Cultural Civil War Between North and South (1975-1986) in Vietnam

This is the English translation of the original Vietnamese-language book entitled Nội Chiến Văn Hóa Bắc Nam (1975--1986) tại Việt Nam by author Lạp Chúc Nguyễn Huy, former Professor of the Faculty of Letters, Saigon University, and Cao Đài University in Tây Ninh in South Vietnam before April 30, 1975.  In Canada, he has worked as a Researcher of the Anthropology Department, Laval University, Quebec, Canada.  

This translated book by Vinh-The Lam, published in 2022 by Nhân Ảnh Publishing House in California, US, comprising 193 pages, is currently available at price of  $25.00 USD. (Paperback)

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Part 1. Socialist Culture: Cultural and educational theories

1. Theoretical foundation   

              Hồ Chí Minh

              Trường Chinh

2. Creation of intangible culture

              Party position on cultural creation

              Mainstream literature

              Folk literature

             Nhân văn giai phẩm Group

3. Socialist education

              Theory of socialist education

               Leadership training

               Soul engineer

4. Historical role

               Propaganda needs

               Serving politics

 

Part 2. Socialist culture: Infrastructure building

5. Socialist infrastructure

              Co-operatives
              Government-based supply organization

6. Image of a dreamed society

              Documents from the period of government-based organization
              Ordinary daily life
 

Part 3. Socialist culture: Collapse

 7. Northern battlefront

               Abolishing the old culture
               Returning to the old culture

               Current situation of culture in the countryside

8. Civil war on paper

               Battle on paper
               Activation of cultural laws
               Saigon’s cultural victory

9. Civil war of sound

                Types of music

                Burning of music and inhibition of songs

                Victory of the Saigon Bolero sound

Bibliography

SYNOPSIS

After its military victory in 1975, the Vietnamese Communist Party imposed its socialist culture, experimented in 30 years in the North (1945-1975), on the the people of the defeated South Vietnam.  This cultural imposition led to the silent explosion of the cultural civil war between North and South that lasted 10 years (1975-1986), and ended with the total defeat of the socialist culture.  This book provides the complete portrait of the socialist culture and explains why it flashed as a lightning that lasted only for 40 years (1946-1986) and was then extinguished in the cultural firmament in Vietnam.