Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
TOP SECRET – Sensitive
a. Constitution of 1946
The 1946 basic law declared Vietnam to be a democratic republic in which all power belonged to the people "without distinction of race, class, creed, wealth, or sex." Its territory, "composed of Bac-Bo, or Northern Viet Nam (Tonkin), Trung-Bo or Central Viet Nam (Annam), and Nam-Bo or Southern Viet Nam (Cochinchina) is one and indivisible… The capital of Viet Nam is Hanoi. 4/ However, the Constitution of 1946 was never institutionalized; instead, the exigencies of the war with the French eventuated in a government which was literally an administrative extension of the rigidly disciplined political apparatus headed by Ho Chi Minh and encadred by his colleagues from the Indochinese Communist Party. Pham Van Dong (presently Premier, then Vice President) announced in 1950 that promulgation of the 1946 Constitution had been postponed "because several of its provisions require for their application the cessation of the state of war," 5/ and in 1951, after Ho had openly aligned with the Sino-Soviet powers, the Viet Minh radio explained that "a gang of traitors" had been evolved in its formulation, and hence a "progressive character was lacking." In late 1956, the DRV set up a constitutional reform committee. 6/ In December, 1958, Ho invited the public to submit recommendations on a new draft basic law, and the second Constitution was promulgated in 1960.
b. Constitution of 1960
The 1960 Preamble speaks of a thousand years of struggle for independence, lauds Ho Chi Minh and the Lao Dong (Communist) Party, cites harshly United States "imperialists" and "interventionists," and presents this interpretation of the aftermath of Geneva, 1954–1960: 7/
" ... . In the South, the U. S. imperialists and their henchmen have been savagely repressing the patriotic movement of our people. They have been strengthening military forces and carrying out their scheme of turning the southern part of our country into a colony and military base for their war preparations. They have resorted to all possible means to sabotage the Geneva Agreements and undermine the cause of Viet Nam’s reunification .... "
" . ... Under the clear-sighted leadership of the Viet Nam Lao-Dong Party, the government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, and President Ho Chi Minh, our entire people, broadly united within the National United Front, will surely win glorious success in the building of socialism in North Viet-Nam and the struggle for national reunification."
Both the opening sentence of the Preamble and Article 1 of Chapter I of the Constitution itself, stipulate that Viet Nam is an entity indivisible from China to Camau in South Vietnam. Chapter II of the Constitution, which precedes the section on human rights, announces step by step that the DRV is advancing from "people’s democracy to socialism … transforming
