Quỳnh Lưu uprising

The Quỳnh Lưu uprising (Vietnamese: Khởi-nghĩa Quỳnh-lưu 1956) was an rebellion against the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) in the rural Quỳnh Lưu District in Nghệ An Province, from November 2–14, 1956.

Quỳnh Lưu uprising
Part of the Cold War
Date November 2–14 1956 Location Quỳnh Lưu, Nghệ An, North Vietnam Result Uprising defeated
Belligerents
North Vietnam	Catholic Christians in Quỳnh Lưu, Nghệ An
Commanders and leaders
Hồ Chí Minh	Phan Quang Đông

Background and origins

Land reform

The DRV instituted their land reform program from 1953 to 1956, with the government's stated aims being to placate the peasant's hunger for land and break the power of the traditional village elite and gentry. However, the land reform was accompanied by large-scale repression and 'excesses'^[1][2][3] which led to popular resentment. In the Quỳnh Lưu area, locals had been discriminated against by local officials because of their opposition to the land reform and other reforms carried out by the government.^[4]

Communist prevention of emigration

According to the 1954 Geneva Accords, of which the DRV was signatory to, Vietnam was partitioned into two halves, with a Viet Minh-controlled Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and an anti-communist State of Vietnam (which would become South Vietnam) with Bao Dai as head of state. There would be a 300-day interim period prescribed by the accords, ending May 18, 1955, where people could relocate freely to 1 of the 2 Vietnams of their choosing before the border at the 17th parallel was sealed.^[5] However, in late 1954 and early 1955, along with counter-propaganda, the Viet Minh sought to prevent would-be refugees from leaving. As the American and French military personnel were only present in the major cities and at air bases and on the waterfront, the North tried to stop people from trying to leave through a military presence in the inland ruralside to interdict the flow of would-be refugees.^[6][7]

References

1. Tongas, Gérard. J'ai vécu dans l'enfer communiste au Nord Viet-Nam. Paris, Nouvelles Éditions Debresse, (1960).
2. Boudarel, Georges. Cent fleurs écloses dans la nuit du Vietnam: communisme et dissidence, 1954-1956. Paris: J. Bertoin, (1991).
3. Gittinger, J. Price, "Communist Land Policy in Viet Nam", Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 29, No. 8, 1957, p. 118.
4. Frankum Jr., Ronald B. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the War in Vietnam. Scarecrow Press. p. 381. ISBN 978-0810879560.
5. Tucker, Spencer C. (2011). The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1243–1244. ISBN 978-1851099610.
6. Frankum, Ronald (2007). Operation Passage to Freedom: The United States Navy in Vietnam, 1954–55. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 978-0-89672-608-6.
7. Frankum, p. 159.