41

p There is a legend in our country ...
about the magic Brocade Bag. When
facing great difficulties, one opens it
and finds a way out... Leninism is not
only a miraculous Brocade Bag,
a compass, but also a radiant sun
illuminating our path to final victory,
to socialism and communism.

Ho Chi Minh

1

p Following the foundation of the Third (Communist) International on Lenin’s initiative, the truly revolutionary forces in the working-class movement in capitalist countries mounted a struggle against reformist leaders and lor the founding of communist parties, that is, parties of a new 42 type failed upon lo lead the revolutionary movement and rally the mass of tne working people.

p In France, the light lor a new type ol party, and its affiliation with the Comintern, was headed by the revolutionary wing of the Socialist Parly. By the end of 1919, within just a year of the conclusion ol World War I, the Party’s membership had risen to nearly 100,000. Most of the new members were young workers strongly influenced by the 1917 Socialist Revolution in Russia. This was the time the Party was joined by Maurice ’I horex. and Jacques Duclos, later the foremost leaders of the French working-class movement. The younger members in the Party were ever more visibly opposed to reformist policies. They demanded that the Socialist Party should quit the Second International and join Lenin’s Third.

p The French section of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), consisting, among others, of Inesse Armancl, Jeanne Labourbc and Jacques Sadoul, contributed greatly to the spread of the ideas of the Third International among the working people of France. At the height of the May strikes of 1919 a new body sprang up in Paris which called itself the Committee for Affiliation with the Third International. Members of the socialist revolutionary wing saw their task in propagating communist ideas.

p Meetings of the Parly’s district section, which Nguyen did his best to attend regularly, were increasingly reminiscent of a droning swarm of wasps. Successive speakers argued about the two Internationals which of them was better suited to further the interests of the French workers. The arguments were made all the more vehement by the impetuous French temperament. Nguyen listened attentively, though not everything the speakers said was clear. Some juggled with “clever” words "utopian socialism”, “anarchism”, “reformism”, and " syndicalism”, and with the names of Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Blanqui. Bui gradually he began to grasp the overall picture.

p The meetings, like the Party, comprised three fairly distinctive camps. The left Socialists were for joining the Comintern, which they saw as the harbinger ol truly revolutionary struggle for the liberation of the working class from capitalist oppression. The right wing demanded the revival of the Second International, which, they maintained, was closer to the democratic traditions of the French Republic. The middleof-the-roaders, meanwhile, known in the Parly as the Longuetists (their leader was Jean Longuet), were for refurbishing the Second International by clearing it of all “non-socialist” elements.

p Nguyen was distressed that the speakers discoursed exclusively about the future of the French working-class movement, and made no 43 refercnce whatever to the fate of the colonial peoples. At one meeting, he asked (or the floor:

p “Dear friends”, he said, "all of you are Socialists. That is splendid. All of you want lo liberate the working class. If so, what difference is there between the Second, Third, and Second-and-a-Half Internationals? Whatever International you join, you will have to act together, because you have the same goal. Why argue so much? While you argue, my compatriots in Indochina are languishing under the colonial yoke..."

p Alter the meeting, a girl named Rose, whom he knew before, told him he did not sec’ the difference between the Internationals because he was still green.

p “You’ll soon see what our arguments are all about,” she said. " Tinissue has a strong bearing on the future of our working class."

p In his heart, Nguyen was always with the left Socialists, those who spoke out for the colonial peoples. It was among them that he found friends. Yet his conscious option in favour of Leninism came in 1920. On July 16 and 17, L’Humanite published tentative guidelines on the national and colonial questions formulated by Lenin for the 2nd Congress of the Communist International. Thai was the first time Nguyen read anything written by Lenin. He was stunned by the simple wisdom of Lenin’s ideas. He was overjoyed to read that the "Communist International’s entire policy on the national and the colonial questions should rest primarily on a closer union of the proletarians and the working masses of all nations and countries for a joint revolutionary struggle to overthrow the landowners and the bourgeoisie. This union alone will guarantee victory over capitalism, without which the abolition of national oppression and inequality is impossible”.   [43•1 

p For the first time in his life, Nguyen read in so many words, with staggering impact, that the efforts of the revolutionary movement in the metropolitan countries and those in the colonial countries should merge. He read about the distinctions and specificity of the liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries. Lenin stressed:

p “With regard to the more backward states and nations, in which feudal or patriarchal and patriarchal-peasant relations predominate, it is particularly important to bear in mind:

p “...that all Communist parties must assist the bourgeois-democratic liberation movement in these countries, and that the duty of rendering the most active assistance rests primarily with the workers of the country the backward nation is colonially or financially dependent on."   [43•2 

44

p Nguyen kept reading some of" (lie passages over and over; he wanted to reach down to the bottom of Lenin’s ideas. Tears of delight dimmed his eyes. He felt as though he had long and stubbornly climbed uphill, clinging to barely visible projections, his fingers bleeding, until now, at last, he saw the boundless spaces in all their beauty. For nine years had he looked for the Magic Sword, the great truth that would bring freedom to his people. And he had found it at last the truly revolutionary, endlessly diverse, universal Leninist doctrine, whose main principles were equally applicable to the advanced capitalist countries and to the backward peasant countries of the Fast.

p Thus passed the night. This time the dawn was not only the forerunner of a new day, but also the beginning of a fundarnenlally new stage in Nguyen’s life. Lenin’s ideas captured him. He was conquered for good. Years later, as President of Free Vietnam, he recollected:

p “In those Theses there were political terms that were difficult to understand. But by reading them again and again I was finally able to grasp the essential part. What emotion, enthusiasm, enlightenment and confidence they communicated to me! I wept for joy. Sitting by myself in my room, I would shout as if I were addressing large crowds: ’My dear long-suffering compatriots! This is what we need, this is our path to liberation!’

p “Since then, I had complete confidence in Lenin, in the Third International."

p Nguyen sent a letter to the Committee for Affiliation with the Third International, asking to be admitted as its member. And he was accepted. Now, he was one of the most active speakers at meetings of his section. He attacked Lenin’s enemies, the enemies of the Third International. "If you do not condemn colonialism, if you do not side with the colonial peoples,” he said, "what kind of revolution are you then making?" Cheered by young workers, he flung these words at the opportunists. On becoming a member of the Committee, he eagerly attended meetings of other sections, where he articulately defended his ideas.

p In Moscow on August 6, 1920, the 2nd Congress of the Comintern endorsed the 21 conditions for admission to the Comintern. L’Humanile published the full text of that important document. Nguyen’s attention was attracted to clause 8: "The parties of countries where the bourgeoisie possesses colonies and oppresses other nations must have an especially clear line in the matter of colonies and oppressed nationalities. Every party that wants to belong to the Third International is obliged to expose the offences of’its own’ imperialists in the colonies without mercy; it is obliged to support any liberation movement in the colonies by deed rather than word, and demand the expulsion of its own, home-bred imperialists from these colonies, cultivate among the working people oi’its 45 own country a truly fraternal attitude towards the working population ol the colonies and towards oppressed nationalities, and to conduct systematic agitation among their own troops against any and all oppression of the colonial peoples."

p The Committee for Affiliation to the Third International had no residence of its own. It leased various available premises, and kept moving from address to address. One day, at a meeting in the Latin Quarter, Nguyen got to know a young Frenchman who had just been demobilised from the army. His name wasjacques Duclos. Though he was seven years Nguyen’s junior, they looked the same age, for like all Vietnamese, Nguyen was slim and straight, and had shining black hair, which made him look much younger than his age. They met regularly at meetings of the Committee, and gradually became friends.

p Duclos recalled later: "We spoke a lot about Soviet Russia when collecting money in the streets to help the Russian Revolution cope with the hunger and the aftermaths of the blockade organised by France and other Kntente countries."

p One day, Nguyen said the Russian revolution was in danger. "Yet,” he added, "it will defeat all its enemies, though many hardships lie ahead."

p Duclos was only just starting on his activity in the party. He eagerly questioned Nguyen about things he had not yet himself understood. One late night, the two friends were travelling in a nearly empty car of the Paris subway. The usual smell of machine oil and burnt rubber hung heavily in the air. Jacques told Nguyen that he had seen Vietnamese in his native village in the foothills of the Pyrenees. They were employed in a military workshop, and lived in barracks behind barbed wire.

p Jacques asked Nguyen why the wretches had left their homes. In reply he heard the sad story of how his countrymen abused the Vietnamese, how they were stripped of elementary human rights, how they were mercilessly exploited and forcibly turned into alcoholics and drug addicts.

p “That was a revelation,” Duclos recollected. "For in France we were told colonial policy was a kind of export of civilisation. Thanks to Nguyen I learned the truth about French colonialism."

p But the main subject they discussed was the Comintern. In those days, the young Socialists who favoured affiliation with the Comintern were eagerly awaiting the return from Moscow of Marcel Cachin and the General Secretary of the Socialist Party, Louis Frossard, who had gone to meet Lenin and make contact with the governing bodies of the Comintern. Would these two men cope with their job? Time and again, Nguyen and Jacques raised and discussed this question. Both agreed that Frossard could not be trusted as a political figure. And soon, 46 Frossard bore (hem out by leaving the French Communist Party which he had himself helped to found. As lor Cachin, here they ditlercd. Duclos had never met Cachin, but had heard he was a centrist. Nguyen, who knew Cachin well, who had explained the Indochina situation to him, was captivated by the fact that even when Cachin backed the idea of "war to the finish”, he was still actively opposed to colonialism.

p “Nguyen thought better of Marcel Cachin’s probable performance in Moscow than I,” Duclos recollected. "And he proved right... Lenin, too, had different opinions of Cachin and Frossard, though both believed in ‘war to the finish’. Lenin saw that the Russian Revolution had made a strong impression on Cachin, and had trust in him. He ignored the hints that Cachin was a centrist. And I found that Nguyen Ai Ojioc’s opinion of Cachin was practically the same as Lenin’s."

p The Socialist Party of France joined the Comintern. The time was ripe for a radical restructuring. Nguyen used to say angrily that party meetings had become a talking-shop, with no one bothering to carry out adopted decisions.

p “A revolutionary party,” he used to say to Duclos, "must have tight discipline. Once a decision is taken, it has to be followed. It is high time for us to form a new party where the parliamentary style of work will be ruled out."

p Cachin and Frossard came back from Russia. On August 13, the Socialist Party held a meeting on the premises of the Paris circus. People shoved and pushed to get closer to the orators, for there were no loudspeakers in those days. Thousands of workers had come, occupying all the seats, spilling over on to the arena. Yet the tram and subway brought new masses of people, and the 30,000 who found no place inside the circus, milled in the adjoining streets. Nguyen had been among the first to come, and found a comfortable seat.

p When Cachin appeared, everybody sang the Internationale and chanted, "Long live Cachin! Long live Lenin! Long live the Soviets!"

p “What a joy for an old Socialist who has dreamed of it for thirty years to see a society in which labour alone has all the power,” Cachin said. He said the Russian Revolution, which had created such a society, paid a heavy price for it.

p “We, too,” he said, "are making it suffer, since the soldiers of the Socialist Republic of Russia are being killed by French shells fabricated by French workers and transported by French railwaymcn and sailors.

p “Gather strength, people of France! See what imperialist France is up to, and think of your duty."

p Cachin said the French Socialists ought to study the experience of the Russian Revolution. He said the Third International, unlike its predecessors, had gone over to direct action against world imperialism. It was 47 uniting all nations, and giving (hem moral and material aid. He said the Russian Revolution and the Comintern were arousing the enslaved. Ideas of liberation were spreading in the Last, loo, and the better minds all over the world were hoping for national independence and freedom.

After his visit to Russia, Cachin became one of the most dedicated members of the movement for affiliation with the Third International. He travelled all over France, took part in do/ens of meetings, explaining the substance of communism and expressing confidence in the victory of the Russian Bolsheviks. Cachin’s drive swung the scales. At the end of 1920 most French Socialists voted for affiliation with .the Comintern.

2

p At the height of the Christmas holidays, on December 25, 1920, the Socialist Parly held its national congress in (he little town of Tours. Among its 285 delegates, Nguyen Ai Quoc. elected by his section for his part in the Committee for Affiliation, was the only representative of the French colonies.

p Fhe congress was held in the riding school next door to St. Julian’s Cathedral lacing the Loire. (During World War II the building was bombed and burned down.)

p ’Fhe riding school was hastily adapted for the congress by members of the local party branch. The presiding platform consisted of unpainted planks laid out on trestles; collapsible chairs and tables were hired from a soft drinks tradesman; a few garlands of flowers adorned the ceiling; portraits of Jaures were hung on the walls, and behind the speakers’ platform two large posters: "Liberation of the working people is the cause of the working people!" and "Workers of All Countries, Unite".

p Faithful to the tradition that dated to the romantic times of the French Revolution, congress delegates seated themselves in separate groups depending on their views. On the left were those who wanted afliliation with the Comintern, the Longuetists were in the centre (they were the “reconstructors”, those who wanted to merely improve the Second International), and on the right were (he social-chauvinists, fierce enemies of Bolshevism and Soviet Russia.

p The debate went on for four days. Though the majority had from the start favoured the Party’s afliliation with the Comintern, the controversy was exceedingly sharp. ’Fhe social-chauvinists and " reconstructors" sei/.ed on every opportunity to distort the terms of admission to the Comintern, to slander those who favoured affiliation, and to influence the final decision of those who were not entirely clear about the goals and tasks of Communists. And the latter were fairly numerous.

48

p At the height of the meeting the floor was given to Nguyen Ai Quoc. A murmur of approval resounded when the slim young man with a high forehead and prominent cheek-bones, dressed in a fairly elegant suit of clothes specially borrowed for the occasion, rose to speak. There was no microphone, and Nguyen spoke standing beside his seat.

p “I should be speaking of the world revolution,” he said. "But as a Socialist I have come here with pain in my heart to protest against the monstrous imperialist crimes in my country."

p “Bravo,” someone shouted.

p After describing the fierce colonial exploitation, oppression, discrimination, and abuse loosened on the Vietnamese, Nguyen exclaimed:

p “Twenty million Vietnamese or hall as many as the population ol France, live a life ol"misery. Yet they are said to be under the protection of France! The Socialist Party must take effective measures on behalf of the oppressed colonial peoples."

p Amidst shouts of approval, Jean Longuet cried:

p “But I’ve spoken in defence of the natives."

p “Haven’t I imposed a dictatorship of silence when I began to speak?" Nguyen parried, causing merriment in the hall. "The Party should conduct socialist propaganda in all the colonies. I should think that affiliation with the Third International will amount to the party promising lo recognise the importance of the colonial question."

p A decisive moment came in the deliberations at nightfall on December 29. Resolutions were put to the vote. One was for affiliation with the Third International, another rejected some of the 21 conditions of the Comintern and suggested establishing contact with all socialist organisations that had quit the Second International. The first was submitted by Cachin, the second by Longuet. Cachin’s resolution won 70 per cent of the votes, including that of Nguyen Ai Quoc.

p Delegates sang the Internationale. "Long live Jaures,” shouted the right wingers. "Long live Jaures and Lenin,” shouted those on the left. The right-wingers and the “reconstruetors” refused to submit to the majority and walked out of the congress hall. Those who stayed founded the Communist Party of France, which became the French section of the Comintern.

p It was half past two in the morning on December 30, 1920, when the Communist Party opened its 1st Congress. Those minutes were historic not only for the French working-class movement, but also because they marked the initiation of the first Vietnamese Communist who raised the Leninist banner in the national liberation movement of Vietnam.

p After a spell of revolutionary activity under the national-democratic banner, lighting against colonialism and imperialism, Nguyen Ai 49 Quoc opted for Marxism-Leninism. Many years later he would say:

p “At first it was patriotism, not yet communism which led me to have confidence in Lenin and the Third International. Step by step, in the course of the struggle, studying Marxism-Leninism and engaging in practical activities, I finally understood that only socialism and communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery. I understood then how indissolubly patriotism and proletarian internationalism were tied together."

Those who really love their country, Nguyen used to say, those who consider themselves a particle of the people and devote themselves to the fight for national and social liberation, are bound to espouse MarxismLeninism. The Communists, he added, as history shows every day, are the most consistent and the stoutest champions of national interests, of the will ol their peoples. They are truly selfless lighters for independence, freedom, and the prosperity of their countries.