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By Tran Quan

October 19, 2005

Original Article (English)

The Brave Hoang Minh Chinh

The people of Vietnam have now learned through the international media of the noisy, tasteless show staged by Hoang Minh Chinh in the United States. At Harvard University he talked of Marxism and what he called its "bondage" to a small audience.

[Editor’s Note: Hoang Minh Chinh is a former Director of Vietnam’s Marxist-Leninist Institute. In 1967 he wrote a 200-page document, Dogmatism in Vietnam, criticizing the Communist Party. As a result, authorities imprisoned him twice for eleven years total (1967-1972 and 1981-1987) and put him under house arrest for nine more years (1972-1978 and 1987-1990). READ More About Chinh]   

Vietnam: Another One Party State that Has Little Taste for Criticism

He then went before a U.S. Congressional committee to talk about "religious freedom in Vietnam" before describing himself to several news agencies as a "democratic activist fighting for his country’s future."

At first, Vietnamese were incredulous about these reports.

After all, it was common knowledge that the 85-year-old Hoang Minh Chinh had asked to be allowed to go to the U.S. to be treated for his serious illness. Then the truth dawned.

His illness was only a pretext. Chinh knows only too well Vietnam’s humanitarian policy, even toward its "opponents." The real aim of his visit was the noisy, tasteless show he is now putting on.

So what did Chinh say?

Chinh criticized Marxism, the very doctrine for which he himself received a doctorate by defending its scientific foundation. He claimed that "speculative Marxism runs counter to history and science, is characterized by wishful thinking and extreme, and ultra-left theory."

Surely, even Western theorists would have to take their hats off to Chinh for such shameless nerve. The vitality of Marxism, with its noble, humane ideals, and with dialectical materialism at its core, has survived the challenge of time.

Vietnamese journalist Ly Van Sau, a former Moscow classmate of Hoang Minh Chinh amost a half century ago, responded to this by saying that Chinh’s ramblings were no different from what people known in the West as "detractors of Marxism" had said for the last hundred years.

Propaganda Poster for the 70th Anniversary of Vietnam's Communist Party in 2000.
The Poster Reads: Stimulate Industrialization and Modernization!

It is also noteworthy that Chinh went so far as to talk in this misleading manner about a country and a party that has creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to its own specific conditions and characteristics.

History provides the proof.

Vietnam - the mother land of Chinh and a country of limited military power - not only defeated two major powers, but is now making giant leaps in reform.

This fact is not only conceded but admired by people who are not Marxist sympathizers.

Chinh said: "The present communist State of Vietnam has focused only on economic reform to the neglect of political reform."

It seems that in seaking such nonsense, he has forgotten the dialectical relationship between "infrastructure and superstructure" and the theoretical truism that "politics is only the concentrated reflection of economics."

So how, with the open atmosphere of Vietnamese society brought about by doi moi (renewal) and the continuing reform of the political system - a vivid manifestation of democracy - can Chinh’s views be taken seriously?

Is it not the result of economic reform that Vietnam - despite the many difficulties left after prolonged warfare - has been able to provide sufficient food, education and other basic services for its 80 million population?

Are these economic reforms a success that has included the creation of development opportunities, making the country a global model for eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty? Or is Vietnam’s success the outcome of correct political policies?

Ho Chi Minh, Founder of Modern Vietnam, Circa 1965

What is the more balanced? Should we consider Chinh’s remarks slander, or just merely a Doctor of Science’s incorrect metaphysical and mechanical analysis?

Doesn’t Chinh know that while he has been in the U.S., Hurricane Katrina swept away the lives of over 1,000 people in four southern states, including 45 people at an old folks’ home, while thousands of poor people were left to sink or swim?

Doesn’t he know that only a few days later, Tropical Storm Damrey, with winds of up to133 kilometers per hour, swept into Vietnam? Yet, despite the tremendous devastation, only four people died in the storm-hit coastal areas.

Local administrators in storm-hit areas made saving lives their top priority.

Over 200,000 people were evacuated to safety; tens of thousands of soldiers and police, whom Chinh describes as a "tool" of the State to "suppress" the people, risked their lives, without hesitation, against the most powerful storm of the past decade, to take the elderly and children to safety. Isn’t Chinh ashamed of himself for deliberately ignoring these facts?

Chinh has resorted to his oft-repeated theme that Vietnam "violates human rights and suppresses religion." But it is more objective to reprint here an opinion by a reader who joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) forum on Chinh’s writings and statements.

"Chinh said that human rights and democracy have not been established in Vietnam. But if they aren’t, how is it that he was permitted to travel to the U.S. to "humiliate" the country as he is doing now?" asked Huy Quang.

How would Chinh reply to Huy Quang’s question?

Chinh should remember that there are almost 20 million people, or a quarter of the country’s population, and 56,000 religious dignitaries practicing six major religions at thousands of places of worship across Vietnam.

No one in this country has been punished, imprisoned, or discriminated against for their religious beliefs. The Constitution ensures that Vietnamese can follow or not follow a religion. Could it be true that Chinh is not aware of this fact?

The following are opinions posted by readers to the BBC Web site - categorized by Chinh as a "free" forum - in response to his speeches:

"Hoang Minh Chinh, who used to be a senior official of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and was nurtured by the Party and people, has been deceived by hostile forces that have turned him into a tool of the enemy without his knowledge." (Mac Hoatan).

"Although you were trained in theory, I have the feeling that your voice, wording, and arguments do not sound objective and have failed to persuade your audience." (Face2times)

"You have been resisting your entire nation and sacrificed the national interest for the satisfaction of your own interest … Your way of expression reflects that you are pouring hatred on the country rather than building it." (Le Hung)

How does Hoang Minh Chinh feel when he reads these comments from ordinary readers?

Please Chinh, lower the curtain on your sad show.