Vietnam & Trotskyism

Foreword

Vietnam & Trotskyism is based on material published in a seven part series in Workers Press, weekly paper of the British Workers Revolutionary Party, beginning in December 1986.

The series was compiled by Simon Pirani and documents the role of the Vietnamese Trotskyists in the period leading up to the August 1945 revolution after the defeat of the Japanese.

Simon Pirani’s five part article is the centrepiece of the book. This is supplemented by a number of articles that were published in the same series – eye-witness accounts of the August Revolution and some articles covering related topics, as well as correspondence from the Letters pages of Workers Press, including letters critical of Simon Pirani’s article, and his replies.

Also included are extended excerpts of documents that Simon Pirani refers to in his article, so that the reader may study the material for his or her self. This includes excerpts from Leon Trotsky’s writings of the 1930s as well as more recent articles, and a translation of a statement by the Vietnamese Trotskyist group in France putting forward their view of the tasks confronting the Fourth International in Vietnam today.

Published for the first time in English is the 1930 Declaration of the Indochinese Oppositionists. Hitherto unseen outside the Vietnamese opposition, the document is known for Trotsky’s comments upon it. Its publication here allows an appreciation of the real discussion in which Trotsky was engaged with the young cadre of the Left Opposition.

A translation of three letters by Ho Chi Minh, printed in French by the Vietnamese Trotskyist Group, shows the methods of slander that were used to justify the murder of the Vietnamese Trotskyists by the Vietminh in 1945.

Andy Blunden
10 November 1987