Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Signing of the Geneva Agreement (July 21, 1954 - July 21, 2024): People's Diplomacy Contributes to the Success of the Geneva Agreement

The Geneva Conference was a great victory for the Vietnamese revolution in general and for Vietnamese diplomacy in particular, a victory of noble international solidarity and of the national liberation movement throughout the world. People's diplomacy is proud to be a part of those successes.

Broad international front supporting Vietnam

Right before the success of the August Revolution in 1945, Vietnam received solidarity and great support from the people of the world, especially the Communist International, Communist and workers' parties of various countries, world democratic organizations, peace movements, and anti-war movements in various countries. In the world people's front supporting and uniting with Vietnam, the people of socialist countries, especially the Soviet Union and China, were the core force with strong support both spiritually and politically , as well as great and valuable material assistance.

View of the Geneva Conference in 1954. Photo: DOCUMENT

World peace and democracy organizations organized many solidarity activities and issued many resolutions in support of our people's struggle against the French. The 2nd Congress of the World Peace Council in Warsaw (Poland) in 1950 issued a statement supporting the Vietnamese people's resistance against French colonialism. The 3rd World Trade Union Congress in October 1953 in Vienna (Austria) decided to take December 19, 1953 as the "Day of solidarity with the heroic Vietnamese people and the struggle to demand an end to the war of aggression against Vietnam". Many demonstrations, rallies and international conferences of peace and democracy forces and organizations were truly demonstrations of strength in support of our people.

Along with that was the support of the people of countries struggling for national liberation in Asia, Africa and Latin America, especially the French colonies and countries that had just gained national independence. The majority of the French and American people sympathized with and supported our people in the resistance war. Vietnam will always remember the image of the workers at the Algerian port refusing to load weapons onto ships to be shipped to Vietnam; the image of Ms. Raymonde Dien lying across the railway to block the train carrying weapons to supply the French army in Vietnam; Mr. Henri Martin waving the anti-war flag in the ranks of the French navy; Comrade Léo Figuères, member of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party, member of the French National Assembly, with his strong articles sent to be published in French newspapers; French female writer and journalist Madeleine Riffaud with her famous reports praising the heroic spirit of oppressed peoples determined to rise up to gain independence, freedom, and the right to live...

History lessons

The 1954 Geneva Agreement left many lessons for Vietnam's foreign affairs later.

That is the lesson of combining national strength with the strength of the times. In the process of finding a way to save the country, President Ho Chi Minh was deeply aware of the great strength of the national liberation movement, placing our country's revolution as an integral part of the world revolution. Thanks to that, right from the early days of the Vietnamese Revolution, we were able to combine national strength with the strength of the times, domestic strength with international strength, creating a great combined strength to gain victory.

It is also a lesson in international solidarity. Our people consider international support and solidarity as a great contribution to our people's resistance war; Vietnam's victory is a positive contribution to the common victory of the people of the world. Throughout the long resistance war, our Party and President Ho Chi Minh regularly campaigned internationally, taking advantage of the friendship, sympathy and support of the French people, the people of the colonies, especially the people of the Soviet Union, China and India. At the same time, the Vietnamese people, under the leadership of our Party and President Ho Chi Minh, regularly participated in the common struggle of international democratic organizations. In 1949, Vietnam was one of the founding countries of the World Peace Council, sending 11 delegates to participate. In 1950, despite the difficult conditions of the resistance war, Vietnam still had nearly 6 million signatures in response to the Stockholm Appeal on the ban on nuclear weapons. The Vietnamese people also regularly expressed their support and solidarity with national liberation struggles (supporting the Indonesian people against Dutch colonialism, supporting the Korean people against the US, supporting the liberation movements of the people of French colonies, the Guatemalan people's struggle against the US...).

Finally, it is a lesson on close coordination between the Party's foreign affairs, State diplomacy and people's diplomacy. Under the direct leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, people's diplomacy closely coordinated and supported Party foreign affairs and State diplomacy in implementing the Party's tasks, guidelines and policies. People's diplomacy at that time was a common task of the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people. The objects of international advocacy work at that time were not only organizations and people's movements but also political parties, governments and the press. Thanks to those synchronous activities, people around the world understood more about Vietnam, about the righteous flag that our Party and Uncle Ho held high, thereby having many solidarity activities to support the just struggle of the Vietnamese people.

Dr. PHAN ANH SON
President of Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ky-niem-70-nam-ky-ket-hiep-dinh-geneve-21-7-1954-21-7-2024-doi-ngoai-nhan-dan-cong-lam-nen-thanh-cong-cua-hiep-dinh-geneve-post750004.html