Việt gian

Việt gian (chữ Hán: 越奸; lit. 'Vietnamese traitor') is a pejorative term referring to a Vietnamese person who betrays, compromises or acts against the interests of Vietnam. The term Việt gian first appeared in 1938, denoting Vietnamese who supported or would benefit from the Japanese fascists, in a manner similar to the Chinese term Hanjian.^[1]

Since 1945, the term has been employed extensively in the context of the Vietnamese civil conflicts, with both opposing sides, the communist-led Viet Minh and the non-communist nationalists, mutually applying it to one another.^[2] It continued to be used during the Vietnam War between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

A 1945 propaganda poster by the Việt Minh calling for the eradication of the Việt gian.

North Vietnam

Since 1945, alleged Việt gian and kẻ phản động ('reactionaries') were detained, subjected to humiliation and beatings, and in some cases, killed. The majority of cases were carried out by the Viet Minh,^[3][4] while a smaller number were conducted by nationalist parties.^[5]

Part of the Viet Minh's strategy to consolidate power involved terrorizing and purging rival Vietnamese nationalist groups.^[6][7] The policies of the Viet Minh include "arming the people, punishing the Việt gian" and "confiscation of the assets of the French and Japanese imperialists and the Việt gian". Employing the term Việt gian, the DRV government had no consensus on its meaning.^[8] A 1946 article from the Catholic periodical Đa Minh condemned the loose use of the accusation Việt gian, remarking: "Who is deceitful (gian) and who upright (ngay) will be answered by time and history".^[9] On January 20, 1953, Ho Chi Minh issued Order No. 133-SL in North Vietnam to punish the Việt gian.^[10][11][12]

Propaganda poster by South Vietnam using the phrase Việt gian cộng sản.

South Vietnam

It is sometimes interpreted that the term "Việt Cộng" is a contraction of the term Việt gian cộng sản ("Communist Traitor to Vietnam").^[13]

See also

• Civil conflicts in Vietnam (1945–1949)
• Indochina wars

References

1. Tử-Bình (24 May 1938). "Bọn Việt-gian : Một danh-từ mới cho những nhân-vật mới". Thời vụ (in Vietnamese). No. 30. Hanoi. pp. 3, 6.
2. Reilly, Brett (2017). Before the First Indochina War: Redefining the Origin of Vietnam's Civil War. Association for Asian Studies, Annual Conference.
   Reilly, Brett (31 January 2018). "The True Origin of the Term 'Viet Cong'". The Diplomat.
3. Công-ngôn (10 October 1947). "Con ngựa trắng không phải là ngựa". Ngày Mới (in Vietnamese). No. 54. Hanoi. Mà những người Việt-nam đã bị người Việt-nam chém giết như thế, có tội lỗi gì? Chỉ có tội là trí-thức biết suy nghĩ phải trái, là hơi có tiền của, là Quốc-dân-đảng, là Cách-mạng đồng-minh, là Đại-việt, là Phục-quốc, là Đệ tứ, là những thanh-niên có học nhiều ít, không để cho V.M. nhồi sọ, là những người dám chỉ trích họ là sai lầm, lừa dối. [But what crimes did the Vietnamese who were murdered by other Vietnamese commit? Their only ‘crimes’ were being intellectuals capable of discerning right from wrong, having some wealth, being members of the Quốc-dân-đảng, Cách-mạng đồng-minh, Đại-việt, Phục-quốc, Đệ tứ, or being young people with some education who refused to be brainwashed by the Viet Minh, or daring to criticize them for their mistakes and deceit.]
4. Vương-Quốc-Thái (16 October 1947). "Cái chết của ông Nguyễn Văn Sâm". Thời Sự (in Vietnamese). No. 152. Hanoi. Không cần phải bàn tán nhiều, chúng ta đã thấy từ khi Mặt-trận Việt-Minh ra đời, cái danh hiệu «Việt-gian» đã được gán cho tất cả những nhà ái-quốc không đồng chính kiến với họ. Muốn giết ai muốn hại ai, họ dùng ngay danh từ «Việt-gian» để gán cho người ấy. [It requires little discussion that, since the founding of the Viet Minh Front, the designation ‘Việt-gian’ has been applied to all patriots who did not align with their views. Whenever they wanted to kill or harm someone, they would immediately use the term ‘Việt-gian’ to label that person.]
5. Marr 2013, pp. 383.
6. Guillemot, François (2004). "Au coeur de la fracture vietnamienne : l'élimination de l'opposition nationaliste et anticolonialiste dans le Nord du Vietnam (1945–1946)". In Goscha, Christopher E.; de Tréglodé, Benoît (eds.). Naissance d'un État-Parti: Le Viêt Nam depuis 1945. Paris: Les Indes savantes. pp. 175–216. ISBN 9782846540643.
7. Kort 2017, pp. 62–63, 81–85.
8. Marr 2013, pp. 395.
9. Marr 2013, pp. 437.
10. Paul Schuster Taylor (1981). Labor on the land: collected writings 1930-1970. Arno Press. p. 313. ISBN 9780405142086.
11. "Văn kiện các Hội nghị Ban Chấp hành Trung ương khoá I: Chương trình Việt Minh". Báo điện tử Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam (in Vietnamese). 2010-04-11. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
12. David W. P. Elliott (2007). The Vietnamese war: revolution and social change in the Mekong Delta, 1930-1975. East Gate Books. p. 52. ISBN 9780765606037.
13. William S. Turley (2009). The second Indochina War: a concise political and military history. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. xiv. ISBN 978-0-7425-5526-6.

• Holcombe, Alec (2020). Mass Mobilization in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1945–1960. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 9780824884475. JSTOR j.ctv105bb0z.
• Kort, Michael G. (2017). The Vietnam War Reexamined. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107110199.
• Marr, David G. (2013). Vietnam: State, War, and Revolution (1945–1946). University of California Press. ISBN 9780520954977.