Family background and education ← Born in Nguyen Sinh Cung in Kimlien in Annam province ← His father>teacher employed by the French, resigned in protest of French dominance over Vietnam>Ho learnt to resist French & fight for independence from his father ← Run msg’s for the anti French underground when he was a child ← Brought up n strong Confucian teachings and went to French school, where he learnt to speak French ← 1911 left Vietnam on a steamship >worked as kitchen hand
Western influences and travels; France and USSR ← By 1914 well travelled>India, US, England (worked as a pastry cook) ← 1917 arrived in Paris and was known as Nguyen Ai Qouc (Nguyen the Patriot)>Paris read Karl Marx, heard of Bolshevik rev. similarities b/t Russia and Vietnam> communism ← 1919 went to Woodrow Wilson to petition for Vietnam independence ← 1920 founder of the French Communist Party ← 1924 Ho visited Moscow>Communist capital ← Then went to China and worked with the Comintern (communist international) ← Ho moved to the China/Vietnam border and formed the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League with communist exiles.
Rise to prominence
Formation of the Indochinese communist party (ICP) ← 1930 formed ICP ← Promised land reform, worker, soldier, peasant govt & banks >great peasant support ← ICP remained ineffective before WW2. Comintern support for Popular Front govt in France- ICP/French cooperation but then USSR signed non aggression pact with Nazi Germany, ICP forced underground
Experiences in China ← 1930-1 communist HCM arrested in Hong Kong remained there til 1933 ← 1930s travelled throughout Sth East Asia spreading msg of communism and ICP ← 1938 went to china worked with Mao as advisor>China strong ally for Vietnam
Development of the Viet Minh & propaganda units ← 1941, HCM returned to Japanese occupied Vietnam & formed nationalist independence