HANOI—After the dissolution of the USSR, the reactionary intellectual Francis Fukuyama declared “the end of history.” He claimed that capitalism had triumphed in the Cold War and that all pursuits of socialism or any other alternatives to the “free market” path were dead. Of course, anyone that looks around them today can clearly see that capitalism is in deep crisis, while the countries that continue to work toward building socialism are thriving.
After previous successful pilot trips, the Communist Party USA’s “Hello Comrade Project” is preparing to send its first full delegation. The next destination will be to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to learn about the unique and creative ways the Vietnamese people have continued their march forward on the path to socialism in a hostile world dominated by capitalism.
Why go to Vietnam?
It was only a few decades ago that Vietnam was devastated by war and was one of the poorest countries on earth. Today, the nation is booming economically and becoming a major player on the international diplomatic stage.
Many liberal economists have labeled Vietnam an “economic miracle,” some inexplicable phenomenon whereby a small country somehow stumbled upon financial fortune. But the truth is that there was no “miracle,” and the growth in Vietnam hasn’t happened by pure chance.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the Vietnamese people have creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to their country’s unique conditions and built a socialist-oriented market economy while continuously studying and adjusting the path as needed.
Given Vietnam’s success, it behooves Communists and progressives around the world to study and understand what the Vietnamese people and the Communist Party of Vietnam are doing. While the path to socialism is different for every country, activists can certainly learn from each other’s successes and mistakes and apply those lessons when appropriate to our work in the United States.
Vietnam stands as proof that socialism is anything but dead. Across the United States, people are taught the false version of history that Fukuyama and his ilk have perpetuated for decades. It is important to hear the truth from their fellow citizens that visit Vietnam, to refute the lie of socialism’s death.
And despite the negative image of Vietnam that has been peddled in the U.S. corporate media and Hollywood popular culture over the decades, the truth is that ties between the U.S. working class and the Vietnamese working class that go back decades.
In fact, the first international relations organization founded by Ho Chi Minh and the early Communist Party of Vietnam was the Vietnam-USA Society. In the 1940s and ’50s, many organizations among the U.S. working class supported Vietnam’s war for independence against the French colonialists.
Later, when U.S. imperialism launched its brutal war against Vietnam and the countries neighboring it in Indochina, millions of pro-peace, freedom-loving people took to the streets in the U.S. to demand an end to the war.
At home, the Communist Party USA played a major role in organizing anti-war protests, while internationally, CPUSA leaders Gus Hall and Jarvis Tyner, among others, visited Hanoi on international solidarity missions. After the war, it was ordinary, working-class people in the U.S. who fought to lift the inhuman blockade placed on Vietnam and to win justice for the victims of Agent Orange and the U.S.’ chemical warfare in the region.
Today, the deep and close relationship between the Communist Party USA and the Communist Party of Vietnam continue. The CPUSA has sent delegations to attend the CPV’s National Congresses, and the Vietnamese have sent delegates to CPUSA’s National Conventions. Leaders of both parties have met a number of times over the last few years.
The upcoming Hello Comrade Project trip to Vietnam is another step in furthering the relationship between the U.S and Vietnamese working class. The delegation is excited to learn as much as they can during the visit, hoping to foster stronger people-to-people ties so that the two parties can continue to work together for shared goals of peace, democracy, internationalism, and socialism.
If you are interested in contributing to the success of the Hello Comrade Program, please consider making a donation here. Your support will help ensure the delegation is as successful as possible.
CONTRIBUTOR
Comments