In Lenin's Shadow

On my journey back home every night from my evening class I walk past the robust statue of Lenin in Ba Dinh district. It is located in the aptly named Lenin Square. It’s probably the only place in the world that Lenin is surrounded by palm trees. During the day there are tourists milling around to visit Uncle Ho along with the other sightseeing points of interest in this historical neighborhood of Hanoi. At night however, the scene is dominated by the Vietnamese youth. Every time I walk past I see something different. I’ve seen young people break dancing and middle aged ladies aerobic classes. I’ve seen football (soccer) games and skateboarders doing their thing. The one thing you can’t say is that Hanoi is not lively at night. A common complaint among expats and party seeking travelers is that Hanoi’s nightlife is subpar compared to Ho Chi Minh City. This is true if you are only looking for clubs open all night and cheap bars catering to Westerners. Perhaps they are looking in the wrong places. This is the essential difference between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City accommodates foreign people. Hanoi forces you to accommodate to it. This is of course a massive generalization but I think it is one that fits in this context.

Vietnam emerged from the fury of the war with a government that was bent on transforming Vietnamese society into an agrarian utopia. They followed the example of Stalin and Mao and the results are up for debate. Their US imposed isolation from the international economy subjected the Vietnamese to a harsh economic reality. The Vietnamese government has been pragmatic however; unlike the North Koreans. During the 1980s Vietnam began opening its doors to foreign investment and the tides of globalization. It is still up for debate whether the government really rescinded its control over the national economy but what is clear is that Vietnam has been a success story ever since. Bill Clinton (who is Vietnam’s favorite US president according to the people I’ve met) removed the embargo and thus aided the rapid economic development that Vietnam has been experiencing. There are still some very difficult issues surrounding Vietnam’s current success such as the growing disparity between the rich and poor; the urban and rural. The government is apparently taking steps to rectify this situation but we will see how they react in the years to come. The Vietnamese government is not the most transparent and their decision making seems to happen behind closed doors.

The conventional term to refer to current Vietnamese society is “soft communism”. I think this characterization is adequate but it does not illuminate the entirety of this transformative phase that Vietnam is in.

Vietnam has painfully torn from its traditional roots and jettisoned into the global politics by French colonialism. There was initial resistance which was crushed by the French military. By the beginning of the 20^th century the French had consolidated power across Indochine and this was a period of intellectual ferment in Vietnam. There were conservatives advocating a boycott of foreign values and there were forward thinkers trying to incorporate aspects of Western society into the society of Vietnam. Most intellectuals fell in between. Ho Chi Minh is a product of this period. Ho Chi Minh was a visionary for his country and although Vietnamese people still debate (behind closed doors) his political legacy he is a great hero of the nation.

Vietnam today is being transformed yet again as it was in the early 1900s. I believe this is a turning point in the history of Vietnam. I’m not sure but I think that people in my age group ad younger make up the majority of the population. There are intellectuals debating the future path of Vietnam. There are the opportunists trying to make a profit on the economic boom. And there are just normal people trying to make a living in these interesting times. Vietnam is changing in fascinating ways and the vitality here is unquestionable. It is anybody’s guess how it will look in a decade or two but I’m sure there will still be the youth expressing themselves in Lenin’s shadow.