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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 10. 23rd May 1973

Political Struggle most Important

Political Struggle most Important

So far I have concentrated on military violations of the ceasefire. Although the military aspects of the Vietnamese conflict have always received the greatest attention in the western press the P.R.G. and the N.F.L. have always placed greater emphasis on the political nature of the conflict. As Wilfred Burchett shows in his book Vietnam will win, the Vietnamese liberation fighters see their struggle primarily in political terms.

It is not surprising that the Thieu Administration has completely failed to implement Chapter IV of the Paris Agreement, which deals with the procedures for working out the political future of South Vietnam. All of the provisions in this chapter came straight from the P.R.G's 1971 Peace Proposals and its 1969 political programme.

The PRC's analysis of the political struggle in South Vietnam has clearly identified the United States Government as the main enemy. As the Pentagon Papers showed the history of South Vietnamese 'Governments' since the 1954 Genva Agreement, has been one of constant attempts by the Americans to find a 'stable' dictator in Saigon. Like all his predecessors 'President' Thieu remains in power solely because of American support. The U.S. Government has given him the world's third largest air force, the second most powerful arsenal of conventional weapons, an army of one million men and a very large para-military police force.