Membership numbers for the VNQDĐ and Đại Việt
Nu-Anh Tran tran_n_a at yahoo.com
Tue Nov 24 17:58:51 PST 2015
Dear list, I am looking for estimates for the size of the VNQDĐ in the late 1930s or on the eve of the August Revolution. If that's not possible, I wouldn't mind an estimate for around 1954 either. I've skimmed Hoàng Văn Đào's history of the party, Vũ Hồng Khanh's history as well, and the usual sources: Huỳnh Kim Khánh's Vietnamese Communism, Tai's Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution, etc. I am looking for a secondary source since rooting through French archival materials is not really an option now. Any estimate of the size of the Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng in 1945 would be great as well. I have looked in Guillemot's book, but I only found an estimate for around 1954 though I may have missed it. Any lead on either of these queries would be much appreciated.Cheers,Nu-Anh
Nu-Anh Tran tran_n_a at yahoo.com
Tue Nov 24 18:00:17 PST 2015
I apologize for not signing my full name and affiliation.
Nu-Anh Tran, PhD
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of Connecticut
François Guillemot francois.guillemot at ens-lyon.fr
Wed Nov 25 01:14:28 PST 2015
Dear Nu-Anh,
I made a provisional calculation of the number of militants of the Dai
Viet in my book (pp. 562-563, based on a Report of French Security
Services of July 1953).
I must check again my personal notes on French archives to get more
information and even in my book (see for example on the 1946 clash
between Viet Minh and VNQDD-DMH armed forces, pp. 347-354 with several
estimates...).
For the VNQDD in the 1930s see Louis Marty's Report published in 1933,
vol. 3 (http://www.sudoc.fr/125667914). I have also some archival files
on the resurrection of the VNQDD in 1938 but no time to expose it in
details.
The difficulty for estimates on DVQDD in 1945 is due to the existence of
several organizations "stamped Dai Viet" :
Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang, the most important in terms of troops, the Dai
Viet Dan Chinh (quasi) dismantled in 1941-42, the Dai Viet Duy Dan in
Hoa Binh province, the Dai Viet Quoc Xa mostly in Hanoi and Haiphong and
the Dai Viet Phuc Hung Hoi suppressed in 1944 (a micro organisation).
Most of them (except the latter) with the leaders of the New-VNQDD (Tan
VNQDD) were involved in the Dai Viet National Alliance (Dai Viet Quoc
Gia Lien Minh) of 1945. See my chapter in Imperial Japan and National
Identities (Li Narangoa & Robert Cribb, eds).
On these differents organisations and their confrontation with Viet Minh
forces you have some important monographies published in SRV on what
they call "struggle against reactionary forces". Sometimes there is some
estimates of these "reactionary forces". See David Marr, 1945 The Quest
for Power ; Goscha's and Shawn McHale works on that period... See also
the Gilbert Bodinier (ed.), La guerre d'Indochine, 1945-1954, documents,
Service historique de l'Armée de terre, 1987 and 1989... or more older
sources as Bernard Fall, Philippe Devillers...
I am currently very busy but I'll look in my notes in one or two weeks
so keep in touch.
Best,
F
Shawn McHale mchale at gwu.edu
Wed Nov 25 10:52:09 PST 2015
Good question -- and I would defer to Francois on this, as his book is a
goldmine. Vu Ngu Chieu's dissertation, which you can download, is also very
useful, but it doesn't give overall numbers of Đại Việt membership.
I would simply add that for the south in particular in 1945, it can be
extremely hard to tell how many belonged to various organizations --all the
estimates for all the parties and groups seem unreliable. Not only that,
but it seems to me that southerners had very fluid allegiances, and would
jump from party to party, or into ad hoc coalitions of groups, with great
ease in 1945. The following example is not directly related to Đại Việt,
but it proves this point about fluidity of allegiances in the south . In
mid-1945, Phạm Ngọc Thạch appointed a Trotskyist, Nguyễn Thị Sương, as head
of the Women's section of the Vanguard Youth. (Yes, a Trotskyist. Let that
sink in . . . ) This illustrates a point about Saigon politics -- a
"capaciousness" in bringing nationalists, "Stalinists", "Trotskyists," etc
into parties and fronts in the summer of 1945. Furthermore, people often
wore two hats -- e,g. Đại Việt AND Cao Đài.
This situation would not last, as the Party center was apoplectic with such
collaborations -- Thạch would be summarily commanded to go north by Hoàng
Quốc Việt by late September or October 1945, and Sương would be
assassinated in September or October 1945, along with many other key
nationalists and Trotskyists. Anyhow ---
Shawn McHale