As the memory of war with the South, the USA, Cambodia and even China faded, Vietnamese wondered why their economy hadn’t taken off like the Asian tigers. Perhaps it was time for a renovation. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp promotes Asian architecture, in this case a Malaysian Buddhist Temple. The stamps didn’t go far and wide though, just countries close in to Vietnam. Whether Malaysia or Thailand, they were showing Asian tigers, inviting a comparison of how neighboring countries were doing in comparison. Pretty bold for a Communist country and traditional, calling to mind the even better done stamps from the Royal period in Laos, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/30/laos-1959-the-last-royal-succession/ .
Todays stamp is issue A608, a 2000 Dong stamp issued by united Vietnam on July 10th,1993. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations that also came as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, This individual used stamp is worth 21 cents. This is the lowest value for any stamp I have done on this website. While the printing and artistry are below Royal Laos similar stamps. This is still a big colorful stamp with a building many in Asia will recognize. This stamp, now 26 years old, deserves a higher valuation. We need more Vietnamese stamp collectors.
The Vietnamese economy was in a terrible shape after the wars. The south had been wealthier than the north but was economically destroyed post war. Over a million from the north had been relocated south. Many of the southern people had been relocated to the countryside. To try to turn this around former Viet Cong leader Nguyen Van Linh was made Communist General Secretary in 1986.
Linh, not his real name, was born in North Vietnam but was assigned to Saigon in 1936 by the communist party. His job was to set up secret cells. He was more of an organizer that a military leader. His triumph was the Tet offensive in 1968 when Linh proved the Viet Cong was everywhere in South Vietnam. Southerners or adopted southerners in Linh’s case, were tossed aside after the war. Despite being in the Politburo, Linh’s arguments to better take advantage of southern capabilities fell on deaf ears.
In 1986 Vietnam revisited Linh’s ideas. He wanted to improve relations with China, the USA, and other Asian neighbors. He wanted to allow peasants to cultivate small private fields next to the collectives, he allowed people to start businesses and was more open to foreign investment. He worked to end the discrimination of those with southern backgrounds. None of this included more political freedom and all was done within the communist system. His program was called Doi Moi, meaning renovation.
The renovation was less than successful. Per capita GNP in Vietnam is about 25% that of China and a third that of Thailand. Thailand economically and politically most resembles the old South Vietnam so might well demonstrate what a southern victory might have achieved. One of the most vocal critics of the renovation economy was Linh himself. In his last years in retirement he wrote a scathing series of newspaper columns complaining about the distance between the haves and the have nots and the corruption and subservience caused by the foreign investment. Lucky for Vietnam he was too old to get back to his true talent of organizing secret cells of disadents.
Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await tomorrows new story that can be learned from stamp collecting.