Soviet Sources on the Law of North Vietnam

Abstract

t surprisingly, the question of land tenure in the northern half of Vietnam has received considerable attention from Soviet scholars. The output of published writings in this sector is relatively large and the quality is higher than average. The earliest piece is an unsigned article Agrarnaya reforma i pod em selskogo khozyaistva v (Agrarian Reform and the Upswing of the Rural Economy in the DRV), Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn (International Affairs), 1956, No. 4, pp. 126-127, which is a brief note, heavy on the statistical side, sketching the mechanics of land redistribution above the 17th parallel and the consequent rise in the gross national output of farm produce attributed to the 'better organization of peasant work, the intense enthusiasm animating the liberated masses, etc. A handy comparative perspective on the North Vietnamese experience in this doman vis-a-vis other member states of the Commonwealth is provided in at least two Soviet textbooks on land law. The first, Zemelnoe pravo (Land Law), edited by N. D. Kazantsev, (Moscow, Gosyurizdat, 1958), contains a separate chapter on the legislative foundations of land relations in the foreign socialist states (pp. 247-276) divided into three parts: 1) the peculiarities of land transformations in the foreign socialist states (general characteristic) ; 2) legislative foundations of land relations in the socialist states of Asia (pp. 251-261) ; and, 3) legislative foundations of land relations in the socialist states of Europe (pp. 261-276). The Asian and European theatres are covered on a countryiby-country basis and the DRV is allocated just over three pages (pp. 255-258): the treatment concentrates on setting forth the provisions of the 1953 statute on land reform. The second, Zemelnoe pravo (Land Law), edited by G. A. Aksenenok, (Moscow, Yuridicheskaya literature, 1969), approaches the topic of the fundamental principles of land law in certain foreign socialist countries se-