Draft:Indochina Democratic Movement (1936–1939)

The Democratic Movement in Indochina was a national liberation movement launched by the Communist Party of Indochina. The movement had broad links with the masses through the organization of the Indochina Democratic Front. It was also supported by various parties, scholars, and intellectuals.

International Situation
In the 1930s, fascism emerged in the capitalist world, with the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis as its main axis. The threat of a world war was approaching. In that context, the Communist International convened the 7th Congress in Moscow, USSR, with the participation of 65 delegations. The delegation of the Communist Party of Indochina, led by Le Hong Phong, attended the Congress for the first time.

The Congress made the following important decisions:


 * Identify the immediate enemy of the world's people as fascism.
 * The immediate task of the working class is to fight against fascism, protect peace, and win freedom and democracy.
 * Build a united front, a broad unity.

The Communist Parties of France, Spain, and China played a leading role in building the united national front, in order to unite all forces against war, protect peace, and demand democracy and freedom.

Faced with pressure from the French Communist Party and the French left-wing movement, the French authorities had to make some changes to their policies. With regard to the colonies, the French authorities made three very important decisions: to release political prisoners, to set up a commission of inquiry into the situation in the colonies, and to implement some social reforms.

Conference of the Communist Party of Indochina
In the late 1930s, the political, social, and economic situation in Indochina was very chaotic, and people's lives were very difficult. Workers were unemployed and had low wages. Farmers did not have enough land to cultivate and were subject to high rent and exploitation by landlords. The national bourgeoisie had little capital, paid high taxes, and was oppressed by French capitalism. The petty bourgeois intelligentsia were unemployed and had low salaries. The working classes were subject to heavy taxes, high cost of living, and extreme poverty.

In July 1936, the Conference of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Indochina, chaired by Lê Hồng Phong in Shanghai (China), based on the Resolution of the 7th Congress of the Communist International, proposed the following guidelines and methods of struggle:


 * The strategic task is to fight against the common enemy, namely imperialism and feudalism.
 * The immediate task is to fight against the reactionary colonial regime, against fascism, against the danger of war, and to demand freedom, social welfare, democracy, food, and peace.
 * The method of struggle is to combine public and secret, legal and illegal forms of struggle.
 * The main policy is to establish the Indochinese Anti-Imperialist People's Front. In March 1938, it was renamed the Indochinese Democratic Front, abbreviated as the Indochinese Democratic Front.

From then on, the Communist Party of Indochina launched movements to demand freedom, livelihood, and democracy.

In the face of many changes in the world and Vietnam, in July 1936, the Conference of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Indochina, chaired by Lê Hồng Phong, met in Shanghai to determine a new direction and methods of struggle, and to continue the development of the Vietnamese revolutionary movement. The Conference identified the main immediate goal of the Vietnamese revolution as fighting against the colonial regime, against fascism and war, and demanding freedom, democracy, food and peace. In order to broadly gather the masses to achieve this goal, the Party advocated the establishment of the Indochinese Anti-Imperialist People's United Front (changed to the Indochinese Democratic Front in March 1938).

Indochinese Congress
The first movement was the Indochinese Congress Movement. Knowing that the French Parliament would send delegations to investigate the situation in Indochina, the Communist Party of Indochina advocated launching a broad movement among the people to fight openly and legally for freedom, democracy, and improved living conditions.

The Indochinese Congress Movement, which began as an initiative in Saigon, spread throughout the country. By the end of September 1936, more than 600 committees of action had been established for workers, farmers, and civil servants. Many committees of action had headquarters, organized political activities openly, exposed the injustice and hardship under the brutal colonial regime, and discussed appropriate measures to fight for the demands of freedom, democracy, food, and peace.

The fighting spirit of the people forced the Indochinese authorities to issue a decree on October 11, 1936, stipulating a number of benefits for workers, such as working hours not to exceed 8 hours/day from January 1, 1938; workers are entitled to paid Sundays and annual leave; prohibiting women and forced labor from working at night...

The working people, based on those legal bases, fought against the capitalist class and the colonial government to gradually improve their working and living conditions. In the last months of 1936, there were 361 strikes, including some large-scale strikes that resonated throughout the country, such as the strike of thousands of tin miners in Tinh Tuc (Cao Bang), and especially the strike of more than 30,000 coal miners in Hong Gai - Cam Pha in November 1936.

The result of the coordinated struggle between the French people and the Vietnamese people was to force the colonial authorities to release 1,532 political prisoners, most of whom were communist soldiers. Immediately after leaving the colonial prison, they plunged into the new battle, organizing the masses, rebuilding the base, and bringing the revolutionary movement forward.

In early 1937, from North to South, workers held rallies to show their strength on the occasion of Justin Godart, the envoy of the French government, coming to investigate the situation in Indochina. On January 1, 1937, in the South, more than 20,000 people from all walks of life, especially workers in Saigon - Cho Lon and surrounding farmers, welcomed Godart with slogans demanding freedom, democracy, fairness, implementation of labor laws, implementation of the 8-hour working day, demanding women's rights, farmers' rights, workers' rights, abolition of personal taxes, reduction of high taxes and heavy taxes, amnesty for political prisoners, etc.

The movement of the Indochinese Democratic Front reached its climax with the celebration of International Labor Day on May 1, 1938. For the first time in Indochina, International Labor Day was celebrated publicly and widely.

In order to further strengthen the movement, many organizational decisions were made: to establish the Anti-Imperialist Youth League, the People's Relief Association, the Trade Union, and the Farmers' Association. In the countryside, forms of organization such as the Planting Association, the Roofing Association, and the Rowing Association were widely developed, gathering millions of people.

In 1936, the Communist Party of Indochina drafted a "petition" to the French government delegation, fighting for freedom and democracy. Action committees were formed everywhere, distributing leaflets, publishing newspapers, holding rallies, and discussing democracy and livelihood. In September 1936, the French authorities dissolved the Action Committee, banned meetings, and confiscated newspapers.

In 1937, taking advantage of the event of the new Governor-General coming to Indochina, the Communist Party of Indochina organized the masses to rally, show their strength and make demands for democracy and livelihood.

In the following years, many rallies, street protests, and demonstrations demanding the right to life continued to take place. On International Labor Day, May 1, 1938, for the first time, many public rallies were organized in Hanoi and Saigon, with a large number of people participating.

The Party ran candidates from the Indochinese Democratic Front for the North Kỳ, Central Kỳ, and Nam Kỳ Boards of Directors.

Goal: To expand the forces of the Democratic Front and expose the reactionary policies of the colonialists and their puppets, defending the people's rights. This is a new form of struggle of the Party with a new vision.

Area of Publication
From 1937 onwards, the Indochina Communist Party circulated newspapers such as Tin Tuc, Doi Nay, Pho Thong, Dan Chung, Lao Dong, and Tranh Dau in Vietnamese and French, both legally and illegally. These newspapers became the spearhead of the movement for democracy and social welfare.

Many political and theoretical books were published openly or secretly, either in the colony or brought back from France. Many works of critical realist literature were also published, such as Buoc Duong Cung, Tat Den, So Do, revolutionary poetry, and the play Doi Co Luu.

At the end of 1937, the Indochina Communist Party launched a movement to spread the use of Quoc Ngu, the national language, to help the masses read books and newspapers and improve their understanding of politics and revolution.

The democratic upsurge forced the French to make concessions on some demands for social welfare and democracy. The masses became politically aware and became a powerful political force of the Vietnamese revolution. Communist cadres were gathered and matured. This movement was also a dress rehearsal for the August Revolution later on.

[1][2]

Footnote

 * 1) ^ Nguyễn Quang Ngọc 2006, Chapter X – Vietnam in the years 1930-1945, The Course of Vietnamese History, Hanoi, Education, pp. 280-284.
 * 2) ^ Documents of Quy Nhon University http://quynhon.edu.vn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=640:phong-trao-dan-ch-1936-1939&catid=80:su&Itemid=116