Is Vietnam Communist in 2024? The simple answer to this is that despite being ran by a communist party and being a socialist republic – on paper, Vietnam is not communist in 2024.
More importantly though why am I veering towards politics on what is “The Street Food Guy”. Well firstly this will be different to other “are they communist” articles I have dome for other sites, and be more akin to the social practicalities of traveling to, or doing business in Vietnam.
To read if Nepal is Communist click here.
To read if North Korea is communist click here.
Communism in Vietnam
After World War Two the communist supported by the Soviet Union were by far the most popular of all the liberators available. Through Ho Chi Minh they would have taken over the whole country, but the USA had other ideas which meant the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (north Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (south Vietnam). Sound “Korea” familiar? You’re damned right!
Of course what would follow would be a pointless war by the US until Vietnam was unified under Northern rule, thus proving the Germany model not to be the only one available.
Over the years North Vietnam was run less on communist, but more war communism lines, while the south was capitalist. Following the end of South Vietnam.
Vietnam duly gave communism a crack throughout the land for 10 years, although it never really stuck.
What the Doi Moi
In the mid 80’s following on from China opening the door and then the USSR doing Glasnost and perestroika Laos, Vietnam and at the time Cambodia and even North Korea started to have capitalist experiments.
In the USSR this failed as the Soviet Union fell, but was more successful in the other countries as they were less “open” with politics and the media but allowed business to flourish. Another difference between Europe and Asia was that in the USSR it was largely top down, but in Asia was bottom up,
Economic growth could duly go on, while one party states could be kept ins place, such as the Cambodian Peoples Party.
In North Korea this was a little bit different, with Rason being the only place were there was much experimentation, while socialism, or Juche at least was still kept in place.
Is Vietnam communist then?
To answer the question of it Vietnam is communist we need to deal with some contradictory things. Is it ran by a communist party? Yes, is it called a communist country? Yes, does it call itself communist? Yes. Ideologically this means talking about stuff like market socialism, or mixed economics, but the reality is that it is wild west capitalism under a one party state. In fact you still need to pay for medical care and even school, with the United Kingdom being left-wing.
There are though still people that will claim until they are blue in the face that China, Vietnam and the like are still communist. They argument is that Lenin had his New Economic Policy and that this is the same. Alas though with the NEP it was not set up so billionaire oligarchs could buy football teams.
Some have even argued that a capitalist state with string control from the state even has more akin to Fascism (of the Italian mold) than actually
Are there still communist parts to Vietnam?
When it comes to is Vietnam communist, there are a number of ways it which it still very much is, although this tends not to be with regards to the social safety net and rather with bureaucracy and politics.
As previously mentioned politically they still have a communist parties, politburos and the like, but it is with everyday admin that the red part comes out. Try to do anything business, or relate dot admin and you will find it a complete bureaucratic nightmare, and the kind of nightmare only communism can bring.
Does it matter if Vietnam is still communist?
In reality, no it does not and I say this as someone who lived in China for 15 years, but this is also dependent on which way the country now goes. In China as the economy has grown there has been a distinct drift towards authoritarianism, which I hope Vietnam does not follow.
And while Vietnam is a single party state, so is Singapore and my experience of these parts is that what the west views as being democratic is largely seen as an abstract concept out here.
So, for now at least, follow the communist party whilst enjoying the Communist Partay!