Ho Chi Minh and the OSS

I would also note that the first act of Ho's government in 1954 was to decree the execution of 2% of the population (about 200,000 people) as class enemies. This was a literal quota. Millions of people had fled to the south in 1954, including priests and other Catholics, landowners, former employees of the colonial government, and so on. So there weren't a lot of "class enemies" left in the north. Local party cadres reported that they had liquidated those remaining, but didn't meet the quota. They were ordered to find more victims. This led to victims being chosen at random, and to people denouncing neighbors to settle grudges or divert the fickle finger of death. The campaign was called off after 120,000 people were killed.
This is awful, terrible, inexcusable. I would like a reference, with respect, because this should be part of the discussion. And I ask this realizing I don't always remember quite what book or news item I first heard about something.

This whole horseshit business of liquidating people (the supposed 'bad' people) should have been left in the dust bin of history. In the middle ages, I guess it was believed that it was okay to kill people of the wrong religion. Not by everyone, but believed by enough people including the many of the so-called authorities. And when Suharto took power in a coup in Indonesia in the mid-1960s, both Britain and the U.S. gave the new government lists of communist party members to murder. So, there is plenty of blame to go around.

And some contributing factors could have been crappy, lousy middle managers wanting to prove how 'tough' they were. Although, even if true, the bulk of the responsibility still lies directly with Ho Chi Minh.
 
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