The August General Uprising of 1945 has overthrown the colonial-feudal regime and brought our country to a new era where national independence is linked to socialism. That resounding victory is attributed to many factors, of which the Party’s sound leadership in creating and seizing opportunities to secure victory is critical.

World War II broke out in September 1939. In the face of rapid and unforeseeable changes, within a short period of time, our Party convened the sixth and seventh plenums of the Party Central Committee in November 1939 and November 1940, respectively to issued resolutions on shifting strategic leadership of the revolution. The resolutions identified liberation of Indochinese peoples and a completely independent Indochina as the leading goals.

To realise the aforementioned guideline, Viet Nam had joined the Allies to fight against fascism since 1941 and made every condition for winning decisive victory once the opportunity came. The great victory of the Soviet Union in the war against fascism for national protection in August 1945 exerted a strong influence on the world and offered a turning point for the revolution in our country. On sticking to reality closely, our Party timely seized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to launch the general uprising to abolish the colonial-feudal regime and found the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, which was the first state of workers and farmers in Southeast Asia. Victory of the August Revolution of 1945 offers many invaluable lessons and contributes to enriching Marxism-Leninism revolutionary theory. Of note, the art of generating and seizing victory is of great theoretical value and applied to our revolution creatively by the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and President Ho Chi Minh.

First, formation of a strong, extensive political force for the general uprising. On clearly realising that the masses are the deciding factor in the success or failure of the revolution, right after his return to Viet Nam to lead Vietnamese revolution directly, together with the CPV, leader Nguyen Ai Quoc convened the 8th plenum of the Party Central Committee in Pac Bo, Cao Bang province. The meeting decided to shift the Party’s strategic guidance and identified national liberation as a pivotal mission of Vietnamese revolution. At comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc’s request, the meeting decided to found the League for the Independence of Viet Nam (also known as Viet Minh Front) with a view to gathering and uniting all forces, including the neutral walk of life, regardless of their religions, political parties, and classes in the fight against the French and Japanese for national independence.

In October 1941, the Viet Minh Front proclaimed its Declaration, Programme, and Regulation which showed the Party’s strategy for saving the country, i.e. a completely independent Viet Nam. To materialise the above-mentioned goal, the programme of Viet Minh was written succinctly in “Ten Policies of Viet Minh” and made known to public. It was the first time the Unified National Front proclaimed its guidelines, policies, and methods to organise the struggle force to secure national salvation. Thanks to economic, cultural, social policies in line with aspiration of classes and walks of life in Vietnamese society, the revolutionary force witnessed a remarkable development with the strong support and participation of people in Viet Minh-led organisations such as the Women’s Union for National Salvation, Workers’ Union for National Salvation, Self-Defence Members’ Union for National Salvation. The bodies were established from the central to local levels, from the mountainous region to the flatland, from urban to rural areas, from the North to the South, both at home and abroad, creating a robust revolutionary force.

To gain victory in the uprising, our Party advocated putting the masses into struggle by proper means to review and train our people through practical revolutionary activities. Accordingly, local party committees led many people’s struggles in various areas, including economic, political centres such as the struggle of workers at Sai Gon Quay against the brutal Japanese troops, the struggle of workers at Gia Lam Train Factory for better pay, and so forth. As a result of proactive alignment based on the coalition of workers and farmers and through many ways suitable to various walks of life in society, our Party successfully mobilised the power of national unity, built the real power of the revolution, and trained the masses through practical struggle, creating a vital factor for the general uprising.

Meeting in Hanoi on 19 August 1945 ( A file photo)

Second, increased foundation of armed forces, bases, and preparation for the general uprising. Together with political struggle of the masses, our Party led the movement to build the armed forces, establish bases, and prepare for armed insurrection from the mountainous and midland areas. Self-defence teams for national salvation were established in places where there were National Salvation Unions of the Viet Minh Front. It was from these National Salvation Unions that the Combat Self-Defence Teams (also known as guerrilla subsquads) were set up to play the core role. The teams were organised more closely, equipped better, and trained more methodically to serve as the backbone of our people’s revolutionary struggle.

In addition to force development, our Party also attach importance to establishment of bases which were the safe havens for building and strengthening our forces. The two initial bases were Cao Bang and Bac Son – Vo Nhai. The Cao Bang was led directly by Ho Chi Minh through operations of the Cao Bang Armed Team. The second base was organised by the Party Central Committee. By the end of 1943, the two bases had been connected to form an uninterrupted, robust posture and created conditions for the birth of the Viet Bac Liberation Zone, which consisted of provinces such as Cao – Bac – Lang, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, and Thai Nguyen as well as the adjacent areas. Additionally, Vietnamese Revolution also witnessed the foundation of anti-Japanese theatre commands such as Tran Hung Dao in Dong Trieu, Quang Ninh province; Quang Trung in the provinces of Hoa Binh, Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa; Van – Hien Luong in the provinces of Phu Tho and Yen Bai; Vinh Son and Nui Lon in Quang Ngai province, and so on. Having realised vigorous development of the armed forces and revolutionary bases, Ho Chi Minh issued a directive to form the Viet Nam’s Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation on 22 December 1944, which served as the main force for launching guerrilla warfare. The Vietnamese Revolution witnessed three ways to organise people’s armed forces since then namely the Viet Nam’s Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation, armed teams in districts, and semi-armed self-defence teams in communes, marking a new development of the revolutionary armed forces.

A ceremony was held on 15 May 1945 in Dinh Bien Thuong, Cho Chu town, Thai Nguyen province to merge the revolutionary armed forces into the Viet Nam’s Liberation Army. Units of the National Salvation’s Army and Viet Nam’s Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation were merged to form the main force. The main force was named Viet Nam’s Liberation Army and consisted of 13 companies. Thanks to proactive, timely, flexible foundation of the armed forces and building of bases nationwide, our Party had created the direct revolutionary opportunity and situation for appealing to the entire people for insurrection once favourable conditions occurred. Units of the liberation army and guerrilla army from the Viet Bac base to theatre commands attacked the enemy to pave the way for the masses’ revolt to seize power.

Third, seizure of opportunities for appealing to the entire people to launch armed insurrection for taking power. On clearly perceiving the vital role and strategic significance of uprising opportunity, our Party had timely and resolute actions in the August General Uprising of 1945. Japan mounted a military coup to seize power from France on 09 March 1945. Given the proactiveness, mental acuteness, and strategic vision, the Central Party Committee’s Standing Board issued the Directive named “Japan – France conflict and our actions” which assessed that: “Despite the serious political crisis, conditions for uprising in Indochina were not very favourable.” In May 1945, Germany was defeated in European theatre, thus forcing Japan to take up strategic defensive posture. While our people’s partly insurgent movement war spreading, many events related to situation in Indochina occurred rapidly such as the Potsdam Conference where postwar issues, including the Allies’ disarmament of Japanese troops in Indochinese Peninsular, were discussed; the Soviet Armed Forces’ involvement in the war in the Far East and triumph over Japan’s Kwantung Army; the United States’ atomic bombings of two cities in Japan, and so on. What would Viet Nam be like when Japan surrendered and the new imperialists, who acted in the name of the Allies and were recognised in international legal terms, were ready to flood onto Indochina. The Vietnamese Revolution was confronting a historic turning point.

After scientific analysis, assessment, and consideration, the Party Central Committee decided to take actions under the strategic motto: “The window of opportunity has arisen. No matter how much we have to sacrifice, we must be steadfast in gaining independence”. To do so, the National Uprising Committee was founded and it issued the Order to launch the General Uprising. In his letter to all compatriots, President Ho Chi Minh wrote that: “The decisive moment of our country has come. Let all the compatriots stand up and leverage our power to liberate ourselves. We cannot delay any longer”. The August General Uprising of 1945 broke out and ended quickly within two weeks throughout the country in the context of the anti-Japanese movement for national salvation and Japan’s defeat. WWII had just come to an end and the Japan’s puppet government in Indochina no longer had support. It was also the time when Japanese troops in Indochina surrendered to the Allies but troops of Great Britain, France, and Chiang Kai-shek had not arrived in our country. If the General Uprising had broken out earlier when Japanese troops had not surrendered, we would have suffered great losses. If it had taken place later when Great Britain’s troops, followed by France’s troops, and Chiang Kai-shek’s troops had flooded our country, the window of opportunity would have been missed. With the newly established government, our people had enough political and legal basis to welcome Allied troops to our country to disarm Japanese troops and be ready to confront any schemes of hostile forces in our capacity as citizens of an independent, sovereign country.

The swift, complete victory of the August Revolution of 1945 clearly proves the spirit and leadership talent for leading armed uprising of our Party and Ho Chi Minh. This is an invaluable experience that deserves further research and creative application to the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland today.

HA THANH – VU TRANG