Ho Chi Minh and ideology

. . . if anyone is interested in a historical topic ----

An American biographer of Ho Chi Minh writes this --

Reference:

William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh: A Life. New York, USA: Hyperion, 2000.

[quote Duiker, from p. 569-570}

To many observers, the crux of the debate over Ho Chi Minh has centered on the issue of whether he should be identified as a Communist or a nationalist. Many of his foreign acquaintences insist that Ho was more a patriot than a Marxist revolutionary. Ho appeared to confirm this view in 1961, when he publicly declared that it was the desire to save his compatriots that initially led him to Leninism. While he voiced such sentiments on numerous other occasions, there is perhaps no clearer exposition than his remark to the U.S. intelligence officer Charles Fenn in 1945 that he viewed communism as a means to reach a nationalist end. When asked to explain himself, Ho replied:

[quote of Ho]

First, you must understand that to gain independence from a great power like France is a formidable task that cannot be achieved without some outside help, not necessarily in things like arms, but in the nature of advice and contacts. One doesn't in fact gain independence by throwing bombs and such. That was the mistake the early revolutionaries all too often made. One must gain it through organization, propaganda, training and discipline. One also needs . . . a set of beliefs, a gospel, a practical analysis, you might even say a bible. Marxism-Leninism gave me that framework.

[end quote Ho]

Fenn asked Ho why he did not select democracy or some other form of political system, rather than an ideology that so clearly would forfeit the goodwill of the United States, a country he claimed to admire so much? Ho Chi Minh replied that it was only when he arrived in Moscow that he received any practical support. The Soviet Union alone of the major powers was "a friend in need and a friend in deed." Its loyalty won his loyalty.

[end quote Duiker]