ABSTRACT
Truong Nhu Tang, the principal author of A Vietcong Memoir, from which this extract on the birth of the National Liberation Front (NLF) is taken, was himself a founding member of the NLF and later a minister in the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) from 1969 to 1975. Tang himself maintained that he was a nationalist and not a communist. His claim that his views are representative of the NLF is also widely disputed. In addition, Truong believed that the core group of the NLF, men who felt much as he did, would act as an effective brake against those who might be tempted to look for a military solution. Nevertheless, that the engagement was opened, there was occasion for a surge of doubt. Specifically, the Provisional Committee would proclaim the creation of the NLF and publicize its manifesto and program not only throughout Vietnam but internationally as well.
