Anarchism in Vietnam
Anarchism in Vietnam first emerged in the early 20th century, as the Vietnamese started to fight against the French colonial government along with the puppet feudal dynasty (through both demonstrations and violence) for either independence or higher autonomy.
[4] In January 1905, Phan moved to Japan, where he was exposed to a variety of new political ideas being propagated among Chinese expatriates, including the constitutionalism of Liang Qichao, the republicanism of the Tongmenghui, and the anarchism of the Tokyo group.
After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the 1911 revolution, Phan was invited to the newly established Republic of China by his old Chinese republican friends from Japan, Zhang Binglin and Chen Qimei.
In January 1912, Phan arrived in China and settled in Guangdong, now under the governorship of his friend Hu Hanmin, who was actively providing a place of refuge for Vietnamese exiles.
Shifu also encouraged Phan to establish the Association for the Revitalization of China, an organization dedicated to soliciting Chinese support for the independence movements in colonized Asian countries, including Indochina, India, Burma and Korea.
[11] Phan was particularly inspired by the anarchist positions on anti-imperialism and direct action, leading him to defend the violent overthrow of the French colonial authorities, even to the chagrin of his republican allies like Hu Hanmin and Chen Qimei.
People from Annam and Tonkin largely went to China or Japan, where they were exposed to social anarchist tendencies, whilst those from Cochinchina went to France, where they became influenced by French strands of individualist anarchism.
[5] Ninh called for the youth of Vietnam to reinvent itself and take control of its own destiny, becoming incredibly popular amongst his peers, as his rhetorical tone marked a stark contrast to the tendency towards moderation and compromise.
[16] Ninh critiqued the Confucian family values of parental authority and gender inequality, as well as traditional morality, encouraging people to "break with the past and free themselves from tyranny of all kinds" and create a genuinely new culture.
[20] In addition, while Ninh admired the Soviet Union, he positioned himself firmly against a Bolshevik-style revolution due to its human cost, preferring the route of individuals directly undermining social inequalities rather than partaking in revolutionary violence.
[23] The Society also employed the use of direct action to destabilize the colonial administration, with Phạm Hồng Thái launching an assassination attempt against Governor-General Martial Henri Merlin.
[24] In response, Phan Bội Châu attempted to open a military academy to train Vietnamese revolutionaries, meeting with the anarchist elder Cai Yuanpei and agents of the Communist International to discuss this project, but it ultimately did not materialize.
[25] With the Restoration League failing to reform itself along the lines of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Society of Hearts unable to successfully follow the assassination attempt, both organizations began to decline into irrelevance.
[26] Following a reorganization in 1924, the Phuc Viet party attempted to mobilize public opinion towards anti-colonialism, with Ton Quang Phiet writing the article Southern Wind, highlighting the need for organization.
[29] It was in this atmosphere that a young Marxist called Nguyễn Ái Quốc emerged onto the scene, having links to both strands of Vietnamese anarchism and taking on a role as a fierce critic of radicalism.
[31] The restriction of the distribution of French-language literature, such as documents of the Enlightenment or of Marxism, meant that only French-educated urban elements were exposed to them, which reinforced the elitist tendencies that pervaded Vietnamese radicalism and ensured the continuation of the idea that the revolution was a top-down affair organized by intellectuals, rather than a mass uprising.
[33] The rise of communism in China and in France provided considerably more exposure to pro-Bolshevik currents which, combined with the fallout from the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion of March 1921, increased hostility towards anarchist ideas.
[40] Ninh envisaged a revolutionary vanguard, but in contrast to the political-party system advanced by Leninism, he advocated a loose movement resulting from the moral and intellectual transformation of individuals.
Ninh also followed the Bakuninist school of thought regarding the revolutionary potential of the lumpenproletariat (a class which Orthodox Marxists largely neglected) and sought to organise the Vietnamese underclasses.
[49] In October 1934, Ninh revived the La Lutte collaboration to run various campaigns and participate in elections, "focused squarely on the plight of the urban poor, the workers and peasant labourers.
[61] In August 1945, due to the resignation of the Vietnamese government and the subsequent surrender of Japan, the Imperial regime in Vietnam fell apart and the Emperor Bảo Đại officially abdicated.
[64] Forced into a retreat into the countryside after surviving a massacre by British and French colonial troops, members of the ICL including Phan Văn Hùm and Tạ Thu Thâu were hunted down and executed by the Viet Minh.
[67] He also joined a Libertarian Marxist group around Maximilien Rubel and was introduced to the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, who had previously inspired the individualist anarchist philosophy of Nguyễn An Ninh.
