The Revolutionary Infrastructure (
Vietnamese Hạ tầng cơ sở cách mạng), was designed by the
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
in the 1940s.
Description
Revolutionary Infrastructure was the official title used by the Communist Party for their covert administrative system. During the
First Indochina War the French labeled it ''l’infrastructure Clandestine Việt Minh'' whereas the Americans referred to it as the Việt Cộng Infrastructure (VCI) during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
The Communist Party defined the Revolutionary Infrastructure as generally comprising three elements: “Communist Party cells,” which were then linked together by more advanced so-called “couriers” using a high number of corridor routes, and “guards.” When available, these guards could be mass sympathizers (such as in a village setting) or specific teams.
It was these so-called couriers and their courier corridors that
Hồ Chí Minh said were the most important element for victory because they served their cause in much the same way that blood vessels and the nervous system served the human body.
The Revolutionary Infrastructure was so widespread and efficient that it became a comprehensive shadow government with all the associated services there to support, control and expand a “shadow nation.”
[Morris, Virginia and Hills, Clive. , McFarland & Co Inc, 2018, p. 73.]
The
Phoenix Program was designed during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
with the purpose of destroying the Revolutionary Infrastructure.
References
{{reflist
Communism in Vietnam