Different Perspectives on the Mobilization of the Masses in the Revolutionary High Tide of 1930–31

Abstract

This study re-examines participation of the masses in the revolutionary high tide of 1930–31 in Vietnam. In a departure from previous studies, it does not consider the main cause of the involvement of peasants in the protest movement to have been either the deteriorating economic circumstances of the masses or political manipulation on the part of the communists. Approaching the movement from a politico-cultural perspective, the author points to traditional factors that exerted a strong influence on the political attitude of the peasants and motivated their participation in protest movements during the colonial period. The author also uses newly unearthed historical documents to reinterpret the role of the Indochinese Communist Party in the revolutionary high tide, comparing its strategy and tactics in mobilizing the masses with those of other groups that formed part of the ‘Westernized elite’. The study not only introduces new historical facts to the debate, but also presents new ways to understand the political protests of the masses in modern Vietnam.