- Capitalism and Alternatives -

To SDF, a question on the Hue Massacre

SDF, as someone older and wiser than me I suspect you would know the answer to this question. During 1968, the North Vietnamese Army is said to have killed 2,800 civilians at Hue, including teachers and women and children. I've seen this figuere in all the sourecs I've read, and so I tend to believe it. However, recently I came across an article by Mr. Gareth Porter, published in 1974, that seems well-documented and logical. Its conclusion is that these civilains were killed in war, not deliberately by the NVA.

Being a pessimist, I still tend to believe the earlier figure of 2,800 civilians murdered. But you probably know more about this than me, so what's your informed opinion on the subject? Did the Hue massacre really happen? If it did, of course, while it shoudl cause us all some soul-searching, it need not turn us against Vietnamese Communsim in general. Even though thsi and similar horrible atrocities were committed, we should hold teh men repsonsible, and not a vague political-economic philosophy, responsible for what tehy did. Communism cannpot be held areponsible for the abuses ofsome of its followers. moreover, it does not take away from teh fact that the NVA did many good things, were less brutal than right-wing dictatorships, and had teh broad support of teh Vietnamese people. If anything, it simply means that the tendencies towards revenge and cruelty exist in all human beings, and merely being a communist does not eradicate these temptations, and that sadly too many of teh NLF gave into these temptations. It does not mean that the DRV was evil as a whole, nor that we were right in opposing them by force.

Follow Ups:

• Don't know Samuel Day Fassbinder Citizens for Mustard Greens USA August 25 1999 (1)
  • Vietnamese Communism Nikhil Jaikumar DSA MA, USA August 25 1999 (0)