The article was written by Prof. Dr. Do Quang Hung from Hanoi National University and presented at the recent national seminar to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Prof. Hung is also former Director of the Institute of Religions in the National Center for Social Sciences. Following is a summary of the article.
After the August 1945 revolution, Vietnam, formerly a slave country became a democratic republic and is now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with a growing position in the world. Since gaining freedom, the Vietnamese State has always confronted major political, social and cultural issues.
Religion is a major issue in modern Vietnam. The State has in fact acknowledged religious policy as a public policy. However, the whole nation has been involved in a prolonged struggle to defend and maintain national independence and sovereignty, and the completion and implementation of that policy has been conducted in critical situations, even including religion.
Religious issue on the eve of the revolution
Religious issue concerned Vietnamese revolutionary leaders immediately after the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1930. The issue was addressed in major Party documents to disseminate national liberation policy, such as The Revolutionary Road, A Summary of Political Strategy, Political Thesis and later political documents in the campaign for the August Revolution.
Late revolutionary leader Le Hong Phong wrote, “Although in the period prior to 1945, Vietnamese revolutionaries had to focus on the struggle for national independence against colonialism, quite of few of the Vietnam Communist Party leaders already had the correct viewpoint on religious issues which not all communist organisations in the then communist and international workers’ movements could have”.
While criticising incorrect viewpoints, our Party adopted a precautious political and ideological outlook to see the difference between ideologies and religions, as well as the harmful effect of colonialists and their henchmen’s plots to take advantage of religious issues. They also found a major revolutionary capacity in religious people.
In addition to the correct and profound political viewpoints of Ho Chi Minh, Nguyen Van Cu, Le Hong Phong and later Truong Chinh and Nguyen Van Nguyen after the August Revolution, the issue was considered in many Party documents in the pre-Revolutionary period, particularly in our Party’s major policy to establish the Viet Minh Front.
The successful August 1945 revolution was the result of insurrection in the whole nation with certain contributions from religious people. Of the 60 delegates representating political parties and social organisations from northern, central and southern Vietnam to the Tan Trao National Congress, prior to the August general uprising, many were representatives of different ethnic groups and religions.
Meanwhile, religious people fully supported the nation and revolution.
It showed that the religious issue could be solved peacefully in the process of seizing and keeping power in the August revolution, which not all revolutions in other countries could obtain. It should be added that the image of Ho Chi Minh played a decisive role in this lack of problems.
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam and religious issues
The Ho Chi Minh government soon defined an important position in the religious policy. Ho Chi Minh said colonialists and feudalists implemented a policy to divide Catholics and Buddhists to dominate them. He proposed the Government declare freedom of religion and unity between Catholics and Buddhists.
After the success of the August revolution, in September 1945, the provisional government had to face many challenges concerning national welfare and people’s livelihood. However, in its meetings, the government always mentioned concrete issues in its religious policy. In the Sept. 20, 1945 meeting, the government required the respect and non-violation of temples, pagodas, churches and any religious facilities.
Aware of the urgent need to unite Catholics and Buddhists at that moment, Party and State leaders wrote important articles to help solve religious problems and expose the enemy’s plots to take advantage of religious affairs.
In the Su That (Truth) newspaper edition in April 1946, Party leader Truong Chinh criticised the childish left-side deviation in many locations around Hanoi. He even predicted this would be a thorny issue the authorities should solve.
He wrote a political commentary on Su That newspaper in 1948, entitled “The Communists and Catholicism”. The commentary produced persuasive data and a standardised attitude in order to reject slanders against communists in religious issues.
Meanwhile, President Ho Chi Minh wrote many articles and letters to religious dignitaries and people, particularly Catholics and Buddhists.
The Ho Chi Minh government established patriotic organisations suitable to religious dignitaries and figures to attract many important individuals from different religions to partitipate in the revolutionary political and administrative organisations.
The August Revolution, represented by Ho Chi Minh, attracted many religious representatives to the revolutionary government. For example, Ngo Tu Ha kept the post of Deputy Minister of War Invalids, M.D. Vu Dinh Tung, Minister of War Invalids, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Director of Finance in southern Vietnam and President of Southern Catholics to Save the Country and many others.
Many Catholic followers kept important posts in the National Assembly. They included Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tan Gi Trong, Ngo Tu Ha and Catholic priest Pham Ba Truc.
The Vietnamese Party and government, from a macro policy, has developed a specific religion policy for each religion.
In 1952, President Ho Chi Minh convened the National Resistance Religion Conference in Viet Bac resistance base. That important event confirmed the correctness of Vietnam policy to unite the whole nation and all religions.
In the resistance war against the French, the Ho Chi Minh government issued a Decree on the exemption of land and crop taxes for religious organisations in 1949 and particularly the Law on Land Reform in 1952. It was rare that a socialist country at that time had a flexible, appropriate, principled and effective policy as stated in those legal documents, particularly when religion was included in the issues of landlords at that time.
In the anti-French resistance war, the Ho Chi Minh government, while giving priority to the defence of national independence and sovereignty, still made important steps forwards in the making and implementing of religious policy, making a big contribution to the success of the Dien Bien Phu battle and the Geneva Agreement.
By Prof. Dr. Do Quang Hung