ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the revolutions that are by definition aimed at replacing the existing power structure of the society. This is why mass mobilization is an essential requirement for revolutions to succeed. As a result of revolutionary and patriotic political mobilization, the political and conceptual horizons of the peasantry had been vastly enlarged. A tense and often violent struggle between the Viet Minh and its Vietnamese rivals continued well into 1946. Despite the eventual dominance gained by the revolutionaries, the outcome was not settled conclusively until 1975and even then the victory was less than total. The revolutionaries believed that the wealth of the province lay in agricultural production in the villages, and that denying supplies to the towns would cripple the French economically. The removal of Tran Van Giau as the dominant leader of the southern revolutionary movement, and his eventual replacement by Le Duan, has often been viewed as a northern takeover of southern revolutionary politics.
