With 1977 Hanoi being bereft of impressive buildings the victorious communist regime could take credit for. A building built by the French during colonial times and then recently refurbished with help from the Czechs substituted. Well the regime did think of the idea of designating it a Palace. Imagine the level to which the cupboard was bare. So slip on your Ao Dai, fill your canteen from the river and sit cross-legged on the ground. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp is from the period before peaceful, united Vietnam farmed out it’s stamp design to Cuba. So we get to see a less professional printing. Ignoring the chunk missing from my copy. notice how badly handled were the perforations.
Todays stamp is issue A303, a 10 Xu stamp issued by united Vietnam on May 29th, 1978. It was a single stamp issue for Children’s Day. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used. 10 Xu would be .00043 of an American penny now.
The Young Pioneer groups were started by the Soviets in the 1920s. To house the young peoples’ scouting like activities, grand mansions were allocated from those confiscated from the former aristocrats of the old regime. The stately homes were renamed youth palaces to emphasize the importance of the youth to the new regime. Through the 1950s as the organization spread to new places, Pioneer Palaces were built new in the traditional style. By the 1960s, newly built palaces more resembled YMCAs.
The Young Pioneer movement got a start in Vietnam all the way back in 1941 under the auspices of the illegal communist party. The slogan of the Vietnamese group is “For the ideals of socialism and the legacy of Uncle Ho. Be Prepared.” Having been a member of the Young Pioneers is a requisite to belong to the older youth Communist Youth Organization which is itself a prerequisite to join the Vietnamese Communist Party. The Pioneers still have 12 million members.
After communism fell most of the Pioneer Palaces became for profit health centers. A few even became casinos and strip clubs. As of now there are three that still function as Young Pioneer Palaces. This one in Hanoi, another in Pyongyang in North Korea and one in Havana, Cuba.
The building on the stamp was built by the French and originally one side hosted a kindergarten and the other a club exclusively for French in Hanoi. The building was taken in 1954 to act as a Young Pioneer Youth Palace, but it was not till 1973 when the building got a Czech paid for refurbishment to better fit it’s new role, including a large library.
Many countries still have Young Pioneer youth organizations as part of their country’s communist party. There is still an international governing organization under the acronym ICCAM based out of Budapest, Hungary.
Well I decided not to touch the river water and I am far to old to sit long in this ridiculous position. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.