The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) was established in August-September 1945, in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese surrender in the Second World War. In the so-called August Revolution, revolutionary committees paying allegiance to the Communist-led Vietminh1 seized power in all main parts of Vietnam and established the new Democratic Republic, with Ho Chi Minh as president. The insurrection was brought about on local initiative, with no significant involvement by either the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Indeed, the successful August Revolution seems to have taken Communists worldwide by surprise, and there was virtually no reporting of the events in Indochina in the international Communist press.2