National Social Democratic Front


The National Social Democratic Front, later named the Social Democratic Alliance, was a South Vietnamese political party which was effectively a federation of different groups, united by their anti-communist stance. Its chairman was Lt. Gen. Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, leader of South Vietnam from 1965–1975.

History

Democratic Progressive Party

The party was founded as the Democratic Progressive Party or simply Democratic Party by Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in 1967. It was not linked with its North Vietnam namesake, aligned with the Viet Minh and Communists.
The Democratic Party, purportedly representing farmers, workers and small traders, participated in the presidential election of 1967, supporting President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and his military rule. The party also adopted the flag of the National Revolutionary Movement and the Vanguard Youth, a youth organization that participated in August Revolution in 1945 against French colonial rule.

National Social Democratic Front

As the Vietnam War flared up, the Democratic Party tried to build a coalition with other anti-communist parties. In May 1969, the Democrats finally dissolved and formed a new party, the National Social Democratic Front. The party quickly became a federation of several organizations and parties, such as persecuted Roman Catholics who fled from North Vietnam; the Vietnam Republic Veterans Association, who sympathized with military rule; the Vietnamese Kuomintang, ideologically opposed to communism like its Chinese counterpart; the Democratic Socialist Party, who rejected communists' atheism for Buddhist socialism; the Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam, that desired to reunify Vietnam but not under communists; the Personalist Revolutionary Party, the heir of Can Lao Party; and the Peasants' and Workers' Party, supporting rural interests and opposed to the Viet Cong's guerrilla.

Social Democratic Alliance

The parties' federation was functional during Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's tenure as president and changed its name to Social Democratic Alliance in 1973. However, with the Vietnamization policy adopted by U.S. President Richard Nixon, South Vietnam inexorably started its collapse. The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 was a turning point in the war, causing the end of American intervention in Vietnam. Despite the peace agreement between communist North Vietnam and capitalist South Vietnam, in 1975 North Vietnam broke the peace and started the takeover of South Vietnam. Since the United States refused another intervention, South Vietnam collapsed after the Fall of Saigon, causing the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.

Democratic Alliance for Vietnam

Many members of the Front and South Vietnamese government were executed by the new administration, but others fled from Vietnam. In 1981, many former members of the Front created the Democratic Alliance for Vietnam, a pluralist extra-parliamentary opposition group based in California who advocate for democracy in Vietnam.

Prominent members

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Electoral history

Documents

  • Bùi Diễm & David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History, Indiana University Press; Illustrated edition, April 1, 1999
  • Phạm Công Luận, Hồi ức, sưu khảo, ghi chép về văn hóa Sài Gòn, Phuongnam Books & Thegioi Publishing House, Saigon, 2016–2022
  • Kiều Chinh, Nghệ sĩ lưu vong : Hồi ký, Văn Học Press, Irvine, California, United States, 2021
  • David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai Vietnam: A Portrait of Its People at War, I.B. Tauris Publishers
  • Sharon, Ariel and David Chanoff Warrior : the autobiography of Ariel Sharon; New York : Simon and Schuster
  • Good, Kenneth and David Chanoff Into the heart : one man's pursuit of love and knowledge among the Yanomami, Ulverscroft
  • Crowe, William J and David Chanoff The line of fire : from Washington to the Gulf, the politics and battles of the new military, Simon & Schuster
  • Elders, M Joycelyn and David Chanoff Joycelyn Elders, M.D. : from sharecropper's daughter to surgeon general of the United States of America, Morrow
  • White, Augustus A. and David Chanoff Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care, Harvard University Press
  • Zadman, Felix and David Chanoff Never the last journey: a Fortune 500 founder's life story from Holocaust survivor to victor on Wall Street, Shocken
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