Pham Diem
State and Law Research Institute
Following the victorious war of resistance against the French colonialists, northern Vietnam was completely liberated while southern Vietnam fell under the US colonial yoke, and the country was divided into two zones. Therefore, the basic task of the Vietnamese people during this period was to carry out the resistance war against the US imperialists to liberate the South, protect the North and reunify the country. Regarding the people’s State administration, there existed in this period two governments under the unified leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam: The Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North and the provisional revolutionary government of the Republic of South Vietnam, set up in the South during the struggle against the US imperialists and their puppet administration. This is a prominent and typical feature of the Vietnamese government in this period.
I. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government
Under the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam State exercised its State powers in a half of the country - northern Vietnam. However, the role and tasks of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government were not restricted within the North, but covered the whole country.
During the first ten years (1954-1964) after its complete liberation, the North was in the state of peace. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government concentrated its efforts on performing the following major tasks:
- Consolidating the organizational apparatus and changing the mode of operation of the Government from war time to peace time.
- Taking over the newly liberated areas, completing the land reform, restoring and developing the economy.
- Carrying out political struggles to demand the adversary to strictly implement the Geneva Agreements, while organizing the revolutionary struggle movement in the South.
On October 10, 1954, Hanoi capital was liberated and the revolutionary government returned to Hanoi on January 1, 1955. Earlier in August 1954 after the Geneva Agreements were signed, the Government Council met under the chairmanship of President Ho Chi Minh, having discussed the implementation of the armistice as provided for in the Geneva Agreements and adopted the scheme on organizing the Board for reception of officials and armymen who regrouped from the South to the North.
a/ Regarding the organizational consolidation of the Government:
Following the restoration of peace in the North, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam resumed its normal operation through regular sessions where the Government reported on its activities as well as on domestic and world situations, the policies on reconstruction of the North and the struggle for national reunification. At the National Assembly’s fourth session in March 1955, the Government was restructured to suit the situation, having consisted of the State President, the Premier, two deputy-premiers and the ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, National Defense, Public Security, Education, Finance, Communications and Post, Irrigation and Architecture, Industry, Trade, Health, Labor, Justice, Culture, War Invalids, Social Relief, Agriculture and Forestry and the minister of the Premier’s Office.
So, the premiership was instated for the first time in the Government and the number of ministers (18) was larger. At its eighth session in April 1958, the National Assembly appointed two more deputy-premiers and split up the Trade Ministry into the Ministry of Home Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and the Irrigation and Architecture Ministry into the Ministry of Irrigation and the Ministry of Architecture, upgraded the Nationality Board into the Nationality Committee and set up the State Commission for Sciences, the Supreme People’s Court and the Prosecution Institute, which were at the ministerial level.
At the National Assembly’s ninth session in December 1958, the State Planning Commission was established. At its tenth session in May 1959, the National Assembly decided to dissolve the Social Relief Ministry and the War Invalids Ministry and transfer their tasks to the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health.
Generally, after peace was restored in the North, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government was constantly consolidated organizationally with the emergence of numerous economic management bodies. It performed the function of the executive body of the supreme State power organ (the National Assembly) and the highest State administrative agency, and enhanced its economic management function.
b/ Prominent activities of the Government:
+ Taking over the liberated areas: Under the Geneva Agreements, within 300 days after the conclusion thereof, the French troops in Vietnam had to withdraw from North Vietnam and regroup to South Vietnam, then go home while the Vietnam People’s Army withdrew from the South and regrouped to the North. So, the then urgent task of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government was to take over the areas where French troops withdrew. Before and during their withdrawal, the adversary incited their stooges to undermine the ceasefire, destroyed public facilities and spread fabricated stories to cause confusion and puzzlement among people. The Vietnamese Government had carefully prepared personnel and essential goods for taking over the liberated areas. On October 17, 1954, it promulgated eight policies towards the liberated areas, having aimed to protect the lives and property of the people, to protect privately- run industry and trade, to protect the lives and property of foreign nationals, to promote democratic freedoms including the freedom of belief. Then on June 14, 1955, the Government promulgated the religious policy aiming to protect the freedom of belief. Under the Government’s direction, the administrations at all levels organized the mass in the political struggle against the adversary while punishing in time reactionary agents. On May 16, 1955, the last French troops left Hai Phong, and North Vietnam was completely liberated.
+ Completing the land reform, restoring and developing economy:
The land reform was, a strategic task of the Vietnamese revolution, which was started but left uncomplete in the anti-French colonialist war of resistance; hence it had to be completed in the North after the restoration of peace. Upon its completion in 1956, the landlord class was completely done away with and 334,100 hectares of land were distributed to landless peasants. Regrettably, serious mistakes were committed in the process of conducting the land reform. At the end of October 1956, the Government Council met, with President Ho Chi Minh in the chair, having reviewed the enforcement of the Land Reform Law, set forth policies and measures to remedy mistakes and discipline officials who had personally directed the land reform. With timely and resolute measures taken by the Government, by the end of 1957, the mistake correction had yielded good results. The peasants gradually stabilized their lives and the people’s confidence in the Government was restored. Such results made the land reform a complete success.
Under the colonial regime, Vietnam’s economy was crippled, underdeveloped and moreover heavily devastated by war. Hence, the economic restoration was carried out alongside the land reform. In its report at the fifth session of the National Assembly, the Government Council drew up the orientation for economic restoration, which was: “To mainly restore agricultural production while attaching importance to communications and transport and the restoration and construction of a number of necessary industrial units.” The Government lent 540 tons of rice seed and provided 50,000 buffaloes and cows as aid for peasants in delta regions. At the end of 1957, the economic restoration was successfully completed in North Vietnam with the gross industrial and agricultural outputs having approximated the levels of 1939, the peak year during the French colonialists’ tenure. Particularly the food output reached 4 million tons, surpassing the pre-war level. The chronic famine, a vestige of the colonial regime, was initially settled. Systems of roads, waterways and railways were largely restored. Illiteracy was basically eradicated and the people’s life was improved. Following the success of the economic restoration, from 1958 on, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government conducted the economic transformation and development along the socialist orientation.
+ Struggling for the strict implementation of the Geneva Agreements and national reunification:
Right after the signing of the Geneva Agreements, apart from the political struggles staged by the masses, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government time and again sent notes to the Saigon puppet administration and the co-chairmen of the Geneva Conference, having exposed the die-hard nature of the US imperialists and their puppet administration in South Vietnam and demanded the adversary to observe the democratic freedoms in the South and conduct consultative conferences for reunification of Vietnam as stipulated by the Geneva Agreements. On February 4, 1955, it issued a declaration, having expressed its willingness to restore the normal relations between the North and the South as provided for by the Geneva Agreements. Again on June 6, 1955 the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government declared its readiness to hold consultative conferences with the Saigon authorities to discuss the organization of a free general election in order to reunify the country in July 1956 as stipulated by the Geneva Agreements. Yet, all goodwill gestures and demands of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government were rejected by the US imperialists and their stooges, who attempted, with their wicked intention, to perpetuate the division of the country and turn South Vietnam into a new-typed colony of the US imperialists.
In face of big changes in the North, on December 31, 1959, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam passed a new Constitution under which the Government’s organization saw substantial changes as compared to the 1946 Constitution.
The 1959 Constitution abolished the cabinet structure and separated the head of the state (the State president) from the list of members of the Government. So, under the new Constitution, the Government was composed only of the premier, deputy-premiers, ministers and heads of the ministerial-level agencies.
The Government’s role and nature in the State power structure also basically changed under the 1959 Constitution. Its independence in the capacity as a branch of the State power as prescribed in the 1946 Constitution was no longer prescribed. According to Article 71 of the 1959 Constitution, the Government was not only the supreme administrative agency (as prescribed in the 1946 Constitution) but also the executive body of the supreme State power organ (the National Assembly). Under the 1959 Constitution, the Government was organized in the form of Council, namely an agency working according to the collective regime. The Government Council bore the collective responsibility, but not the ministers bore the personal responsibilities before the National Assembly as provided for in the 1946 Constitution. Though the elements of power separation were not mentioned and the ideology that all the State powers belong to the National Assembly was institutionalized in Vietnam’s Constitution, the Government Council’s dependence on the National Assembly was not so absolute. With its position as the supreme administrative agency of the State, as stated in the 1959 Constitution, the Government Council had a relatively independent position in the State’s administrative activities.
The powers of the Government Council were uniformly defined in the 1959 Constitution without any distinction between the powers of the State President in the capacity as the head of the Government and the powers of the Government as seen in the 1946 Constitution. Moreover, the Government’s powers were defined more comprehensively and more specifically in the 1959 Constitution than in the 1946 Constitution, including new powers suitable to the new situation of the country. According to Article 74 of the 1959 Constitution, the Government Council had the following 15 specific powers:
- To submit bills, draft ordinances and other legal drafts before the National Assembly as well as the National Assembly Standing Committee.
- To uniformly direct activities of the ministries and agencies under the Government Council.
- To uniformly direct activities of the Administrative Committees of all levels.
- To amend or annul inappropriate decisions of ministries, agencies under the Government Council and Administrative Committees of all levels.
- To suspend the implementation of inappropriate resolutions of the People’s Councils of the provinces or centrally-run cities and propose the National Assembly Standing Committee to amend or annul such resolutions.
- To implement economic and State budget plans.
- To manage home trade and foreign trade.
- To manage cultural and social activities.
- To protect the interests of the State, maintain public order and protect the citizens’ interests.
- To direct the building of the State’s armed forces.
- To manage external activities.
- To manage the ethnic work.
- To approve the delimitation of land boundaries of the administrative units under the provincial level.
- To enforce orders on mobilization or curfews and to apply all necessary measures to defend the country.
- To appoint and dismiss State employees according to the provisions of law.
Besides the above- listed powers, the Government Council may be delegated other powers by the National Assembly or its Standing Committee when deeming it necessary.
Under the newly promulgated Constitution, the Government was organized and elected according to the National Assembly’s tenures:
The Government Council (according the National Assembly’s 1960-1964 term) was composed of the premier, 5 deputy-premiers, 28 ministers and heads of the ministerial-level agencies.
The Government Council (1964-1971) was composed of the premier, 8 deputy-premiers, 38 ministers and heads of the ministerial-level agencies.
The Government Council (1971-1975) consisted of the premier, 10 deputy-premiers, 40 ministers and heads of the ministerial-level agencies.
As from mid-1964, the US waged an air war of destruction against North Vietnam, having escalated their aggressive war throughout the country. To cope with the new war time situation in the North, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government quickly changed its operation mode, having organized and mobilized the integrated strength of the entire nation to defeat the US imperialists in their aggressive war.
As the National Assembly could not meet regularly due to fierce war circumstances, the Government Council became the supreme executive body of the State so as to be able to mobilize human and material resources in time for the resistance war and to direct the war in a prompt and effective manner.
The Government quickly changed its mode of social and economic management in order to maintain the socialist construction in the North under the war circumstances, which was clearly stated in its report before the third session of the IIIrd National Assembly in June 1966: “To speed up the development of local economy, that is the basic method to enable every locality to mobilize forces for the fight against the enemy along the line of people’s war... While concentrating efforts on developing the local economy, importance must be fully attached to consolidating and promoting the centrally-run economy.” In agriculture and the countryside, the Government carried out the plan on redistribution of labor forces in order to free the young and strong people to the frontline to fight the enemy. Within only three years from 1965 to 1967, the Government invested a large amount of capital in agriculture, 20% more than the total capital of investment in agriculture within 4 years from 1961 to 1964. In the local industry, the Government’s investment capital within three years from 1965 to 1967 increased by 33 times over that of the period before the US air war of destruction against the North.
Regarding the organization and direction of the resistance war, the Government reinforced the army. By the end of 1966, the number of regular troops trebled the figures before 1965, and particularly the number of troops in the air-defense and air force rose five times; the strength of the militia and self-defense force reached two million people. The strategic communications networks in North Vietnam were of great importance for transportation of supplies to the battlefields in South Vietnam. During the war years, the Government mobilized a huge force for the communications and transport service and frequently spared over 20% of its total investment capital for the maintenance of non-interrupted communications and transport activities. For the North-South strategic transport route, in April 1965 the Government issued a decision defining the tasks and organization of the Truong Son army, which turned the Ho Chi Minh trail into a motorized transportation road network, through which hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies and troops were carried annually to the battlefields.
The volume of supplies and weapons transported through this strategic transportation route to various battlefields in South Vietnam during the 1965-1968 period increased ninefold over that in the 1961-1965 period, and the volume transported during the 1968-1972 period rose fourfold over that in the 1965-1968 period. During the resistance war against the US imperialists, the human resources and technical as well as material supplies mobilized from the big rear of North Vietnam for the patriotic war in South Vietnam represented higher and higher proportions of 6/8 and 8/2 as compared to the resources exploited on the spot. In some years, the Government mobilized up to 6.6% of the total social labor force and 20-25% of the total food output for the resistance war. It can be said that the Government’s comprehensive mobilization from people of all walks of life was the largest, most comprehensive and most efficient mass mobilization in Vietnam’s history of struggle against foreign invasions. The entire Vietnamese nation acted under the motto “All for the complete victory over the US aggressors.”
In short, during the resistance war against the US imperialists for national salvation, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government was the supreme executive body of the State. With its organization and operations suitable to the war circumstances, the Government succeeded in mobilizing the strength of the entire nation for the victory over foreign aggressors and reunification of the country.
II. The provisional revolutionary government of the Republic of South Vietnam
In 1960, the National Liberation Front was founded in South Vietnam, which functioned not only to gather and unite all patriotic forces against the US imperialists in South Vietnam but also as a revolutionary administration.
In the flush of the victories recorded in the anti-US war of resistance, a provisional revolutionary government was established in South Vietnam through two steps:
- The consultative conference was organized between the South Vietnam National Liberation Front and the Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces in South Vietnam(2) on May 23, 1969 in a liberated zone in South Vietnam. The two delegations decided to convene the National Congress of South Vietnam Representatives and set up a Preparatory Committee for such congress.
- The National Congress of South Vietnam Representatives was convened on June 6-8, 1969 in a liberated zone in South Vietnam with the participation of representatives of all patriotic forces (various political parties, mass organizations, various ethnic groups, religions, armed forces, people of all strata). The Congress adopted the Basic Resolution on setting up a republic regime in South Vietnam. It also elected the Provisional Revolutionary Government Council and the Advisory Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and issued an appeal clearly stating: “The National Congress of Representatives of South Vietnam warmly welcomes and officially acknowledges the solemn declaration of the Central Committee of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front on transferring to the Provisional Revolutionary Government the State functions, in internal as well as external affairs, and the capacity as the genuine representative of the South Vietnam people at the Paris Conference on Vietnam which was gloriously undertaken by the Front.”
It can be said that under the war circumstances which disabled the organization of a general election to elect deputies to the National Assembly, the National Congress of Representatives of South Vietnam, with its adoption of such important document of constitutional character and the election of high-ranking State bodies, actually performed the function of a constitutional assembly in wartime.
The Republic of South Vietnam State was in fact the people’s democratic republic, but only labeled as the “republic”. That was a flexible and wise tactic aiming to mobilize all forces advocating peace and national independence.
The Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam had a light structure suitable to wartime and operated according to the principle of democratic centralism.
The Provisional Revolutionary Government Council was composed of the president, vice-presidents and the ministers. Right after its emergence, the Provisional Revolutionary Government set up the ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, the Interior, Economy-Finance, Information and Culture, Education and Youth, Health-Social Affairs and War Invalids, and Justice. Regarding its legal status and powers, under the Basic Resolution of the National Congress of South Vietnam Representatives, the Provisional Revolutionary Government was the representative of the South Vietnam people and entrusted by the people to exercise the people’s powers as well as the State powers including the legislative, executive and judicial powers, having full powers to run all internal and external affairs of the State. Article 5 of the Basic Resolution defined: “The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam is the highest concentrated power organ, representing the will and aspirations of the entire South Vietnam people and stepping up the resistance war to the complete victory.” The Provisional Revolutionary Government had the following specific powers:
- To be delegated the legislative power like many governments during the wartime. Pursuant to the basic documents of the National Congress of South Vietnam Representatives, the South Vietnam National Liberation Front and the Vietnam Alliance of the National, Democratic and Peace Forces, the Provisional Revolutionary Government was empowered to promulgate decrees of legislative nature (Article 7 of the Basic Resolution).
- To exercise the executive power, manage and run all general affairs, issue decrees, directives, circulars and uniformly direct the revolutionary administrations in all localities, define tasks, powers and organization of the Revolutionary People’s Councils and the Revolutionary People’s Committees in all localities (Article 11).
- To set up and define the organization and powers of the People’s Courts and the People’s Procuracies, manage the justice agencies (Article 7).
- To have full powers in external relations: establishing diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with foreign countries, signing international treaties (Article 7).
Truly, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam demonstrated the inheritance and development of the experiences of the Vietnam National Liberation Committee, the previous provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during and after the August 1945 Revolution and the culmination of the national unity bloc, which was delegated with great powers, suitable to the wartime.
The Advisory Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government was composed of the chairman, vice-chairmen and members, who were representatives of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front, the Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces, as well as of mass organizations. It had the function and task of assisting the Government in reflecting fully the aspirations of the entire population in its activities and further expanding the national unity bloc within the revolutionary administration (Article 12 of the Basic Resolution). According to Article 14, pursuant to the basic documents of the National Congress of South Vietnam Representative Deputies, the Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces and the aspiration of the people of all strata, the Advisory Council contributed its opinions to the Government on the mapping out of domestic and external policies and the promulgation of legal documents. It operated by mode of joint conference between the Council and the Government.
It can be said that the Advisory Council was the outcome of a creative idea on organization of the revolutionary administration in South Vietnam and of the flexible application of the experiences of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the previous resistance war against the French colonialists.
On June 10, 1969, the Provisional Revolutionary Government promulgated its program of action, aiming to concretize the Basic Resolution of the National Congress of South Vietnam Representatives. On September 12, 1974, it issued a decree on the tasks and organization of the local revolutionary administrations, and on March 25, 1975 another decree on protection of order and security in the liberated zones and the 7-point policy toward officials and armymen of the Saigon puppet administration.
The establishment and existence of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam spelled out the great political significance in the resistance war against the US imperialists in Vietnam. The diplomatic struggle against the US and Saigon administration at the Paris Conference on Vietnam required a new form of political organization to represent the South Vietnam people, which was higher than the form of the National Liberation Front. Hence, the establishment of the Provisional Revolutionary Government raised the legal status of the South Vietnam revolutionary administration at the Paris Conference.
After its emergence, the Provisional Revolutionary Government rallied and united the majority of patriotic forces in South Vietnam and mobilized to the utmost the sympathy and support of people all over the world for Vietnam’s resistance war against the US imperialists. With its founding, the system of the revolutionary administrations at all levels, central and local, in the South became complete. The existence and growth of the Provisional Revolutionary Government dealt a heavy blow to the Saigon administration and neo-colonialism and the US’s and Saigon administration’s allegation that North Vietnam had invaded South Vietnam.
Under the unified leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Government coordinated their activities, having accomplished their glorious historic mission. These two governments lively demonstrated the strategic lines as well as the great and flexible tactics of the Communist Party of Vietnam during that period of time.-
(1) Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces was set up on April 20, 1968 in South Vietnam in order to rally and unite patriotic forces in cities and towns, which have not yet joined the National Liberation Front.