Note: I wrote this for the Jan. 1982 issue of a newsletter I published at the time, _The Indochina Newsletter_. Of course, much has changed since then, but this might still be of some historical interest. In retrospect, the effort of northern Communist leaders to purify the South of "neo-colonialist culture" turned out to be a losing battle. - Steve Denney sdenney@uclink.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ THE INDOCHINA NEWSLETTER, January, 1982 THE OFFICIAL POLICY OF REPRESSION IN THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM by Stephen Denney PART II: CULTURE AND REVOLUTION "Once he has been impregnated with a culture, it is not at all easy for a person to abandon it overnight. Although he might not be able to listen to an old song any longer, a person can remember it, sing it and dance to it for a very long time into the future. An old song can only be pronounced dead when it can no longer be remembered, danced to or sung." (_Tin Sang_, Dec. 16, 1978, JPRS 72892). The Cultural Revolution in Vietnam is part of the three revolutions so often discussed by Vietnamese Communist leaders: the revolution in technology and industry, the revolution in production (class) relations and the cultural revolution. The Marxist leaders want to advance Vietnam from an agricultural society based upon small-scale production to a collective society based on large-scale industrial and agricultural production under the rule of the proletariat. In order to achieve this goal, it is important to build the "new socialist man." As Ho Chi Minh said, to build a socialist society, you must have socialist people. There are various aspects of the Cultural Revolution that relate directly to the issue of political repression. These would include the campaign to destroy the "neo-colonialist" culture of the South, the re-education camps and the religious policy of the SRV. In this issue, we will consider the campaign to destroy the "neo-colonialist" culture of the South. It almost seems as if the Marxist leaders of Vietnam view the cultural impact of the United States during the war as more serious than the physical impact (the bombing, use of herbicides, etc.). As one NLF writer said, during the war "Billions of dollars were spent on recruiting hack writers, publishing, distributing, importing and propagating literary rubbish, and encouraging drug addiction" (_South Viet Nam in Struggle_, published by the NLF, 6/30/75). "Neo-colonialist" culture was described by SRV Minister of Culture Nguyen Van Hieu as "essentially a kind of antithesis of culture, a tool of aggression in the hands of U.S. imperialism which does no less harm and is even more dangerous than the U.S. schemes in the military, political and economic fields" (_Vietnam News Agency_, Hanoi, 1/14/78, Foreign Broadcast Information Service [FBIS] 1/16/78). The eradication of "U.S. Neo-Colonialist Culture" therefore became a basic priority to the Communists after they took over South Vietnam. The resolution of the 4th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1976 described the ideological and cultural task of the new regime: "..teaching socialist ideology, combatting bourgeois ideology and the remnants of feudal ideology, criticizing petty bourgeois ideology and sweeping away the influences of the neo-colonialist ideology and culture in the South." We see here that while other forms of non-communist culture are looked upon negatively, the "neo-colonialist" culture is singled out for elimination. This point was brought out by Ha Xuan Truong, SRV Vice Minister of Culture and Information, who said: "While combatting the bourgeois and feudal culture, we must attach importance to inheriting the fine aspects of these cultures, that is, the aspects of them that are closely linked to the people, to the development of the nation; however, the only thing we can do with the neo- colonialist culture is sweep it away because it is entirely reactionary." (_Tap Chi Cong San_, Hanoi, March 1978). In reality, however, the distinction between "neo-colonialist" culture and other forms of non-communist culture in Vietnam has never been made very clear by the communist authorities. Since taking control over the South in 1975, the official definition of "neo-colonialist" culture has evolved into a rationale for repression against any ideological or cultural tendency which the government does not like. On the first day of South Vietnam's "liberation", May 1, 1975, the Military Management Committee issued a communique ordering the temporary suspension of "all kinds of books, newspapers, magazines and other printed material owned during the period" (Saigon Domestic Service, 5/1/75, FBIS 5/2/75). The MMC organized youth into teams to confiscate all "reactionary" literature and newspapers. A phenomenal amount of material was collected during this period. For example, _South Vietnam in Struggle_, 6/30/75, boasted: "In Saigon, in one district only, within less than a week, the people have turned in 482,460 copies of depraved literature and 3,000 kilos of reactionary newspapers formerly published by the enemy." It also mentioned one bookstore in Nha Trang (a city in central Vietnam) which surrendered 35,530 "reactionary books". Hanoi Liberation Radio said in a broadcast on June 30, 1975 that the people in the district town of Bac Lieu province "turned over to the revolutionary administration more than 3,000 novels and song books and hundreds of records and tapes which were reactionary in content and poisonous to the youth." (FBIS 7/9/75) The Military Management Committee set up a special board in 1975 to scrutinize and rate books circulated under the "puppet regime". Saigon Domestic Service reported on October 26, 1975 that the board had completed its first phase of scrutiny "after many months of study," rating "56 authors and 489 books as serving the enemy's anticommunist psychological warfare." (JPRS 66182, 11/20/75). Le Phuong, a minister of Information and Culture for the PRG after April 30, 1975, and supervisor of the staff that classified the books and other material, explained the classification system in articles that appeared in _Giai Phong_, a Saigon newspaper, on January 21 and 22 of 1976 (translated by JPRS 66918, 3/8/76). Publications and other cultural items produced in South Vietnam before "liberation" were divided into five categories. The first two types, overtly anti-communist and pro-American (category A), and the "type which is provocative and poisonous, encourages a decadent licentious way of life, praises crime, racial discrimination" (category B), were clearly prohibited. According to Phuong, "Practically all of the books on the first list of banned books recently made public by the Ministry of Information and Culture belong to types A and B." Category C was described as the "type which is deceptive, provokes negative, unrealistic, and general anti-war thinking, confuses right and wrong, and has the effect of benefiting the imperialists." Category C would include "yellow songs, romantic poems, negative romantic novels, ghost stories and even books written from the feudalist, petty bourgeois point of view which have spread skepticism and thinking which is divorced from the realities of work, combat, etc." Phuong recommended that type C books should be included on the next list of prohibited publications, but that "type C books should be limited to very bad books which are close to A and B and that all other items which, although backward, do not have a direct bearing on reality should be studied and decided upon at a later date." As we shall see, Category C publications and songs became targets of the regime in more recent years. Category D was composed of "wholesome" publications not lewd or anti-communists, but also not encouraging struggle or opposition to the U.S. during the war. Category E "has realistic, critical contents which are limited because of abstract idealism but are of value in condemning the feudal colonialists and the crimes of the old regime." Le Phuong said that Category D and E contain some negative aspects, but should be allowed to temporarily continue in circulation. Scientific, technical and foreign language books, and books dealing "exclusively with religion, such as prayer books, doctrinal books", should also be allowed to temporarily circulate, said Phuong. Phuong said Category F is the best because it has "national democratic contents which encourage struggle, and was created by writers and artists in the mass struggle movement." Ho Truong An, a Vietnamese writer who worked on the staff headed by Lu Phuong, described the classification system in an article that appeared in the London publication, _Index on Censorship_ (July-August 1978). Category A, works judged to be anti-communist, included works by foreign authors such as Andre Gide, Boris Pasternak, V. Georghiu, Arthur Kostler, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pearl Buck and Vietnamese writers such as Nguyen Manh Con, Doan Quoc Sy, Nghiem Xuan Hong, Vu Khac Khoan, Nha Ca, Van Quang, Duyen Anh, Nhat Tuan, Le Khanh and Ngo Kim Thu, among others. Category B, decadent works, included works by foreign authors such as Henry Miller, Elia Kazan, Francoise Sagan, Christiane Rochefort, D.H. Lawrence, Erskin Caldwell, Hermann Hesse "and the writers belonging to the Existentialist school in France such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus." Among the Vietnamese writers singled out in this category, said An, were the "highly-respected _Sang Tao_ (Creation) group of writers." _Sang Tao_, a literary review, was launched in 1956 by Mai Thao, with other Vietnamese writers such as Nguyen Sy Te, Doan Quoc Sy, Vu Khac Khoan, Tran Thanh Hiep, Thanh Tam Tuyen, and Le Huy Oanh. It emphasized new currents of thought from the West, such as existentialism and the new humanism. The writers were attacked by the new regime, which charged that the writers had poisoned the minds of the people, addicting them to foreign schools of thought and making them forget their revolutionary spirit, even if these writers did not openly oppose the revolution. Category C, Romantic works, included the works of foreign authors such as Eric Segal, Somerset Maugham, Han Suyen and Robert Nathan, as well as the works of 19th century authors such as Alexandre Dumas, Lamartine, Chateubriand, George Sand and Theophile Gautier. Vietnamese writers in this category included people who celebrated the beauties of nature and romantic feelings, like Dong Ho, Bang Ba Lan, Bui Khanh Dan, Mong Tuyet, Dao Van Khanh, Quy Huong, Uyen Huong, Tue Nga and Nhu Hien. Category D included works on philosophy and religion. Materials in Categories A and B were singled out by the regime during the early phases of the Cultural Revolution in the South. More recently, materials in Category C, especially "yellow music", have been targeted by the regime. The music was criticized by authorities because it was said to be non-political, expressing an ambivalence, a sense of "art for art's sake." The music is generally described as sad, singing songs of lost love, and therefore encouraging listeners to look at life through melancholy eyes, rather than the positive view of the Party. Such music serves to "create an antagonism between the individual and the collective that gradually leads to attitudes of pessimism and dissatisfaction and eventually to opposition against the collective." (Hanoi _Thanh Nien_, July-August 1980, JPRS 77076). The above sentiments were expressed by Pham Tuyen, who also said that the music "creates within the listener a feeling of beauty, a carefree feeling not bound by any political ties; in substance it hypnotizes listeners and draws them from the orb of the national and class struggles." (ibid). It is evident here that "yellow music" is a very broad term, applicable to any form of music that does not praise the ruling ideology. It includes, said Tuyen, "everything from the brazenness of Europe and America to the sensitivity, discretion and the classical elements of bygone feudal society; from the vulgar way foreign troops expressed their feelings to the prayerful laments of a very deeply religious flavor complete with God, reincarnation and so forth by the faithful." "Provoking sexual desires is a characteristic of all of these old types of songs," said Tuyen. Yes, even religious music: "Some (songs) deal with male and female physiology, rather explicitly and describe pleasurable feelings and appealing features of women. Others are more discreet and sometimes even mention the Lord, God, reincarnation and so forth, but their lyrics and the manner in which they are presented bring sexual desires to mind." To whose mind? The campaign to eliminate "neo-colonialist" culture has met only limited success, since so many Vietnamese, including those in the North, and even including cadres, have found the outlawed culture more appealing than the government-sponsored culture. The banned items often wound up in the hands of cadres and soldiers who would take the material with them when they went back North. As early as Dec. 15, 1975, an article in _Quan Doi Nhan Dan_ (People's Army), the official army newspaper published in Hanoi, complained of a group of sailors who took some illegal books and records on their way back North. With the spread of outlawed culture, the government escalated its campaign to destroy it. On April 1, 1976, for example, the Cultural Information Service in Ho Chi Minh city issued an order requiring publishing houses, bookstores and sidewalk bookstands to temporarily halt the display and sale of all types of books, newspapers and cultural works published before April 30, 1975. From that point on, permits were to be required for bookshops to operate (_Saigon Giai Phong_, published in Ho Chi Minh City, 4/4/76; also Agence France Presse report in _New York Times_, 4/4/76). After one year of a pro-forma government in the South (actually ruled by the North), Vietnam was officially reunified with elections (pro-forma) held on April 25, 1976, and became the "Socialist Republic of Vietnam". In the summer of that year, the National Assembly of the newly-created government held its first session. Nguyen Cong Hoan, who was selected in the 1976 "elections" to represent a province in Central Vietnam, was a member of the Culture Committee of the National Assembly from June 1976 until his escape in March of 1977. After his escape, he told a reporter for the _New York Times_ (5/18/77) of his experiences as a member of the National Assembly. He said the Culture Committee was concerned about the spread of the "neo-colonialist" culture to the North and concluded that the culture of the South was entirely Western and would therefore have to be eliminated. To this end, all households in the South were instructed to present complete lists of their home libraries to their local party committee. To circumvent this, Hoan said, young people passed books they wanted to keep to friends with communist parents for safekeeping in houses not likely to be searched. The appeal of the outlawed culture not only to young people but also to northern army units continued to cause problems for the government. An article in _Quan Doi Nhan Dan_ on August 14, 1977 complained of "serious infections" in several northern army units stationed in the South. In fact, "even in a number of units stationed in the north there have been scattered instances of reading bad books, listening to provocative music, or imitating the backward way of life of some people in society at large." Another article in the same issue of the army newspaper reported that one army unit "carried out an equipment inspection in two companies and confiscated 119 reactionary, decadent books. One soldier had 84 yellow music records." (JPRS 69901, 10/3/77). The army, along with security forces and young people organized into youth assault units, were responsible for confiscating the outlawed cultural items. On March 7, 1978, the Saigon newspaper _Tin Sang_ reported a resolution of the (Saigon) Municipal Party Standing Committee to "initiate a number of campaigns between now and the end of 1978 strongly attacking and wiping out the traces of neocolonialist culture." The resolution called for a movement of meetings among young people in schools and universities "to criticize and deeply analyze the dangerous poison of this decadent and reactionary culture." According to _Tin Sang_, the MPSC called for the formation of "cultural army units" from the installations, "using active youths in the village neighborhoods, enterprises, agencies, units.. to form these revolutionary cultural army units. There should be one or two platoons in every neighborhood, with tight ranks and appropriate operating formulas for their areas of responsibility, to look after, watch closely, and provide immediate and on-the-spot reminders to the people of the new cultural lifestyle." Young people have also been the primary target of this campaign. Perhaps the Marxist leaders have little hope that they can purify the minds and souls of older people who grew up in a non-communist culture. But they have been very concerned about the effects of the continued existence of the outlawed culture on those growing up in the socialist society. This attitude was brought out by "Nguoi Thanh Pho" (The City Dweller), in a "Tales of the City" column published in _Tin Sang_ on Dec. 16, 1978 (JPRS 72892): "Once he has been impregnated with a culture, it is not at all easy for a person to abandon it overnight. Although he might not be able to listen to an old song any longer, a person can remember it, sing it and dance to it for a very long time into the future. An old song can only be pronounced dead when it can no longer be remembered, danced to or sung. And the most important factor in achieving this objective is the person who hears this music. If we do not like a song because we consider it to be decadent and if no one listens to it, it will be difficult for this song to `live' very long, even if it is sung in public. However, we are referring here to adults, persons who know how to think. Such is not the case with teenagers and youths. Decadent songs, if sung day after day, will have an effect upon these age groups. Therefore, confiscating and not permitting the dissemination of tapes of decadent music are still necessary in order to protect the pure souls of our youths, teenagers and children and enable them to readily accept the progressive culture and music of our nation and other countries." The obstacles to this goal have proved very difficult for the regime to overcome. An article in _Tin Sang_ on Sept. 28, 1978 (JPRS, 12/13/78), "Books That Lead Astray" by Thanh An, complained of a young student who sat among his friends in a playground reading a book: "What frightening thing is he reading to forget everything else? It is a thick, crumpled and tattered book which has clearly passed through many hands, a novel in which even the title -- I don't wish to mention it here -- points out the blatantly poisonous and decadent content and the evil intent of the author." Thanh An asked: "Why is it that while most of our young people are striving to become the (Poven) of the era and using their sweat and blood to beautify the homeland, there is still a small number (although extremely small) still unconcerned about the advancement of society and seeking pleasure in the adventures, romantic and brawling books thrown into the wastebasket of history." Vietnamese continued to find ways to get around government restrictions and enjoy the forbidden culture. For example, a notice by the 1st Precinct of Ho Chi Minh City published in _Tin Sang_ on Jan. 31, 1978 (JPRS 71050), prohibiting the use or sale of "decadent and reactionary goods", said: "Those places with authorized arrangements to sell tape recorders and music tapes may use only revolutionary music to test their machines and must not be noisy to the point of disrupting public order (this also applies to cafes and restaurants)." The notice also said that "violators will be strictly prosecuted on charges of `deliberately disseminating decadent and reactionary cultural goods, intoxicating the people and disrupting social order and peace.'" Another article in _Tin Sang_ (12/16/78, JPRS 72892) provided an example of how some Vietnamese were taking advantage of repressive measures to attain illegal musical cassettes. It said that some groups masquerading as teams sent by the ward Bureau of Culture and Information Service were raiding bars and coffeehouses, picking up tapes of the illegal "decadent" music as well as tapes of "progressive" music, "thereby causing the confiscation to be meaningless." Yet another article in _Tin Sang_, on April 26, 1978 by its editor Ngo Cong Duc (writing under the pen name Tu Bien Troi), complained that some Vietnamese were throwing old books, sheet music and phonograph records into the garbage cans rather than turning the material over to authorities: "Several small children in the neighborhood pull the sheet music out of the garbage and hang them up all over the neighborhood; it looks terrible!" The article noted that "some people continue to look for ways to hide and keep old decadent phonograph records or old novels in order to `consume' them slowly... A Catholic girl in one precinct hid a number of reactionary and decadent publications and secretly lent them to friends but tried to fool everyone by saying it was for `research'." The article said that people should not burn or throw away "reactionary and decadent" publications, but instead turn them over to local authorities, who would decide which publications would have an value for "research purposes" and which should be made into "raw materials for paper production." The outlawed cultural items continued to proliferate throughout the country for the next few years -- both in the North and in the South. Meanwhile, the depressed economy continued to fall precipitously, leading millions of Vietnamese to the brink of malnutrition or even starvation. In order to combat this trend and improve the economy, the regime decided in the fall of 1979 to slow down collectivization and allow a revival of small private businesses. In addition to this, refugees were sending in to their relatives in Vietnam large amounts of gifts and other items, some of which would then be sold on the open market or the flourishing black market. The result was an increased circulation of the outlawed cultural items, which led some visitors to mistakenly conclude that there was a liberalization in the cultural policies of the regime. But other visitors noted increased dissatisfaction among Vietnamese with the regime, in the North as well as the South; and the spread of the non-communist "neo-colonialist" culture was evidence of a widening gap between the Vietnamese people and the government that ruled over them. This was and is a great concern to the Vietnamese rulers, who place much of the blame for internal dissent on Communist China. In order to overcome this problem, an editorial in _Tap Chi Cong San_, the theoretical journal of the Vietnamese Communist Party, called for renewed adherence to "the following tasks set forth by the fourth party congress: Closely coordinate ideological work with organizational work, translate thoughts into action through organizational measures, insure that Marxist-Leninist thoughts permeate our people's life and become a lifestyle of our society." It called for increased efforts to "strengthen our ideological organs, mobilize and deploy forces in charge of ideological work, improve the way to guide ideological work, build a system of ideological management and so forth." (FBIS, 11/5/81). There was, in fact, a large contradiction between the sharply escalated militarization of the country following the 1979 Chinese invasion and the proliferation of the "neo-colonialist" culture most evident in the cities of Vietnam, even in Hanoi. In the spring of 1981, the Communist leaders moved to end this contradiction by conducting the harshest crackdown on "neo-colonialist culture" since 1975. As in the past, the primary concern of the rulers seemed to be with items that appealed to young people, such as "decadent" music or children's books. Speaking at a May Day meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, Vo Van Kiet, a high-ranking Communist official, complained of youth songs, which "through spontaneous development, have been made by a number of elements to resemble the youth music of the puppet regime and cater to the extremely egotistic tastes of remnants of the old society who are trying to rear their heads. They entice listeners to shirk obligations, detach themselves from reality, turn their backs on our people's life of labor and combat, regret the past and idolize imperialism." Later in the year, in the Sept. 1981 issue of _Tap Chi Cong San_ ("The Struggle on the Cultural and Ideological Front in Ho Chi Minh City"), Truong Quoc Minh commented that the youth song troupes were "born of the lively mass movement of healthy literature and arts," but have gradually deviated and "become prey to the cultural dealers by copying the crazy types of former U.S. puppet `pop songs'." Rather than conforming to the militarized spirit of the regime, these song troupes were singing songs which "have stirred up soft and romantic feelings in youth, creating a psychology of uncertainty and unreality which does not conform to the facts of life." SRV Minister of Culture Nguyen Van Hieu was disturbed that "families are still storing and using bad cultural products that have previously spiritually poisoned their children. Such a phenomenon is also prevalent in many schools" (Hanoi Domestic Service, 5/31/81; FBIS 6/3/81). Among the "bad cultural products" were forbidden books, which according to an official account, "consist chiefly of illustrated stories and song books that give neither the names of publishing houses nor those of their authors, but bear mysterious and scandalous titles quite appealing to the curious minds of children such as `World's Best Swordsman', "`Return from the World Beyond', `The Enchanting Flute', `Two Magical Drops of Blood', and so forth." (Hanoi Domestic Service broadcast, 5/27/81, FBIS 6/3/81). "Some children secretly read these books during class hours;" the report continued, "and at home, many of them are too engrossed in their reading to do their homework or help with family chores." The official report said that "concerned parents" "hotly demand that this epidemic be stamped out at the roots and that the dishonest cultural dealers who are trying to poison the innocent minds of children be punished." According to Truong Quoc Minh, "from four to five million surreptitiously printed books of nonsense have infiltrated families and schools, aiming at teenagers and children, let alone hundreds of types of political, cultural, religious and fortune-telling books rife with reactionary characters, depravation, superstition and mysteries which have been openly mailed from the imperialist and capitalist countries." (_Tap Chi Cong San_, 9/81, FBIS 11/4/81). The official press often repeated the charge that Vietnamese refugees were abusing the "exceptionally tolerant" policy of the regime allowing gifts or donations to be sent to their relatives or other loved ones still in the country. Besides the items we have already discussed, other illegal material sent into the country, according to the official press, included "tens of thousands of `affidavits of sponsorship' and `notice of approval'" (apparently so their relatives could legally emigrate) (FBIS, 12/11/81), illegal political and religious publications, including magazines published by refugees, "reactionary and decadent" musical cassettes produced by Vietnamese refugees, and even printed t-shirts with slogans of a "clear political nature", such as "Let Me Live" or "I Will Go". (HCM City _Van Nghe Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh_, 7/19/81; JPRS 78951, 9/10/81). The proliferation of the outlawed items was aided by some cadres and party members who "have become seriously depraved, degenerate and deviant. They have run over illicit money by cooperating with the bad people to revive and deal in all forms of base and decadent culture." (_Tap Chi Cong San_, 9/81; FBIS 11/4/81). Some cadres were even involved in showing outlawed motion pictures: "In a number of organs, enterprises and schools, cultural management cadres organized the showing of banned motion pictures, ostensibly for `research' purposes, but actually to make money. Of the 1,200 places committing this particular offense, 58 involved cadres. Of the 107 persons arrested, 11 were cadres, and of the 73 cases brought to court, 3 involved cadres." (_Tap Chi Cong San_, 10/81; FBIS 12/11/81). There were also reports of books and other material illegally printed in Vietnam. According to official statistics, "A check of 1,804 places in Ho Chi Minh City showed that up to 66.5% of them were involved in circulating, storing and distributing reactionary and decadent products, including 507 places which stored and rented out books, and 205 others which engaged in illegal printing business." (ibid). Among those arrested for engaging in this business were Vinh Su and Hoang Quoc Huy, who were charged with printing and distributing books with all sorts of topics: "adventurers, detectives, cheap epic exploits, cowboys, hoodlums, ghosts, blood and tears, love romance, reactionaries and decadence." They had 53,000 books confiscated. (_Saigon Giai Phong_, 4/27/81; JPRS 78346, 6/22/81). From the translated articles I have read, it appears that the most publicized arrest and trial during this period was that of Bui Dinh Ha, a 29-year-old bookseller in Ho Chi Minh City who was found to possess 232 "books and posters of every kind which exhibited reactionary, corrupt and bad moral contents and which are forbidden material." It is difficult to understand why Mr. Ha was singled out, since this poorly educated former ARVN soldier did not pose a serious ideological threat to the regime. Perhaps the government wished to make an example of him in sentencing him to life imprisonment. Brought to trial on June 25 before the "People's Court" in Ho Chi Minh City, Ha was found guilty "of the crimes spelled out in articles 4,7 and 8 of the decree-law 267/SL promulgated on 15 June 1956 by the Council of Ministers." (_Saigon Giai Phong_ 6/26/81; JPRS 78913, 9/4/81). Ordinarily, the penalty for such a "crime" isn't quite so severe. Under Article 15 of the SRV Law on Counter-revolutionary Crimes (published in _Nhan Dan_ in October of 1979 and broadcast by Hanoi on Oct. 23), "Propagandizing the enslavement policy and depraved culture of imperialism," or "Writing, printing, circulating or concealing books, periodicals, pictures, photographs or any other documents with counterrevolutionary contents and purposes," is punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 12 years. (The full text of this law was published in Issue 21 of this newsletter). There were also some published trials of coffee-house owners in the spring of 1981. On April 24, for example, three such owners -- Tran Thi Dieu Tien, Tang Thi Tuyet and Dao Thi My Ngoc -- were brought before the "People's Court" of the 1st Precinct in Ho Chi Minh City, accused of "violating the law on the storage and dissemination of reactionary, decadent cultural products and operating an illegal business. According to _Saigon Giai Phong_ (4/29/81), their verdict was delivered on "the basis of the indictment, on the basis of Article 6 of Law 03/SL 76 dated 15 March 1976 and Article 2 of Premier's Decree No. 76-CP dated 8 April 1974 and on the basis of Notice Number 148 of the City Culture and Information Service as well as Number 572 of the People's Committee of the 1st Precinct." (JPRS 79218, 10/15/81). Tang Thi Thuyet received 18 months in prison,while the other two received 12 months each in prison. A similar trial, brought before the "People's Court" in Precinct 6 of Ho Chi Minh City on 30 June 1981, involved Bui Thi Long and Bui Thi Duyen, accused of "using decadent music and also for opposing and despising cadres and personnel on official duty." As reported by _Saigon Giai Phong_ (7/4/81; JPRS 79109, 10/1/81): "At 2000 hours on 14 May 1981, the unit in charge of inspecting the extermination of decadent cultural products of the Cultural and Information Section of Precinct 6 discovered that the refreshment bar owned by Bui Thi Long in Ward 20 was using illegal music. When the unit carried out the administrative inspection task pursuant to the law, Thi Long violently opposed and offended executors of the law." Thi Long was sentenced to 24 months in prison, while Bui Thi Duyen "was sentenced to 16 months in prison for condoning the misdeed and for complicity." Generally speaking, the cases of well-known writers, poets, artists and journalists arrested have not been publicized by the regime. Many were arrested shortly after the 1975 communist takeover and held in prisons or re-education camps without charge or trial. A statement released last February by the Vietnamese League of Human Rights and the Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners in Vietnam put the total number of intellectuals and artists still detained in Vietnam at about 500 persons. We are publishing below official statistics on the inspection and suppression drives in "a number of provinces and cities," as reported by Tran Tho in an article that appeared in _Tap Chi Cong San_ in Oct. 1981. According to Tho, these statistics are still incomplete. The following are the result as of late June 1981, as published in the journal: _________________________________________________________________ Locality Books Music Paintings Movies Projectors Tapes Hanoi 167 1,216 29 rolls 16 HCM City 151,200 41,723 53,751 631 rolls 93 (60 tons) Haiphong 290 6 Hai Hung 500 Ha Nam Ninh 32 2,259 18 Binh Tri Thien 129,725 239 4,252 57 Quang 25,079 3,734 115 316 32 Phu Khanh 1,858 1,467 19 Thuan Hai 1,618 2,388 1,260 34 Dong Nai 2,800 283 1,864 Cuu Long 422 1,358 100 Hau Giang 3,233 1,227 15,593 _________________________________________________________________ __ As a footnote, Tran Tho said that in Ho Chi Minh City, "there are approximately another 60 tons of illegally circulated books and magazines that have not yet been sorted." As we can see, a tremendous amount of material was confiscated in a short period of time during the spring of 1981. The abundance of the confiscated material demonstrates on the one hand the intolerant attitude of the Vietnamese rulers, and on the other hand, the desire of millions of Vietnamese to enjoy some alternatives to the government-sponsored culture.