Hawk1981
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- Apr 1, 2020
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In 1919 a small nondescript man in a rented suit arrived at the Palace of Versailles seeking an audience with officials at the Peace Conference where he hoped to present his demands on behalf of the people of Vietnam. Inspired by United States President Wilson's diplomatic point for peace that called for "A free open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the population concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined."
The man who became known as Ho Chi Minh was not received at the Conference, but his letter was accepted. In it, the self-appointed spokesman for his country demanded a list of basic freedoms and equality:
Ho Chi Minh in 1921
Regrettably, the Versailles Conference did not settle many colonial issues, beyond parceling out the conquered colonies of the defeated Central Powers. A disappointed Ho Chi Minh transferred his faith to Socialist action calling on the French Socialist Party in 1920 to "act practically to support the oppressed natives."
When the French Socialists refused to take a decisive stand regarding colonial issues, Ho Chi Minh left the party and became a founding member of the French Communist Party who were willing to promote national liberation in the colonies.
In subsequent years, Ho traveled to the Soviet Union for Marxist education and training as an agitator. Always a nationalist first, he returned to Vietnam to lead the fight against the Japanese, and then the colonial French and the American supporters of the regime controlling the partitioned section of the country in the south.
The man who became known as Ho Chi Minh was not received at the Conference, but his letter was accepted. In it, the self-appointed spokesman for his country demanded a list of basic freedoms and equality:
- Complete amnesty of Vietnamese political prisoners.
- Legislative reform in Indochina providing the same guarantees for Vietnamese and Europeans.
- Freedom of the press and freedom of opinion.
- Freedom of association and freedom of assembly.
- Freedom of emigration and residence abroad.
- Right to education with the opening of technical and occupational schools in all provinces.
- Substitution of a system of laws instead of a system of decrees.
- A permanent Vietnamese representative elected in Vietnam to the French parliament.
Ho Chi Minh in 1921
Regrettably, the Versailles Conference did not settle many colonial issues, beyond parceling out the conquered colonies of the defeated Central Powers. A disappointed Ho Chi Minh transferred his faith to Socialist action calling on the French Socialist Party in 1920 to "act practically to support the oppressed natives."
When the French Socialists refused to take a decisive stand regarding colonial issues, Ho Chi Minh left the party and became a founding member of the French Communist Party who were willing to promote national liberation in the colonies.
In subsequent years, Ho traveled to the Soviet Union for Marxist education and training as an agitator. Always a nationalist first, he returned to Vietnam to lead the fight against the Japanese, and then the colonial French and the American supporters of the regime controlling the partitioned section of the country in the south.