ABSTRACT
The conundrum for party leaders was how much emphasis to place on each separate yet interrelated issue. The policy guidance incorporated in Duong Loi Cach Mang Mien Nam reflected this dilemma. Land reform was termed a 'fundamental strategic task'. In general terms, land reform embodied all elements of rural policy designed to increase agricultural production, such as rent reduction, land redistribution, and capital and technical inputs into paddy farming. During the months of October-December, 1956 several disturbances occurred in North Viet-Nam in reaction to the arbitrary manner in which the land reform campaign was being conducted. The crack-down in Vietnam came at least six months before the Chinese called a halt to their Hundred Flowers Movement. Party leaders, in light of recent events in Hungary and in Quynh Luu district, must have feared the ramifications.
