J.L.S. Girling - Peoples War (RLE Modern East and South East Asia): The Conditions and the Consequences in China and in South East Asia (Routledge Library Editions: Modern East and South East Asia)

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
MODERN EAST AND SOUTH EAST ASIA

Volume 5

PEOPLES WAR

PEOPLES WAR

The Conditions and the Consequences in China and in South East Asia

J. L. S. GIRLING

First published in 1969 by George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

This edition first published in 2015

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1969 George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-89258-3 (Set)

eISBN: 978-1-315-69792-5 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-138-89263-7 (Volume 5)

eISBN: 978-1-315-70863-8 (Volume 5)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

PEOPLES WAR

THE CONDITIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES IN CHINA AND IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

by
J. L. S. GIRLING

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1969

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no portion may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1969

ISBN 04 325015 7

CONTENTS

MAPS

APOLOGIA

Despite the subtitle of this book I have not discussed the aftermath of peoples war in China (the consequences refer to Pekings policy on peoples war and to US counter-measures; and the effect of these in South East Asia). But it is relevant to point out that, on the whole, China under Communism (even during the Cultural Revolution) is a better place for the majority of peoplethat is what I am concerned with: which democrats should be concerned withthan it was under the Kuomintang. In any case there was no real alternative; and the choice was made. Similarly with Vietnam: the choice was between Vietminh and French ruleBao Dai offered no real alternative. It is true that once in power the Communists have revealed far less attractive features than they did as leaders of popular revolt: ruthlessness, dogmatism and exploitation among them (particularly in their treatment of the peasantrythe very people whose support was needed to win the revolution). But again it should be pointed out that, while there were evident cruelties in land reform in North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh did backtrack and admit his mistakesomething that Ngo Dinh Diem, also led into error with his strategic hamlet programme, could not bring himself to do. None of this can excuse condonation of injustice or oppression wherever it may occur; but at least for the periodand the problemI am dealing with the balance was tilted clearly one way.

J.L.S.G.

The guerrilla movement is only the result, not the cause of the problem.

A. H. Nasution

Insurrection, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is a rising in open resistance to established authority or an incipient rebellion, which is defined in similar terms. Thus insurrection on any scalewhich is what matterscan also be considered a civil war, except in the case of a purely national uprising against foreign domination. Insurgency, rebellion, civil war, local conflict, peoples war, are more or less interchangeable terms, irrespective of the type of established government whose authority is being contested, regardless of the rights or wrongs of either side. (The Hungarian uprising of 1956 was as much a peoples war as the Vietminh campaign in Indo-China.)

Insurgency indicates prolonged resistance and thus differs from a coup dtat, either civil or military, which is a sudden seizure of power; though the resultif successfulmay be the same, that is the overthrow of the established authority. (Coups often effect only a change of leaders, not a change of policies; the latter is more likely to be the case with a long and widespread and destructive war.) Insurgency also differs from aggression, which denotes an armed attack across frontiers. But insurgents may be assisted verbally, diplomatically, economically or militarily from outside to a varying extent, which tends to blur the distinction. However, such aid can only be supplementary and not decisive, for otherwise there would no longer be an insurgency.

Both coups and insurgencies are the products of unstable situations, and this is likely to be a continuing feature of the developing world. Little can be done to prevent coups taking placeexcept to broaden the basis of governmentbut there are ways of remedying popular discontent to prevent it taking the form of mass resistance or insurgency.

The successful outcome of insurgency in developing countriesto judge from the experience of China, Indo-China and South Vietnam; and from the negative experience of Malaya, Greece and the Philippinesdepends on the combination of six conditions, which are partly economic, partly military and partly political. (If only some of these conditions are realized an insurgency may still break out, though it is unlikely to succeed.) These conditions are:

1. Peasant support.

2. Ability to sustain protracted war.

3. National appeal.

4. Leadership.

5. Organization.

6. Breakdown, or severe incapacity, of the opposing rgime.

The first three are motivating factors; the last three, factors of achievement. Serious economic conditions in the countryside usually provide the underlying motive for taking up arms. Protracted wara complex of factors, notably the survival and growth of insurgent forces based on liberated areas, gradually extending from remote jungle or mountainous regions, employing guerrilla tactics to wear down the enemy and thus gradually changing the balance of forcesthis is the way for a weak and ill-equipped movement to carry on the war against a more powerful enemy. And a nation-wide appeal helps to crown it with success.

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