Propaganda and the people: an examination of persuasion in the struggle for independence in Việt Nam to 1954

Abstract

Over the years 1946 to 1954, the Vietnamese people largely succeeded in repelling a European invader, the French colons, who fought to re-establish a French colony in that land. The Vietnamese fight was led by an indigenous organisation called the Viet Minh, an alliance of a number of groups, chief among them being the Indochinese Communist Party, which succeeded in carrying the bulk of the Vietnamese people along with them. One reason why they were able to do this was the success of the materials of persuasion, the propaganda, that they used. It was aimed squarely at the ordinary people, and successfully convinced millions of them to risk their lives and livelihood to help the fight for Independence. The persuasion techniques elicited a strong response because they were cleverly targeted and designed to appeal to traditions that the people felt connect to them and their daily aspirations. The personality and character of one man, President Ho Chi Minh, was crucial to the appeal for support from the ordinary Vietnamese citizen but, perhaps surprisingly, he is not at all a major figure in the propaganda materials.