Revolutionaries They Couldn't Break by Ngo Van (translated by Harry Ratner), Index Books, London 1995. 234pp £11.95. Revolutionaries They Couldn't Break is a gripping account of the struggles that exploded between 1930 and 1945 in Vietnam, with special emphasis on the role of Trotskyist activists. New light is shed on the origins and formation of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party (PCI), fore-runner of the Communist Party of Vietnam. An amalgam of nationalism and Stalinism, the PCT was a devoted follower of the twists and turns of the Soviet bureaucracy. Far from leading the masses, the PCI was often way behind the consciousness of workers and peasants in their struggle against French and Japanese colonialism. While Ho Chi Minh was looking for help from the Chinese Guomindang (Kuomintang) after their massacre of Communists in Shanghai and Guandong (Canton), and cultivating the support of landlords and capitalists, a number of Vietnamese political activists came in France came into contact with Trotskyism. Among their number was Ta Thu Thau. From 1933 onwards Thau and his comrades became active in Saigon politics. The authorities repeatedly annulled election results, arresting and torturing members of the group. The Trotskyists of the Struggle group and the League of International Communists exercised a real influence, particularly in Cochin China. They organised thousands of militants and, according to colonial records, were more popular than the PCI among the urban working class. The Trotskyists were also well implanted among the peasantry. Their literature shows close attention to rural grievances and revolutionary potential. No 'underestimation' of the peasantry here! During the 'mini-revolution of August 1945 The Struggle published a daily newspaper with a print run in excess of 15,000 copies! Ho Chi Minh was concerned about their growing popularity. Although his own supporters had collaborated with Trotskyists bet34 ween 1934 and 1936 in the publication of a common paper, he wrote to the Comintern in 1939 that the time would soon come to "politically exterminate the Trotskyists. In September and October 1945 he delivered on his promise, arresting and killing their leaders, including Ta Thu Thau. The repression destroyed the groups. The handful who survived in Vietnam had no choice but to abandon active politics. The organisational and political continuity with these brave fighters for internationalism and socialist democracy, and against the bureaucratic Communist Parties is maintained by the group of comrades in France who publish Chroniques Vietnamiennes. Ngo Van deserves our sincere thanks. As an eye-witness and participant in these events, he restores a forgotten chapter in the history of the international workers' movement. The recovery of these ideas is an essential part of the construction of a genuine revolutionary Marxist party in Vietnam today. Ngo Van's book helps that struggle. Reviewed by K. Govindan (Socialist Outlook, Aug. 95) Recommended reading on Vietnam
Revolutionary History Vol.3 No.2 (Autumn 1990)
Vietnam and Trotskyism, by Simon Pirani (1987)
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