PAGE SIX
THE MICHIGAN DAII:V
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1967
PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY. JANUARY 12. 1967
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Pacification of
theVietnamese countrysidetand se-
curing the allegiance of the peo-
ple for the Saigon government are
basic objectives of American policy
in South Viet Nam but the efforts
have largely failed. In this second
article of a five-part series, Asso-
ciated Press reporter Peter Arnett
analyzes some of the reasons for the
shortcoming.
By PETER ARNETT
SAIGON (M)- The history of
pacification in South Vietnam is
a chronicle of grand schemes
crumbling, of the boundless energy
of talented advisers evaporating.
It is also a tale of the corrup-
tion of officials at the grass roots
destroying what a series of pater-
nalistic and inept Saigon govern-
ments were reluctantly trying to
implement from the top.
The battle "for the hearts and
minds of the people" in Vietnam
has often been a travesty of mis-
directed and incomplete effort, of
statistical illusions and false op-
timism.
Current Criticism
These harsh judgments have
been borne out only too well by
recent history. Current Vietnam-
ese leaders have poured scorn on
the efforts of theirapredecessors.
American officials are again re-
modeling the whole pacification
apparatus.
The pattern of pacification seems
to recur as an Oriental treadmill
powered by planners who envisage
bigger schemes costing more mon-
ey. They never seem to go any-
where.
The late President Ngo Dinh
Diem 'put the first foot on the
modern pacification treadmill.
From his takeover in 1954, Diem
attempted to adjust Vietnam's an-
cient feudal structure to the needs
of social progress. He was ham-
pered at every turn by the heri-
tage of French colonial rule, by
the constant undermining of his
program by murderous Commu-
nist cadres in the countryside, and
eventually by his own introver-
sion, which trapped him in a the-
oretical world of his own.
Diem's Schemes
Diem tried four major recon-
struction schemes to restore or-
der in rural areas torn by war.
All failed.
Diem set out to abolish the in-
justices of land tenure and the
hopelessness of the peasant's lot
with an elaborate land reform
program.
But by the end of 1962 only
about one-third of the land sup-
posed to have changed hands ac-
tually had done so, and only about
10 per cent of more than one mil-
lion tenant families had obtained'
any of it.
The major land reform prob--
lef stemmed from Diem's insis-
tence that the peasants buy the
land he gave them. The Commu-
nist Viet Cong gave it to the peas-
antry for nothing.
Agroville Program
Diem launched his so-called Ag-
roville program late in 1959,
again on a wave of high idealism
which, according to one writer
here at the time, "was frequently
distorted into narrow-minded tyr-
anny in practice by province
chiefs who played a fatal role."
Diem planned to build 100 agro-
villes, each holding 4,000 people
and self-sustaining. The idea was
suggested by the Chinese commune
system, and Diem viewed it as a
tool for the economic develop-
ment of rural areas.
Only 20 agrovilles were complet-
ed because their inhabitants re-
sented having to leave their old
villages, literally carrying their
houses on their backs to be used
in the new agrovilles. Only a few
dollars of compensation were paid,
and the new farm lands had to be
purchased by the settlers.
Diem attempted a rent control
program that was enforced only
sporadically and eventually disap-
peared in 1963 when the Commu-
nists openly took over much of the
countryside.
Strategic Hamlets
Diem then set out on his most
ambitious scheme to win over the
population. He would do this with
strategic hamlets, a program ad-
ministered with fanatical zeal by
his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu.
Nhu used to say: "Communism for meaningful and systematic so- settlement, and on a less grandi-
is not an abstract ideology. It is
a continuous action. Once the ac-
tion is interrupted the whole pro-
cess breaks down. That is what
we are doing in the strategic ham-
lets."
cial welfare work. The phraseE
"winning the hearts and minds of
the people" became popular in
those days.
Nhu saw the hamlets differently.
They were ideal for population
The Vietnamese government control, for gathering taxes, keep-
went into mass production of stra- ing dossiers, checking loyalties.
tegic hamlets, decreeing they must Patronage was distributed to
be built everywhere, even in re- those who collaborated.
gions where they could not be de- The Viet Cong took over many
fended. hamlets. The program was stag-
The American view of the stra- gering to failure late in 1963 when
tegic hamlet differed considerably the government was overthrown
from Ngo Dinh Nhu's. The reloca- and Diem and Nhu were killed.
tion of millions of the rural popu- Other 'Plans'
lation, the building of hamlets The new regimes ordered the
surrounded by barbed wire, mud hamlet fences torn down. A new
walls, a double row of spiked bam- pacification program called "New
boo sticks and a moat, were seen Life Hamlets" was introduced,
by Americans as an opportunity with less emphasis on forcible re-
Pacification of VietNam: Why It Has Failed
ose scale,
Then followed "operation Oil
Spot," which theoretically paci-
fied one area in a province and
spread from there like water on
oil.
Operation Hop Tac followed. It
envisaged pacification flowing out
into the countryside from Saigon,
creating a pacified belt running
from the capital to the Cambodi-
an border and breaking the Viet
Cong supply lines between the
Mekong delta and the North.
All these failed because of fal-
tering Saigon leadership.
Revolutionary Development was
born in 1966. and the 1967 pro-
gram will gamble heavily on this
concept--basically reformed stra-
tegic hamlets.
*1
MOSCOW WARY:
'Struggle Continues in China
PETITIONS DUE FRIDAY
For
THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
and
THE DRAFT COMMITTEE
Petitions Available at SGC Offices
1546 SAB
By WILLIAM L. RYAN
Associated Press special Correspondent
Moscow, with a great deal
riding on the outcome, evidently
expects Red China's power strug-
gle to end soon in a result blasting
any change in the foreseeable fu-
ture for a Soviet-Chinese recon-
ciliation.
Communist bloc observers do
not rule out thereafter the possi-
bility of grave Soviet-Chinese in-
cidents, perhaps taking the form
of deliberate Chinese provocations
on Soviet borders.
An indication of offical Moscow
thinking was provided in a long
article carried by Red Star, the
Soviet Defense Ministry news-
paper.
Shock Towards China
Soviet soldiers, it said-as if
preparing them for. the outcome
in Peking-"cannot fail to be
shocked" at the dominant Chinese
group's attitude toward the Soviet
Union which "raises questions in
the minds of Soviet servicemen,"
For a long time Moscow has
carefully watched the struggle.
Should the side headed by men
like President Liu Shao-chi and
the party general secretary, Ten
Hsiao-ping, come out on top, there
would be a change of healing some
of the scar inflicted by the long
Peking-Moscow feud.
If the side headed by Defense
Minister Lin Piao wins, the
chances for Moscow-Peking co-
operation would virtually evapo-
rate. Too many bridges have been
burned, too much has been said
and done.
Lin Seen As Victor
It appears now that Communist
observers see Lin Piao as the win-
ner. They say it is not a question
r
NATIONAL TEACHER EXAMINATIONS
Chicago Public Schools will use the scores as part
of their 1967 CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS for
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
Filing Deadline is Feb. 17, 1967 (NTE Registration)
(Direct scores to Chicago Board of Examiners)
Filing Deadline is NOON, April 5, 1967 (Chicago
Application, Ex. 5)
Details in PLACEMENT OFFICE or
Write for the packet to:.
CHICAGO BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Chicago Public Schools-Room 624
228 N. LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois , 60601
FLOWER FANTASY
The Revolutionary
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Dresses.
Sleeveless-A-Line Shifts
DISPOSABLE fashions for
Entertaining, Lounging,;
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of who will win but when the is-
sue will be finally decided. Some
astute observers of the Peking
scene say the decision is likely to
come before the winter is out.
The way the European and
Soviet Communist observers see
the China struggle, Lin Piao,
claiming the support of party
Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the
right to interpret his "thinking,"
in reality heads a minority, but an
extremely powerful one which
soon, in effect, is likely to become
the majority.
This faction is attacking heavily
at its opposition's stronghold-
the ranks of the factory workers.
President Liu and Secretary Teng
have been strong in the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions which
they created.
But the Lin faction apparently
has won control of the People's
Liberation Army after a struggle
which began as long ago as 1958.
They have purged from its com-
mand structure the professional
army officers who, in the interests
of a modern armed force, wanted
to retain good relations with the
Soviet Union, its primary source
of the wherewithal. The profes-
sionals have been replaced by or
made subordinate to political of-
ficers. This is the way the Red
Star article sees it.
The Chinese party, Red Star,
said, has become "the pupil of the
army," and the army, in turn, is
in control of the teenage Red
Guards who are an important in-
strument of power for Lin. Red
Star says the army guides the
Red Guards, drills them, supports
their actions, provides them with
uniforms and in fact makes them
a reserve of the PLA.
Bring Entries i
FOR STU DENT ART DISPLAY
of the,
Creative Arts Festival
to the UAC office
Wed., Jan. 11-Wed., Jan. 18-10 a.m.-4 p.m.
ANY MEDIA
for further information contact
Department of Art at A&D Building
iI
r
presents
UNION-LEAGUE
Bouldng ieder Discussion
"THE ROLE OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN: IDLE IDOL?"
ELISE BOULDING, consultant to the international executive
of the Woman's International League For Peace and Freedom,
will have a discussion with LESLIE FIEDLER, our Writer-in-
7.
ii
7
Miss J follows
the Southern route to sunshine
in Viva Americana's little rounded-toe
kidskin pump, the very epitome of easy
simplicity in spring-spirited shades. Pink,
celery or bone;basic black or navy blue.
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