W.Minh Tuan

68 years ago, on September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The unique thing in Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence is that Uncle Ho named the country the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, not the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam, Uncle Ho twice called the country the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and once referred to the regime of Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

And Uncle Ho quoted the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the French Declaration of Human and Civil Rights in 1789.

Perhaps in the world, there is no country whose Declaration of Independence quotes the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Human Rights like Uncle Ho did with the Declaration of Independence of our country Vietnam.

Because according to Uncle Ho, we must boldly learn what is good in the world, don’t hide ignorance, don’t pat yourself on the chest saying you’re the best, don’t be dogmatic about communism, just think that communist theory is the best in the world, no other theory is equal!!!

In particular, Uncle Ho is the only leader of our Party who has lived abroad for up to 30 years. He lived in France for about 10 years, lived in America, England, the Soviet Union, and China.

He knows many foreign languages, including Chinese, French, English, Russian,,,. Therefore, he can compare the good and bad of institutions and countries.

The American Declaration of Independence was unanimously approved by the US Congress on July 4, 1776.

Since then, July 4 has been considered America’s National Day. The American Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

Mr. Jefferson was born in 1743 and is a famous lawyer in America. He belonged to those who opposed British domination of the American colonies. He represented the state of Virginia, the most influential state in America at that time, and was a very experienced and eloquent lawyer, so he was appointed by the Continental Conference to draft the Declaration of Independence for the immature America.

Mr. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence “in a very simple but resolute way of expression, to call on everyone to be of one mind, and to see that it is absolutely and absolutely necessary for us to stand up for independence.”

Uncle Ho quoted a short passage in the following section, I marked bolded, from the American Declaration of Independence, to include in the Declaration of Independence of the young Democratic Republic of Vietnam:

“We believe believe in inherent truths, that all people are born with equal rights. The Creator gave them rights that no one can violate; Among those rights, there are the right to life, the right to liberty and the right to pursue happiness. To ensure those rights, government must be established by the people, its power must be approved by the people, and when any form of government has become harmful to those purposes, then the people themselves will change or abolish it, and will establish a new government, base that new government on what principles, and organize its power in what forms to have the best possible effect on their safety and well-being.”

Uncle Ho quoted the bolded part mentioned above, which is the most unique part of the American Declaration of Independence.

Mr. Jefferson later became the third President of the United States. And what a strange coincidence, President Jefferson, who wrote the American Declaration of Independence, died on America’s independence day, on July 4, 1826.

And Uncle Ho, who wrote the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, also died on Vietnam’s independence day, September 2, 1969.

August 1945 was an extremely fortunate time for our people’s struggle for independence. The French dominated our country for nearly a century, but on March 9, 1945, the French army was subjected to a coup by the Japanese army, Japan taking control of our country from the French army.

But in August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagazaki, forcing Japan to accept unconditional surrender to the Allies.

On August 14, 1945, Japan announced its surrender, and the foreign forces occupying our country were no longer there.

That is the most important historical condition, at a time when there was a “power vacuum”, Viet Minh forces quickly seized that “once in a thousand years” opportunity, leading the August Revolution to successfully seize power.

Without the two atomic bombs, and if Japan had not surrendered, then certainly our people’s “August Revolution” could not have been simple.

That is why, in our country’s Declaration of Independence, Uncle Ho wrote “The truth is that our people took back Vietnam from the hands of Japan, not from the hands of France“.

Simply put, when Japan surrendered, the people and Viet Minh forces flooded into empty state offices people govern, and independently establish the people’s government.

It is very possible that Uncle Ho realized that America’s struggle for independence from British rule was as arduous as our people’s struggle for independence against the French.

And especially the content of the American Declaration of Independence is very progressive, very suitable for building a democratic state, rule of law, and respect for the people that our people Vietnamese wish to build.

And moreover, America is the most powerful country in the world, so Uncle Ho wanted to learn from the most powerful country in the world. Because with President Jefferson’s Declaration of Human Rights, America became the most powerful in the world, so the Vietnamese people also have a great dream, which is to build a strong Vietnam on par with each other with the world’s powers.

Perhaps that’s why Uncle Ho quoted America’s Declaration of Independence.

After quoting the American Declaration of Independence, Uncle Ho quoted the French Declaration of Human and Civil Rights.

Perhaps it’s because Uncle Ho understood France very well, and understood the historical value of the French Revolution in 1789.

Although France dominates our country, the values of the French bourgeois Revolution, the overthrow of feudalism, and the values of the French Declaration of Human and Civil Rights have a great impact on development of democracy and freedom around the world.

And France with French culture and French education are cultural values worth learning.

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was drafted by the Marquis  Lafayette.

Marquis Lafayette was a revolutionary who contributed to both America and France.

In 1777, he recruited soldiers and sent them to America to help the American people fight for independence from England. Then he returned to France. During the French Revolution of 1789, he was Commander of the National Guard, and he drafted the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

This Declaration was then approved by the French National Assembly.

Articles 1 and 2 of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen state as follows: “Men are born free and with equal rights, and must always be free, equal and with rights. Social differences can only be established on the basis of common interests.

The aim of every political organization is the preservation of natural resources and the preservation of inalienable human rights.

Those rights are liberty, property, security, and the right to resist all oppression.”

Uncle Ho quoted the bolded passage mentioned above.

Americans remember Mr. Jefferson more as the person who wrote the immortal Declaration of Independence for America, not as the third President of the United States.

For nearly 300 years, America has strived, not always perfectly, to better adhere to the human rights values set forth in its Declaration of Independence.

And the name of the Marquis Lafayette is always associated with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, not with his military career.

Thanks to the increasingly good implementation of these human rights and civil rights values, both France and the United States have achieved today’s development, ranking among the world’s leading countries in terms of prosperity, wealth, and and human development index.

In the Declaration of Independence of our country Vietnam, Uncle Ho did not name our country Socialist Vietnam like today, but Uncle Ho named the country Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

In 1951, at the 2nd Party Congress, Uncle Ho also named the Party the Vietnam Labor Party, not the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Why? Ho Chi Minh Thought researchers, please explain.

In Uncle Ho’s Will, he did not say that after the country was unified and the war ended, we should change the country’s name and the Party’s name to what it is today.

After quoting the above two immortal Declarations of America and France, Uncle Ho affirmed in the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam:

-All the people’s rights to life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness “are truths that no one can deny.”

America and France wrote in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, and they tried to do it, not always well, but they always aimed towards those goals.

As for our country, Vietnam has not yet been able to implement well the immortal principles of the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

That is the basic difference between our Vietnam and America and France.

Therefore, our people are still not as happy and prosperous as the American people and the French people.

And that is why our country Vietnam is still not yet strong enough to “stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents” as Uncle Ho wished.///

Original text of the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

“My fellow countrymen,

“All people are born with equal rights. The Creator gives them rights that no one can violate; among those rights, there are the right to life, the right to freedom and the right to pursue happiness.”

That immortal word is in America’s 1776 Declaration of Independence. Broadly speaking, sentence That means: all peoples in the world are born equal; Every nation has the right to life, the right to happiness and the right to freedom.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of the French Revolution of 1791 also said:

“People are born free and have equal rights, and must always be free and have equal rights.”

Those are truths that no one can deny.

Yet for more than eighty years now, the French colonialists have taken advantage of the flag of freedom, equality, and fraternity to rob our country and oppress our people. Their actions are completely contrary to humanity and justice.

Politically, they absolutely do not give our people any democratic freedom.

They have enforced inhuman laws. They set up three different regimes in the Central, South, and North to prevent the unification of our country, to prevent our people from uniting.

They have built more prisons than schools. They brutally killed those who loved our country. They bathed our uprisings in pools of blood.

They constrain public opinion and implement policies of ignorance.

They use opium and alcohol to weaken our race.

Economically, they exploit our people to the core, making our people poor, needy, and our country shabby and desolate.

They robbed land, mines, and raw materials.

They hold the exclusive rights to print banknotes, export and import.

They imposed hundreds of unreasonable taxes, making our people, especially farmers and traders, impoverished.

They don’t let our bourgeoisie raise their heads. They exploit our workers extremely cruelly.

In the fall of 1940, the Japanese fascists invaded Indochina to open more bases to fight the Allies, then the French colonialists knelt down and surrendered, opening our country’s doors to welcome the Japanese.

Since then, our people have been subjected to two layers of chains: France and Japan. Since then our people more miserable, poor. As a result, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, from Quang Tri to the North, more than two million of our compatriots died of starvation.

On March 9 of this year, Japan disarmed the French army. The French colonialists either ran away or surrendered. So not only could they not “protect” us, on the contrary, in 5 years, they sold our country twice to Japan.

Before March 9, the Viet Minh called on the French to ally against the Japanese many times. The French colonialists did not respond and instead directly terrorized the Viet Minh even more.

Even when they lost, they ruthlessly killed a large number of political prisoners in Yen Bai and Cao Bang.

However, towards France, our compatriots still maintain a tolerant and humane attitude. After the upheaval on March 9, the Viet Minh helped many French people flee across the border, saved many French people from Japanese prison, and protected their lives and property.

The truth is that since the fall of 1940, our country has become a Japanese colony, not a French colony. When Japan surrendered to the Allies, the people of our country rose up to seize power and establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The truth is that our people took back Vietnam from the hands of the Japanese, not from the hands of the French.

The French fled, the Japanese surrendered, and King Bao Dai abdicated. Our people have broken down colonial chains for nearly a hundred years to build an independent Vietnam.

Our people again overthrew the monarchy for decades and established a democratic republic.

Therefore, we, the Provisional Government of the new Vietnam, representing the entire Vietnamese people, declare that we will completely break away from relations with France and abolish all treaties that France has signed regarding Vietnam. , abolishing all French privileges in Vietnam.

The entire Vietnamese people, from top to bottom, were united in their determination to oppose the plots of the French colonialists.

We believe that the Allied countries have recognized the principles of national equality at the Teheran and Kyrgyz Conferences, and cannot help but recognize the independence of the Vietnamese people.

A nation that has courageously resisted French slavery for more than eighty years, a nation that has courageously sided with the Allies against fascism for several years now, that nation must be free! People must be independent !

For the above reasons, we, the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that:

Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, and in fact has become a free and independent country.

The entire Vietnamese people are determined to use all their spirit and strength, their lives and property, to maintain that right to freedom and independence.”////