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86. The French, while promoting economic development in certain spheres, did not industrialize Viet Nam and left rural life largely unchanged. With the increasing development on Vietnamese soil of French education and culture, an urban élite developed having an increasingly westernized education and outlook and little in common with the rural masses. The political develop- ments of the 1930s and 1940s, particularly the formation of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party largely composed of intellectuals with sympathies for the rural poor must be seen against the background of social conflict.
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87. After World War II, the struggle for independence, ending in victory for the Viet-Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the subsequent separate development of North and South, recent to require description. Over a period of 300 days allowed for regroupment, an estimated 800 000 people moved to the South of the 17th Parallel, while several tens of thousands moved to the North. The former were soldiers, including Nung hill-tribesmen, policemen, civil servants, tradespeople and a million Catholics who had been living grouped in villages under ecclesiastical administration. The later were people ideologically in tune with the Communist Government of North Viet
half
Nam.
88. The years of repression and insecurity under successive régimes in the South and the long-drawn-out conflict with heavy US involvement which left large areas of the country devastated and dislocated are even more firmly etched in the public mind. The bombing in both North and South destroyed every industrial centre and laid waste vast areas of the coutryside, including the forests. As the war progressed and bombings intensified, people were subjected to forced movement again and again, and often lost contact with other members of their family. They became con- ditioned to moving from place to place as offensive and counter- offensive prolonged the rootlessness of vast numbers who spent their lives in
in a succession of refugee camps created
camps created for them, not knowing whether or
whether or not their homes were still standing. For many, from having to acquiesce in constant involuntary relocation to taking a decision to leave the country altogether would be a relatively short step.
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89. For decades, life in the south of the country had been dominated by western influences - particularly American over the previous 15 years. Massive injections of funds and goods of all kinds made for a consumer society hitherto unknown in that part of the world. Profiteering and corruption had become rife and, as in most affluent societies, there was a wide discrepancy in wealth and standards of living between rich and poor. Huge fortunes were made while millions suffered from malnutrition. Amongst the young, permissiveness was beginning to take over from traditional values. In the context of the
war the urban areas drew people from the increasingly devas- tated countryside, and with the massive drift to the towns came large-scale unemployment, delinquency and other social problems.