Ho Chi Minh, real name Nguyen Tat Thanh (1890-1969), Vietnamese Communist leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule.

Ho was born on May 19, 1890, in the village of Kimlien, Annam (central Vietnam), the son of an official who had resigned in protest against French domination of his country. Ho attended school in Hue and then briefly taught at a private school in Phan Thiet.

In 1911 he was employed as a cook on a French steamship liner and thereafter worked in London and Paris. After World War I, using the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot), Ho engaged in radical activities and was in the founding group of the French Communist party. He was summoned to Moscow for training and, in late 1924, he was sent to Canton, China, where he organized a revolutionary movement among Vietnamese exiles.

He was forced to leave China when local authorities cracked down on Communist activities, but he returned in 1930 to found the Indochinese Communist party (ICP). He stayed in Hong Kong as representative of the Communist International. In June 1931 Ho was arrested there by British police and remained in prison until his release in 1933.

He then made his way back to the Soviet Union, where he reportedly spent several years recovering from tuberculosis. In 1938 he returned to China and served as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces. When Japan occupied Vietnam in 1941, he resumed contact with ICP leaders and helped to found a new Communist-dominated independence movement, popularly known as the Vietminh, that fought the Japanese.

In August 1945, when Japan surrendered, the Vietminh seized power and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh, now known by his final and best-known pseudonym (which means the “Enlightener”), became president.

The French were unwilling to grant independence to their colonial subjects, and in late 1946 war broke out. For eight years Vietminh guerrillas fought French troops in the mountains and rice paddies of Vietnam, finally defeating them in the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Ho, however, was deprived of his victory. Subsequent negotiations at Geneva divided the country, with only the North assigned to the Vietminh.

The DRV, with Ho still president, now devoted its efforts to constructing a Communist society in North Vietnam. In the early 1960s, however, conflict resumed in the South, where Communist-led guerrillas mounted an insurgency against the U.S.-supported regime in Saigon.

Ho, now in poor health, was reduced to a largely ceremonial role, while policy was shaped by others. On September 3, 1969, he died in Hanoi of heart failure. In his honor, after the Communist conquest of the South in 1975, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh was not only the founder of Vietnamese communism, he was the very soul of the revolution and of Vietnam's struggle for independence. His personal qualities of simplicity, integrity, and determination were widely admired, not only within Vietnam but elsewhere as well.

-- Interviewing President Ho Chi Minh (English subtitle), June 1964

-- The Path Which Led Me To Leninism

-- Bài Ca Hồ Chí Minh! Ballad of Ho Chi Minh!

-- Basic Introduction of Ho Chi Minh ideology

-- Think Like a Vietnamese Commie

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • Snackuleata [any]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting a real desktop computer soon to replace my 5 year old laptop. Any advice on what to look for? Both Intel and Nvidia are on my shitlist for supporting Isn'treal, so is AMD the way to go?

    • makotech222 [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      AMD cpu + nvidia gpu is pretty much optimal for performance. You can use an AMD gpu if you want to go cheaper, though, as long as you aren't playing at 4k you'll be fine.

    • hello_hello [they/them, comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      To provide a GNU/Linux perspective:

      If you are using your computer primarily for gaming. Then I highly recommend getting an AMD graphics card + CPU since they have the best support for gaming on GNU/Linux since it's roughly the same hardware the Steam Deck uses. You can then use a distribution like Bazzite which trivializes all the linux gaming quirks.

      It even has a Home Theater PC/Steam OS edition which ports the Steam Deck's functionality onto other machines. (Not available for Nvidia GPUs)

      Nvidia graphics cards on Linux are slowly being resolved with as Nvidia has finally distributed their GSP firmware blobs and NVK has been merged but I don't recommend them yet since it'll still be somewhere from a couple months to a year from now until nvidia reaches amd's compatibility as well as nvidia being a horrible company.

      The Asahi team don't have a Vulkan driver yet nor some device support (like usb-c displays and sound) for Apple ARM but OpenGL support is all there (you can play Minecraft!) as well as daily use for all sorts of tasks (including Widevine DRM surprisingly for Netflix playback). This is a niche option though if you come across a second hand Apple Silicon machine that you want to repurpose.

    • machinya [it/its, fae/faer]
      ·
      1 month ago

      depends a lot what do you need it for.

      AMD is quite good these days so it's recomended (at least the ryzen procs. haven't tried the others). on the gpu side, the integrated graphics are good enough for most basic tasks and even light gaming so that could work if you are on a budget. i would never recommend nvidia since it's a pain to use it on linux but i don't know how it works in different OS or if it has improved over time (my card is somewhat old so it might be the problem).

      one thing i recently learned is about second hand minipcs. they tend to be quite cheap for what you get and if you don't need very high specs or very modern or specific hardware they work great.

    • TeddyKila [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 month ago

      5700x3d is the best deal for a gaming cpu, as long as you are fine with no upgrade path.

      R5 7600 is similar performance with a higher platform cost due to expensive ram and mobo.

      6700xt is roughly the sweet spot for sub 4k gaming but is going to be gone completely soon.

      7800xt is good, but since memory overclocking was enabled on the 7900gre, it comes within spitting distance of the $700 7900xt for about 50 bux more than the 7800xt.

      Don't get an 8gb card or the 7600xt 16gb if you can avoid it.