II - A Period of Uncertainty: Experimentation and Failure (1975–79)

Summary

The problems of peace were no less than the problems of war. For the leaders of the Vietnam Workers' Party (VWP) as well as their revolutionary counterparts of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) of South Vietnam, the unconditional surrender of the Republic of Vietnam forces on 30 April 1975 marked the realization of a course to which they had devoted a greater part of their lives. The euphoria of victory could not last long, harsh realities of post-war reconstruction had to be faced at once.

To rebuild a country after 30 years of warfare was without doubt an arduous task. For a start, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) leadership had to cope with an almost double increase in territory and an additional 21 million people after the liberation of the South. There was the urgency of providing subsistence, order and employment to a war-weary population. Furthermore, fundamental issues of reunification and socialist transition had to be met. One scholar, Huynh Kim Khanh, summarized the situation as follows:

While in the North, Herculean efforts were required to replace damage or destroyed material installations and then develop them according to accepted principles, procedures and institutions, it is not possible to talk of rehabilitation or reconstruction in the South in similar terms. What was required in the South was the founding, if not to say creation, of a totally new policy on the basis of the ruins of an old socio- political regime built upon concepts and standards diametrically opposed to revolutionary change.

That the two Vietnams, regardless of their differences, must be united and that South Vietnam must be transformed from capitalism to socialism were constants for the leadership. The questions in point were the timing and the pace of accomplishing these two missions.

Initial post-war uncertainties invited caution in dealing with South Vietnam's economy.