Ngo Van

IN THE CROSSFIRE
Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary

Works by Ngo Van
(published in Paris unless otherwise indicated)

Vu an Moscou, Nha xuat ban Chang trao luu (Saigon: Chong Trao Luu [Countercurrent Publications], 1937). Pamphlet denouncing the Moscow Trials.

Divination, magie et politique dans la Chine ancienne [Divination, Magic and Politics in Ancient China]. Presses Universitaires de France, 1976; reprinted by You-Feng, 2002.

Viêt-nam 1920-1945: révolution et contre-révolution sous la domination coloniale [Vietnam 1920-1945: Revolution and Counterrevolution Under Colonial Domination]. L’Insomniaque, 1995; reprinted by Nautilus, 2000. Translated into Vietnamese as Viet nam 1920-1945, cach mang va phan cach mang thoi do ho thuc dan (Chuong Re/L’Insomniaque, 2000).

Avec Maximilien Rubel, une amitié, une lutte 1954-1996 [With Maximilien Rubel in Friendship and Struggle, 1954-1996]. Les amis de Maximilien Rubel/L’Insomniaque, 1997. Translated into Italian by Paolo Casciola as Con Maximilien Rubel 1954-1996: un’amicizia, una lotta comune (Florence: Quaderni Pieto Tresso, 2003). Excerpts reprinted in Au pays d’Héloïse.

Au pays de la Cloche fêlée: Tribulations d’un Cochinchinois à l’époque coloniale [In the Land of the Cracked Bell: Tribulations of a South Vietnamese During the Colonial Era]. L’Insomniaque, 2000. Translated into Spanish by Mercè Artigas as Memoria Escueta, de Cochinchina a Vietnam (Barcelona: Octaedro, 2004). Translated into Vietnamese as Tai Xu Chuong Re (Gex-la-Ville: Le Chat qui Pêche, 2006). Translated into English by Hélène Fleury, Hilary Horrocks, Ken Knabb and Naomi Sager as In the Land of the Cracked Bell and included in the present volume.

Contes d’autrefois du Viêt-nam/Chuyen doi xu Viet [Folktales of Vietnam]. French-Vietnamese bilingual edition in collaboration with Hélène Fleury. You-Feng, 2001. Translated into Spanish by Magali Sirera as Cuentos populares de Vietnam (Barcelona: Octaedro, 2004).

Utopie antique et guerre des paysans en Chine [Ancient Utopias and Peasant Revolts in China]. Gex-la-Ville: Le Chat qui Pêche, 2004. Translated into Spanish by Magali Sirera as Utopia antigua y revueltas campesinas en China (Barcelona: Etcetera, 2005).

Le Joueur de flûte et l’Oncle Hô: Viêtnam 1945-2005 [The Flute Player and Uncle Ho: Vietnam 1945-2005]. Paris-Méditerranée, 2005.

Au Pays d’Héloïse [In the Land of Héloïse]. L’Insomniaque, 2005. Memorial volume including fragmentary chapters from the continuation of Ngo Van’s autobiography plus several articles and photographs and a selection of his paintings. English translations by Ken Knabb of excerpts from the autobiographical material and of three of the articles are included in the present volume.

Bien Ca Chieu Hom (poem published in a Vietnamese paper, along with short pieces about peasant life, ca. 1931-1932).

Various articles on movements in the plantations, etc., published in La Lutte (Saigon, ca. 1933-1935).

“Ta Thu Thau and Bolshevik-Leninist Politics,” in Tia Sang (Saigon, April 1939).

Article on the Cao Dai sect, in Dien Tin (1939 or 1940).

“Workers and Peasants, Turn Your Guns in the Other Direction!” in Tieng Tho (France, October 31, 1951).

“M. Étiemble, commis-pèlerin suppôt de Mao Tsé-toung,” in La Révolution prolé­tarienne, revue syndicaliste révolutionnaire #441 (July-August 1959). [Critique of Étiemble’s gullible account of Mao’s China.]

“À propos de la Commune chinoise,” in Défense de l’homme #154 (August 1961). [On the “communes” in China’s “Great Leap Forward.”]

“Introduction à la causerie sur la révolte des Turbans Jaunes” (June 25, 1966). [Introductory remarks at a discussion of the Chinese “Yellow Turban Rebellion” (184 AD).]

“Sur la paupérisation,” in Cahiers de discussion sur le Socialisme de conseils #7 (November 1966). [On economic poverty, dehumanization and alienation.]

“Sur le Viêt-nam,” in Informations et correspondance ouvrières ##51-69 (1967-1968). [Series of articles on Vietnamese history 1900-1945.]

“Sur la réforme agraire,” in Cahiers de discussion sur le Socialisme de conseils #8 (April 1968). Reprinted in Au pays d’Héloïse. Translated in the present volume as “On Third World Struggles.”

“Réflexions préliminaires sur la guerre au Viêt-nam,” in Cahiers de discussion sur le Socialisme de conseils #8 (April 1968). Reprinted in Au pays d’Héloïse. Translated in the present volume as “Reflections on the Vietnam War.”

“Chez Jeumont-Schneider, impressions de mai,” in Informations et correspondance ouvrières #76 (December 1968). Reprinted in Au pays d’Héloïse. Translated by Brian Pearce as “Impressions of May” as part of a series on “1968: Its Causes and Its Consequences” in Critique 45: Journal of Socialist Theory, vol. 36, #2 (New York, August 2008). Translated by Ken Knabb in the present volume as “A Factory Occupation in May 1968.”

“Ceux qui meurent dans les rizières,” in Informations et correspondance ouvrières (ca. 1969; issue # unknown). [More on the Vietnam war.]

“Viêt-nam, Grève généralisée à Saigon, le 7 janvier 1970” (1970; publication unknown). [Accounts of strikes in South Vietnam.]

“Notes de Lecture: La Bureaucratie céleste de Étienne Balazs,” in Informations et correspondance ouvrières ##106-107 (June-July 1971). [Favorable review of Balazs’s book, which has been translated into English as Chinese Civilization and Bureaucracy.]

“Le Maoïsme à travers le Petit Livre rouge,” Informations et correspondance ouvrières ##112-113 (December 1971-January 1972). [Critique of Maoism and Mao’s “Little Red Book.”]

“Le mouvement IVe Internationale en Indochine (1930-1939),” in Cahiers Léon Trotsky #40 (Grenoble, December 1989).

“Le mouvement IVe Internationale en Indochine (1940-1945),” in Cahiers Léon Trotsky #46 (Grenoble, July 1991). This lengthy two-part text (later largely incorporated into the Vietnam 1920-1945 book) was translated into English by Harry Ratner as Revolutionaries They Could Not Break: The Fight for the Fourth International in Indochina 1930-1945 (London: Index Books, 1995).

“Ngo Van aux Chroniques rebelles.” Interview on Radio-Libertaire (November 18, 1995).

“Revolutionary witness: Vietnam’s history of struggle against imperialism.” Translation of a talk in London, published in The International #17 (London, January 1996).

“Pourquoi ce travail.” Talk at a meeting of Lutte Ouvrière (May 26, 1996).

“Ngo Van se souvient.” Interview about Nguyen An Ninh, published in Cyclo, revue de l’association 10.000 printemps (Autumn 1997).

“Rousseau et quelques figures de la lutte anticolonialiste et révolutionnaire au Viêt-nam,” in Études Jean-Jacques Rousseau #10 (1998). Reprinted in Au pays d’Héloïse.

“Viêt-nam 1997”: two-part article in Échanges ##85-86 (1997-1998).

“Les révoltes de paysans dans le Nord,” in Échanges #86 (March 1998). [Peasant revolts in North Vietnam.]

“La révolte paysanne de novembre 1956,” in Échanges #86 (March 1998). [The peasant revolt of 1956.]

“Le sort des paysans dans le Sud,” in Échanges #87 (May 1998). [The condition of the peasants in South Vietnam.]

“La nomenklatura,” in Échanges #88 (Winter 1998-1999). [On the Vietnam Communist Party’s bureaucratic ranks and privileges.]

“Les jauniers jaunes: la condition ouvrière sous le régime de ‘l’économie de marché à orientation socialiste’,” in Échanges #88 (Winter 1998-1999). [The condition of the workers under Vietnam’s “market socialism.”]

“Les camps de ‘rééducation’,” in Échanges ##94-101 (2000-2002). [Series of articles on the Vietnamese labor camps for political “reeducation.”] The material in the above-listed Échanges articles was largely incorporated into Le Joueur de flûte et l’Oncle Hô: Viêtnam 1945-2005.

“Utopie libertaire antique et guerre des paysans en Chine,” in Oiseau-Tempête #8 (Summer 2001) and #11 (Summer 2004). Material later incorporated into the Utopie antique book.

“La preuve par Chirac.” Leaflet on the Chirac-Le Pen presidential election by Hélène Fleury, Louis Janover, Monique Janover and Ngo Van (May 2002). Reprinted in Le Monde Libertaire and other publications.

“Introduction” to Phan Van Truong’s Une histoire de conspirateurs annamites à Paris (L’Insomniaque, 2003).

“Hô Chi Minh ‘dans la galerie des grands hommes’,” in La Quinzaine littéraire #866 (December 1, 2003). [Review of Pierre Brocheux’s Hô Chi Minh, du révolutionnaire à l’icône.]

“Quelques mots prononcés le 17 juin 2004 à la librairie Altaïr à Barcelona.” Transcript of a talk in Barcelona, published in Au pays d’Héloïse.

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Ngo Van wrote a number of articles in Vietnam during the 1930s about which we have little or no information. Probably a few of his later articles in France have also escaped our notice. Most of the above-mentioned articles can be found online at http://chatquipeche.free.fr/articles.html. The same website also presents other material by and about Ngo Van, including a large selection of his paintings and the Vietnamese versions of two of his books.