Demonstration in Hanoi, 19 August 1945
In OTL, the Communist Party of Indochina before the de jure abolition (1951) was composed of three smaller, socialist, left-wing nationalist movements: the Việt Minh (Vietnamese Independence League), the Lao Issara (Free Laos), and the Khmer Issarak (Free Khmer), which led by, respectively: Hồ Chí Minh, Souphanouvong and Son Ngoc Minh. The leadership was loosely coordinated together. However, what if those three movements was not just coordinated together, but also unite to form a Socialist Indochina?
POD[]
In 1944, the leadership of three movements: the Viet Minh, the Lao Issara and Khmer Issarak met together to discuss of an united movement against the French and the Japanese. Also at the same time, the Viet Minh had to negotiate with the Cao Dai, Binh Xuyen and Hoa Hao, of which the second one was eager to join the Viet Minh and the Cao Dai was reluctantly to cooperate. Hoa Hao considered negotiations between both sides is the only viable solution, therefore, not cooperate with Viet Minh. And in 1944, those three socialist movements mentioned earlier united as the Free Indochina Movement (in fact, reviving the Anti-Imperialist Front), of which forming: a federal, democratic Indochina; withdrawal of occupation troops (French and Japanese) and to give human rights to 34 million people.
After founding the movement, the collective leadership have to negotiate with the Right, which was represented by the Nationalists and the Revolutionary Party, led by Vũ Hồng Khanh, who was also plan to liberate Indochina from French and Japanese, but also Communism. At this point, the Free Indochina movement decided to be non-communist, and allow multiple parties to join the movement, as a method to convince the anti-communist movements to cooperate. Not just changing it's strategy, the movement also had to promised to give 1/3 of the proposing 450-seat Constituent Assembly. The movement decided to cooperate with the Right because it was dominant in the South. As a result, the Right decided to cooperate with the Front.
On 22nd December 1944, at the region of Cao Bắc Lạng, the Free Indochina decided to form it's armed wing, with about 100 soldiers (34 from Viet Minh, 21 from Lao Issara, 20 from Khmer Issarak and 25 from Binh Xuyen). The commander of the armed wing was Vo Nguyen Giap and Duong Van Duong, who would be commanders of the Indochinese War. It would be expanded into a brigade in all of Indochina and later, forming an efficient armed forces of which would liberated Indochina. On April 1945, it decided to coordinated with the armed wing of the Nationalists and forming the National Guard.
On August 1945, after the Japanese surrendered the Allies, the Free Indochina movement began to demonstrate at Hanoi, with the support of most of the Tran Trong Kim's cabinet, which was anti-Japanese in general. In Vientiane and Phnom Penh, the transition of the government to Free Indochina was largely peaceful. In Saigon, the transition was slow due to the anti-communist tendencies in the South, only successful when the Nationalist join the government.
Other PODs[]
- The Vinashin and Vinalines affair never happened, as the Central Control Commission now in charge of inspection of business corruption of the State-owned enterprises (from 1990 as a part of the financial transparency reform)
- The New Economic Mechanism (semi-market economy with indicative planning) was introduced in 1956-60, with a de-collectivization of agriculture and industrial policy, combine with an indicative, regional planning. The policy was halted in 1979 to be replaced with centrally-planned economy (similar to Erich Honecker's "consumer socialism") and only reintroduced the NEM in 1983.
- Internationally: The Soviet Union and the United States recognized the People's Republic of Korea, halting a potentiality of a Korean War in TTL.
Main Pages[]
- Indochina (Socialist Indochina)
- Politics and Government (Socialist Indochina)
- Timeline (Socialist Indochina)
- List of Nations (Socialist Indochina)