The Food Problem in Hanoi during the Subsidy Period: How Workers Coped

Abstract

This article shows mainly how the administrators and workers in the Thang Long cigarette factory in Hanoi coped with a deepening food shortage from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. When the government could not provide a stable supply of food or prevent rising food prices on the open market, the factory administrators organized food-related programmes for their workers, such as eating halls, rest homes and schools for workers' young children. But these programmes could not meet the workers' needs during the crisis years, so they relied on themselves. They pursued a variety of activities, including increasing their working hours, seeking other jobs outside and pursuing illicit activities to earn extra money. The evidence in this article further indicates that the Vietnamese government modified its policies as it tolerated deviations from its socialist vision of a centralized economy.