ABSTRACT
The Vietnamese peasantry made its mark in history by successfully resisting the exploitation of colonialism and imperialism in 1954 in the north of the country and later in 1975 in the south. The tenacious resolve of this otherwise destitute social group to overthrow its oppressors has attracted much attention from scholars studying the politics and movements of resistance emerging in the so-called ‘developing world’. After independence in 1954, however, Vietnamese peasants in the north engaged in different forms of resistance under the newly independent state. These included everyday forms of resistance during the central planning and collectivization period from the early 1960s to the early 1980s, and more open and collective protests since the economic reforms initiated in the 1980s. Despite the seriousness of rural poverty and a long history of struggle, these instances of resistance remain localized and small-scale, rarely spreading beyond district or provincial boundaries, and even more rarely targeting the central government. This rather stable political environment is surprising considering several upheavals in neighbouring countries such as those in Thailand, the Philippines and Burma over the last 50 years (Vasavakul 1995), as well as the political crises in former socialist countries in the 1980s and 1990s.
