty after only a short training period. To this end, they should pay still greater attention to the political education of the youth, use and develop such good experience gained as that which consists in actively educating the youth ever since they join the militia and self-defence corps, raising the overall quality of regional complementary training, building at regional level whole units for a good quality to replenish the regular forces, organizing reservist sections at the grassroots level, etc.
b) In the high tide of the resistance against U.S. aggression, for national salvation, regional armed forces grew up by leaps and bounds, in terms of organization and equipment, and acquired new fighting abilities.
The militia and self-defence units increased in number though many were incorporated in the regular forces, and their quality enhanced. Self-defence units rapidly developed in enterprises, offices and city-wards. The percentage of Party members, Labour Youth members and women in militia and self-defence units also went up. They got more and better equipment. Many villages set up gunners’ groups and special groups (like engineer, liaison, intelligence, first-aid groups) or even a mobile combat force. Militia and self-defence members learned to man many kinds of weapons and equipment — both rudimentary and sophisticated — brought down enemy planes, shot ablaze enemy vessels, disposed of tens of thousands of modern bombs and mines.
The regional forces rapidly grew up, in terms of organization, equipment and fighting ability. Many provinces boast anti-aircraft units which have grounded enemy planes, artillery units which have sunk or set ablaze enemy vessels and commando boats, or engineering units which have made a great contribution to keep traffic flowing. Many regional infantry units also knocked down enemy planes, and in some places performed most admirable feats of arms.
Regional military services at all levels made noticeable progress in helping Party committees, in leading the armed forces and in guiding the militia and self-defence movement.
The above facts show our actual capacities to build very strong armed forces comprising strong and widespread militia and self-defence regional armed forces with high quality, required arms and appropriate organization, and regional military services consolidated at all levels. Those regional armed forces, which have specific functions and tasks, adequate organization and equipment, appropriate training and especially a high fighting spirit, knowledge of the terrain, population and climate of their areas and suitable tactical methods, can fight successfully with a small force and few munitions and can fulfil their important functions and tasks with the best results.
Strong armed forces constitute a solid nucleus for the nationwide and all-out people’s war in the regions. Only with strong regional armed forces and a strong regional reserve force, can one have firm bases to vigorously and rapidly develop the regular forces when necessary.
3. To change the economic orientation, set up and develop the local economy, continue to push ahead with the socialist revolution, bring into full play the superiority of the socialist system, forge the power of the people’s war in all regions.
In face of the U.S. imperialists’ “limited war” in the South and war of destruction in the North, our Party Central Committee pointed out that the North had to carry out production while fighting to defend itself, support the South with might and main and continue to push ahead with socialist construction in accordance with the new situation.
The resistance to U.S. aggression, for national salvation, and the continuation of socialist construction constitute the revolutionary task of our people in the new situation. Only if we successfully carry out the resistance for national salvation can we safeguard the building of socialism in the North and, together with our compatriots in the whole country, bring to completion the national democratic revolution in the South.
On the other hand, only if we continue socialist construction in the North can we strengthen our economic and national defence potentials, serve the resistance against U.S. aggression in the most efficient way, and bring it to victory.
To fulfil this task, our Party advocated a change in the economic orientation by setting up and developing the regional economy. Economic construction and development in the North must conform to the wartime situation in order to meet fighting requirements of the moment as well as the possibility of the U.S. expansion of the “limited war” to the whole country. At the same time it must be consistent with the long-range orientation of socialist construction after our victory has been won. This was a perfectly sound and creative policy of our Party.
Despite the enemy’s fierce attacks, together with the fighting and supplying of the front, the regions strove hard to implement the new economic orientation of setting up and developing their own economy in line with their situation. They went on with the revolution in the relation of production, the technological revolution, and the cultural and ideological revolution to build and consolidate the socialist regime in wartime, and to promote the superiority of the socialist system and step up people’s war in their regions. These are new and most valuable experiences of our Party as well as of the regional Party organizations in this war.
The struggle on the production front, the development of education, culture and public health, the improvement of the living standards, and the building of socialism constitute a real epic which exalts the Vietnamese people’s courage, creative labour, cleverness and thirst for learning. In all regions, our armed forces and people are heroic not only in combat but also in production and in the building of a new life under enemy bombing and strafing. This also is a characteristic of our people’s revolutionary heroism. It spells out the greatness of our resistance and justifies the fact that the socialist Vietnamese can take a pride in themselves. Civilization has triumphed over violence. This is why the U.S. war of destruction has lamentably failed. For all our weaknesses and shortcomings, our achievements are, indeed, considerable. A Western journalist has referred to the economic achievements in the North as a “Vietnamese miracle.” The U.S. imperialists who have caused difficulties to and inflicted losses upon us have nevertheless failed in their scheme of shattering our economic potential to weaken our fighting capacity and disrupt the people’s life in North Viet Nam. In wartime, our regional socialist economy was preserved and continued to expand, efficiently serving our war effort.
In agriculture, the socialist relations of production have been consolidated and developed. The number of households which are members of the co-ops and advanced co-ops has increased during the war years. Far from being weakened, the co-ops have evinced great vitality. They mobilized manpower, organized combat forces, ensured supplies, solved the problem of remuneration and other policies concerning production, combat, serving the fighting, and civilian air defence tasks. They ensured regional transport and communications and stabilized the life of their members. Were it not for the existence of co-operatives and the socialist system, it would be very difficult for the various regions to fulfil their heavy and complex wartime duties as they have done in the past years.
Agricultural production has been maintained, even developed in some regions: in spite of fierce enemy attacks, part of the work force has been taken out of the agricultural sector. The various regions have striven to be self-sufficient in food, considering it to be a strategic problem.
The technological revolution in agriculture continues to receive a great impulse. The number of mechanical workshops is on the increase. In many provinces, the areas mechanically ploughed have expanded. A movement for “attaining three targets in agriculture” has appeared in wartime. Under bombs and shells, in many regions the co-operative peasants observe the “straight rows” method in ricetransplanting. This shows the indomitable spirit and the determination to improve technique of the new peasantry, the collective peasantry in the socialist North.
The development of regional industry is an important feature of regional economy during the past few years. Many enterprises have been built and commissioned. In wartime, a network of regional industry with thousands of medium and smallsized enterprises has taken shape in the North. The various regions have succeeded in turning out goods which they had previously been unable to produce even in peace time. Regional industry has contributed to serving agriculture, transport and communication, the life of the people and the armed forces, and at the same time national defence at regional level. Part of the technical services for the army and the repair of ordinary weapons are ensured by regional mechanical workshops.
In wartime conditions, educational, cultural, and health work in all regions has also developed. School enrolment at all levels has increased several times; classes are held in underground shelters or at night. Our educational work in wartime has made great efforts in keeping with the requirement of production and combat. Almost all villages have a health station, with an assistant doctor. Village health stations and district and provincial hospitals have turned to serving the fighting, contributing their share in first-aid care and giving medical treatment to armymen and civilians.
With the development of regional agriculture, industry and medical work, the on-the-spot logistical base of people’s war was substantially strengthened.
War is one of the hardest trials for a social system. Thanks to the new economic orientation to suit wartime requirements and to the stepping up of the three revolutions in various regions, the socialist regime in the North continued to be built, consolidated and developed during the war, and turned to account its superiority to push ahead the resistance against U.S. aggression, for national salvation.
The reality in the various regions over the past years of war has made it plain that the elimination of the exploitation of man has brought about among the labouring people increasing political and ideological oneness of mind. Hence people’s war could rely on the immense capabilities of the broad masses of workers, collective peasants and socialist intellectuals. Our armed forces and people displayed a high sense of collective mastery, courage in combat and production, and solidarity in face of fierce enemy attacks. One cannot list all the examples given by ordinary working people of heroism and selflessness in combat, of industriousness in production, or of the sense of responsibility as regards the affairs of the co-operative, the village or the country, caring for these even more than for their own.
Socialist ownership under the two forms of ownership by the entire people and collective ownership has been consolidated and perfected step by step in various areas. This constituted an objective factor favourable to the scientific organization of people’s war. Between the labouring people there were not only sympathy and revolutionary consciousness but also new organizational relationships. Many combat and production units emerged and operated with efficiency thanks to the socialist relations of production and to the existence of co-operatives. Militia and self-defence groups to keep watch and to defuse bombs, co-op teams devoted to building shelters, co-op gangs devoted to carrying out production and fighting at the same time, etc., revealed the great capabilities of the socialist regime in many fields and especially in organization.
Before the war broke out, the regions had laid some material and technical bases for socialism. These were strengthened and gradually modernized in wartime. They provided new facilities for people’s war to meet its logistical needs on the spot, raised labour productivity and liberated manpower for the fighting, thereby contributing to the increase of combat potential and services to the front of the regional armed forces and people. In plane-hunting, civilian air defence, maintenance of communications and transport, the various regions required substantial material and technical contributions from co-operatives, enterprises, State offices and people.
The superiority of the socialist system in the North is embodied in the new man, the socialist Vietnamese with ardent patriotism, genuine proletarian internationalism, a spirit of collective mastery, a high fighting spirit, a continuously improving cultural level, good health, a loyal, simple and sound way of life. Regional young people, labour youth members and Party members who joined regular units set bright examples in the life-and-death struggle against the enemy, which are a source of pride for the socialist regime. Our militia and self-defence members are not only courageous but also clever in the handling of many kinds of modern weapons and equipment. Our workers and co-op members are industrious, good organizers and show great ability and ingenuity in improving technique, increasing labour productivity, in production and in the service to the front.
Clearly enough, the socialist regime has made the most of its superiority to step up people’s war in politics, in organization, in the material and technical bases, and in ideology, intelligence and human qualities. These are new capabilities, a great source of strength of people’s war in the regions. Any region able to develop and use all potentialities to the full and to perform a skilful division of labour and a rational combination of all forces can fulfil brilliantly at regional level all the complex tasks of the war waged in every sphere and involving the entire people, with the highest quality and effectiveness.
4. To strengthen the leadership of local Party organizations
If people’s war in the various regions developed a great force and scored brilliant successes, it was due primarily to the leadership of the regional Party organizations which strictly followed the correct policy of the Party Central Committee. Those Party organizations upheld the radical revolutionary spirit of the working class, brought into full play the cleverness of Party members and of the masses, did their best to grasp the Party’s line and policies, and successfully fulfilled all the tasks assigned to their areas in our great national resistance against U.S. aggression, for national salvation. They took care to give overall leadership while seeing with particular attention to the accomplishment of the military tasks entrusted to their areas and attaching special importance to political education, ideological guidance and organizational work, thereby making the most of the great strength of the socialist system so as to push forward the people’s war.
Leadership in the war does not imply only military leadership but also overall leadership, coordinating military affairs with economic affairs, the fighting with production, the front with the rear. The achievements of the regional Party organizations lie in the fact that they intimately coupled production with combat, discharging their task of mobilizing manpower and resources to meet the resistance needs, while fulfilling their production and combat duties on the spot, in accordance with the specific situation of their areas under different circumstances. That is why, under all circumstances, in general the regions were able to keep up production, fight effectively and perform satisfactorily all the military and other tasks set by the central authorities. These accomplishments show the high sense of political responsibility and the practical organizational ability of the regional Party organizations and their progress achieved in many fields.
The Party organizations credited with the fulfilment of their tasks in wartime were those which paid due attention to military leadership, providing guidance to both combat and production, and displayed great ability in leading production amidst fierce fighting. This has become a new requirement from the leadership of all party organizations.
Many regional Party organizations, especially those in the areas worst hit by the enemy, met this requirement with distinction and drew many experiences, mainly the following:
— Provincial Party committees must strengthen their leadership over the regional military services and promote the latter’s role;
— In order to give the best help to the Party committees, the regional military services must be not only expert in military affairs but also conversant in economic affairs, grasp the main problems of socialist construction in the area and ably coordinate military with other affairs;
— All regional services and branches of activities must grasp the military requirements, and closely co-ordinate the fighting with production, and economic affairs with national defence affairs;
— One must raise the military knowledge of Party members and cadres; the work and way of life of all branches and services must be adapted to war conditions;
— One must closely co-ordinate the activities of all branches and services under the overall leadership of the regional Party committees.
In order to fulfil the task of leading and guiding people’s war in the regions the Party committees attached the greatest importance to consolidating themselves in every aspect, political, ideological and organizational. In the provinces, the number of Party members has increased and their quality has been enhanced. In wartime, in many provinces, particularly in the Fourth Military Zone, there emerged many outstanding Party members and many Party cells that staunchly and ably led the people in combat and production, worthy of being the standard-bearers, the steel fortresses, the efficient general staffs of people’s war. They are the pride of the regional Party organizations of our entire Party. In sum, regional Party organizations have been tempered, have grown up in the gruelling fight and made a worthy contribution to the great achievements of our entire Party.
The successes won by people’s war in all regions are very brilliant ones. The strength of people’s war in the various regions of the socialist North is truly immense. Those successes have brought a worthy contribution to the common victories of the population and armed forces of the North and to the common victories of our people throughout the country.
At present, the American imperialists have been forced to put an unconditional end to their bombing of the North. This bespeaks not only the complete failure of their war of destruction but also the bankruptcy of their “limited war” strategy in the southern part of our country.
An American politician has written that when President Johnson spoke on March 31, 1968, of the Viet Nam issue before the American people, he did not only declare the end of the military escalation, the stepping up of the search for negotiations and renunciation of his candidature in the presidential elections but also spelled out the fiasco of a policy and, may be, even the termination of a period.(4) He thereby means the end of the period in which the American imperialists considered themselves to be a super-power, and the collapse of their role in the world.
Our people’s resistance to American aggression, for national salvation, has not yet come to a close; we have not yet achieved complete victory, but it is clear that we have won and that the American imperialists have lost. The Vietnamese people’s victory is an extremely important one, on account of its significance both as regards our nation and vis-à-vis the world revolutionary movement. The failure suffered by the American imperialists on the Vietnamese battlefield is one of their heaviest failures in the history of their wars of aggression.
In the recent years, Viet Nam has become for the American imperialists their number one problem. Johnson has declared that the Viet Nam war is a crucial trial and has an importance equal to any war waged so far by the U.S. That is why the American imperialists have sent more than half a million troops to invade Viet Nam. Counting puppet and satellite troops, they have mustered over one million troops. With such a great military force, the American imperialists’ aim is to commit aggression against the southern part of our country, but they also nurture other perfidious designs.
Viet Nam is now standing in the van of the national-liberation movement. The American imperialists’ hope is that, if they win in Viet Nam, they will be able to defeat the national-liberation movement of the world’s peoples. Viet Nam is also standing in the frontline of the socialist camp against the imperialist chieftain. It is the American imperialists’ hope that, if they win in Viet Nam they will have struck a great blow at the socialist camp. That is why they have shown the greatest frenzy and ferocity in rushing headlong into a military venture with a colossal force, in spite of the extremely heavy price in wealth and manpower, the military and political costs, and also the costs to the honour and future of the United States. They never anticipated that in this “crucial trial” the Vietnamese people would be the victor and they the vanquished.
The victory of the resistance to American aggression, for national salvation, will bring our people independence, freedom and the reunification of their country, and will play an ever greater role in mobilizing, encouraging and uniting the world revolutionary movement. The victory of the Vietnamese people means the victory of the world peoples’ national liberation movement and that of the socialist camp. Our victorious resistance is a great historic event in the latter half of the 20th century, an important milestone in the collapse of imperialism in its role of world gendarme, marking the upsurge of, and opening up bright prospects for, the common struggle waged by the world’s peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism. That is precisely why the Vietnamese people’s valiant struggle has been looked upon as the hope, the conscience and honour of all progressive mankind.
Ever since the American imperialists put an end to their war of destruction against the North, our fellow-countrymen and the liberation troops in the heroic South have repeatedly attacked them in the military, political and diplomatic fields. On the battlefield, the recent powerful onslaughts prove the great strength and stamina of the South Viet Nam liberation troops, who, fighting with great skill, have inflicted extremely heavy losses on the enemy and foiled the American scheme of increasing military pressure while cutting casualties. At the conference table, the ten-point solution put forward by the N.F.L. has driven the enemy into a state of passivity and confusion. The subsequent formation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam has won extremely great sympathy and support in the international arena.
Clearly, the American imperialists cannot continue their war of aggression with the present scope and intensity for a long time. Nixon himself has said that the Viet Nam war is the most difficult ever for the Americans.
However, they remain very obdurate. Although they are seeking to extricate themselves from the war, they want to do it from a position of strength and to keep the southern part of our country within their neo-colonialist orbit. They are actively carrying out a scheme of “de-Americanization” and “Vietnamization” of the war, nurturing the illusion that, the puppet army and administration would grow stronger as the American troops withdraw. The American imperialists were insane when they rushed into a war of aggression now considered their greatest strategic mistake by the American rulers. At present they are proving themselves to be even more insane by seeking, following their heavy failures, to “Vietnamize” the war in the hope of getting out of it, American style. Surely they will sustain even more pitiful failures.
The present resistance against American aggression, for national salvation, is the greatest war against foreign aggression in our national history. To be resolved to carry on the resistance until final victory, for the independence and reunification of our country, for the fulfilment of our lofty internationalist duty, such is the most sacred task of every Vietnamese citizen. President Ho Chi Minh has said: “So long as a single aggressor remains on our soil, we must fight on to sweep him away.” The complete victory of the North over the enemy’s war of destruction has created favourable conditions for its building and consolidation and for the strengthening of its forces in all fields. The armed forces and people of the North are well aware that so long as the more than one million American and puppet troops are trampling on the South, all activities by our people should follow the watchword: “Everything to defeat the American aggressors!”
The military task of the people in the North remains very heavy. In all regions they should continue to show vigilance and stand ready to fight in order to defend the North and fulfil the duty of the great rear area towards the great fighting front. We must continue to raise the fighting standard of the armed forces, shoot down all enemy reconnaissance aircraft, smash all enemy sabotage activities, destroy all enemy commando units, maintain security and order, and watch out for any enemy comeback.
In order to accomplish successfully the military tasks of the various regions in the present situation, we must give real reinforcement to regional military work and keep it abreast of the Party’s policy of regional economic construction with a view to building our provinces militarily and economically into ever stronger basic units of people’s war.
Regional military work is an important part of our Party’s military work. Its strategic position, hitherto already important, will grow ever more so in both the general revolutionary struggle and the armed struggle of the Party.
First, regional military work embodies our Party’s views on people’s war. It is closely connected with the just character of the wars for the defence of the fatherland and for national liberation waged by our people on their soil.
To defend the fatherland and liberate the nation, our Party holds that the entire people should engage in fighting the enemy, using the people’s armed forces as a nucleus. The setting up of the three categories of armed forces is the most adequate form of organization for the people’s armed forces, aimed at mobilizing and organizing the entire people in the fight against the enemy, for national salvation. That is why the regular troops assume a very important role, while that played by the regional troops, the militia and self-defence corps is also very important. The task of regional military work is to rely directly on the regional people’s political and economic bases, directly develop all the various people’s forces, organize regional armed forces to fight on the spot, destroy the enemy, safeguard the people’s lives and property, protect the people’s regional power, firmly preserve the rights of the local people as the masters in their own areas.
Second, in the present resistance to American aggression, for national salvation, regional military work assumes an even more important role. This is because our enemy is a ferocious imperialism, with a numerous army, up-to-date weapons and a high degree of mobility; moreover, in modern warfare it is hard to make a clear distinction between front and rear.
In those conditions, the requirement that we should hit at the enemy in time, effectively and wherever he comes, so as to destroy them, defend our rear, and safeguard the people’s lives and property, becomes all the more urgent and enduring. That is why regional military work should be reinforced, strong regional troops and militia and selfdefence corps should be organized everywhere, the people should be mobilized and stand ready to hit back at the enemy. If the entire people and the entire army are valiant fighters, we can defeat any enemy however ferocious. Local forces in all regions always in a state of readiness constitute an advantageous feature of people’s war against a highly mobile enemy, for the man on the spot is the most mobile of all, as is admitted even by the bourgeois military writers.
Third, on account of the new potentialities of the regional armed forces regarding technique and equipment and on account of the new development of military art in revolutionary warfare, regional military work becomes all the more important.
In the North the regional troops, militia and selfdefence corps are now equipped with weapons and means to bring down enemy jets, sink or set afire enemy vessels, defuse and blow up enemy bombs and mines of the most modern types. In the South, the guerillas cannot only annihilate enemy infantry but also cope with armoured vehicles, tanks and helicopters. The regional troops have been able to fight relatively important annihilation battles.
Our way of fighting has undergone new developments: using few troops to fight many, fighting big battles with few troops, hitting hard and telling blows, striking at nerve centres and logistic bases with a view to destroying the most precious live forces and up-to-date war equipment. With this creative fighting style, the regional troops and guerillas have acquired new fighting power and progressed by leaps and bounds.
In face of the new situation, we must further strengthen regional military work and bring the potentialities of the regional armed forces into full play. In the conditions of modern warfare, guerilla warfare should be brought to an even higher level, thus creating favourable factors for regular warfare to defeat the enemy. The regional armed forces should be all the more broadly and powerfully expanded. In this way the regular forces will see their mobility and striking power increased. The harmonious co-ordination at a high level between the three categories of armed forces, between the armed and political forces, creates new offensive power for people’s war, which attacks the enemy without respite, by all means and ways, with forces of various sizes, everywhere and at all times, depriving them of effective striking power in spite of their numbers and driving them into dispersion, passivity and defeat.
Fourth, the ever growing importance of regional military work also springs from the development of all regions, especially the provinces, in wealth and manpower, economic potential and logistic capabilities as regards people’s war.
In the North, ever since the Party Central Committee set forth the policy of regional economic development and building the provinces into ever stronger economic units, new favourable conditions and new potentialities have been created for regional military work. Generally speaking, the provinces of the North have fairly wide areas and populations of varying numbers, from one to two millions. In keeping with the rate of socialist building, agriculture has been expanding, regional industry growing, transport and communications widening, the material and technical bases of socialism in the various regions ceaselessly strengthened.
Hence, the point is to give real impetus to regional military work in order to use all latent forces in each region, combine economics and national defence within the regional framework, build each province in both the economic and military fields and turn the province into an ever stronger basic unit of people’s war at regional level.
Fifth, regional military work is closely connected with the important role played by the reserve forces in people’s war and national defence for the entire people.
Only by reinforcing regional military work can we build strong reserve forces, qualitatively and quantitatively, stand ready to fight in peace time, and rapidly expand and strengthen the armed forces in wartime.
Over the past war years, regional military bodies have actively organized, managed and trained reserve forces and effectively carried out wartime mobilization with a view to replenishing the permanent forces. Thanks to this, our standing forces have developed by leaps and bounds within a short time. We constantly have at our disposal reserve forces in order to ceaselessly expand our armed forces and meet the new requirements of the resistance.
In future, following the complete victory of our resistance and the restoration of peace, we shall, at the same time as maintaining a moderately-sized standing force, have to activate regional military work more, so as to organize, manage and train reserve forces properly. Only so, while concentrating on peace time economic construction, shall we be in a position of combat readiness and be fully prepared to carry out mobilization and expand our forces should war break out.
And so, we may aver that, under all circumstances, whether in peace or war, we must lay great stress om regional military work. To raise our awareness of the important position and role of regional military work is a foremost problem, if an even stronger change is to happen in the thinking of leading cadres at all levels of the Party, the armed forces and the administration. To make light of regional military work is to stray from the viewpoint of people’s war and to commit a serious mistake.
Having acquired a correct viewpoint on regional military work we must, when tackling practical work, continue to build, consolidate and heighten the quality in all fields of the militia, self-defence corps and regional troops; we must also raise the quality of the reserve forces and build and manage them adequately, and carry on with the building of combat villages according to given priorities. On the basis of a good combination of the regional economy with the requirements of national defence, we must strive to build material and technical bases and logistic bases of people’s war at regional level, parallel to the building of common rear bases for the armed forces. An important point, which should be fully carried out by authorities at all levels, is the application of policies in the rear regarding the armed forces, for instance concerning wounded servicemen, soldiers’ families, war martyrs’ families, etc.
To carry out the above-mentioned tasks, we must really strengthen the leadership of regional Party organizations, consolidate regional military bodies at all levels, especially at provincial and grassroots levels, which does not mean that the district level should be made light of; we must foster and train regional military cadres who are not only proficient in political and military matters but also familiar with the local political and economic situation, and who know how to closely combine military work with other regional works.
The greatest resistance war in our national history has reaped extremely important victories. We are facing a heavy but extremely glorious task: our entire people are of one mind and are resolved to carry on the resistance and bring the struggle against American aggression, for national salvation, to final victory.
The American imperialists have suffered crushing defeats. However great their bellicosity, perfidy and stubbornness, they will not be able to retrieve the situation and escape total failure. Our people are firmly determined to resist until victory, for the sake of the independence, freedom and unity of the fatherland, and for the sake of socialism. This fighting resolve is the most precious spiritual characteristic of the Vietnamese people. It has sprung, and has been tempered from one generation to another, in the course of the history of national resistance to foreign aggression. This will to fight and win, this “nothing-is-more-precious-than-independence-and-freedom” spirit, is creating the invincible strength of people’s war.
In this hard struggle against a cruel enemy, whose economic and military potential is many times greater than ours, our people, under the correct leadership of our Party, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, have shown both determination to resist the aggressors and defend the country, and high fighting skill. Not only have they set brilliant examples of revolutionary heroism, they have also evinced great military talents and creative originality. The fight in the various regions of the socialist North against the enemy’s modern air and naval forces engaged in a war of destruction is one instance of that creative originality.
The experiences gained in people’s war in general, in military work in particular, in both parts of our country, are extremely valuable ones. Their timely review will help Viet Nam’s military science make another step forward and enrich our Party’s military line. They also contribute to strengthening the fighting capacity of our armed forces and people so as to bring the resistance against U.S. aggression, for national salvation, to its final victory and also to make good preparations for the building of our armed forces and for the consolidation of our national defence in the future.
We are resolved to preserve our beloved Viet Nam, now and for ever, for all generations to come, as the possession of the heroic Vietnamese nation.
(1) Speech delivered at the Conference for Summing Up the Four Years of Victorious Resistance to the U.S. War of Destruction, held by the 3rd Military Zone in July 1969.
(2) The three "readies": ready to fight (U.S. aggression) and to join up, ready to overcome all difficulties to drive ahead production and study in all circumstances; and ready to do any work, to go anywhere, when requested.
(3) The three "responsibilities": responsibility in production, in family tasks and in the fighting.
(4) Arthur Schelesinger Jr., a former advisor to President John F. Kennedy, in an article in Harper's magazine, No 3, 1969
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