Economic Developments in North Vietnam

Abstract

M ORE THAN THREE YEARS have passed since the Geneva agreements of July 1954 put an end to the Indochina war. The armistice provision calling for national reunification elections in Vietnam has not been implemented and the truce line at the I7th parallel has in effect become an international boundary, separating two antagonistic states. North of that boundary the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) has emerged as a viable political and economic state, and as a full-fledged member of the Communist bloc of nations. This article offers a brief review of the economic situation and the post-war rehabilitation of North Vietnam. A large part of the material is necessarily taken from Soviet sources.' Geographically, North Vietnam consists of a series of delta lowlands facing the Gulf of Tonkin and a mountainous hinterland extending to the borders of neighboring Laos and China. Most important of the alluvial lowlands is the triangular delta of the Red River (Song Coi), which is the economic heart of the country and includes the national capital of Hanoi (population: about 5oo,ooo) and the port of Haiphong (population: i8o,ooo). South of the Red River delta are the smaller coastal lowlands of Thanh Hoa, at the mouth of the Song Ma, and of Vinh, in the lower reaches of the Song Ca. Of the country's total population of i3,500,000, about 85 per cent are Vietnamese farmers (mostly rice growers), inhabiting the densely populated lowlands. In the sparsely settled mountain regions are ethnic minorities (numbering about 2,000,000). They include the Thai and Meo (Miao) peoples between the upper Red River and the border of Laos; the Muong in