experience, is the invincibility of people's war based mainly on national unity, or are there other factors which also play a role?"
*We have given this a great deal of thought and if you allow me, I will give you a detailed explanation of our point of view on this matter.
Yes, the invincibility of people's war is mainly based on the solidarity and fighting unity of the This is the key factor in winning victory. But it isn't the only one. There are others.
"For example, there must be a correct political and military une, together with popular armed forces which serve as the nucleus for people's war. There must also be unanimous support from sister socialist countries and other peoples of the world. But, of these factors, the most important is the correct political and military line of the vanguard party. With a correct line it is possible to mobilize and organize the people, channeling their energy to strike the enemy, in short, all patriotic forces can be united in a broad national front strong enought to confront the common enemy.
BE BRAVE AND INTELLIGENT "The Vietnamese experience has shown that a united national front - firm, broad and based on the worker-peasant alliance - Is very This is the only way to get all citizens to fight the enemy and the build the people's armed forces, an armed forces which will fight to the last drop of blood together with the people and for the people, which is determined to fight until victory and which knows how to fight the enemy.
"In Vietnam we say: To face the enemy you must be brave and intelligent. You must be ready to fight - and fight intelligently.
"Only with a correct line is it possible to strengthen militant solidarity between people of Vietnam and the people of the socialist countries and to take advantage of the help they give us and of the support of the progressive peoples of the world, including the people of the United States. In this way we are also making an important contribution to a worldwide front against U.S. imperialism.
"I am going into detail, but your question is important. In short, the Vietnamese people are defeating the Yankees because they are determined to defeat U.S. imperialism: They have fought heroically and received the aid and support of the peoples of the world, including the valuable bid of the people of Cuba.
"How is the Marxist-Leninist line correctly applied in people's war? In practice there is a classic example, Vietnam, but what, in your opinion. is the main basis for its success?"
"Our Party's correct line constitutes a creative application of Marxism-Leninism in the carrying out the revolution and the revolutionary war in Vietnam. We all say that Marxism-Leninism is a universal truth, the guide for us to take the revolution along the road to victory, to transform the world. We believe that we must learn to be thoroughly steeped in the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism, but maintaining Marxist-Leninist principles does not mean that these can be separated from the concrete conditions of revolution in every ALWAYS FACE A MORE POWERFUL ENEMY 'Every County has its unique characteristics. For example, through its thousand-year history, Vietnam has a tradition of heroic struggle against foreign aggressors. The aggressors have usually been more powerful than the Vietnamese. For example, in the 13th century the powerful Mongol army attacked us from east to west, but when it came to attack Tanh Long, our capital, we defeated it.
"For several centuries we have been facing three imperialisms: French powerful empire in Europe; the imperialism of Japanese fascism, a powerful empire in Asia; and now U.S. imperialism, the strongest of modern-day empires. Victoriously confronting an enemy several times stronger than we are is characteristic of our history.
VIETNAM WILL NEVER VIOLATE THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF OTHER COUNTRIES "In regard to the Vietnamese nation, it is a nation with an innate tradition of loving peace, but peace in freedom, which is why we say nothing is more precious than freedom and independence. This idea is deeply engraved in the hearts and minds of our people. A nation such as this will undoubtedly fight to the end against any CHICH Because loves independence and freedom it will never violate the independence and freedom of other countries. Our struggle is a just struggle, a struggle for national defense and for national liberation. This is also one of its characteristics. A CORRECT AND CREATIVE LINE "The international situation is different; the forces, our political situation the political situation internationally, etc. Based on this, our Party proposes the correct and creative line to take our revolution along the road to victory.
"Once again we say that, since we follow a correct and creative line, since we have set ourselves a correct revolutionary task, using correct revolutionary methods, etc., we have been able to defeat all enemies.
UNITY OF THE ENTIRE PEOPLE AGAINST THE YANKEES "In the war, we have always mastered the discipline of war, and it is on the basis of such discipline that we conduct the war. The line followed by our Party at present is that of uniting the entire people against the Yankees in the struggle for national salvation, looking upon the task of defeating enemy as a sacred duty of the nations, because only by defeating the Yankee enemy can we build and protect socialism in the North; bring the national democratic revolution to successful completion throughout the country; and advance peacefully toward the reunification of our homeland. You know perfectly well that Vietnam is one single country, that the Vietnamese nation is one single nation. I have just read a book written by a U.S. citizen, a former aide to Kennedy, and in this book he admits that Vietnam is one single country.
STRATEGIC DOCTRINE INTERVIEW "The methods of struggle are: to combine military and political struggle and to raise the spirit of independence, self-determination and self-reliance while at the same time giving great importance to the firm solidarity and aid offered by the socialist countries and to the support given by the peoples of the world "Regarding the military aspect: to lay down the correct strategy and tactics for defeating the enemy army. The strategic doctrine of Vietnam is to always be in control of the situation, to always remain on the offensive against the enemy army, to always attack the enemy in a strong position, to accomplish much with limited resources and to score great victories with very little "We knock down Yankee planes with rockets, with our own planes and with anti-aircraft fire of various calibers, and we have even done it with automatic and ordinary rifles. Commando groups in the South have destroyed enemy planes right in their own airfields. That, is concrete demonstration application of Marxism-Leninism under the concrete conditions that exist in Vietnam."
"General Glap, if we are not taking too much of your time, would you mind explaining, in theory, what the "three arrows" strategy, put into effect in South Vietnam, consists in? Does such a strategy have any precedent in the history of Vietnam?"
"Don't worry about the time. We have devoted this afternoon to this interview, and we his face, poured everybody a drink and raised will take as much time as we need.
"Your question deals with a matter of MILITARY POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATI "In South Vietnam, 14 million of our compatriots, under the leadership of the National Front for Liberation, combine closely the military struggle with the political struggle, and, recently, they have added the diplomatic struggle. In practice, this consists in carrying the last aimed at winning the enemy soldiers to our side. Regarding this matter, we can say that the National Front for Liberation of South Vietnam has made creative experiences gained by the Vietnamese people through historic decades and, what's more, of -the experiences gained by the nation thousands of years ago.
"From the time our Party was created, the Vietnamese people have gone through a long period of anti-imperialist political struggle iillegal, semi-illegal and legal, but mainly illegal Then came the period of armed struggle which led to the victory of the August Revolution and the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In that rebellion the political and the military forces were present. This was followed by the long resistance agalist French imperialism, a stage characterized mainly by armed struggle, even though there was also political struggle, and, finally, the present resistance against the Yankees for national salvation, against the neocolonialism of the Yankee imperialists. The Yankees resort to extremely cruel military actions and to extremely deceitful political manoeuvres.
VIETNAM HAS NEVER RETREATED ONE SINGLE STEP IN THE FACE OF AN ENEMY "Now, more than ever before, our nation is engaged in the fulfillment of a glorious duty, a duty toward her own people and the peoles of the world. The Vietnamese nation has an immortal tradition of struggle against foreign invaders, and she has never retreated one single step in the face of an enemy.
Why have the Yankee imperialists sent more than half a million soldiers to attack Vietnam? Their satellite armies and the puppet army together add up to more than one million soldiers mobilized. The objective of the Yankee imperialist is that of attacking Vietnam, but it is quite evident that they also have another plan in mind. Johnson admitted on several occasions that the Vietnam war was a life-and-death struggle, one of greater importance than any other war ever waged by the United States in the past." Why is this problem so important to them!
THE REASON WHY THE YANKEES ARE IN VIETNAM "It is mainly because Vietnam stands at the head of the national liberation movement that the Yankees think that if they win in Vietnam they will be able to defeat the national liberation movement of the peoples. Moreover, Vietnam stands in the front line of the socialist camp's anti-imperialist struggle. The Yankee imperialists think that by winning in Vietnam they will deal a rude blow at the socialist camp That is why they have gone berserk and act like savages, even though they have had to pay a high price in both men and material resources It never entered their minds that in this "life-and-death confrontation shameful defeat.
"As far as the Vietnamese people are concerned, we are fully cognizant of the fact that fighting the imperialists constitutes a duty toward our nation and toward the peoples of the world.
A GLORIOUS TRUTH *The Vietnamese people have scored glorious victories and will, without a doubt, continue the resistance until the end The victory attained by the resistance against the Yankees for national salvation will bring to the people of Vietnam independence, freedom and the reunification of their country, while, at the same time, it will eloquently demonstrate a glorious truth: nowadays, any nation regardless of the fact that its territory and population may not be large - once it decides to rise up, unites and, following a correct line engages in a struggle for independence and freedom, will, without the slightest doubt defeat any aggressor, Yankee imperialism included.
"The revolutionary struggle of the heroic people of Cuba also demonstrates this truth.
"Socialist Cuba stands firmly in the western hemisphere, and that alone constitutes stimulus and a great support to us. In honor of the 26th of July - recently commemorated - 1 take the liberty of extending my warmest greetings to the Party, the Government, the people of Cuba, Comrade Fidel and Comrade Raul.* Glap stood up briskly and, with a smile on his glass saying, "Vietnam and Cuba will win!"
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important if the people are to win. "Only by having a correct line is it possible to arm the people of a nation and put into practice the slogan "All the people are fighters'.
era of history is different. We point out these VIETNAM WITH
out what is know as the "three arrows" strategy - military, political and propaganda struggle -
important the Vietnamese people would be the winner and Yankee imperialism would suffer a