In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh’s government faced significant challenges as it endeavored to build a socialist society, supported by a large number of Chinese advisers. The prolonged conflict with France had severely damaged the country’s infrastructure, leaving it reliant on rice supplies from the South, which were now inaccessible. Adding to these difficulties, the land reforms implemented in the mid-1950s, initially celebrated as a Robin Hood-style redistribution, led to tragic consequences. Thousands were unjustly accused of being landlords by makeshift People’s Agricultural Reform Tribunals, subjected to torture, execution, or forced labor in camps. Individuals labeled as “reactionaries” were also targeted and punished for perceived imperialist offenses, such as owning literature from renowned French poets and authors.

Although the Rectification of Errors Campaign in 1956 resulted in the release of many victims from the land reforms, as Ho Chi Minh poignantly remarked, “one cannot wake the dead.” This campaign highlighted the significant toll the policies had taken on the population.

While Hanoi grappled with its internal issues, the Viet Minh guerrillas operating south of the Seventeenth Parallel were largely left to their own devices for several years. Despite facing increased reprisals from the government of Ngo Dinh Diem, many guerrillas chose to remain resilient, although attacks on government officials became more frequent as the 1950s drew to a close.

In 1959, with the diminishing strength of the guerrilla ranks, Hanoi recognized the need for a more aggressive approach. By April 1960, conscription was enacted, and military resources began to flow down the Ho Chi Minh Trail (see box, page 312). By the end of that year, Hanoi took significant steps to unify the opposition in the South by establishing the National Liberation Front (NLF). This coalition included various resistance groups, encompassing Catholic, Buddhist, Communist, and non-Communist nationalists. The government in the South, however, labeled its guerrilla fighters as Viet Cong, or VC (Vietnamese Communists), a term that became widely adopted even though the NLF represented a more diverse alliance.