Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. A. 5.djvu/240

Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011  ""The Central Committee of the Vietnam Lao Dong Party has held its 15th enlarged session to review the developments in the struggle for national reunification and lay down the tasks for the whole party and people in connection with that struggle … "North Vietnam, now completely liberated, has carried through its task of national people's democratic revolution and is carrying out the socialist revolution and building socialism. This is an extremely important change which determines the direction of development of the Vietnamese revolution in the new stage. Meanwhile, the southern part of our country is still under the domination of the American imperialists and their lackey -- Ngo Dinh Diem. They have turned South Vietnam into a new-type colony and a military base for preparing war. "The interventionist policy of the U. S. imperialists and the South Vietnam authorities' policy of dependence on the United States have undermined and deliberately continue to undermine the implementation of the Geneva agreements and the cause of peaceful national reunification, thus cutting across the desire and interests of the Vietnamese people. The U.S. imperialists and their followers are scheming to perpetuate the division of our country and prepare a new war.

"To carry out this perfidious scheme, over the past few years the U.S.-Diem clique has been actively increasing its military forces, carrying out a policy of ruthless exploitation of the people, abolishing all democratic functions, repressing and terrorizing the people in a most barbarous manner, causing ever more serious dislocation of the South Vietnamese economy, and making the life of local people more and more precarious and wretched…

"To achieve national reunification on the basis of independence and democracy, the session mapped out the following tasks: the entire people will unite and strive to struggle for national reunification on the basis of independence and democracy to endeavor to consolidate the North and actively take it step by step toward socialism, to build a peaceful, unified, independent, democratic, prosperous and strong Vietnam; and to contribute to the safeguarding of peace in Southeast Asia and the world.

"The session expressed its unshakable belief that our whole people, uniting and struggling heroically and" Rh