For those who came to political consciousness in the 1960s, the national liberation struggle of Vietnam was the single greatest source of inspiration and education. It epitomised, in one great sweep, all the revolutionary currents of the post-war period. Vietnam symbolised the anti-imperialist struggle; it represented the transition from national liberation to socialism led by a party imbued with Marxism-Leninism.

The Vietnamese struggle was the focal point of all the major social contradictions which radiated waves of revolutionary movements all over the world. For those born after the Second World War, Vietnam had the same revolutionary impact as the October Revolution for the generation coming to adulthood at the turn of the century.

As we observe the 25th anniversary of this event, it would be instructive to recall the dimensions of this epochal struggle. The mightiest military machine of the most powerful imperialist country was pitted against a small Asian country which was already ravaged by the French and Japanese colonial powers. The Vietnamese people had to fight and defeat three successive imperialist powers in this century. Vietnam was part of the Indo-China colony of the French empire. Its long march to liberation reached a new stage with the founding of the Indo-China Communist Party in 1937. Then began the armed struggle against the French imperialists. The course of the second world war saw the retreat of the French and the occupation of Vietnam by the Japanese fascist forces. The Vietnamese Party headed by Ho Chi Minh skillfully continued the struggle for liberation which culminated in August 1945 when the new democratic republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in Hanoi by the forces led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh became the first President of the new State.

The end of the war saw the return of the French who replaced the Kuomingtang troops from China who briefly took control of the northern part of Vietnam. The war against the French continued after a brief truce. In 1954, the memorable battle of Dien Bien Phu, commanded by Gen. Nguyen Van Giap, saw the demolition of the French armed forces. It was Dien Bien Phu which brought to the attention of the world, the extraordinary feats made possible through popular mobilisation, by people's war. The French withdrew and the Geneva Conference of 1954 followed. The partition of Vietnam was imposed under the leadership of the United States and the western powers.

The Americans moved in to replace the French. The national front for the liberation of South Vietnam is formed to carry on the struggle for liberating the southern part of the country. The Americans imposed a client regime in South Vietnam. The successes of the NFL led to the fateful decision by President Kennedy to send military contingents into Vietnam -- a decision which eventually ended up with a half a million US troops occupying South Vietnam.

The history of the brutal war conducted by America in Vietnam compares with some of the worst atrocities of the Nazi and Japanese armies in the second world war. Three million Vietnamese civilians and armed personnel were killed in this `total' war. From 1965, the Americans began bombing North Vietnam accusing it of sending its troops into South Vietnam. During the entire period of the bombing of Vietnam, till 1972, the total tonnage of bombs and explosives rained down on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos was four times the bombs dropped in the second world war by all the combatant forces. The US military industrial complex experimented with the most devilish weapons on the people and land of Vietnam. Napalm, chemical and bacteriological weapons were used indiscriminately to kill civilians and destroy everything which grew on the land. It was ecological genocide. The toxic chemicals used for defoliation like the Agent Orange led to the deformation of thousands of babies born subsequently. Even today, the countless victims of the chemical and biological warfare require medical treatment.

The Vietnam struggle against the American aggression happened at a time when the Sino-Soviet split had already taken place. The former allies, Soviet Union and China, had become enemies. The Vietnamese Party headed by Ho Chi Minh took a principled position on the conflict and appealed to both socialist countries to present a united front against US imperialism whatever the other differences. The damage caused by the division in the international Communist movement did not deter the Vietnamese Party and the people from steadfastly carrying on with the life and death struggle. Despite the split, both the Soviet Union and China rendered invaluable support by supplying military equipment and other materials.

The US lost 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam. The Vietnamese shot down 3,726 war planes and 4,869 helicopters. The price of continuing the war kept mounting and the domestic opposition within the United States grew steadily and reached mass proportions by 1969-70. The Americans were forced into peace negotiations which resulted in the Paris Agreement of 1973. The Americans withdrew its troops and sought to continue the war with the help of the puppet troops. In 1973, Cambodia was liberated. The defeat in Vietnam became inevitable.

The Vietnamese people's unparalleled heroism testified, once again, to the truth that human emancipation cannot be thwarted by any force however powerful and reactionary. This needs reminding, as by the end of the century, the message of the Vietnamese struggle has been muffled in the triumphalism of the imperialist order. The imperialist circles would like the world to forget the ferocious cruelty and savagery of the war that it waged in Vietnam. Today when the US and its allies are conducting War Crimes Tribunals on events in Yugoslavia and elsewhere, it is necessary to remember that not a single war crime in Vietnam by the Americans has been punished. In My Lai and surrounding hamlets, a group of American marines led by Lt. Calley massacred 504 women and children. Lt. Calley was put on trial but he did not go to jail, he spent only three years under so-called house arrest and was then get free.