Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng

Vietnamese nationalist and democratic socialist political party (1927–1975)

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (; chữ Hán: ; ), abbreviated VNQDĐ or Việt Quốc, was a nationalist and democratic socialist political party that sought independence from French colonial rule in Vietnam during the early 20th century. Hoc had previously tried to initiate peaceful reforms by making written submissions to the French authorities, but these were ignored, and his attempt to foster policy change through the publication of a magazine never materialized due to the refusal of a license. At the time, nationalist sentiment had been on the increase in Vietnam. The French colonial authorities were bringing more Vietnamese into the administration, and there was a small but growing proportion who were exposed to western education. As a result, they became aware of French ideals such as Liberté, égalité, fraternité, republicanism and democracy, which sharply contrasted to the racial inequality and stratified system of the colonial elite ruling the masses in Vietnam. There was also an increasing awareness of the political writings of Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau, which stoked a desire for civil and political rights, combined with the knowledge of the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905, which gave people confidence that Asians could defeat western powers.

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDĐ) was formed at a meeting in Hanoi on December 25, 1927, with Nguyen Thai Hoc as the party's first leader. It appealed to the populace to rise up against colonisation and the poor treatment of Vietnamese people. It assailed the French for restricting the Vietnamese people's ability to study, discuss policy and associate, and what it perceived as exploitative capitalist policies that enriched French enterprises while leaving Vietnamese people unhealthy. It criticised the colonial administration, which it saw as corrupt and encouraging low level Vietnamese bureaucrats to mistreat their compatriots, and said that the ouster to French rule was necessary to stop the "elimination process" against the Vietnamese race. There had been a debate over the socioeconomic bent of the party when it was formed, with some advocating communism and others private property, but the position reached was not dissimilar from an existing Vietnamese social norm where villagers often owned land communally although social hierarchies still existed. Although the VNQDĐ modelled itself on Sun Yat sen's Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang or KMT, later led by Chiang Kai shek), even down to copying the "Nationalist Party" designation, it had no direct relationship with its Chinese counterpart and in fact did not gain much attention outside Vietnam until the Yen Bay mutiny in 1930. Like the KMT, it was a clandestine organisation held together with tight discipline. Its basic unit was the cell, above which there were several levels of administration, including provincial, regional and central committees. Also like the KMT, the VNQDĐ's revolutionary strategy envisaged a military takeover, followed by a period of political training for the population before a constitutional government could take control. This led to a membership based heavily on traditional Asian and western style political elites. The VNQDĐ admitted many female members, which was quite revolutionary for the time. It set about seeking alliances with other nationalist factions in Vietnam. In a meeting on July 4, 1928, the Central Committee appealed for unity among the Vietnamese revolutionary movements, sending delegates to meet with other organisations struggling for independence. The preliminary contacts did not yield any concrete alliances. Talks with the New Vietnam Revolutionary Party (NVRP) failed because the NVRP wanted a more centralised and structured party organisation, although the VNQDĐ did manage to absorb the NVRP branch in Hung Hoa. The VNQDĐ would later be on the receiving end of another of Ho's manoeuvres.

Financial problems compounded the VNQDĐ's difficulties. Money was needed to set up a commercial enterprise, a cover for the revolutionaries to meet and plot, and for raising funds. At the time, the two other notable nationalist organisations were the communists and the New Vietnam Revolutionary Party, and although they had different visions of a post independence nation, both competed with the VNQDĐ in attracting the support of the small, educated, urban class. In the late 1920s, around half of the communists were from bourgeoise backgrounds. Beginning in 1928, the VNQDĐ attracted substantial Vietnamese support, provoking increased attention from the French colonial administration. This came after a VNQDĐ death squad killed several French officials and Vietnamese collaborators who had a reputation for cruelty towards the Vietnamese populace.

The assassination of Hanoi based French labour recruiter Hervé Bazin on February 9, 1929, was a turning point that marked the beginning of the VNQDĐ's decline. A graduate of the École Coloniale in Paris, Bazin directed the recruitment of Vietnamese labourers to work on colonial plantations. Recruiting techniques often included beating or coercion, because the foremen who did the recruiting received a commission for each enlisted worker. Another view is that the senior VNQDĐ leaders felt that killing Bazin was necessary so that the party would appear to be relevant to workers involved in industry or commerce, given that the communists had begun to target this demographic for their recruitment drives. The plan was to provoke a series of uprisings at military posts around the Red River Delta in early 1930, where VNQDĐ forces would join Vietnamese soldiers in an attack on the two major northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. The leaders agreed to restrict their uprisings to Tonkin, because the party was weak elsewhere. For the remainder of 1929, the party prepared for the revolt. They located and manufactured weapons, storing them in hidden depots. The preparation was hindered by French police, particularly the seizure of arms caches. Recruitment campaigns and grassroots activist drives were put in place, even though the VNQDĐ were realistic and understood that their assault was unlikely to succeed. The village elders were used to mobilise neighbours into the political movement. Their logic was "Even if victory is not achieved, we will fully mature as human beings with our [heroic] efforts".

At around 01:30 on Monday, February 10, 1930, approximately 40 troops belonging to the 2nd Battalion of the Fourth Régiment de Tirailleurs Tonkinois stationed at Yên Bái, reinforced by around 60 civilian members of the VNQDĐ, attacked their 29 French officers and warrant officers. The rebels had intended to split into three groups: the first group was to infiltrate the infantry, kill French NCOs in their beds and raise support among Vietnamese troops; the second, supported by the VNQDĐ civilians, was to break into the post headquarters; and the third group would enter the officers' quarters. The French were caught off guard; five were killed and three seriously wounded. The mutineers isolated a few more French officers from their men, even managing to raise the VNQDĐ flag above one of the buildings. About two hours later, however, it became apparent that the badly coordinated uprising had failed, and the remaining 550 Vietnamese soldiers helped quell the rebellion rather than participate in it. The insurrectionists had failed to liquidate the Garde indigène town post and could not convince the frightened townspeople to join them in a general revolt. At 07:30, a French Indochinese counterattack scattered the mutineers; two hours later, order was re established in Yên Bái. Aware of the events in the upper delta region, Pho Duc Chinh fled and abandoned a planned attack on the Sơn Tây garrison, but he was captured a few days later by French authorities. Presidential pardons reduced the number of death penalties from 39 to 13. Học and Chinh were among the 13 who were executed on June 17, 1930.

Following Yen Bay, the VNQDĐ became more diffuse, with many factions effectively acting virtually autonomously of one another. Le Huu Canh—who had tried to stall the failed mutiny—attempted to reunite what remained of the party under the banner of peaceful reform. Other factions, however, remained faithful to Học's legacy, recreating the movement in the Hanoi Haiphong area. A failed assassination attempt on Governor General Pasquier led to French crackdowns in 1931 and 1932. The survivors escaped to Yunnan in southern China, where some of Nghiep's supporters were still active. With nationalist Chinese aid, Chau's followers had set up a League of Oppressed Oriental Peoples, a Pan Asian group that ended in failure. In 1932 the League made the point of declaring a "Provisional Indochinese Government" at Canton. In July 1933, Chau's group was integrated into Nghiep's Yunnan organisation. In 1935, Nghiep surrendered to the French consulate in Shanghai. The remainder of the VNQDĐ was paralysed by infighting and began losing political relevance, with only moderate activity until the outbreak of World War II and Japan's invasion of French Indochina in 1940. The VNQDĐ was gradually overshadowed as the leading Vietnamese independence organisation by Ho's Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). In 1940, Ho arrived in Yunnan, which was a hotbed of both ICP and VNQDĐ activity. He initiated collaboration between the ICP and other nationalists such as the VNQDĐ. At the time, World War II had broken out and Japan had conquered most of eastern China and replaced the French in Vietnam. Ho moved east to the neighbouring province of Guangxi, where Chinese military leaders had been attempting to organise Vietnamese nationalists against the Japanese. The VNQDĐ had been active in Guangxi and some of their members had joined the KMT army. was named as the deputy of Phạm Văn Đồng, later to be Ho's Prime Minister. The front was later broadened and renamed the Viet Nam Giai Phong Dong Minh (Vietnam Liberation League). The Viet Nam Revolutionary League was a union of various Vietnamese nationalist groups, run by the pro Chinese VNQDĐ. Chinese KMT General Zhang Fakui created the league to further Chinese influence in Indochina, against the French and Japanese. Its stated goal was for unity with China under the Three Principles of the People, created by KMT founder Dr. Sun and opposition to Vietnamese and French Imperialists. The Revolutionary League was controlled by Nguyen Hai Than, who was born in China and could not speak Vietnamese. General Zhang shrewdly blocked the Communists of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh from entering the league, as his main goal was Chinese influence in Indochina. The KMT utilized these Vietnamese nationalists during World War II against Japanese forces. At one stage, the communists made an appeal for other Vietnamese anti colonialists to join forces, but condemned Khanh as an "opportunist" and "fake revolutionary" in their letter. The cooperation in the border area lasted for only a few months before VNQDĐ officials complained to the local KMT officials that the communists, led by Dong and Võ Nguyên Giáp, were attempting to dominate the league.

In March 1945, the VNQDĐ received a boost, when Imperial Japan, which had occupied Vietnam since 1941, deposed the French administration, and installed the Empire of Vietnam, a puppet regime. This resulted in the release of some anti French activists, including VNQDĐ members. On August 15, 1945, Japanese forces in Vietnam surrendered to the Republic of China. General Lu Han (盧漢) was the representative of the Nationalist Army. The government of the Republic of China favored the VNQDĐ over Viet Minh which led to Ho's reliance on the rebel Chinese communists. Ho's Viet Minh seized power and set up a provisional government in the wake of Japan's withdrawal from Vietnam. This move violated a prior agreement between the member parties of the Viet Nam Cach Mang Dong Minh Hoi (Vietnamese Revolutionary League), which included the VNQDĐ as well as the Vietminh, and Ho was pressured to broaden his government's appeal by including the VNQDĐ (now led by Nguyễn Tường Tam). The Vietminh announced that they would abolish the mandarin governance system and hold national elections with universal suffrage in two hold. The VNQDĐ objected to this, fearing that the communists would perpetrate electoral fraud. After the seizure of power, hundreds of VNQDĐ members returned from China, only to be killed at the border by the Vietminh. The communists had no intention of sharing power with anyone in the long term and regarded the move as purely a strategic exercise. Giap, the Vietminh's military chief, called the VNQDĐ a "group of reactionaries plotting to rely on Chiang Kai Shek's Kuomintang and their rifle barrels to snatch a few crumbs". Once the majority of the non communist nationalists had returned to Vietnam, the VNQDĐ banded with them to form an anti Vietminh alliance. The communists also allowed the VNQDĐ to continue printing material. However, the agreement was ineffective in the meantime. The VNQDĐ kidnapped Giap and the Propaganda Minister Tran Huy Lieu and held them for three weeks until Ho agreed to remove Giáp and Lieu from the cabinet. As a result, the VNQDĐ's Vũ Hồng Khanh became defence minister, with Giap as his deputy. Meanwhile, Giáp was able to stymie the activities of VNQDĐ officials of higher rank in the coalition government. Aside from shutting down the ability of the VNQDĐ officials to disseminate information, he often ordered his men to start riots and street brawls at public VNQDĐ events. For the communists' part, they accused the KMT of intimidating them into sharing power with the VNQDĐ, and claimed that VNQDĐ soldiers had tried to attack polling stations. The VNQDĐ claimed that the communists had engaged in vote fraud and intimidation, citing Vietminh claims that they had received tallies in excess of 80% in areas controlled by French troops.

The Ho–Sainteny agreement, signed on March 6, 1946, saw the return of French colonial forces to Vietnam, replacing the Chinese nationalists who were supposed to be maintaining order. The VNQDĐ were now without their main supporters. As a result, the VNQDĐ were further attacked by the French, who often encircled VNQDĐ strongholds, enabling Viet Minh attacks. Giáp's army hunted down VNQDĐ troops and cleared them from the Red River Delta, seizing arms and arresting party members, who were falsely charged with crimes ranging from counterfeiting to unlawful arms possession. The Viet Minh massacred thousands of VNQDĐ members and other nationalists in a large scale purge. The communists made a public spectacle of the scene in an attempt to discredit the VNQDĐ, but the truth eventually came out and the "On Nhu Hau Street affair" lowered their public image. When the National Assembly reconvened in Hanoi on October 28, only 30 of the 50 VNQDĐ seats were filled. Of the 37 VNQDĐ and Dong Minh Hoi members who turned up, only 20 remained by the end of the session. By the end of the year, Tam had resigned as foreign minister and fled to China, and only one of the three original VNQDĐ cabinet members was still in office. In any case, the VNQDĐ never had any power, despite their numerical presence. Upon the opening of the National Assembly, the communist majority voted to vest power in an executive committee almost entirely consisting of communists; the legislature met only once a year. In any case, the façade of a legislature was dispensed with as the First Indochina War went into full flight. A small group of VNQDĐ fighters escaped Giáp's assault and retreated to a mountainous enclave along the Sino Vietnamese border, where they declared themselves to be the government of Vietnam, with little effect.

After Vietnam gained independence in 1954, the Geneva Accords partitioned the country into a communist north and an anti communist south, but stipulated that there were to be 300 days of free passage between the two zones. During Operation Passage to Freedom, most VNQDĐ members migrated to the south. The party's disarray was only exacerbated by the actions of autocratic President Ngô Đình Diệm, who imprisoned many of its members. During the transition period after Geneva, the VNQDĐ sought to set up a new military academy in central Vietnam, but they were crushed by Ngô Đình Cẩn, who ran the region for his elder brother Diệm, dismantled and jailed VNQDĐ members and leaders. Diệm used the secret Catholic Cần Lao Party to keep control of the army and stifle attempts by VNQDĐ members to rise through the ranks. During the Diệm era, the VNQDĐ were implicated in two failed coup attempts. In November 1960, a paratrooper revolt failed after the mutineers agreed to negotiate, allowing time for loyalists to relieve the president. Many of the officers involved had links to or were members of the VNQDĐ, and fled the country after the coup collapsed. In 1963, VNQDĐ leaders Tam and Vũ Hồng Khanh were among those arrested for their involvement in the plot; Tam committed suicide before the case started, and Khanh was jailed. In February 1962, two Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots, Nguyễn Văn Cử—son of a prominent VNQDĐ leader—and Phạm Phú Quốc, bombed the Independence Palace in a bid to kill Diệm and his family, but their targets escaped unharmed. Diệm was eventually deposed in a military coup and killed in November 1963. While the generals that led the coup were not members of the VNQDĐ, they sought to cultivate ARVN officers who were part of the VNQDĐ because of their antipathy towards Diệm. Many VNQDĐ members were part of the ARVN, which sought to prevent South Vietnam from being overrun by communists during the Vietnam War, and they were known for being more anti communist than most of their compatriots. After the fall of Diệm and the execution of Cẩn in May 1964, the VNQDĐ became more active in their strongholds in central Vietnam. Nevertheless, there was no coherent national leadership and groups at district and provincial level tended to operate autonomously. By 1965, their members had managed to infiltrate and take over the Peoples Action Teams (PATs), irregular paramilitary counter insurgency forces organised by Australian Army advisers to fight the communists, and used them for their own purposes. In December, one VNQDĐ member had managed to turn his PAT colleagues towards the nationalist agenda, and the local party leadership in Quảng Nam approached the Australians in an attempt to have the 1000 man PAT outfit formally allied to the VNQDĐ. The overture was rejected. The politicisation of paramilitary units worked both ways; some province chiefs used the anti communist forces to assassinate political opponents, including VNQDĐ members. In 1966, the Buddhist Uprising erupted in central Vietnam, in which some Buddhist leaders fomented civil unrest against the war, hoping to end foreign involvement in Vietnam and end the conflict through a peace deal with the communists. The VNQDĐ remained implacably opposed to any coexistence with the communists. Members of the VNQDĐ made alliances with Catholics, collected arms, and engaged in pro war street clashes with the Buddhists, forcing elements of the ARVN to intervene to stop them. On April 19, clashes erupted in Quảng Ngãi Province between the Buddhists and the VNQDĐ, prompting the local ARVN commander Tôn Thất Đính to forcibly restrain the two groups. Three days later the VNQDĐ accused the Buddhists of attacking their premises in Hội An and Da Nang, while US officials reported that the VNQDĐ were making plans to assassinate leading Buddhists, such as the activist monk Thích Trí Quang. The VNQDĐ contested the national elections of 1967, the first elections since the fall of Diem, which were rigged—Diem and his people invariably gained more than 95% of the vote and sometimes exceeded the number of registered voters. The campaign was disorganised due to a lack of infrastructure and some VNQDĐ candidates were not formally sanctioned by any hierarchy. There were 60 seats in the senate, and the six victorious tickets would see all ten of their members elected. The VNQDĐ entered eight tickets in the senate election, and while they totalled 15% of the national vote between them, the most of any grouping, it was diluted between the groupings; none of the tickets and thus none of the candidates were elected. This contrasted with one Catholic alliance with three tickets that won only 8% of the vote, but had all 30 candidates elected. They won nine seats in the lower house, a small minority presence, all from districts in central Vietnam, where they tended to poll between 20 and 40% in various areas. The VNQDĐ members made several loose alliances with Hòa Hảo members of the lower house. During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the communists attacked and seized control of Huế for a month. During this time, in the Massacre at Huế they executed around 3,000–6,000 people that they had taken prisoner, out of a total population of 140,000. The communists had compiled a list of "reactionaries" to be liquidated before their assault. Known for their virulent anti communism, VNQDĐ members appeared to have been disproportionately targeted in the massacre. After the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, the remnants of the VNQDĐ were again targeted by the victorious communists. As Vietnam is a single party state led by the Vietnamese Communist Party, the VNQDĐ is illegal. Some VNQDĐ members fled to the West, where they continued their political activities. The VNQDĐ remains respected among some sections of the overseas Vietnamese community as Vietnam's leading anti communist organisation.