Chapter 8 Imperialism and Transition to Socialism in Vietnam

In this chapter, the author relates the historical trajectory of the Vietnamese revolution and its relentless willingness to build socialism despite external aggressions, first colonialist (France), then fascist (Japan), and finally imperialist (United States). The author traces the analysis back to the August (1945) revolution and the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The author continues with the 30 years of wars for national independency, then with the two very difficult decades after the wars. The author studies the so-called “Doi Moi” (renewal) period and the economic advances it allowed, then the political aspects of the Vietnamese socialist system, before exposing the questions of international relations.