WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

SELECTED WORKS
OF

HỒ CHÍ MINH
Volume I

Foreign Languages Press

Foreign Languages Press
Collection ''Works of Maoism'' #13
Contact - flpress@protonmail.com
https://foreignlanguages.press
Paris, 2021
First edition, Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021
ISBN: 978-2-491182-94-6

This book is under license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC
BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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Note from Foreign Languages Press
This edition of the first volume of the Selected Works of Hồ Chí Minh contains documents written between 1914 and 1945. In these 30 years, Hồ Chí
Minh held many jobs, including photographer, journalist, poet, and teacher—
and he was also a prisoner and guerrilla fighter. He was known under many
pseudonyms; some estimates are that he used up to 200 different pseudonyms
in his life. Yet, throughout this time, he remained always a nationalist and a
communist.
This volume covers the periods of Hồ Chí Minh's life in Paris (and before)
as a journalist and member of the Communist Party of France (1914-1924);
his years in Russia and Hong Kong as a delegate of the Communist International, and later as the founder of the Communist Party of Vietnam (19251931); following two years of jail and three years in Russia, his years in China
as a fighter of the Eighth Route Army (1931-1940); his return to Vietnam
where he organized the Việt Minh, then back to China where he was arrested
and imprisoned by the Kuomintang, and after being freed by Chinese communists, his leadership in the fight for independence (1941-1945).
During this time span, Hồ Chí Minh wrote over 300 documents and 150
poems, which were compiled in Vietnamese by Thế Giới Publishers. We are
glad to present in this volume a selection of 131 documents and 100 poems
from those documents. Of them, 53 were previously available in the Selected
Works, Volume I and II (published in 1960) and Selected Writings (1977) and
6 were translated and published outside of the official compilations. The 72
other documents were translated for the first time from French to English for
this compilation.
To translate these documents, we used as sources:
(1) Archives of various newspapers for which Hồ Chí Minh was writing,
such as L'Humanité, La Vie Ouvrière, and Correspondance Internationale (French Inprecor).
(2) Alain Ruscio's compilation Ho Chi Minh, Textes 1914-1969, which contains many previously unknown documents.
(3) Unclassified archives of the reports that the Ministry of Colonies
requested from the French intelligence in Aix-en-Provence containing

iii

several letters and information that identify HCM's authorship of various unsigned documents.
We systematically compared the documents we found with the 3rd edition
of the Vietnamese Collected Works published in 2011 by Thế Giới Publishers
to verify their authenticity. Other documents not contained in the Collected
Works were included only if we could verify with certainty their authenticity.
In reproducing the documents, we made the decision to replace Vietnamese names with their modern spelling in Quốc Ngữ, which contain diacritics
to help to read them properly, with the exception of some cases where a name
is popularly known in its Westernized form (e.g. Hanoi instead of Hà Nội,
Haiphong instead of Hải Phòng). And we retained the different signatures Hồ
Chí Minh used at the time—sometimes with diacritics, sometimes without,
sometimes with intentional typos.
After some discussion, we also decided to keep the pejorative vocabulary
that Hồ Chí Minh used, such as “Annam” (the colonial name of Viêt Nam), or
“natives.” As the author knowingly used this terminology, we believe replacing
them would betray his intentions. Included also are approximately 200 footnotes containing biographical, historical, and linguistic information.
Lastly , we would like to thank Alain Ruscio for generously and kindly sharing his knowledge on the life and works of Hồ Chí Minh and without whom
this work would have been far more challenging.

Foreign Languages Press

iv

Contents
1914
July 2

Letter to Phan Châu Trinh

1

Claims of the Annamite people
The Native Question
Indochina and Korea
Letter to Mr. Outrey

2
4
9
12

“It is necessary to make a mess and do stupid things.”
Speech at the XVIIIth National Congress of the French
Section of the Workers' International

16
18

The Defeated People of Indochina
Indochina (Excerpts)
The Rights of the “Poilus”
Indochina
The Superior Civilization
The Crimes of Colonialism
The Monstrosity of Civilization
The Revolutionary Movement in India
“Love France, Who Protects You”
Draft Report

20
22
24
26
29
31
34
36
41
43

1919
June 18
August 2
September 4
October 16
1920
January 19
December
1921
April 8
April
May 7
May
September 23
September 30
September 30
September
October 7
November 20

v

1922
March 18
May 25
May 26
May 30
June 1
June 24
July 1
July 1
August 1
August 1
August 1

Misfortune
Some Considerations on the Colonial Question
In a “High Civilization”
Paris
Equality!
The Lamentations of Trưng Trắc
The Civilizers
Racial Hatred
Murderous Civilization!
Annamese Women and French Domination
An Open Letter to M. Albert Sarraut, Minister of
Colonies
Under the Guidance of…
August 17
Communism and the Chinese Youth
August 19
The Smoked Man
August 20
September 7 “Vidartism” Goes On
September 28 The “Cabinet Noir” in Indochina
“Modern-Style” Slavery
October 26
November 1 The Martyrdom of Amdouni and Ben-Belkhir
November 2 Touching Solicitude
December 1 About Siki
December 4 Our Esteemed Colonial Judges
December 22 Indochinese Prosperity Under the Rule of M. Long

45
48
51
53
59
61
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
83
85
86
87
88
89
92
94

1923
January 15
January 19
February 1
February 1
vi

Open Letter to M. Leon Archimbaud
Colonial Honesty
Menagerie
Just as in the Mother Country

96
98
100
104

February 5
February 5
February 13
February 19
March 16
March 18
March 30
April 13
April 27
July 16
July

From One Scandal to Another
Lack of Schools
The Colonial Abyss
“Incognito”
Workers Organize Against Capitalist Exploitation
The Revolt of Dahomey
Uprising at Dahomey
Colonial Militarism
The Jackals are over here…
Despotism in Indochina—Protected and Protectors
Letter addressed to the Central Committee of the
French Communist Party
Oppression Hits All Races
August 17
September 7 The Counter-Revolutionary Army
September 28 It Is Not Militarism, But…
November 9 English “Colonization”
November 9 Revolutionary Action
November 9 The Agricultural Workers
December 4 The Situation in China
Interview With Ossip Mendelstam
December
Leaflet-Poem for Viet Nam Hôn
1923

105
107
109
112
115
117
119
121
123
125
127
130
131
133
135
137
139
141
143
146

1924
January 1
January 4
January 4
January 25
January 27
March 19
April 2

The Workers' Movement in Turkey
Annamese Peasant Conditions
Chinese Peasant Conditions
Workers' Movement in the Far East
Lenin and the Colonial Peoples
Indochina and the Pacific
What French Imperialism is Capable of

148
150
153
156
158
160
164
vii

April 18
May 14
June 13
June 17
June 23

The USSR and the Colonial Peoples
The Failure of French Colonization
Letter to Comrade Petrov
The Glories of French Civilization
Talk during the 8th Session of the Fifth Congress of the
Communist International
July 1
Talk during the 22nd Session of the Fifth Congress of
the Communist International
July 3
Talk during the 25th Session of the Fifth Congress of the
Communist International
July 27
Lenin and the Peoples of the East
August 26
Lynching
September 24 Imperialists and China
September
Bolshevist Barbarity
October 1
Civilization that Kills
October 17
Marshal Lyautey and the Declaration of the Rights of
Man
October 28
Condemned Colonialism
November 4 The Ku Klux Klan
1924
Report on Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina

166
170
173
174
177
179
185
191
194
200
208
210
216
219
222
226

1925
February
March 14
April 8
April 9
July 1925

Lenin and the Colonial Peoples
Problems of Asia
“Rule Britannia” China, India, the Sudan
Reply to Mr. H.
Manifesto of the General Federation of Oppressed
Peoples
August 23
Let Us Love One Another, and Let Us Stay United
September 27 Reply to our friend the student “X”
1925
Fable
1925
French Colonization on Trial
viii

231
233
236
238
248
250
251
253
255

1926
January 17
January 21
April 4
August 14
September 18

People's Journalism
Lenin and the East
Ladies' Column: on Injustice
The Revolutionary Movement in Indochina
The Revolutionary Character

353
355
358
359
365

French Civilization in Indochina
Confucius
The Domination of French Imperialism in Indochina

367
374
376

Letter From India
The Labor Movement in India
The Peasants of India
The Exploitation of Women and Children in India
The Recent Labor and Peasant Movement in India
Imperialism Kills Native Races
French Colonialism and Indochina
Vow in Honor of Trần Hưng Đạo

381
384
387
390
392
395
399
402

Appeal Made on the Occasion of the Founding of the
Communist Party of Indochina

403

Letter to the Far Eastern Bureau
Letter to the Far Eastern Bureau
Letter to the Central Committee of the Indochinese
Communist Party

406
407
408

1927
January 26
February 20
October 15
1928
March 17
April 14
April 18
April 21
May 5
May 19
May 26
1928
1930
February 18
1931
February 12
February 16
April 20

ix

April 23

Letter to the Central Committee of the Indochinese
Communist Party

413

Letter to Comrade André Marty

417

Letters to China - About Trotskyists
Letters to China - The Activities of Trotskyists in
China (1)
Letters to China - The Activities of Trotskyists in
China (2)
The Party's Line in the Period of the Democratic Front
(1936-1939)

419
422

Pác Bó's Cave
Letter from Abroad
Ten Point Program of the Việt Minh Front

429
430
433

Happy New Year
Ten Mandatory Activities
The Stone
To Marshal Pétain

435
436
437
438

Instruction to Establish the Viet Nam Propaganda Unit
for National Liberation
Guerrilla Tactics

439

1937
October 12
1939
May 10
July 7
July 28
July

424
427

1941
February
June 6
1941
1942
January 1
January 21
April 21
July 11
1944
December
1944

x

441

1945
August

Appeal for General Insurrection

472

Prison Diary

474

Appendix

xi

xii

1914

Letter to Phan Châu Trinh1
July 2, 1914
Source: Hồ Chí Minh, Textes 1914-1969, Alain Ruscio, L'Harmattan, Paris,
1990, p. 21.
Hồ Chí Minh toàn tập, Tập 1, Chính trị Quốc gia - Sự thật, Hanoi,
2011, p. 4.
Translation: Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021.
Dear Master,
Gunfire rings in the air as corpses cover the ground. Five great powers are
involved in a conflict. Nine countries are at war. I'm suddenly reminded of
what I told you a few months ago about the storm that was brewing. Fate still
has surprises in store for us and it is impossible to say who will win. Those who
are neutral are still undecided and the combatants cannot guess their intentions. The circumstances being such, that if someone sticks his nose in the
matter, he cannot but take the side of one or the other adversary. The Japanese
seem intent on putting a toe in the water. I think that in three or four months
the fate of Asia will have changed, and greatly so. Too bad for those who are
fighting and agitating. All we have to do is keep quiet.
I send my regards to you and to little Dat.2 I hope to receive an early answer
from you. My address: P. Tất Thanh, 8, Stephen Street, Tottenham Road; London.3

Nguyễn Tất Thành

Phan Châu Trinh (1872-1926) was a well-known and respected Vietnamese nationalist. He
graduated from the same university as Hồ Chí Minh's father and was his personal friend. Châu
Trinh advocating for deep reforms of the colonial system and was opposed to violence.
2
Phan Châu Giat was Trinh's (above) son. He died of tuberculosis in 1921.
3
Hồ Chí Minh lived in London from 1913 to December 1917, where he used both “Paul
Tấtthanh” and “Nguyễn Tất Thành” (“Nguyễn the accomplished”) as his pseudonym.
1

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Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh - Volume I

Claims of the Annamite people4
June 18, 1919
Source: L'Humanité, June 18, 1919, p. 3.
Translation: Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021.
Since the victory of the Allies, all the subjugated peoples tremble with hope
at the prospect of an era of law and justice that must begin for them by virtue
of the formal and solemn commitments made in front of the whole world by
the various Allied powers during the struggle of Civilization against Barbarity.
While waiting for the principle of Nationalities to pass from the realm of the
ideal to that of reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of
peoples to self-determination, the People of the Former Empire of Annam,
now French Indochina, present to the Noble Allied Governments in general,
and to the honorable French Government in particular, the following humble
claims:
(1) General amnesty for all native political convicts.
(2) Reform of the Indochinese justice system through the designation to
the native people of the same judicial guarantees as to the Europeans,
and the complete and definitive abolition of the Special Courts that are
instruments of terror and oppression against the most honest section of
the Annamite people.
(3) Freedom of the Press and of Opinion.
(4) Freedom of association and of assembly.
(5) Freedom of emigration and of traveling abroad.
Between January to June 1919, the Peace Conference was held in Versailles with the goal of
redrawing the borders after the First World War. Group of Annamite Patriots, an organization
led by Hồ Chí Minh, seized this opportunity to write these claims and submit them to the
different participants of the conference, as well as translate them in Quốc ngữ (Vietnamese)
and spread them among the Vietnamese diaspora of Paris. This document was even spread
in Viêt Nam, where it was brought in by sailors. While the document was publicly ignored,
unclassified archives of the French intelligence shows that it was taken very seriously by the
colonial administration, that saw its content as a serious threat. Only six days after receiving it,
they dispatched several agents to search for the location of this mysterious “Nguyễn Ái Quốc”
and uncover his background.

4

2

1919

(6) Freedom of education and the creation in all the provinces of technical
and professional schools for the use of the natives.
(7) Replacement of the system of decrees by a system of laws.
(8) A permanent delegation of native people elected to the French Parliament to keep it informed of natives' needs and wishes.
The Annamite people, in presenting the above-mentioned requests, count
on the justice of all the Great Powers and command themselves in particular to
the benevolence of the Noble French People who hold our fate in their hands
and who, France being a Republic, are supposed to have taken us under their
protection. By claiming the protection of the French people, the Annamite
people, far from humiliating themselves, on the contrary honor themselves:
for they know that the French people represent freedom and justice, and will
never renounce their sublime ideal of universal brotherhood. Consequently,
by listening to the voice of the oppressed, the French people will do their duty
to France and to Humanity.
In the name of the Group of Annamite Patriots:

Nguyen Ai Quoc5

This is the first time that the pseudonym “Nguyễn Ái Quốc” appears. It literally means
“Nguyễn the Patriot”—Nguyễn being the most common name in Viêt Nam. Hồ Chí Minh
used this pseudonym during his entire stay in France, and the prolificacy of his writings in
various newspapers made it very popular, even in Viêt Nam.

5

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Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh - Volume I

The Native Question
August 2, 1919
Source: L'Humanité, August 2, 1919, p. 3.6
Hồ Chí Minh toàn tập, Tập 1, Chính trị Quốc gia - Sự thật, Hanoi,
2011, pp. 10-15.
Translation: Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021.
On June 18, L'Humanité published the address of the Annamite representatives to the Peace Conference, demanding amnesty for all native political
prisoners, reform of the Indochinese justice system by granting the native
people the same rights as those accorded to Europeans, freedom of the press,
of assembly and of association, freedom of education, the replacement of the
traditional system of decrees by a system based on legislation, and finally, the
creation of a permanent delegation of native people to be elected to the French
Parliament. We can only endorse these just demands in this era of the people's
desire for self-determination.
France began the conquest of Indochina at about the same time that Japan
took its first steps towards the famous reform of 1868. But if, in the space of
half a century, Japan has been able to establish a political system that today
ranks among the leading world powers, France, it must be said, is still groping
its way through its Indochinese policy. One may even wonder if there has ever
been an Indochinese policy, given that, since the French occupation, our country has, so to speak, always lived from day-to-day, without knowing where the
government wanted to lead it; a government which at times has spoken of the
policy of assimilation, at others of the policy of association, without actually
applying any of these policies. The current situation is as follows. Today, as in
the past, the conquering and the conquered peoples live next to each other in
an atmosphere of mutual suspicion. This depressing situation is interesting to
examine from different points of view.
6
This article is the first that Hồ Chí Minh wrote for L'Humanité, offical organ of the French
Communist Party (PCF). From 1919 to 1924, he wrote close to 50 articles for both to L'Humanité and La Vie Ouvrière, the newspaper of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT),
—all discusseing the national question.

4

1919

From a psychological point of view, there is distrust and contempt on one
side, resentment and despair on the other. Colonial publications, books and
newspapers are filled with violent attacks against the conquered people and
are loaded with insults thrown in the face of these same people—with all the
more “bravery” because their authors know in advance that since the masses
are unable to respond, they can only swallow these insults while grinding their
teeth. One can read, for example, sentences like this: “There is only one way
to govern this Annamite race, and that is through domination by force… To
educate the Annamites or to allow them to educate themselves is, first of all, to
provide them with fast-firing rifles against us, and, furthermore, to train skilled
dogs that will be more annoying than useful…”
From the administrative and judicial point of view, a whole abyss separates
the European from the native. The European enjoys all sorts of liberties and
reigns as an absolute master, while the native, muzzled and kept on a leash, has
only the right to submit without complaining: if he allows himself to protest,
he will be declared a rebel or a revolutionary and treated accordingly. Even
more unfortunate is the native person who tries to escape this most pleasant
regime by moving abroad: the members of his family will be persecuted and
he, if arrested, will be sent to prison or put to death. Often, in order to move
around the country from one locality to another, the native person has to be in
possession of valid papers. As for the judicial system, here is how it works for
the native people. Whenever a European kills, murders, or rapes a native person and the case has not been completely covered up, the court before which
the perpetrator is supposed to appear almost certainly acquits the latter. This
is the application of the principle according to which one should always safeguard the prestige of the white population in the face of the yellow subjects.
The French Parliament is well aware of this, as is shown in a report on Indochina's budget by M. Violette, a deputy.7

The Reign of Despotism
In the provinces the native people are left at the mercy of the goodwill and
arbitrariness of the French administrators and of the greed of their docile servants—the mandarins—creatures born under the current regime. This is jusMaurice Gabriel Viollette (1870-1960) was a socialist deputy. He advocated for reform of
the colonial system. In 1925 he was nominated as the general governor of Algeria and led the
repression against Algerian communists.

7

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Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh - Volume I

tice sold to the highest bidder. If in the past he could always appeal to the royal
court, nowadays, when a poor Annamite does not know which saint to turn
to, the only thing that seems to be left is divine justice. When it comes to those
whom the colonial language calls “agitators,” the fate of these honest native
people, to whom the sympathy of their compatriots is directed, is decided in
secret conciliatory meetings known as criminal commissions.
The contrast is no less striking in the economic field. On the one hand, the
native people, kept in ignorance and in a state of weakness by a clever system of
obscurantism and degradation insufficiently concealed behind the appearance
of education, continue to earn their living in the most arduous and ungrateful
jobs and to fund almost the entire government's budget through their blood,
sweat and tears. On the other hand, French citizens as well as other foreigners,
come and go as they please, reserving for themselves all the country's wealth,
monopolizing all the imports and exports, as well as the most lucrative trades,
while unscrupulously exploiting the ignorance and misery of the native people.
Forced to yield to the power of the French, the Annamite people, whose
history goes back to more than 3000 years, has experienced, from time to
time, sudden moments of revolt, which have recently expressed themselves
either through attempts at a general uprising, or through acts of desperation
such as the peaceful demonstrations of 1908 (Official Bulletin of the League of
Human Rights dated October 31, 1912) and through the latest bomb attacks
in Cochinchina and Tonkin. Alas! These are vain protests that have each time
provoked a series of bloody repressions. Moreover, they have provided the government, like Napoleon in the affair of the “plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise,”8
with pretexts to elegantly dispose of the Annamites who did not care to pretend to support its despotism. It is well known that during the war, Indochina
was the scene of some tragic events, which led to the establishment of martial
law, followed by mass condemnations and executions. Currently, the prisons of
Guyana, New Caledonia, Poulo Condor, etc., are full of native political convicts. The machine gun and the guillotine quickly silenced the stubborn and
the rebellious.

The plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise was an attempt to kill Napoleon in Paris on December 24,
1800.

8

6

1919

Japanese Competition
The situation of which we have sketched a few broad outlines could possibly
have been perpetuated indefinitely if the war, which has shaken up the whole
of Europe, had not given a new twist to the Indochinese question. Indeed, as
a result of the war, Japan has obtained special privileges from France in Indochina. It is therefore to be expected that more and more Japanese people will
settle in the country and work in all occupations, thus making life even more
difficult for the native people. They will—kept in ignorance by the policy of
demoralization and weakened by deprivation and “official” opium and alcohol
consumption, with which the authorities and the concessionary companies
feed them as much as they can—continue to live in a very restricted environment.
In theory, progress depends on the development of internationalism, and
civilization is only supposed to gain by the extension and amplification of
international relations. Moreover, it would be absurd to think that two neighboring nations such as the Japanese and the Annamese nations could remain
isolated from each other. But, while the Japanese, thanks to their wise government, are extremely well equipped in the face economic struggles, the Annamites find themselves utterly powerless from the point of view of modern
progress—and we have mentioned the causes for this situation—compared to
their neighbors: the Chinese, the Japanese, the Siamese, and even the Hindus.
The question then arises as to whether, in the presence of the new situation created for them by foreign immigration, the French government would believe
it advisable, in their common interest, to free the native people and let them
help the French by all the means at their disposal, to prepare themselves for the
tough competition they will both have to endure with the Japanese and other
foreigners.
If this analysis is correct, then we can hardly understand how our demands,
published by L'Humanité in its June 18 issue, were able to cause such a stir in
the colonial world. We are aware, in fact, that a high commander of the colonial workers' units has instructed—presumably in accordance with the orders
from above—the unit leaders to seize all copies of the document outlining
the Annamite demands found in the hands of the Annamite workers. Very
moderate in form and in substance, our requests concern only the most essential reforms needed for our emancipation and the liberties without which the
Annamite man is today nothing but a miserable slave. No one can deny that
7

Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh - Volume I

without these freedoms, which are indispensable for the propagation of ideas
and knowledge that modern life demands, any serious education is impossible.

Nguyen-Ai-Quac9

Hồ Chí Minh's pseudonym “Nguyễn Ái Quốc” was been spelled and mispelled in many way
in the French press. We decided to retain the spelling as they appeared in the newspapers.

9

8

1919

Indochina and Korea
An interesting comparison
September 4, 1919
Source: Le Populaire, September 4, 1919, p. 3.
Hồ Chí Minh toàn tập, Tập 1, Chính trị Quốc gia - Sự thật, Hanoi,
2011, pp. 17-20.
Translation: Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021.
The world will only enjoy lasting peace when all nations come together to exterminate the hydra of imperialism wherever they may find it. In the
meantime, those who are victims of this unappeasable monster are vigorously
demanding, in the name of the principle of nationhood, the right to govern
themselves—and it is noteworthy that their voice is listened to with great
sympathy among the working people of Europe and America. This worldwide
opinion in favor of the colonial peoples suffering under the foreign yoke is not
without concern for the exploiters of these peoples. The Japanese government,
foreseeing the harmful consequences this global opposition may cause to its
most cherished militarism, agreed to reform the Korean system in a more liberal direction.

Korean Autonomy
An imperial decree, promulgated in Tokyo on August 10, 1919, has granted autonomy to Korea and has placed Koreans and Japanese on an equal footing by proclaiming that they will enjoy the same rights. It is to be expected that
the Koreans will not be satisfied with this and will continue to demand complete independence, as they will point out that this decree, like all legislative
provisions, will be more or less effective depending on the way it is applied.
Hence, we do not take on the despicable task of defending Japanese imperialism; we condemn it in the same way as we condemn all forms of imperialism.
We will not even attempt to make a detailed comparison between Japanese
and French domination, although in many respects this comparison would be
to the advantage of Japan, which has not come up with the idea of poisoning
the Koreans by means of the forced consumption of alcohol and opium. But
today, when the government in Tokyo officially declares that it is liberating
9

Selected Works of Ho Chi Minh - Volume I

the Koreans by assimilating them completely as Japanese citizens, it is painful
to note that after fifty years of occupation, the representatives of the French
Republic in Indochina are stubbornly keeping the native people enslaved by
depriving them of all the freedoms and rights that the Empire of the Rising
Sun concedes “en bloc” to a people it conquered barely fifteen years ago.

Indoctrinating Yellow People's Minds
During the war years, serious nationalist movements took place in Korea
and Indochina to shake off the foreign yoke. In the aftermath of the repression that followed the unrest, the Japanese government skillfully tried to erase
the memory of these tragic events by implementing sweeping reforms. But
the French colonial government was naive enough to believe that in Indochina, in order to win over the native people, it would be sufficient to continue
fooling the people with official speeches, deceitful propaganda, and demonstrations of loyalty that were worth the price one paid for them. In a country
where, through the fault—one might even say the will—of the government,
greed reigns from top to bottom, there is no shortage of people willing to be
“bought.” And regarding the efforts to indoctrinate our yellow minds, the
colonial government has extremely powerful means at its disposal.
As it reserves for itself the unrestricted right—as far as publications in
Eastern languages are concerned—to authorize only the works which it finds
acceptable, the colonial government uses this exclusive privilege to help create
Annamese newspapers that serve its own purposes, and which, with the help
of secret subsidies, are charged with carrying out government propaganda and
with placing, from time to time, some sweet smells for the noses of the most
powerful people in the colony.
And it is this system of brainwashing that the government of Indochina
wants to pass off as a system of freedom for the native press.

Annamite Sacrifices During the War
If one draws up the balance sheet of the sacrifices imposed on the Annamite
people by France during the war, one will find, as far as financial contribu...