The August Revolution of 1945 and National Day on 2 September are two momentous, organically connected and inevitable events that embodied the extraordinary strength of the great national unity bloc under the astute, visionary leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the leader Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh. Yet hostile, reactionary forces persist in calling them a mere “stroke of historical luck”. This is a grossly erroneous line of argument that must be firmly challenged and rejected.

One might think the historical record is crystal clear. Nevertheless, as the 80^th anniversary of the August Revolution’s triumph (19 August 1945) and the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (2 September 1945) draws near, hostile, reactionary elements have redoubled their efforts to distort, speculate and pin labels with the same tired, fallacious tropes that “the August Revolution of 1945 was a fluke”, brought about solely by objective circumstance; that a “power vacuum” left by fascist Japan’s surrender meant that once the uprising began, victory was guaranteed, with our Party and President Ho Chi Minh contributing nothing (!); that the revolution unfolded in a short span as a spontaneous improvisation by a section of the people, with “no plan from the Party” (!). Some even peddle revisionist and ungrateful notions that the August Revolution and the choice of the socialist path were mistakes, nothing to be proud of because they led to the catastrophe of war, inflicted heavy consequences and set back national development (!). More risibly - naïve and juvenile in the extreme - are views that there was no need to carry out the August Revolution at all: that by peaceful negotiation, by petitioning the colonial metropole, Viet Nam would still have gained independence, avoided war, and followed the capitalist road to prosperity (!), etc.

An illustrative photo

The false, history-distorting claims peddled by the ungrateful and disloyal aim to deny and smear the achievements of the August Revolution and National Day (2 September), to belittle the role and standing of our Party and of President Ho Chi Minh, to erase the sacrifices - the labour and blood - of the people, and to run counter to the national interest. It is therefore imperative to identify, confront and rebut these erroneous viewpoints. Doing so directly affirms and honours the value, meaning and stature of these two monumental events; in turn, it strengthens confidence and forges unity of perception and conviction among cadres, Party members and all strata of society as Viet Nam advances along its developmental path in a new era.

Firstly, the August Revolution of 1945 and National Day on 2 September are consecutive, interlinked events, fully consistent with the logic of development of the Vietnamese revolutionary road under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh. The Revolution’s success reflected that logic and confirmed the correctness of the path of national salvation - national independence inseparable from socialism - defined by the leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, President Ho Chi Minh. Marxism-Leninism makes clear that state power is the fundamental question of every social revolution. For a semi-feudal colonial country such as Viet Nam, the concrete tasks of the revolution varied with historical circumstance; yet the foremost task had to be national liberation, seizing power into the hands of the people. Throughout fifteen years of revolutionary struggle, the Party remained steadfast, consistent and flexible in implementing the strategic orientation set out in its first Political Platform (February 1930): to “carry out a bourgeois-democratic revolution and a land revolution in order to advance to a communist society”. When the revolutionary opportunity arose, the Party mobilised the entire people to launch a general uprising and seize power nationwide.

At the same time, the August Revolution of 1945 and National Day on 2 September answered the urgent demands and legitimate aspirations of the whole Vietnamese nation. From the late nineteenth century, after the French colonial invasion, Viet Nam became a semi-feudal colony. “Before the August Revolution, our nation endured nearly a century of abject humiliation. On the world map, our country’s name had been erased beneath the four words ‘French Indochina’. The French colonisers derided our compatriots as filthy Annamites. The world called us “slaves of a lost country.” When fascist Japan invaded Indochina, our people suffered a triple yoke: Japanese fascism, French colonialism and the puppet feudal regime. The contradiction between the entire nation and imperialism-fascism had reached its limit. Thus, becoming an independent, free and sovereign nation - equal to other peoples of the world, with citizens the masters of their own destiny - was both the objective and the imperative of national development, the people’s most legitimate and profound aspiration. Such a mission could not be achieved by pleading for the “mother country’s” benevolence and a voluntary handover; it necessarily required a revolution - “relying on our own strength to liberate ourselves”.

Nor was National Day on 2 September some “gift from the heavens” resulting from the Allied victory over fascism, or a benevolent grant of independence by the colonial metropole. It was the direct outcome of the August Revolution. In early 1945, the Second World War was drawing to a close. In Indochina, Japan staged a coup against France to seize sole control (the night of 9 March 1945). That very night, the enlarged Standing Committee of the Party Central Committee met and issued the Directive “The Japanese-French conflict and our action”, determining to launch without delay a high tide of resistance against Japan to save the country; simultaneously, to carry out partial uprisings, seize power in localities and prepare all conditions for a general uprising. From April 1945 onwards, the anti-Japanese national salvation movement surged. By early August 1945, the revolutionary situation and opportunity had emerged, placing the Vietnamese revolution at a historic turning point. Seizing the moment, on 13 August the Party convened a National Conference, resolved to launch a general uprising before Allied troops entered our country to disarm the Japanese; an Uprising Committee was established and issued Military Order No. 1 to proclaim the General Uprising. On 16 August, the National Congress met, endorsed the general uprising, and formed the Viet Nam National Liberation Committee (i.e. the Provisional Government) with Ho Chi Minh as Chairman. Immediately after the Congress, President Ho Chi Minh addressed the nation: “The decisive hour for our national destiny has struck. Compatriots throughout the country, rise up and, by our own strength, liberate ourselves.” Answering the call of the Party and of President Ho Chi Minh, under the banner of the Viet Minh, the General Uprising triumphed completely within the fifteen days of late August 1945, placing state power throughout the country in the people’s hands. That historical truth is undeniable: the success of the August Revolution was the necessary consequence of the Party’s wise and lucid leadership coupled with the people’s indomitable resolve for national independence and socialism - by no means the “lucky break” peddled by hostile forces.

Secondly, the course and success of the August Revolution of 1945 - culminating in the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam on 2 September - were inevitable, the product of fully ripened objective conditions combined with mature subjective factors. Favourable objective conditions for the Revolution to break out did exist; however, the offensives by the Soviet Union and the Allied forces merely weakened Japan and created an advantageous external environment for Viet Nam’s revolution. They did not amount to some “lucky break”, nor did they mean that “without a revolution our country would still have become independent”. The historical fact is this: there was no “power vacuum”. When the August Revolution erupted, the Japanese army remained formidable, battle-hardened and well equipped, while the puppet administration - with its security troops and police - was straining to cling to power and hurriedly seeking a new “master”. During the general uprising the Japanese still resisted fiercely; there was no question of their meekly laying down arms and handing over power to the Vietnamese people. The Revolution did not succeed in its own accord. Its starting-point lay, first and foremost, in our Party - led by the great leader Ho Chi Minh - having found the correct path to national salvation, thereby ending the crisis of strategy in the struggle for liberation. Next came the Party’s thorough preparation on every front over fifteen arduous years of sacrifice in the cause of national liberation: from line and policy to organisation and execution; from building political forces and armed forces to establishing revolutionary bases. This unfolded through three great revolutionary surges: the 1930-1931 upsurge, peaking in the Nghe-Tinh Soviets; the movement for livelihood and democracy (1936-1939); and the national-liberation upsurge (1939-1945).

The Party’s astute and lucid leadership, together with that of President Ho Chi Minh, was among the decisive factors that ensured the August Revolution struck at precisely the right moment and achieved total victory. In 1945, it seemed as though Viet Nam’s fate had been preordained on the international chessboard. Yet when the revolutionary opportunity arose - and would exist only briefly (from Japan’s surrender to the Allies on 14 August 1945 until Allied forces - British, French and Chiang’s troops - entered to disarm the Japanese on 5 September 1945) - our Party and people faced a historic “race against time”: to organise a successful revolution and seize power before the Allies entered our country. Had the general uprising come earlier or later than this window, the chances of winning independence would have been slim. Before 15 August 1945, the Japanese forces were still very strong and their fighting will unbroken; after 5 September 1945, Allied troops would enter Indochina to disarm Japan, and each harboured designs to impose its own dominance over our land - circumstances that would have made the situation extremely difficult and complex. Therefore, had we not acted - had we not thrown our full strength into seizing power - the revolutionary opportunity would have passed; and naturally there would have been no success of the August Revolution, nor the moment on 2 September 1945 when President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.

Thirdly, the victory of the August Revolution was the victory of the popular will and of the great national unity bloc. Its swift outbreak, decisive success and limited bloodshed were not a matter of “good fortune” or of an enemy meekly laying down arms. At its core lay the overwhelming force of our people’s patriotism and solidarity - their will and yearning to refuse a life of perpetual servitude - who, united behind the Party and under its leadership, encouragement and organisation, resolved to rise up and win independence for the nation. The August Revolution and National Day (2 September) were not merely the product of fifteen days of General Uprising; they were the culmination of nearly a century of the Vietnamese people’s revolutionary struggle for national liberation. When the revolutionary moment arrived, the entire Vietnamese nation - irrespective of class, ethnicity or religion - with a will of millions as one, rose in unison to seize power in answer to the call of the Party and of leader Ho Chi Minh.

History shows that in 1945 not every colony - least of all those under Japanese domination - experienced a revolution that both erupted and prevailed. Only those countries that had prepared carefully and thoroughly, that had a correct revolutionary line, that seized the opportunity and rallied the strength of the whole nation, could triumph. Without the people’s support, participation and creativity - without the strength of the entire nation - how could one possibly explain a Party just fifteen years old, with around 5,000 members, in a short span and amid straitened communications, was able to lead a sequence of local uprisings and advance to a General Uprising that succeeded almost simultaneously across the country?

Fourthly, the historical value and epochal significance of the August Revolution of 1945 and National Day on 2 September must not be downplayed or distorted. Eight decades of lived history attest that the success of the August Revolution was the first great victory of our people under the Party’s leadership, a historic turning-point that “changed lives”, reshaping the nation’s destiny. Its triumph toppled nearly a century of French colonial rule, drove out Japanese fascism, and swept away the feudal order that had endured for millennia; it won national independence and established the first people’s democratic state in Southeast Asia, raising the Vietnamese people from the condition of servitude to the position of masters of their own country. As President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: “Not only the working class and the people of Viet Nam may take pride, but the working class and the oppressed nations elsewhere may also take pride that, for the first time in the history of the revolutions of colonial and semi-colonial peoples, a Party just fifteen years old has led a revolution to success and seized state power nationwide.” From this moment, the entire nation entered a new era - of independence, freedom and democracy - advancing towards socialism and inaugurating achievements of great and lasting historical significance. It follows that any claim that the August Revolution left lingering residues and grievous consequences for the country in subsequent periods is profoundly wrong, wilfully ignores the truth and slanders history.

Thus, from the August Revolution to National Day on 2 September runs an inevitable, righteous and irreversible current. However hostile forces may deploy every trick to distort and deny, the achievements, stature and spirit of the August Revolution remain imperishable - forever a source of pride and a mighty impetus that rekindles the strength of great national unity in today’s cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland. Following the path opened by the August Revolution, we must continue to foster the will of self-reliance and self-strengthening, kindle the aspiration for development, make the very best use of every opportunity and resolutely fend off risks. Under the Party’s leadership, with the entire people and the entire army united as one, we shall write new glorious pages of history and lead the country steadily into an era of prosperity, happiness, affluence and strength.

NGUYEN XUAN DAI, Dr.