GIVE VIET PEASANT FOOD AND TOOLS BEFORE DOCTRINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000200340001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 2, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT ?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200340001-8
WASHINGTON 111411X
NEWS
'Mr. Buu the Answer
JUN ;.1964
w e let Peasant Foo
d 'rods Bef
By JOHN HULLING
Tran Quec Buu is the tribune ,
of the Vietnamese people. He :
? has come to this country? to ex-
plain in terms of his country-
men's struggle and hopes what ,
the war in South Viet Nam is
? truly all about.
In his own modest, compact,.
? emphatic person (he is 5-foot-3
and the father of 10), he brings
home to us the kind of people
who are committed to the strug-
gle, not only in South Viet Nam,
but in all South East Asia. As
? Mr. Buu tells us the story of his
people, distances are no longer
so great. Slogans turn into re-
ality and hope turns into cono
: fidence.
For him and the 14 -million-
? .
people of Viet Nam, the hand- '
to-hand encounter with commun.. ',
' ism must be motivated by the
will to live in freedom, sustain
it and particularly to give
? practical substance to the idea
of liberty.
When he was 13, he was man
enough to take a conspicuous ?
part in student demonstrations."
against the French? regime: He
.managed to complete his educa-
tion and taught high school for.,
six years. 1
? But revolution ? remained his '
true vocation. Then a French
military cou\rt sent him to jail ,
,for 10 years on Poulo Condere,
the kin,c1 of island prison with
which the French empire once
...dotted the world.
? After liberation in 1945, Mr.
Buu fought with the guerilla
forces. He gave this up when
he became convinced the corn-
munists were seeking to domi-
nate the independence move-
ment. He was convinced of
something else?that ,unless the
Vietnamese workers organized
. themselves economically, the lib-
eration and independence would
lack complete meaning. '
di Great Service 1
?. By his visit he has rendered ,
? a great service to us here by '1
, crystalizing the significance of:
,.the American presence in South
Viet Nam: Why Americans 'are,l;
there, why we give Viet Nam so
, Much of our treasure, and why,
if you please, Ambassador Hen-
ry Lodge has made his coun-
try's mission to South Viet Nam
his first responsibility.
Mr. Buil came to Washington
carrying the credential of the
people's organization in South
Viet Nam, the Confederation of'
Vietnamese Workers. He has ad-
dressed the AFL-CIO Executive
Council, was received by Presi-
dent Johnson, and has met with
other leaders of American life.
Mr. Buu was trained as a
school teacher, and?as so often
happens in once colonial coun-
tries?he received his major ed.,
ucation in the long bitter strug-:,
i?gle for independence.... ? ? '
To Mr. Buu and his friends,
; free, strong labor organization ;
was the only effective answer
either to fight the, communist
or to build a society which was
meaningful to the Vietnamese
workers, peasant or city worker.
It was and is a heartbreaking
task in any country. ,
Federation
re- Doctrine
and to-dic over the distribution of
seeds, fertilizer and other forms
of agricultural support.
Mr. Buu's organization was
scattered and driven under-
ground. Its main objective then
, was to survive.
With the fall of the Diem re-
gime in November, 1963, the
problem became how to rebuild
labor organization. Mr. Bill went
to work. Despite a' five-year
interval of organizational paral-
ysis, he ,and his union friends
had maintained their contacts,
in the villages, carried on limit-
ed educational activities, and,
worked to train leadership
groups, at the local' level.
ci ?
In this period of "exile" in
t their own country, the Vietnam-
ese labor leadership used the
1 time to develop strong raPport
with varaous anti-communist re- ?
ligious sects: their priests and
holy men welcomed the CTV
representatives then and now.
Preoccupied with spiritual activ.:
Within a few years, Buu
and his filen& had built up a
labor organization ? of. nearly
500,000 members, half of them
in the affiliated peasants federa-
tion, which Mr. Buu also headed.
Its growth and effectiveness ex-
cited first the interest and then
the hostility of the Diem regime
when Mr. Buu refused to sur- ,
render the free labor organiza-
tion to governmental control. ,
Then the Diem regime set up a
rival peasants federation, be-
on, to_ *ass the union officials,
_
ities, the religious groups were
incapable of resolving the dif-
ficult problems of living which'
beset the peasants and 'tenant
farmers of South Viet ' Nam.
Despite the handicaps, the labor
groups won the respect and con-
fldence of tenant farmer groups
by protecting. them against;
usury and obtaining for them
the necessary feeds and ferti-
lizer.
Quite clearly, now the: tasks
of the CTV and Mr. Buu must
respond to their own special
conditions. Their form of trade
union organization must reflect
their own economic and social
needs. At the same time, they:
must develop their economic
livelihood and protect them-:,
selves against .the Viet , Cong,,
the communist ,infiltrators
Mr. Buu continually empha-
sizes' the point that the only way,
to win the support' of the peas."
'.ants of Viet Nam (88 per cent of
the population) is to give them:
a stake in the struggle now.
going on. For the battle todayi?i
is not ?only' against communist
domination, but against indif-
ference and apathy.
/If a proper internal program is
carried out ? and this requires
the support of the CTV ? the
peasants will actively side with
the regime of Gen. Khanh who
presides over South Viet Nam.
And, says Mr. Buil, this will
,include the 30 per cent of the
peasant population - which now
is considered under communist
Viet Cong influence.
t] Challenge
The central challenge,. Mr.
Buu says, lies in the develop-
ment of co-operatives under his
union's auspices for marketing
rice, and fertilizer distribution
and for all the necessities of
farm and village life. Before
' you talk doctrine, he says, you
have to put food in the mouths
of peasants and things in their
hands. This gives them not only
the practical means of liveli-
hood, but it lays the foundation
of the way of life which they
would understand and defend. ?
. In laying plans for the organi-
zation of total village life, the
CTV has created, with govern-
ment support and United States
aid, two pilot villages. Land
was cleared, and villages of
-1000 to 1200 people were built
,up from' scratch. These autono-
mous, self-supporting communi-
ties have schools, religious cen-
ters, agricultural training
centers, and good crops.
Cogrnue
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12518 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000200340001-8.