Vietnam

In Vietnam: Anatomy of a Peace, Gabriel Kolko argues that victory in 1975 caught the Communists wholly unprepared to cope with the reconstruction of the war-torn nation. He looks at the economic program the Communist Party has embarked upon since 1986 and describes the decline of its socialist ideology and transition to nascent capitalism.
Based on extensive research and first-hand experience, Vietnam is a vivid portrait of the profound dilemmas the nation confronts today. Market reforms are producing serious social and economic difficulties in Vietnam; inequality is creating a class society and industrial workers are amongst the most exploited in the world. In the light of these problems, Gabriel Kolko outlines how Communists are failing to cope with the contradictions between daily realities and their original idealistic aims.
Gabriel Kolko argues that neither a socialist nor a market strategy has determined recent Vietnamese history. In fact, the confused Communist Party has had little control over economic developments since their victory. After successfully confronting the United States in war, the Communists are now close to losing the socialist cause for which they fought.