Interview with Nguyen Thi Dinh of the National Liberation Front (1981)

Interviewer: Please tell us of the Tet Offensive of 1968. Nguyen Thi Dinh: During the period when I was the Deputy Supreme Commander, although I also participated in the general command and leadership of the entire armed forces, my special job was to direct the guerrilla war. Included in this guerrilla war was the campaign of struggles by women as I have already described. Therefore, we organized many conferences on guerrilla warfare. This was because, in order to defeat the Americans, we had to fight both with our regular army and our guerrilla forces. Nguyen Thi Dinh: But the beginning of it all was guerrilla warfare in which the entire people participated in the fight against the enemy. This is to answer to your question on what my duty was while I was at the Supreme Command. Now, with regard to the 1968Tet Offensive, our main objective was to cause damage to the enemy forces, expand the liberated zones, and strike the enemy at its nerve centers so as to create self doubt and confusion. Nguyen Thi Dinh: In the local areas, our objective was to expand the liberated zone. It was not our objective to liberate the South yet. This was because an objective comparison of our forces with those of the enemy at the time indicated to us that it was not yet time to liberate the South. However, it indicated that we could stop the enemy's encroachments and expand our liberated zones, and, above all, to cause confusion within the enemy's ranks. Nguyen Thi Dinh: Therefore, our biggest victory at the time was to be able to force the United States to sit down at the four party negotiating table in Paris. Before the Offensive, the United States wanted to negotiate only with the North. The other victory was to force the Americans to de escalate the war against the North, to stop the bombing of the North. So these were our strategic victories, although after the Offensive the enemy counter attacked us and created some difficulties for us. Interviewer: Could you tell us about the assassinations of your cadres? Nguyen Thi Dinh: It was the Americans who organized the Phoenix Program. And there were many phoenixes throughout the periods, from Ngo Dinh Diem to Nguyen Van Thieu, and not just one Phoenix Program. This program, however, was most dangerous because they were able to infiltrate our infrastructures, using Vietnamese to kill Vietnamese. This was the crux of the program: using Vietnamese to kill Vietnamese. Nguyen Thi Dinh: What they did was to train and organize demoralized and disenchanted people to come back into our areas and to reveal our infrastructures to the Americans. We considered this a most dangerous program for us. We were never afraid of a military operation involving a full division of troops, for example. But for them to infiltrate a couple of guys deeply into our ranks would create tremendous difficulties for us. Nguyen Thi Dinh: But although they did create tremendous difficulties for us at first, in the long run we were able to infiltrate our own people into the Phoenix Program organization and were able to obtain information on their activities as well as information on the most reactionary traitors so that we could eliminate them. Nguyen Thi Dinh: In general, I must say that the Phoenix Program was a most dangerous program because its operations were clandestine and because its operators wormed themselves into the ranks of the revolution and the people in order to detect and eliminate our infrastructures. But the American Phoenix Program also failed miserably. It was never able to achieve its objective. They were able to eliminate many of our infrastructures, but they were never able to do so completely. They did make use of our cadres, but this turned out to be a double edged sword. Nguyen Thi Dinh: The liberation of the South was an occasion of joy for most people. But for me, it was a very happy moment. For over thirty years, my wish as a revolutionary was to be able to help bring about independence and happiness to my people. This was also the hope of the entire population and the objective of the government and the Party. Nguyen Thi Dinh: Although I myself had lost a lot during the struggles against the French and the Americans, during my revolutionary life – I lost my husband and my child and suffered extreme hardship – I could see that the revolution had brought much happiness to me and to my people. And as far as the National Liberation Front was concerned, it gained a lot of prestige not only in the South and in the North but also all over the world. I myself was on the Central Committee of the National Liberation. Nguyen Thi Dinh: I know that the enemy were also quite respectful of the National Liberation. This was because the members of the National Liberation Front were people of ability, distinction and correct political stance. And the contribution of the National Liberation to the revolution in the South was extremely significant. It was able to rally the population around it and created a unified force with which to bring the revolution to its successful day. The revolution did not succeed just because of the armed forces, the cadres, and the Party members. Nguyen Thi Dinh: The Party members were supposed to provide the leadership, but the entire people must be unified and consolidated into a solid block before the revolution could succeed. And it was the National Liberation Front which achieved this objective by unifying the various strata of the population and the various religious groups. After the 1968Tet Offensive, the Provisional Revolutionary Government came into being. The PRG also gained a lot of prestige domestically as well as internationally and contributed much to the revolution in the South, to the struggle for the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country. Nguyen Thi Dinh: Therefore, at the present time, whenever you mention the National Liberation Front or the Provisional Revolutionary Government you would illicit tremendous trust and respect from the population. Indicative of this trust and respect is the attitude toward people like Brother Nguyen Huu Tho, Brother Huynh Tan Phat, many other comrades and I myself. In spite of all difficulties and hardship, we struggled until the end, until the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country. So in conclusion, the National Liberation Front was an organization for unifying the entire people to ensure the victory of the revolution in the South.