and 79% of families respectively were completely without land. If an overwhelming
majority of families that owned land were close to starvation in the 1930s, imagine
what the conditions were like for landless peasants!

  • Why were the railways and canals
    developed in Vietnam by the French?
  • What was the difference between a
    landless peasant and landless workers?
  • You read about the condition of peasants
    inthe British rule in India. In what ways
    was it similar to that of Vietnam?

The peasants who rented the land of landlords had to pay rent in two ways: they had to give a share of their
produce and also work on the fields and in the homes of the landlords. Apart from this, they also had to pay
different kinds of taxes imposed by the landlords. This forced the peasants to borrow rice and money from the
landlords and pushed them further into debt bondage.

The “Civilising Mission”

The French colonisers, like the British, were convinced that the people of the
colonies were uncivilised. So, the objective of their rule was to bring the benefits
of modern civilisation to Vietnam. Education was one way to civilise the ‘natives’.
The French needed an educated local labour force but they also feared that education
might create problems. If the Vietnamese people got educated, they may begin to
question colonial domination. Moreover, the French citizens who lived in Vietnam
(called colons) feared that they might lose their jobs – as teachers, shopkeepers,
policemen – if the Vietnamese people got educated. So, they opposed policies
that would give French education to the Vietnamese people. Even though Vietnamese
language was taught in the primary level in schools, all higher education was in
French. Only the Vietnamese elite – who were a small part of the population – could
enroll in these schools. Even after they got admitted, very few ultimately passed the
school-leaving examination. School textbooks glorified the French and justified
the colonial rule.

  • Try to remember the policies followed
    by the British in India. Compare the
    colonial policies followed by the
    British in India and the French in
    Vietnam. What similarities and
    differences do you find between them?

Emergence of Vietnamese Nationalism

In schools, teachers and students did not blindly follow the curriculum given
by the French. Sometimes they openly opposed the curriculum, at other times,
they silently resisted. As the numbers of Vietnamese teachers increased in the
lower classes, it became difficult to control what was actually taught in the class.
While teaching, Vietnamese teachers quietly modified the text and criticised what
was written in the books about French rule. The colonial government also tried to
prevent the Vietnamese people from qualifying for white-collar jobs. The students
opposed and fought against this also. They were inspired by patriotic feelings.
They believed that it was the duty of the educated to fight for the benefit of society.
This created conflict between the students and the French as well as the traditional



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