Description
Between 1954-1968, Buddhists, students, and intellectuals protested against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). Most of these protests, including the 1963 Buddhist Crisis, and the 1966 Struggle Movement [Phong trào đấu tranh], were concentrated in the former Nguyen Imperial Capital of Hue in Central Vietnam. Most Vietnam War historians argue that these dissident groups were spontaneous and grew in opposition to repressive governments in Saigon. Although some scholars have researched the struggle movement on a nationwide level, little research has been conducted on the epicenter of the protests in Hue. Furthermore, previous scholarship has relied almost exclusively on the very limited English based primary source documentation. Historians have consequently ignored the Vietnamese Worker’s Party (VWP) role in destabilizing the RVN. Vietnamese documentation depicts a different picture. The Central Committee Resolutions and Politburo Decrees in the Complete Collection of Party Documents [Văn kiện đảng toàn tập] continually emphasize the centrality of the VWP’s political struggle [đấu tranh chính trị] in its reunification strategy. Vietnamese memoirs from figures like President Nguyen Cao Ky and former student activist Nguyen Dac Xuan illustrate the connection between the dissidence groups and the Party. The Perfume River Journal [Tạp chí Sông Hương] based in Hue also has several articles on the clandestine “Dairy Cell [Chi bộ Bơ sữa]” that coordinated the differing protest groups in the Party’s political struggle. This study of the Hue’s political struggle will use a Vietnam-centered approach. It will give agency to the VWP’s political struggle and its contribution to destabilizing the governments of Ngo Dinh Diem, Nguyen Khanh, Tran Van Huong, and Nguyen Cao Ky. By understanding the VWP’s political struggle in Hue, historians should have a better grasp of why the United States government backed a coup of President Ngo Dinh Diem and why successive governments were perpetually unstable.
