Ho Chi Minh

In Vietnam today, Ho Chi Minh is viewed as the very soul of the Vietnamese revolution and the country’s long struggle for independence. His personal qualities of simplicity, integrity, and determination brought him respect and admiration not only in Vietnam but all over the world. Yet there is wide disagreement about his character and his accomplishments. To some, he is a patriotic figure who used Communist doctrine and strategy as a means of freeing his people, but whose basic instincts were humanitarian and democratic. To others, he was a scheming revolutionary who pretended to be well meaning and concerned about the welfare of people in order to manipulate enemies and rivals and set the stage for the creation of a totalitarian regime. Today the struggle over his legacy continues in Vietnam, where reformists seek to invoke his memory to build a more pluralistic society, while conservatives support their own agenda by citing Ho’s determination to build a utopian society based on the principles of Marx and Lenin. Whatever the controversy over his real beliefs and intentions, there is no doubt that Ho Chi Minh was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.