National Development 

Vietnam has come a long way since the days of division, where the nation was split in two between the communist north and the capitalist south. The subsequent war that was fought to determine the future of the nation, produced a significant duality effect of both deep seeded trauma, as well as a growing sense of national pride. This pride emerged within the people of Vietnam, a people made up predominantly  rural agricultural farmers and their success in being able to defeat the worlds leading military power. However, the military success of the Vietnamese didn’t stop with the USA. When the Khmer Rouge launched their attack on Vietnam in 1979, Vietnam responded and conquered Cambodia in a matter of weeks, ending the Cambodian Genocide. China would then respond to this development launching their own invasion of Vietnam from the north which again the Vietnamese were able to repel. So in a matter of 40 years, the Vietnamese defeated the French to gain independence, the USA to reunite their nation, Cambodia to end a genocide and China, the regional power. However, these conflicts resulted in devastation across the nation, some of the effects of this are still being felt today with the victims of agent orange. It is this collective experience of national trauma, combined with a deep sense of pride for and the need to rebuild the nation that has moulded the Vietnamese people into some of the hardest working on the planet. Whilst Scuba diving in the city of Nha Trang I was lucky enough to meet a Chinese-American man named Wayne. He works in the global supply chain industry and was able shed some interesting light on the state of production in Asia. More specifically, how the incredible work ethic of the Vietnamese people is causing a major shift away from China towards Vietnam in the global supply chain. To put it simply, the Vietnamese work harder and for less pay than their Chinese counterparts. It is a trend in keeping with many of these national economies that are edging closer and closer to being considered a “developed economy.” People in these nations see great opportunity and wealth and the way to achieve it is through hard work. 

Economic Liberalisation

But what role does the communist system in Vietnam play in this economic growth? Moreover, how does communism even work in Vietnam? We in the west hear the word ‘communism’ and automatically associate it with the Soviet Gulags, The Great Leap Forward or the Khmer Rouge, all of which resulted in the deaths of millions in pursuit of a communist utopia. In Vietnam however, these extremes were never achieved. Whilst it is true that following the reunification of Vietnam, it’s government attempted a Marxist-style collectivised economy. It’s implementation was short lived, lasting approximately 10 years and rather then causing the deaths of millions, it instead led to hyper inflation that peaked at 774% in 1988. Whilst hyper inflation is a bad thing of course, I feel on balance it’s a damn sight better than death on a mass scale. It was this experiment with collectivisation that changed the course of the Vietnamese economy. Following the inflation it forced the government to enact a policy of economic liberalisation, similar to that of Gorbachev’s perestroika in the Soviet Union. This opened Vietnams economy up to the world, stimulating foreign investment and allowed multinational cooperations to begin operating within Vietnam. I have seen on my travels from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min, the effects of this policy in action with western companies like McDonald’s and KFC being seen frequently on the city streets, to international hotel chains like Marriott opening up in costal cities like Da Nang which are assisting in developing Vietnam’s fledgling tourism industry. In essence, we view communism as the state having total control over the realms of both the economic and the political, essentially the state is the government and the economy. However Vietnams experiment with collectivisation forced a separation between the economic and the political, with the state relinquishing a lot of its control over the economy by encouraging a liberal economic model, whilst also  maintaining a unitary one-party system. In a way this is very similar to what we have seen happen in China over the past 30 years or so. 

Drawbacks of the System

So far I have painted a rosey picture of Vietnams ‘communist’ journey. However, my bike trip into the rural mountainous regions lay bare the issues that this system is causing for communities outside of the bustling cities. I set off on my bike trip from the old imperial capital of Hue and headed west along the Ho Chi Min trail into the mountainous region of Vietnam that is situated on the border with Laos. It was here where I saw first hand the stark contrast of the lives people lived in the city compared to those who live in the mountain villages. These villages experience immense poverty and there are a number of reasons for this, such as large size households, poor infrastructure, a dependency on agriculture and so on. What underpins all of these issues however is a distinct lack of education in these regions, or at least a very low standard of education. This has been preventing communities from acquiring new useful skills that can be used to help develop a higher paying local economy, which in turn stifles local infrastructure development. This lack of education also leads to large family sizes as communities don’t have access to suitable sex education or contraception to help control these factors. I asked my easy rider who took me on this trip, a man named Vinnie, why education was so poor in these regions and what he told me shocked me. He said that in Vietnam there is no such thing as a public school system like what we have in the west. In Vietnam, if you want your child to go to school you have to have the money to pay for it. This goes against everything I believed communism to be, surely in a communist society even with economic liberalisation, everyone should have access to the most basic human right, a right to education. Given that communism is so focused on the collective, how is it possible that a country with the 35th largest GDP in the world is unable to provide free public education for its citizens? My easy rider Vinnie summed it up perfectly, the nature of Vietnams political system makes it hard for people in isolated communities to demand change from the government due to the lack of a representative for them. Essentially the Vietnamese government is focusing so much on developing the cities as that is where there has been so much success in the 21st century, that the rural communities are often being neglected. This fact has left me with the feeling that the system of communism and the ideals that it represents, that being a sense of a national community where everyone helps each other, is largely a facade and more so a justification for a ruling class to maintain their dominance over the state. However, Vinnie did point out that things are changing, albeit slowly, for the rural communities. The government is gradually rolling out development programmes and are beginning to promote important education in these rural communities, it’s just the rate that this is happening is far far too slow when compared to urban areas. 

A Divided Nation

A second bike trip that I took in the mountains surrounding the city of Da Lat in southern Vietnam helped tell the story of how South-Vietnamese people view their current situation in relation to communism. More specifically, despite the reunification, Vietnam is still a divided nation. My rider, a man named Do who was born before the Vietnam war recalled to me how life changed following the defeat of southern Vietnamese forces. He described how the northern troops moved in to occupy the south and very quickly witnessed mass brainwashing of those in southern schools; Large scale arrests of political dissidents; abolishment of many Catholic Churches; and a major influx of north Vietnamese immigrants to take over the far superior arable land located in the South, creating a significant wealth divide between the two peoples. Do also explained to me that whilst on the surface, the Vietnamese seem content with the political system they live under, quietly the majority of people do not like the government and want change. This feeling is perfectly demonstrated by the high number of South-Vietnamese people I spoke to, who still refer to Ho Chi Minh City (the name the communists bestowed upon it following their victory) as Saigon, the old name of the historical capital city of South Vietnam.  The reason for this divide as Do explained to me was simple, whilst it’s easy for those to set up small a business, once this business grows to a certain level the government come in and take control of it, preventing people from achieving a higher status in society. This combined with the inescapable fact that the Vietnamese have little to no say in their governmental system, helps to compound negative feelings towards the government, particularly in the South. It must be noted however, that this perspective comes from someone who describes themself as south Vietnamese so there is a potential for a degree of bias. Even if we take Do’s opinion at face value and assume that a majority of all Vietnamese people dislike the government and want change, this must also raises the question of if the majority want change then why has it not come about? Perhaps the only way to answer this question is to dispense of the idea that the Vietnam war unified the country. Instead, looking at Vietnam as a country united by a boarder, but separated culturally between north and south. 

The Way Forward

Despite the pros and cons of the system that exists within Vietnam, my overall takeaway from this trip gives me the feeling that Vietnam is experiencing a similar stage that China went through 20-30 years ago. A similar economic and political model, but what delayed Vietnams progression was the multiple wars it had to fight in over to gain and maintain its own freedom. Something that has really stood out to me from my time here in however,  is that it’s arguably the most beautiful country I’ve ever been to. Vietnam truly feels like God’s playground, it’s as if God made all the other countries, got to Vietnam and decided to have some. The mountains, the coastline with man interwoven between it all is just the most breathtaking sight. The people are so welcoming and so friendly, Vietnamese hospitality is like none other. Whilst there are economic and political challenges in this country I get the overwhelming sense that all of the countries citizens are working towards the same goal, a better and more prosperous existence.