Communist Ways Chafe American Sensibilities

Never having been in a Communist country, we weren't sure what to expect when we went to Vietnam for my son's wedding. We would soon get a glimpse of the party in action.

All foreigners passing through immigration at the airport are required to register the address where they'll be staying. Party officials apparently found it suspicious that nine or 10 foreigners claimed to be staying at the house of my daughter-in-law's parents. One afternoon, the neighborhood cadre dropped in unannounced to find out why.

One American citizen, a Vietnamese woman who's lived in the U.S. for decades, was incensed and reportedly took issue with the uniformed officials for questioning her - or anyone's - presence.

Other family members, however, those who have lived in Vietnam all along and those who weren't able to leave until long after the war, took it in stride. We were there for a wedding, they explained, smoothing everyone's ruffled feathers and getting rid of the nosy officials.

Though I wasn't there at the time, I found the idea unsettling, having observed the same group of five young officers swaggering down the street.

One day we discovered that someone had rifled through our belongings while we were away from the guesthouse. We wondered if it might have been the party animals. "If it was the party," we were told, "you would never have known they'd been there." Since nothing was missing, we decided to chalk it up to curiosity and not worry about it.

Communism again reared its head at the bookstore.

I had the name of a book about Vietnam that sounded interesting, but didn't have time to order it before the trip, so I figured on picking it up once I got there.

I was surprised when the store with the largest selection of foreign language books in Saigon didn't carry it. Neither did any of the street vendors who specialize in foreign language books.


Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I reread a review of the book on Amazon.com and immediately understood. Though "Dragon Ascending," by Henry Kamm, offers a historical overview of Vietnam, not everyone quoted in the book is pleased with the way things have turned out since the war - including some who had supported the Communist cause.

A banned book! I still find it astonishing.

When it comes to politics, families are not necessarily united in their views. A former South Vietnamese Army officer, whose oldest brother and sister have always been staunch Communists, told me they don't allow politics to interfere with family. "We keep family and politics separate," he said.

Perhaps, but I'm told that hard feelings, though submerged, remain. Long-simmering resentments occasionally bubble to the surface, though the innate politeness of the Vietnamese keeps them from boiling over.


Possibly the saddest effect of Communism is the waste of human potential. For a nation that says it wants progress, it seems shameful that so many educated, skilled and talented people are so woefully underemployed.

Whether it's because the system is corrupt and jobs go to the politically connected, or people are being punished for having been on the wrong side three decades ago, or because there simply aren't any jobs, it's tragic to see such resources sitting idle.

Only in recent years have the children of those who sided with the south during the war been allowed to further their education, I'm told. And, though such restrictions are easing, the lack of opportunities is what causes many Vietnamese to seek a better life elsewhere.

Many people would love the chance to resettle in the U.S. or Europe. And the Vietnamese government apparently is happy to see them to go - the finance ministry anticipated that overseas Vietnamese would send a record $4 billion home last year, a significant boost for the Vietnamese economy.