Abstract
A Vietnamese ‘cultural commissar’ reports on the success achieved in destroying undesirable publications, films, and other ‘decadent cultural products’
One of the major tasks facing the Communist authorities after their victory in April 1975 over South Vietnam was how to deal with culture and the arts, which they classified as ‘neo-colonialist, decadent, pornographic and counter-revolutionary’. A programme of ‘purification of culture’ (thanh loc) was soon adopted. This included the classification of books and other publications in public and university libraries (see Index 4/1978). A significant number of publications and authors (Vietnamese and foreign alike) were confiscated and banned. Private cinemas and theatres were closed down. This was also true of private newspapers and publishing houses. And many writers were put in prison or re-education camps (see Index 6/1978).
The programme of ‘purification of culture’ was later extended to private bookshops, teahouses, discos and private households. The following is the progress report of the programme by Tran Tho, a cultural commissar, published in Tap Chi Con San (communist magazine), the ideological organ of the Vietnamese Communist Party, in October 1981.