DEEPENS REVOLUTIONARY TIE TO MASSES
The spectacular offensive of the National Liberation Front against South Vietnamese cities held by the U.S. and its Saigon puppets has marked a major counterescalation on the side of the revolutionary forces.
The central importance of the NLF drive, however, lies in its political implications. The U.S. military officialdom and the American capitalist press, so used to viewing the war through the narrow focus of the military chessboard, are still puzzling over this.
"A key question," the New York Times said February 9, "is, how could a total enemy assault force of perhaps 60,000 to 80,000 troops, brave as they might be, expect to defeat 500,000 American and almost 700,000 South Vietnamese troops in a head-on battle?"
The Times noted that an “official appraisal" felt the NLF had made a "gross error in judgment." It is clear now that there was a gross error in judgment, but it was not made by the NLF.
The Times cited an opinion of another military man that came much closer to the truth, that the offensive aimed to "shake the very foundations of the American-South Vietnamese alliance."
Further evidence has come to light in the past week that this was precisely the aim of the NLF, and equally important to their military operations were their political appeals to the masses of South Vietnamese living under the rule of the Saigon regime -- including those conscripted into the puppet army.
A February 8 Agence France-Presse dispatch from Saigon reported discussions with NLF leaders in the heart of the South Vietnamese capital. "We are going to reconquer the capital just as we are going to reconquer the country with the aid of the people," one leader said. "You can clearly see that the people are with us.
According to the account, "No special precautions had been taken to assure the safety of the leaders who spoke with Westerners. With only side arms, the Vietcong leaders had been going freely from house to house.
"The psychological effect on the population was evident."
The NLF spokesman continued:
"The front does not burn cities, rather it is content to push back the attacks on its sectors. We are committing no criminal acts.
"Now look at the destruction by the adversary in the cities. The Americans have bombed us with antipersonnel bombs, with napalm, with rockets. All this destruction is the work of the Americans. The people are convinced of this."
Another official added, "Our freedom movement clearly shows the collabora-— tion that we received from the population."
Evidently the U.S. commanders now think so, too, as their decision February 10 to use American troops to "help" the South Vietnamese secure "their own" capital indicates.
The setting up of revolutionary committees to administer cities in place of the officials of the Saigon government is another sign that the NLF is relying on the masses to advance the revolution.
In Pleiku province, while the government chief was out on an inspection tour, an NLF leader and his staff walked into the provincial headquarters compound and began to establish a revolutionary government.
In Quinhon on the central coast a similar incident took place. When the area was reconquered by the Americans, tape recordings were discovered which the New York Times claimed "called on the people to rally to a new revolutionary government
and asserted that the South Vietnamese Army had defected and was now fighting the Americans."
In the appeal broadcast by the National Liberation Front radio February 5, South Vietnamese soldiers in the puppet army were asked to "turn your arms" against officers who refuse to go over to the revolution.
The depth of the popular rising, the extent of the disintegration of the Saigon regime, and the number of Saigon troops that have gone over to the NLF
cannot yet be accurately gauged. North
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Duy
Trinh discussed these questions with a
special correspondent of Agence France-
Presse in Hanoi February 8.
Trinh said, "Over the past few
days the patriotic armed forces in the
South, along with the mass uprising of
millions of people, have launched every-
where, without respite, correctly coordi-
nated attacks throughout South Vietnam
-.--The administrative apparatus of the
puppet regime is collapsing and the pup-
pet army is disintegrating by big chunks."
MRS.