The Case Against French Colonialism

By Nguyen-Ai-Quoc (Ho Chi Minh)

Translated by Joshua Leinsdorf, Copyright, 2014.

First Series

Colonial Life Style

Worker’s Library, Quai de Jenapes, 96, Paris

[Translator’s note: Ho Chi Minh wrote in French, a foreign language. The English translation is stilted because the important point is to see Ho’s logic and analysis.]

Preface

In 1923, French colonization was the subject of a sensational trial.

The scandals in Togo and Cameroon caused such excitement among the natives subject to the French “mandate”, that the League of Nations itself has ordered an investigation.

The trial that we initiate today embraces the whole colonial area belonging to French imperialism. In turn, we will depose Senegalese, West Indians, Algerians, Tunisians, Malagasians, Annamese¹, etc…, and the claims, as well as the complaints, of fifty-nine million colonial slaves will be piously collected in a series of brochures.

We start the series by the deposition of an Annamite: Nguyen-Ai-Quoc.

Something else - it is not the League of Nations whose humanitarian zeal is our concern, it is the Court of History we want to seize. Thanks to our many, varied, precise and “experienced” documents, future humanity, that we wish the best and happiness, can judge the colonial crusade at its true value.

Then, it is to the colonial people themselves that we are calling. The day, and that day is coming, when these effectively enslaved masses regain their freedom, they will not fail to establish a revolutionary Tribunal to try the colonial clique as it deserves.

We are told – what about civilization? Indeed; it is true; French colonization brings the railroad, the electric tram, wireless telegraphy (besides the Gospel and the Declaration of the Rights of Man); only the question is, who is it who opens their wallets to pay for these wonders? Who is it who sweats to build these machines? And then, who benefits from the welfare they bring? And who receives the dividends they yield? – Is it us, or those who exploit and oppress us? Is it the blacks of Sudan and the yellow of Annam, or the conquistadors with pink faces, stealing their land and their herds, and taking the fruits of their labor, after killing their fellows?

France, or more precisely the French people, who have repeatedly been used to undertake distant, costly, and bloody, conquests; and who are availed upon to justify the unspeakable crimes that daily plague the colonies with impunity: do the people themselves take the least profit from the colonial scramble, or are they exploited, like us, by the same exploiters?

Ng. The Truyen.

¹ France considered Vietnam to be three separate colonies: Tonkin in the north, Annam in the middle and Cochinchina in the south.

First Chapter

Blood Tax

I. War and the Natives

Before 1914, they were only niggers and dirty Annamese good at the very most for pushing ricksaws and receiving the blows of our administrators. The joyous new war declared, they became “good friends” and “dear children” of our paternal and tender officials and even our more or less general governors.^{(see footnote 3)} They (the natives) were suddenly promoted to the rank of supreme “defenders of justice and freedom.” This honor they suffered, however, was quite expensive, because to defend this justice and this freedom of which themselves are deprived, they had to suddenly leave their rice fields or their sheep, their children and their wives, to come across the oceans to rot on the battlefields of Europe. During the crossing, many natives, after having been invited to a wonderful display of the scientific maneuver of torpedoing, went to the bottom of the waves to defend the homeland of the sea monsters. Others left their skin on the poetic desert of the Balkans wondering if the mother-country intended to be the first to enter the Turkish Harem, or why were they being killed in this country? Others, on the banks of the Marne or mud of Champagne were heroically massacred to sprinkle their blood on the leaders’ laurels and sculpt with their bones the marshals’ batons.

Finally, those who toiled in the rear, in the monstrous gunpowder factories to not have to breathe the poison gas of the “Boches”,² submitted to the glowing French fumes; which amounts to the same thing since the poor devils spit out their lungs as if they had been gassed.

In all, 700,000 Vietnamese natives came to France and, of this number, 80,000 will never again see the sun in their country!

² Slang for German soldiers in World War I.

II. The Enlisted

This is what a colleague told us: the native proletariat of Indochina are constantly squeezed under all forms of taxes, interest, chores of every kind, mandatory purchases of alcohol and opium, and have undergone, since 1915 – 16, the ordeal of being enlisted.

The events of these last years have given grounds for great grabs of human material throughout the country, confined to barracks under the most diverse names: infantryman, semi-skilled workers, unskilled workers, etc.

In the opinion of all impartial powers who were called upon to utilize Asian human material in Europe, this material did not produce results commensurate with the huge expenses caused by its transport and maintenance.

`Then, the hunting of said human material, called for the occasion “volunteers” (a word of frightful irony), gave rise to the most scandalous abuses.

Here is how this voluntary recruitment is practiced: The “satrap”, that is each one of the Indochinese Residents,³ informs their mandarins that by a fixed deadline it is necessary that his Province supply a certain number of men. The means are unimportant. The mandarins manage. They are familiar with the coping mechanism, especially for monetizing the business.

They begin by gathering available subjects, without resources, who are sacrificed without recourse. Then they summon the sons of the rich; if they are recalcitrant, an opportunity is easily found to examine their history, or their family’s, and, when necessary, imprison them until they have solved the following dilemma: “enlist or pay.”

It is understandable that people picked up in such circumstances are lacking any enthusiasm for the profession for which they are intended. Just barely barracked, they watch for any opportunity to escape.

Others, unable to protect themselves from what is for them a bad fate, inoculate themselves with the most serious diseases, the most common is purulent conjunctivitis, from rubbing the eyes with various ingredients, ranging from lime to gonorrheal pus.

³ French colonies were administered by a Governor-General in Saigon, a Resident-General for each of the colonies, and Residents, or local governors, for each Province. Hence, the author’s use of “our more or less general governors” above is a sarcastic play on words.

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Even so, having promised to give mandarin rank to Vietnamese volunteers who survive and posthumous titles to those who are dead “for the native land”, the general government continued its proclamation:

“You enlisted in droves, you left your homeland though to which you are so attached without hesitation; you riflemen, to give blood; you workers, to offer your arms.”

If the Annamites were so delighted to be soldiers, why were they each taken to the capital in chains, while others awaited embarkation locked within the College of Saigon, under the eye of French sentinels with fixed bayonets and loaded guns? The bloody events of Cambodia, the riots in Saigon, Bien-Hoa and elsewhere, were they therefore manifestations of this eagerness to join up “in droves” and “without hesitation”?

The escapes and desertions (50 percent in the class of reservists) provoked ruthless repressions and these revolts were suppressed in blood.

The government overall took care to add that, of course, to merit the “visible benevolence” and the “great goodness” of the administration, “You (Indochinese soldiers) must conduct yourselves well and give no cause for dissatisfaction.”

The senior commander of the troops in Indochina took another precaution, he had inscribed on the back or wrist of each recruit an indelible number made by means of a solution of silver nitrate.

As in Europe, the great misery of some is the cause of profit for others: commissioned officers, to whom this windfall of recruitment and management of natives permits them to remain as long as possible away from perilous operations in Europe; suppliers who enrich themselves quickly by starving the unfortunate recruits; and market owners who have illicit dealings with officials.

Let us add, in this connection, there is another kind of volunteering, volunteering for subscriptions to various loans. Identical procedures. Whoever possesses is required to subscribe. Persuasive and coercive means are used against the recalcitrants such that all perform.

As most Asian subscribers are unaware our financial mechanism, they consider the payments to loans as new taxes and give no other value to securities than that of receipts.

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Now see how volunteerism has been organized in the other colonies.

Take, for example, West Africa (now Senegal, Mauritania, Sudan, Upper Volta, Guinea, Niger, Ivory Coast and Dahomey):

Commanders, accompanied by their armed forces, went from village to village to force the Notable natives to IMMEDIATELY provide the number of men they wanted to recruit. A commander, was he not considered ingenious, to bring young Senegalese who fled before him to leave their hiding place and don the military fez, by torturing their parents? Did he not stop the elderly, pregnant women, young girls, and make them strip off their clothes that were burned before their eyes? Naked and tied up, the unfortunate victims, under the blows of the cane, ran through the towns on the double “to set an example”! A woman carrying her baby on her back had to seek permission to have a free hand to balance her child. Two old men dropped from inanition during the journey; girls, terrorized by such cruelties, had their menstrual period for the first time; a pregnant woman gave birth prematurely to a stillborn child, another gave birth to a blind child.

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The processes of recruitment were also very varied. This one was particularly expeditious:

A string is stretched at the end of the main street of a village and another string at the other end. And all the Negroes found between the two strings are automatically volunteered.

“March 3, 1923, at noon,” a witness wrote us, “The wharfs of Rufisque and Dakar having been ringed by the constabulary, made a round-up of all the natives who worked there. As these fellows did not seem willing to go immediately to defend civilization, they were asked to get into trucks that led them to prison. From there, and when they had taken time to reconsider, we took them to the barracks.

“There, following patriotic ceremonies, 29 volunteers were proclaimed potential heroes to the last man… All now burning with desire to return the Ruhr to the mother-country.

“Only,” wrote General Mangin who knew them well, these are troops “to consume before winter.”

We have a letter from a native of Dahomey, a veteran who has done his “duty” in the just war. Excerpts from this letter will show you how “batoala”⁴ are protected and how our colonial administrators manufacture the native loyalty that adorns all official speeches and feeds the articles of any quality by the Regismansets and Hausers.⁵

“In 1915,” the letter said, “At the time of recruiting force ordered by Mr. Noufflard, Governor of Dahomey, my village was pillaged and burned by police officers and the Circle⁶ guards. During the looting and burning, all I had was taken from me. Nevertheless, I was enlisted by force, and without taking account of this heinous attack of which I was the victim, I have done my duty at the French front. I was wounded at Aisne.

“Now that the war is ended, I will return to my country, homeless and without resources.

“Here is what I was robbed of:

“1,000 francs in cash;

“12 pigs;

“15 sheep;

“10 goats;

“60 chickens;

“8 loin cloths;

“5 jackets;

“10 pants;

“7 headdresses;

“1 silver necklace;

“2 trunks containing various objects.

“Here are the names of comrades living in the same neighborhood as me and who were enlisted by force, the same day as me, and whose houses were looted and burned. (Seven names follow.)

“Many are still the victims of Governor Noufflard’s military exploits, but I do not know their names to give them to you today….”

The “Boches” of [Kaiser] Wilhelm could have done no better.

⁴ Batouala, the name of an African prince in a 1921 French novel of that title.

⁵ Charles Regismanset and Henri Hauser, French authors who wrote on colonial questions.

⁶ Cercle (Circle) was the smallest unit of political administration in French African colonies. Cercle consisted of several cantons each of which consisted of several villages.

III. The Fruit of Sacrifice

As soon as the guns were satiated with black or yellow flesh, the romantic declarations of our leaders fell silent as if by magic and Negroes and Annamites automatically became people of the “dirty race.”

In memory of services rendered, did we not, before embarking from Marseilles, strip the Annamites of everything they had: new clothes purchased at their own expense, watches, various souvenirs, etc…? Did we not subject them to the control of thugs who beat them for no reason? Were they not fed like pigs and laid as such in humid holds, without berths, airless, without light? Having arrived in the country, were they not warmly received by the grateful administrator with this patriotic speech: “You have defended the homeland. This is good. Now, we no longer need you, go away!”

And the former “poilus”⁷ – or what remains of them – after having valiantly defended law and justice, return empty handed to their native status where law and justice are unknown.

⁷ poilu – literally means hairy. It was used to denote virility and was the informal term for the French infantryman during World War I.

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According to the Indochinese newspapers, the opium vendor licenses would be granted mutilated Frenchmen and to widows of the French soldiers killed in the war.

Thus, the colonial government committed two crimes against humanity at the same time. On one hand, it is not pleased to do the dirty work of poisoner itself, it wants to include its poor victims of fratricidal slaughter. On the other hand, it values the life and blood of its dupes so low, that it believes that by throwing them these rotten bones; it is payment enough for dismemberment or mourning a husband.

We have no doubt that cripples and widows of war will reject this repugnant offer by spitting their indignation in face of its author; and we are certain that the civilized world and the good French are with us in condemning colonial sharks that do not hesitate to poison an entire race to fill their own pockets.

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Following an Annamite custom, if, in a village, someone died, the hullers of rice must show respect for repose of the soul of the deceased and the grief of his family by refraining from singing during their work as they usually do. Modern civilization, implanted by force among us, is not that way. Read the following story that was published in a Cochinchinese newspaper:

Celebrations of Bien Hoa

“The committee to organize the celebrations for the benefit of the monument to the dead Annamites from Bien Hoa Province is actively working to put together a wonderful program.

“We are talking about garden-party, fairgrounds, country dance, etc…., in short, the attractions are many and varied to allow everyone to collaborate on a good work in the most pleasant way in the world.

“Gentlemen aviators of Bien Hoa air base will lend their aid and organizers can already count on the attendance of the highest Saigonese authorities to boost, by their presence, the radiance of the festival.

“Let us add that the Saigonese men and women will not need to return to the capital for dinner, which would thus result in cutting short their cakewalk; a beautifully prepared, specially garnished buffet will satisfy the most discerning palates.

“Let’s all go to Bien Hoa January 21^st. There will be lovely celebrations and we will have shown to the families of Bien Hoa’s Annamites who died during the war that we know how to remember their sacrifice.”

Other times, other manners.

But what manners!

The following letter was sent to us:

Saigon

“…It is a both painful and grotesque abnormality to celebrate the victory of ‘law’ and ‘justice’ to a people who suffer injustice and have no rights. This is exactly what we have done here. It is unnecessary to tell you about the festivities and ‘public pleasures’ that took place in this city on November 11^th. It is always the same everywhere. Torchlight parades, fireworks, review the troops, a ball at the Governor’s Palace, flower parade, patriotic collections, advertisements, speeches, banquets, etc. Of all these hypocrisies, I have retained only one psychologically interesting fact. Like the crowds of all countries, those of Saigon are very fond of movies. Thus, a dense mass camped in front of the Charlot and Palace Theaters where the films run continuously and the glorious cowboys march by one after the other. Invading the boulevard, the crowd took the street. Then the owner of the Saigon-Palace, wanting to liberate the sidewalk of his establishment, hit the crowd with a rattan cane. Mrs. also helped and beat the multitude. A few newsboys succeeded in ‘pinching’ the cane of the missus; and we applauded. Enraged, mister returned to the contest, with a club this time, and heroically he struck with a vengeance. The ‘boors’⁸ were pushed back to the boulevard, but drunk with his ‘victory’, this good Frenchman bravely crossed the street and continued to rain his big cane on the head, shoulders, and backs of these poor natives. A child was taken by him and generously ‘bastinadoed’….

⁸ nha quês – Vietnamese for countryman or boor.

IV. THE CONTINUOUS MILITARISM

Upon his arrival in Casablanca, Field Marshal Lyautey sends the troops of the Moroccan occupation army the order for the next day:

“I owe you the highest military dignity with which I have been honored by the Republican government because, for nine years, you gave unstinting dedication and your blood.

“We will launch a campaign that will ensure the final pacification of Morocco for the common benefit of its loyal populations and of the protectress nation, etc.”

Yet, on the same day (the 14^th of April) comes this press release:

“During an engagement with the Beni-Bou-Zert at Bab-el-Harba we had 29 killed and 11 injured.”

When you think that it took the blood of one million five hundred thousand workers to manufacture six marshals’ batons, the 29 poor bastards who died are not praise enough for the eloquent speeches of the resident Field Marshal. But where is the right of peoples to self-determination, for which we killed each other for four years? And what a funny way to civilize: to teach people to live well, we begin by killing.

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Here (in Haiphong), there also are seamen’s strikes. Thus Thursday (August15) two ships had to leave taking a large number of Annamite infantrymen to Syria.

The sailors refused to leave, claiming that their wages were not being paid in paisters. In fact, the piaster’s market value was 10 francs instead of the official rate of 2.5. The companies establish an unheard of abuse, the sailors’ deductions in francs while the officials are paid in piasters.

Everyone was then disembarked and the men of the crew were immediately arrested.

As you can see, sailors in the Yellow Sea have nothing to envy of the Black Sea sailors.⁹

We protest with all our strength against sending Annamite troops to Syria. Is it believed, in high places, that there were not enough of our unfortunate yellow brothers massacred on the battlefields between 1914 and 1918, during the “war for civilization and justice?”

⁹ On April 19, 1919, French crews of the battleships Jean Bart and France, sent to the Black Sea in support of intervention in the Russian civil war, mutinied.

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It is usual among our glorious “to educate” the natives with kicks and caning.

The unfortunate Nahon, twice murdered, first by Captain Vidart, and then by the avaricious quack charged with the autopsy, who, to save the skin of his buddies, has not hesitated to steal and hide the brain of the deceased – he is not, alas! – the only victim of colonial militarism. One of our colonial colleagues reported another:

“This time,” he said, “It was at the headquarters of the 5^th Infantry. The victim was a young soldier of the 21^st class, Terrier, native of Ténès. [Algeria]

“The circumstances of his death are particularly painful. On August 5, the young soldier Terrier went to the regimental infirmary to ask for a purgative. He was given, or more exactly what he believed to be, the purgative; he drank it, and a few hours later, writhing in agony, he died.

“Mr. Terrier’s father then received a telegram telling him, bluntly without explanation, his son, - his only son, - had died and that he will be buried next day, Sunday.

“Mad with grief, the poor father runs to Algiers, to the 5^th Infantry headquarters. There he learns that the body of his son is in the Maillot hospital. (How was he carried there? Is it true that to avoid the regulatory verification prescribed for all deaths occurring in the infirmary, he was taken dead to the hospital, under the pretense of having died on the way?)

“In the hospital, the unfortunate father asked to see the corpse, he is told to wait.

“Long after, a Major arrives who tells him that the autopsy just done revealed nothing and leaves without giving him permission to see the body of his son.

“The latest news - it seems that Mr. Terrier, the father, who asked for an explanation from the 5^th Infantry Colonel, received this response: his son died drunk.’

CHAPTER II

Poisoning of Natives

Good Mr. Sarraut, former radical¹⁰ Minister of Colonies, little father of the natives (what he says), adored the Annamese and was adored by them.

To inculcate the French civilization of which he was the principal agent, he stopped at nothing, not even infamies and crimes. Here is proof: It is the letter in his capacity as Governor General of Indochina, to fatten the pockets of the colonial bandits and his own, he addresses his subordinates:

“Mr. Resident,

“In accordance with the instructions of the Director General of Management, I have the honor to request you to kindly support the efforts of my service in the establishment of new debits of opium and alcohol.

“To this effect, let me send you a list of debits that should be set in various villages mentioned, most of which are totally deprived of alcohol and opium.

“By means of the Cambodian governors and Messocks¹¹ your dominant influence could well assert, to some small indigenous merchants, the benefits they would have by engaging in additional trading.

“As for our part, the operational field service agents, on their rounds, seek to set debits, unless you prefer, Mr. Resident, they wait for you to act first with the authorities and support your action, in which case I ask you kindly to inform me.

“It is only by a full and consistent agreement between your administration and ours that we will get our best result, for the greater good of the interests of the revenue.”

Signed, Albert Sarraut

There were then 1500 vendors of alcohol and opium per 1000 villages, while there were only 10 schools for the same number of localities. Already, before this famous letter, 12 million natives – including women and children – were downing 23 – 24 million liters of alcohol per year.

¹⁰ Albert Sarraut was a member of the Radical Party.

¹¹ Messock is a town and commune in Cameroon

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“For the monopolies, Indochina will be represented by a beautiful deer, mercilessly bound, dying under the crooked beak of insatiable vultures.”

The company of the alcohol monopoly counted among its underwriters the most eminent figures of Indochina and all branches of the Administration there were brilliantly represented. Most of them had the advantage of being undeniably useful;

Justice, to settle disputes with those we want to tax:

2 attorneys general;

1 prosecutor of the Republic;

1 notary clerk.

The army, to repress a revolt that is considered possible only because of the application of the desired monopoly:

1 brigadier general;

1 lieutenant colonel;

2 high grade military doctors;

1 commander;

2 captains.

The administration, whose disinterested complacency would be the best guarantee for the success of the operation:

1 resident of France;

1 recipient of finances;

1 paymaster general;

1 postal inspector;

1 registrar;

1 director of civil services;

2 teachers, etc., etc.

Finally: The Honorable Mr. Clementel, Member of Parliament from Puy-de-Dôme.

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“What France looks at and is proud of!” cried Mr. Sarraut at the Colonial Exposition in Marseille. In fact, here besides the majestic alligators of West Africa, camels from Tunis yawn philosophically; and the friendly Malagache crocodiles gossip familiarly with august Indochinese cows. Agreement was never so perfect, and facing the peaceful invasion of colonial fauna, the legendary sardine¹² of the old port, a good hostess, smiles graciously.

The visitors watch with lively interest the historical sofa of a Governor General, the sword with which administrator resident Darles pricked the thighs of Tonkinese inmates, and the torch which the administrator Bruère used to smoke out more than 200 natives from Housassas.

The flag of Cameroon especially attracts attention. We see a board bearing these patriotic words:

“Germans in Cameroon imported ‘large quantities of alcohol.’

“The French have banned its use.”

However, a malicious hand sticks to the bottom of this board the letter of Mr. Sarraut requiring his subordinates to increase the number of alcohol and opium levies in the Annamite villages, with this inscription:

“While the Annamites already have: 10 schools, 1,500 alcohol and opium outlets for 1,000 villages.”

¹² The legendary sardine and good hostess refers to the mistaken myth that a sardine once blocked the Marseilles Harbor (it was a ship named the Sartine) along with a reference to the city’s emblem, the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Guarding Lady) that overlooks the harbor.

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A significant fact about an official who was the head of Son-Tay province in Tonkin.

In this province, there was a population estimated at 200,000 inhabitants. For the cause, when it comes to pushing consumption, this population rose with a sudden rapidity: it was increased to 230,000 inhabitants. But, as these 230,000 inhabitants consumed too little, the resident of Son-Tay arrived, after one year, to obtain a consumption of 560,000 liters of alcohol.

Right away, his promotion was ensured; he received congratulations.

Mr. C… affirms that another resident showed him a letter from further up the chain of command in which we read: “The alcohol consumed in Prefecture X… has fallen to less than Z…, per capita. Don’t you think it is necessary to make an example? The resident summoned the notables and put them on notice, explained to them that if they consumed so little, that they were smuggling; and soon villages, for the sake of peace, bought the official amount of alcohol, proportionate to the number of inhabitants that the estimates of the office wanted to impose.

We fix, in fact if not by legal means, the annual consumption of each native. And when we say each native, we must not forget that it is not only adult natives; it is the entire population; it is old men, women, children, even at the breast; the parents are forced in some way to substitute for them to consume not one, but two, three liters of alcohol.

The inhabitants of a Tonkin village, finding themselves forced to consume, having regard to the threat to them, addressed themselves to their European official:

“We do not even have enough to eat.” The officer replied: “You are accustomed to three meals of rice a day; You just have to delete one meal, or, if necessary, a meal and a half in order to consume government alcohol.”

Hitherto, the natives were accustomed to purchasing alcohol in small quantities and they could take delivery in vessels that suited them. But we established the system of stamped bottles. Alcohol could be delivered only in official bottles of half-liters or liters. The Annamites were used to an alcoholic content of 20 to 22 percent; alcohol of 40 to 45 percent is imposed on them. They were accustomed to drink alcohol that had a pleasant empyreumatic¹³ taste, due to the quality of the raw materials they employed, including a more delicate rice: the drug Annamites are forced to swallow is made with cheap rice, chemical ingredients and has a dirty taste.

The monopolists brought out a circular to stipulate to their employees the dilution of alcohol to be sold: to a hectoliter of alcohol, it was to mix 8 liters of pure water.

We have calculated that, given that each day he sells 500 hectoliters of this alcohol in Indochina, it was 4,000 liters of clean water, and that 4,000 liters at 30 cents per day makes 1,200 piasters per day, 36,000 piasters per month, a small profit from only one spring of 432,000 piasters or 4 million francs per year!

Thus alcohol, such as is manufactured and sold by the monopolists of Indochina, does not match in strength or taste, that which the natives demand, and must push it on them by force.

The administration, pressed by the constant need for money, by the requirement to meet the increasing expenses of general government, large loans, military construction and the need to find – if not real jobs – at least salaries for a host of officials imposed upon it by Paris, the Administration, by all means, pushes officials, agents, from the resident to the humblest employee, to increase the consumption of alcohol.

¹³ empyreumatic – tasting or smelling of burnt organic matter.

CHAPTER III

The Governors

I. Mr. Fourn

Mr. Fourn, Governor of Dahomey, governs so well that all the natives of the colony complain about him. To calm the discontent, we pretend to send an inspector to this colony. This one inspects so well, that he l… the camp without considering the complaints presented to him by the population.

We have received, on this subject, a letter from the Franco-Muslim Action Committee in Porto-Novo. Here are the essential passages:

“Well before the arrival of the French in Dahomey, there was in Porto-Novo a Muslim leader called Imam, responsible for representing the Moslem community wherever necessary, administer the property belonging to this community and ensure the celebration of religious ceremonies.

“According to custom, the Imam must be elected by an electoral body of devout Muslims noted for their morality and who filled the assistant positions over a long period. Furthermore, before his death, the Imam in power gives his opinion on the deputy who, ordinarily, possesses the qualifications required to replace him.

“The opinion given by the Imam on this occasion is irreversible.

“Before the death of the Imam Cassoumou, the latter named the deputy Saroukou as his successor and who was accepted by the electoral body as well as the majority of Moslems.

“The Imam Saroukou should have been elected upon the death of Cassoumou, but Ignacio Paraiso, with the backing of the Governor, opposed it by arbitrarily imposing on the Moslems the appointed Lawani Kassoko, who is his personal friend and who, like him, is a Moslem in name only.

“Seeing that the electoral body and the majority of Moslems were against the illegal appointment of Lawani Kassoko, Mr. Ignacio Paraiso interposed the higher chief Houdji, who is a primitivist, and who under the cover of government elected the appointed Lawani Kassoko contrary to the wishes of Muslims.

“Again, if Lawani Kossoko was a good and honest Moslem, we would keep silent about his appointment, but he is the most dishonest man on earth. Here, however, is the evidence of what we say.

“Lawani Kassoko was born in Lagos (English Nigeria). He is a British subject. Following killings and other crimes committed in English Nigeria, Lawani Kassoko was pursued by the British authorities.

“Our Governor then took in this undesirable British subject and, as a reward, appointed him chief of the lake villages: Affotonou, Aguegue, Agblankantan, etc. etc., where all the inhabitants now have had enough of his exactions and crimes and complain about it.

“- We had a mosque in the Akpassa neighborhood in Porto-Novo. The French administration demolishes this mosque for a public utility and gave us an indemnity of 5,000 francs.

“The compensation was not sufficient for the construction of a new mosque, we collected, by private subscription, a sum of 22,000 francs.

“Among the members of the Committee responsible for the purchase of materials and payment of workers, is Ignacio Paraiso.

“On the death of Imam Assistant Bissirou, who had been entrusted with the key to the safe, Ignacio Paraiso became the custodian of the key. He took advantage of this title to divert a total of 2,775 francs. The Committee was obliged to expel him.

“Ignacio Paraiso, irate, consulted with the Governor. He took arbitrary measures against us and put obstacles in the way of the constructing our mosque.

“Now, as a result of the intrigues of Ignacio Paraiso, to which the Governor lent a hand, from the time of the naming of unholy Lawani Kassoko as Imam, the Moslems of Porto-Novo were divided into two camps. This state of affairs undermines the harmony and free exercise of our religion, and creates great confusion.”

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II. Mr. Long

Excerpts from a letter to the June 12, 1922 edition of French Republic by Colonel Bernard who, you may rest assured Mr. Minister, is not a communist.

“The exports of Indochina,” says the letter, “Are stationary or even falling. In 1914, Indochina exported: 45,000 kilos of silk; 99,000 tons of corn; 480 tons of tea; last year, it exported only 15,000 kilos of silk; 32,000 tons of corn and 156 tons of tea.

“It is also believed that the Indochinese government is now actively pursuing the execution of works necessary for the development of the colony. Yet, since 1914, not a kilometer of railroad track nor a hectare of rice paddy has been built. Mr. Sarraut did approve ten years ago, a program of work that includes construction of the railway from Vinh to Dong Ha, and making of four large irrigation systems. All work has been suspended for more than five years, on the pretext that we had no credit. However, in this same period, Indochina has spent 65 million piasters and 450 million francs on road construction and civilian buildings. Let Mr. Faget¹⁴ contemplate these numbers! Nearly half a billion expense to construct car roads which carry not a ton of goods, to raise housing and offices for staff who swarm in Indochina with the abundance of tropical vegetation; and, during that time, admittedly essential work, already approved by a vote of parliament, was abandoned.

“And do not believe that we have any intention of changing methods in Indochina. To complete the program of 1912, Mr. Long has already asked parliament for permission to incur borrowing; he asks today for permission to take out a second one. Those who lead the development of Indochina today seem determined not to do anything truly useful if you do not allow them, firstly, to make debts. As for the budgetary resources, as to reserves accumulated during the war and post-war period, they are determined to throw them royally out the window if parliament does not put its house in order.

¹⁴ Louis Faget – farmer and French politician, advocate for agriculture and tobacco growers.

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III. Mr. Garbit

Mr. Garbit, Governor General of Madagascar, returned to France. Like all the Governors, his friends, Mr. Garbit is very happy with “HIS” colony. Progress, wealth, loyalty, projects, calm, organization, etc. That is the eternal unchanging baggage of proconsuls on leave that Mr. Garbit, in turn, helpfully unpacked for anyone to see. And, beyond these bluffs, Mr. Garbit artistically tosses out another bluff (or the bluff of the other) this superfine: development of colonies. In welcoming him, we ask of Mr. the Governor:

“Is it true that the inspection mission, sent by the ministry, did not have enough soap to wash the head of the Governor¹⁵ and soap the slope on which his excellency must let himself slide toward the Metropole [France], there to remain forever and ever?

“Is it true, to save face, some zealous have organized a reception before his departure; and that this has necessitated a laborious recruitment, because nobody, outside of the organizers, had wanted to come?

“Is it true that the creatures of Mr. Governor have planned a petition asking his return to the colony; but that this petition did not emerge because it was believed to be an against-petition?

“Is it true, finally, that the affectionate wish the indigenous population addressed to him was this:

“Goodbye, Garbit! Hope we never meet again!”

¹⁵ Laver la tête, literally meaning to wash the head (hair) idiomatically means to haul someone over the coals. The reference to soap is a play on words which works only in French.

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IV. Mr. Merlin

The fate of 20 million happy Annamese is placed in the hands of Mr. Martial Merlin.

Who is this Mr. Merlin? you ask me. This is a man who has been director of the Gambier Islands, then general secretary of West Africa, then governor of the same colony. This is a man who has spent 36 years of his life stuffing indigenous skulls with the civilization of benefactress France.

Perhaps you would say it is an enormous indo-chinoiserie¹⁶ to govern a country by a man who understands nothing about it.

Well! Yes. But it is the fashion. A colleague pointed out that enthroned in the office of the ministry of West Africa colonies, is a former director of Indochina. – A former administrator of West Africa is responsible for services in Equatorial Africa. – A past official of Sudan was chosen to address issues concerning Madagascar; while Cameroon is represented at the colonial exposition by an official who has never set foot there.

So, before going to civilize the Indochinese in Indochina, the proconsul Merlin has wanted to start by civilizing the Indochinese dead in France, you know, these died for their country, justice and so on.

Laughter in cemeteries is a pleasure of great men, but to laugh there all alone would probably be unseemly. That is why his Excellency Martial Merlin instructed the young state supported Annamites to accompany him to the Garden of the Dead at Nogent-Sur-Marne, a speech to be made in his high presence. But, before being read to the public, said speech had to be presented to his Excellency for censorship. This was done, and the speech, judged too subversive, was canceled altogether by His Excellency and replaced by another which His Excellency himself gave the outline.

Naturally, the speech thus cooked in the official sauce smelled strongly of loyalty and unwavering commitment.

If the dead could speak, as the spiritualists claim, the Annamite ghosts of Nogent would say, “Th…anks to you, oh Governor! But have mercy, - leave us in peace.”

¹⁶ Indo-chinoiserie – is both a pun and a play on words. Chinoiserie refers to decorations in the Chinese style, or a useless and complicated bauble. It is also a play on the western stereotype of Chinese as inscrutable and underhanded.

V. Mr. Jeremie Lemaire

We read in the Colonial Annals this tidbit:

“We learn that Jeremie La Maire, former colonial governor, former deputy of India, is currently the object of criminal prosecution. Indeed, he was President of the bank of which Mr. Frezouls was the managing director; bank declared bankrupt two years ago.

“This is the culmination of the career of this sad individual.”

Well, Well! So there are some sad individuals in the noble brotherhood of governors and colonial deputies? Who would have thought it!

VI.

Mr. Outrey

He is a Cochinchinese Member of Parliament (as Cochinchinese as Mr. P. Loti¹⁷ is Turkish). He makes speeches at the palace and does business in Saigon. As a parliamentarian, he regularly puts the touch on his seals of office; as a colonist, he does not pay his taxes. This honest representative of the people has a concession of 2,000 hectares, and, for fifteen years, the honorable concessionaire has not paid a cent. When the tax collector asked him to come into compliance, he replied: Th…ank¹⁸ you. Because he is a Member of Parliament, he is left alone.

There was a time when this same Mr. Outrey was interim governor of Cochinchina.

Cochinchina is administered by a governor appointed by decree of the president of the Republic. This high officer is assisted in his high functions by a mixed assembly, the Colonial Council, one of whose functions, the most important, no doubt, is to vote, every year, the budget of the colony. We must say at once that this budget is funded by revenue from taxes, either direct or indirect, paid by the Annamites, the expenditures therein provided for should, in principle (but never actually!) be made for the Annamites, in a word, it is the Annamese interests that are entrusted to this Colonial Council. At present, this famous Colonial Council is composed of more French than Annamese: 18 French members, including 12 elected and 6 delegates from different associations: the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Agriculture, etc., and 6 Annamite members. Assuming all are present, what can 6 Annamese voices do against 18 French votes? The government consequently puts into the budget whatever it pleases and it is certain in advance that the items are passed.

This is what happens three-quarters of the time: thus, in 1905, the interim governor Outrey, today a deputy of France in Cochinchina, raised by one hundred percent, the already too heavy taxes that hit the rice fields. This increase that has Outrey immortalized in the memory of Annamites, resulted in the collective resignation of our indigenous councilors. No matter! Outrey had them replaced by others he imposed himself on the Annamite voters. One of his enforcement officers, the administrator Maspero (province of Bienhoa) did he not lock in prison all voters in the province, on the eve of the election, to prevent them from communicating with the candidates? They are thus forced to vote, under penalty of reprisals, for Outrey’s candidate Bùi-Thê-Kam, to prevent the re-election of resigned Councilor Hoài; who had been wrong not to act as Outrey wanted.

¹⁷ Pierre Loti is a French writer who had recently died. His novels take place in exotic foreign lands like Tahiti, Senegal, Japan and especially Turkey.

¹⁸ Merci is the French word for thank you. The author writes m…erci, drawing out the first syllable as if he was about to say merde, the French word for shit.

CHAPTER IV

The Administrators

I. M. Saint

As you know, the colonies are Frances overseas and the French of these Frances are the Annamites or the Malagasies, or the …etc. Also, that which is good here is bad there: and what is tolerated over there is forbidden here. For instance: It is permissible for all French to brutalize the native with opium, the more sold, the more they are esteemed; but if you dare to sell this poison here, you will immediately be put away. On the other hand, in France, a senior official is permitted to travel in underwear, it is, on the contrary, prohibited for a native prince to wear native dress, even when he is sick at home.

Being sick, the incandescent Bey of Tunis received the Resident-General in a dressing gown. This was already bad enough, but worse was that the grandson and nephew of the same Bey had forgotten to greet the aforementioned resident. Two days later, just at siesta time, Mr. Resident, in his smart uniform, escorted by his troops, came to demand an apology. It is done. When the Bey is under the protection of a saint, whether the holy father, holy son or holy spirit, he has no right to be sick. And you “Poulbot”¹⁹ natives know that when you are born under the wing of mother democracy, we must not play, or laugh, or heckle, but learn to greet.

In Indochina, and other colonies, not a few “guardians” are happy to beat the natives who do not salute fast enough: but they never again called up the armed forces to ask greetings from their “toddlers”. It is true that they are not all Resident-Generals.

Although this “serious event” was reported from the rostrum of parliament, it could, as M. Poincaré said, injure the influence of France, we can not, without being ungrateful to the Resident-General Saint, accuse²⁰ him of “defeatism”; because thanks to this friendly, child-like and peaceful demonstration, the natives henceforth know how to greet a “white brother.” We recall that during his visit to Africa, M. Millerand was welcomed by the natives who, to show their sincere affection and reverence to the protector head of state, pull their shirts out of their pants.

¹⁹ Francois Poulbot was a cartoonist famous for drawing children.

²⁰ Another play on words. The author uses “taxer” which means either to tax or to accuse.

II. Mr. Darles

Notes On Human Rights²¹ recently published a letter from M. Ferdinand Buisson, president of the League of Human Rights to M. Sarraut, minister of the colonies, about the revolt that occurred in 1917 in Thaï N’Guyen (Indochina) and the repression that followed.

In this letter, the role of the resident of the province, M. Darles is clearly identified: this official, by the abuse of which he was guilty, was principally responsible for the rebellion. Besides, his guilt was established by the Court of Saigon in 1917.

But can you believe it? No administrative sanction has been taken. On the contrary: M. Darles has been appointed member of the City Council Saigon. As a judicial sanction, it is derisory, a 200 francs fine.

This M. Darles is an administrator of value. He acquired his political science degree in the Latin Quarter where he was a soup merchant.

Per the wishes of an influential politician, M. Darles, then penniless and debt-ridden, was made administrator in Indochina.

Comfortably placed at the head of a province of several thousand inhabitants and invested with uncontrolled power: he is prefect, mayor, judge, bailiff, tax collector, in a word, he combines all the power. Justice, taxes, the property, lives and property of natives, rights of civil servants, elections of mayors and district heads, that is to say the destiny of an entire province is entrusted to the hands of this former mess steward.

Since he could not become rich by extorting his customers in Paris, he takes his revenge in Tonkin by stopping, imprisoning, and arbitrarily convicting the Annamites to squeeze them.

Here are some facts that illustrate the despotic reign of this charming administrator that the mother Republic has kindly sent to civilize us.

The indigenous volunteers! are brought into service as riflemen and pass, to that end, a physical. They are the illiterate and intimidated who Mr. Resident berates, punches or strikes with canes because they do not respond fast enough.

He roughly punched three militiamen who had let a prisoner escape, dragged them on the ground by the hair, banging their head against the wall of his residence.

For interrogating prisoners, Mr. Resident pricked their thighs with his ceremonial sword. Some vanished on their return to prison.

Unfortunate malnourished prisoners, dressed in wretched rags, raised at daybreak, yoked, with large foot shackles fastened to one another, draw the roller, a huge compressor that needed to move on thick layers of sandstone. Completely exhausted, they plod under a relentless sun. The resident arrives, carrying a usual strong cane, and without reason, by an inconceivably bestial sadism, he strikes with a vengeance those unhappy ones with his stick, accusing them of being lazy.

One day, our civilizer, coming to reproach a European agent and, not knowing on whom to vent his anger, took from his desk an iron ruler and broke two fingers of an unfortunate native writer who had nothing to do with the case.

Another day, he whipped smack in the face, a native sergeant in the presence of his men.

Another time, he buried up to the neck militiamen who displeased him and did not have them dug out until they were half dead.

When he went on the road where he forced the natives to work for one or two pennies a day, after collecting 15 cents to release them from their day of labor, it is by the half-dozens that there are broken legs from blows of shovels and pickaxe handles.

Once time, in a shipyard, he seized the rifle from a guard to hit a prisoner. The latter having managed to dodge, the Resident turned against the guard who he struck with the same gun. His worthy half, Madame Resident, intervened in turn, she gladly beat prisoners and was given the opportunity to punish militiamen.

We saw Mr. Resident burst the eye of a sergeant with a cane. He has done other great deeds, but we can not list them all here.

All this is known and in view of everyone, including his superiors, Governors- General, and higher residents who, to reward his “energy” and his “republican virtue” inflict on him merciless promotions.

²¹ Les Cahiers des Droits de L’Homme – the monthly magazine of the French League for Human Rights and the Citizen.

III. Messeurs Boudineau, Beaudoin and Others

Despite flashy exhibitions, pompous speeches, royal tours and grandiloquent articles, nothing is going to change in Indochina.

The bench of the accused is barely cooled where the honest administrator Lanon sits, when we are told of other scandals on the horizon.

First is the case of Boudineau. Mr. Boudineau is a typical civilizer, a dealer administrator. Among the charges against him, we report this one:

“The village of Tânan, county seat of the canton, had built an electric plant using municipal resources or loans. The operation was successful since the village had revenue largely exceeding expenditure. Its buildings and streets were also illuminated for free.

He is an administrator (Boudineau) ingenious enough to force a merger where Tânan village ceded its company to a contractor for free to have the pleasure of paying to light the buildings. We see today that there is interest in buying back this franchise conceded for free and it is several tens of thousands of piasters the town will have to pay. This whole thing is a real novel where the gifts of imagination of a former province chief were given free reign with an unbelievable cynicism.

The second scandal in sight is the case of Théard. Here is what is said Indochina provides:

“We live in really unusual times: the Boudineau deal, the Leno deal and soon the Théard case.

“That Mr. Théard, engineer of great merit, director of a large French firm in Haiphong, came in to offer an advance and improper consideration of a sum of ten thousand dollars to Mr. Scala, director of Customs and Excise, to conclude a deal with the administration of opium; it needs to be brought with such special considerations to think that such a step is not abnormal. This would therefore be, in the Indochinese business world, the commonplace squeeze. All these who have such authority will speculate for the greater good of their purse and the greatest harm to the community.

Since Mr. Darles, Resident torturer of Thaï N’Guyen is appointed member of the Saigon municipal council, and Mr. Baudoin, impatiently awaited by Mr. Judge Waren, is made temporary Governor-General of Indochina, the least we can do for Misters Théard and Boudineau is to decorate them.

Chapter V

The Civilizers

A question: Is it true that in the Security Services of the general government of Indochina there is employed a Frenchman named C…? That C…, sent on a “mission” to Phy-Xuyen, requires Annamese of the place to call him Quanlon “high mandarin” and strikes with violence those who do not fast enough? Is it true that the same C… raped an Annamite militiaman? Anything goes, anything is possible in this Indochinese paradise.

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In mid-December 1922, a European deputy sergeant of the Saigon city police – completely “plastered” – entered a native house and seriously wounded two of its inhabitants, including a woman.

Questioned by the judge, the policeman stated that he did not remember anything but denied that he had been in a state of intoxication.

Witnesses, including a European, argued the contrary, that this guardian of order was not in his normal state at the time of the tragic incident.

Whether this civilizer was crazy or drunk or whatever, we wish wholeheartedly that he is decorated for the courageous act he has done.

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In the colonies, when one has white skin, it is of the aristocracy: it belongs to a superior race. To maintain its position, the least of European customs agents has at least one domestic, a “boy” who often serves as a “dogsbody.”²²

As the native servant is very malleable and inexpensive, it is not uncommon to find colonial officials, coming home to France on leave or retired, bring their domestics with them.

This is the case of Mr. Jean Le M..arigny, resident of Carnot Street in Cherbourg. This gentleman, returning from Indochina, brought with him a boy at a salary of 35 francs a month. There is no need to tell you that the native was obliged to toil from morning to night. Weekly rest and feast days were unknown in this house, in addition to being poorly housed and very malnourished.

One day, Mr. Jean Le M..arigny tried conveying his “protégé” to dig in the countryside. The son of Annam, who has previously tasted the happy country life that his good boss reserved for him, declined the offer.

So the enraged former civilizer threw the Annamite out the door after having seriously beaten him. Despite repeated claims of the native, Mr. Le M..arigny did not want to give him what belongs to him: money, trunk, clothes, etc… Suddenly thrown on the pavement, ignorant of the language of the country, without resources, without friends, disoriented, this unfortunate is in horrible misery.

²² bonne a tout faire – literally, maid who does everything; actually a helper who does menial tasks.

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The colonial bureaucracy²³ is the principal cause of the expensive life in the colonies. To better understand to what extent this parasitic factor weighs heavily on the budget, so on the back of working people:

English India has 4,898 European officials for 325 million people.

French Indochina has 4,300 European officials for 15 million people.

That is to say that there is in the English colony one European official to 66,150 locals and in the French colony there is one European official to 3,490 locals.

In India, the Customs and Excise Administration has 240 European civil servants.

In Indochina, the same administration possesses 1,100 European staff members.

There are in India 26,000 post and telegraph offices with 268 European officials.

Indochina has 330 offices and 340 European employees.

Why the disproportionate amount of budgetivores in Indochina? Because the colony is an earthly paradise where, with a few rare exceptions, all the garbage of politics, of finance, of journalism, etc… spewed out by the metropolis, find a very favorable field for their development… Starting with the biggest vegetable, the Governor-General. In this regard, an impartial colonist wrote this: “Arriving in Tonkin, Governors have only one goal; to cram the world with friends, sons, parents, precinct workers, all those for whom they have an interest in domestic support; often, it is a man riddled with debt, chased by his creditors, he needed money to repay him.

For the noble writer who will write the glorious history of civilizing colonization, the war for so-called law and justice is a source of inexhaustible documentation. Albert Sarraut in a heat of eloquence and enthusiasm says, “It is in the conquest of the colonial empire most of the great military leaders who led us to victory were educated in combat, and whose glory and achievements French opinion already celebrated when they carried our flag beneath African and Asian skies.”

As frank in idea, but less juggling with the words, The Journal of Geneva says straight out “is there haphazard thought in Geneva?” – said flatly that “the Republic has seen in the establishment of its colonial empire, a distraction from the defeat of 1870. The French race finds in it a revenge for its European woes, and the military, as a new opportunity to report in happy combat.

And go to the devil if these testimonials allow you to persist in not believing that colonization is neither more nor less that a civilizing and humanitarian mission.

²³ the author actually uses “fonctionnarisme” the philosophy of absorbing all civil society into hypotrophic administrative machinery. Coined by the writer Pierre Joseph Proudhon, a contemporary of Karl Marx. Proudhon coined the word “anarchist” and was the first one to use it.

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1^st A theft of 5,000 francs was committed to the detriment of Mr. Guinaudeau. To obtain confessions of his indigenous employees, this good boss and great civilizer, submitted the latter to electric current. It was discovered later that the thief is not a native, but another civilizer: it was the son of Mr. Guinaudeau! Mr. Guineaudeau was acquitted. And eight unfortunate natives are still in the hospital.

2^nd Mr. Vollard, civilizer and trader, does not pay his native employees regularly. One of them asks the foreman for the wages owed. Mr. Vollard gives the foreman the following note: Tell this pig to eat shit, it is the only food that suits him.”

This happened in Tunisia, in 1923, at the same time that Mr. Millerand made his presidential tour in this country.

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When you have white skin, you are automatically a civilizer. And when one is a civilizer, one can commit savage acts while remaining the most civilized.

Thus, a Director of Public Works in Cochinchina forced the Annamese encountered on his way to give him the formal hello due to the superior race by the vanquished race.

One day, a native scribe left his work while reading a novel. Coming to a comic passage, the reader began to laugh. Just at this moment, he came across Mr. Public Works Director, who became enraged, first because the native, absorbed in his reading, had not noticed and greeted him; then because the native had allowed himself to laugh while passing a white. So our civilizer therefore stops the Annamite and, after requesting his name, asked him if he wanted a slap. Naturally, the scribe declined the too generous offer and expressed the astonishment he felt at such an outburst. Without any form of trial, the official took the native by the coat and dragged him before the chief of the province.

This same Director of Public Works, on the grounds of aligning homes and gardens, ordered the people on the edge of provincial roads, under threat of a fine, to clear out and remove their trees and remove their gardens within a time limit fixed by him.

And one is surprised at the discontent in the colonies!

Not only the Governors and Residents can do what they like, but customs officials, policemen and all those who hold a piece of authority to use and abuse, sure they can do so with impunity.

A police commissioner in Tuyen-Quang (Tonkin) hit a native and broke his arms.

Another commissioner, this one in Dalat (Cochinchina) has launched a wonderfully interesting trading system that we are happy to bring to the attention of Mr. Dior and Mr. Sarraut. One day, this official needed boards. He sent his militiamen to buy some in town. Buy, is a manner of speaking, as the Commissioner had not given money to his men. However, they went into town, chose wood and wanted to take it, without paying, naturally. The seller would not allow his goods to be taken away without being paid. The militiamen reported to their white chief the extraordinary claims of the merchant.

Enraged, Mr. Commissioner deputed three armed men to seize the person of this pretentious trader. The latter, being seized, refused to be taken away. The militia returned to notify their superior. Exasperated, Mr. Superintendent doubled the team, ordering them to bring in the stubborn merchant, dead or alive.

The armed guards surrounded the house of the seller and went to execute their orders.

A European businessman intervened on the side of the native merchant and wrote to the Commissioner. But the energetic collaborator of Mr. Long maintains his “summons” and was heard to say that if the native persisted in not coming in, he would be liable to big trouble.

The native merchant was obliged to leave his business and his country to escape the wrath of the “civilizing” white officer.

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They were seven poor Annamese, in a long, thin boat which, driven by the current and by the effort of their seven oars pulled with two arms, was traveling on the water as fast as a steamboat. The sampan of the tax collector, popped out from a stream, hidden by mangrove, with the French flag on the back. A sailor shouted to stop: they continued to row. They did not understand. The Customs sampan hardly went as fast. The customs agent took a Winchester and fired. The bark flew by. Blam! Blam! A rower screams and falls. Blam! Another. However, a European brickmaker, lurking there by boat, was also going to surprise the “pirates” at a bend. Blam! Blam! Blam! He was a good shot. Three bullets, three victims. The boat, with two survivors, was lost in the streams.

Another day, the same customs agent, followed by six armed sailors, had discovered a poor devil hidden in a pool, immersed in the mud, breathing through a blowpipe one end of which was placed in his mouth and the other emerging; leaves of water lilies were artfully arranged on the surface: the customs agent brought the Resident the head of this “pirate”, a simple villager who took fright in seeing strangers come toward his village with awful mien, armed with revolvers, with ammunition pouches, clutching a Winchester. Found in his boxes were three cartridge casings, Chinese cakes, and a loggers machete. How can we doubt that the village was not pirate and did not supply the pirates!

A young officer disembarking from France arrives in a village, sees the huts empty and the population gathered in the square. He imagines himself falling into an ambush and fired on this harmless troupe celebrating a religious festival that then disperses in distress. He followed and exterminates them.

When I arrived in Tonkin, says an old “Tonkinese” do you know what the life of an Annamite was worth on the boats of the great exploiter? Not a sapek!²⁴ That is true.

Look here, I remember when we went up the Red River in our motorboats, we played “absinthe” to see who could “knock down”²⁵ the most Annamites on the bank in ten rifle shots.

A few, Winchester in hand, fleeced villagers and boats.

A company of marines left for Viahthoung: the mandarin of the country, as a courtesy, came with great pomp with his militia to meet the arrivals. The chief scout of the company ordered his section to shoot on the mandarin’s escort and reaped several bodies.

When you can not get rid of an insurgent, set fire to his village. Thus did we shave the area around Hunghoa.

On a lost trail, we came across a yellow man who staggered because he was carrying two big baskets of peanuts, with the help of a stick across the shoulders. He did not run away at our approach. He was taken and shot.

We spend all day tapping with a stick or the flat of a sword on the Annamese, to make them work.

The Annamese are very soft, very submissive; but we talk to them only with kicks in the c…

We consider the Annamite patriots as brigands. This is how Doi-Van, patriot who had fought against foreign domination for several years, was beheaded in Hanoi, his head displayed in Bachnin, and his body thrown into the Red River.

Ton-duy-Tan, taken after ten years of desperate struggle, is condemned and beheaded.

Phan-dinh-Phung, a high mandarin, resisted for ten years, he finally dies in the forest. This death disarms us not; his body was exhumed, the remains scattered, he is pursued beyond the grave.

In the province of Quangtri, an alcoholic overseer of public works, with a rifle shot “descends” from his elephant a native guilty of having not heard or understood his orders.

An equally alcoholic customs official slaughters, with blows from a club on the spleen, an annamite sailor assigned to duty in Baria (Cochinchina).

A French contractor killed a militiaman in Dalat where, moreover, a native carpenter equally dies, following violence from another civilizer.

A contractor requires its workers to work night and day in the water for tunneling, many die, the rest go on strike. The contractor in person set fire to the strikers’ houses to force them back to work. An entire village was burned at night.

A chief warrant officer of artillery set fire to a house on the pretext that the owner, whose husband was away, would not receive him at midnight. The poor woman was naturally terrified.

A polygamous lieutenant throws down a young woman and knocks her out with blows from rattan cane because she did not want to live with him.

A officer of the Navy yard murdered an Annamite railway employee, pushing him into a blazing fire after being severely beaten.

²⁴ 1/1000 of a piaster

²⁵ the author uses déquiller, which is a reference to tenpins, a game. Quille means both tenpins and keel, so the double or triple meaning, to unkeel them, to knock them over, a game with the double meaning of playing it from a boat.

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There is not in the world, wrote Vigne d’Octon, conquered people who are subject to more abuse and mistreatment than the native.

Another traveler wrote: “Colonial life just develops defects in the individual: lack of moral sense, debauchery and dishonesty, cruelty for those who saw the war; among camp followers and other adventurers, a taste for rape and theft. To do this, in France, an opportunity is missed and the fear of the police was stronger! Here, these guys are sometimes alone with a few natives, on their junk or in some village, they will be more looters than Europeans in the market and more brutal toward the peasants who protest.

All French, wrote a third, come here with the idea that the Annamites are their inferiors and must serve as their slaves. They treat them like beasts best to be driven with the stick. All have become accustomed to regard themselves as members of a new and privileged aristocracy. Whether military or settlers, they do not usually design other forms of relations with natives than those they use with their servants. It seems that the boy is to them the representative of all the yellow race. It should be understood with what foolish scorn the French of Indochina speaks of the “yellow”. It should be seen with what rudeness a European treats a native.

The conqueror attaches great importance to signs of submission or respect from the conquered. The Annamites of the cities, like those in the countryside, are obliged to remove their hats to a European.

A safety officer brutally strikes Annamites who forget to treat him like a Grand Mandarin. A customs clerk requires the natives passing by his house to remove their hats or get down from their mounts. One day, this civilizer brutalized an Annamite woman who had greeted him, but had forgotten to address him like a High Mandarin. This woman was pregnant. A violent kick that the agent gave her right to the stomach caused abortion; the unfortunate was dead shortly after.

If our protectors require Annamese to be humble, submissive, docile and polite, contrariwise “it seems to take nothing to make our presence obnoxiously unbearable” said a writer who visited Indochina. And he continues: “In Europe, the yellow race is regarded as having all guile and all deceit. However, we do not worry that few value our sovereignty.”

These officers pull the beard of the bonzes during services. One son of an influential father beat an Annamite official because he, the first occupant, did not want to give up his seat on the bus.

Upon arrival of the Governor-General in Marseilles, at a lunch in his honor, it was proposed to bring the Annamite Mandarins to stay in this city. “If the Mandarins are brought, replied the Commissioner-General of Indochina, I will bring my boy.”

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We quote the following fact from the travel journal of a colonial soldier:

While the “Tonkinese” entertain themselves, to starboard some junks sell fruits and shellfish. To get to us, the Annamese lift long poles fitted with baskets in which their goods are found. We need bother only to choose. As money, those who give themselves the luxury of paying, deposit at the bottom of these baskets the most diverse objects: pipe cleaners, buttons, and cigarette butts. (That may be how commercial honesty is taught to the natives!) Sometimes, here’s a funny story, some drivers throw a bucket of boiling water on the backs of the poor. So there are screams of pain, a desperate flight of oars making canoes collide.

Just below me an Annamite, BURNED FROM HEAD TO FOOT, absolutely crazy, wants to jump into the sea. His brother, forgetting the danger, drops the oar, grabs him, and forces him to the bottom of the sampan. The fight, which did not last two seconds, is hardly over when another bucket of water, launched with a steady hand, SCALDED THE SAVIOR IN TURN. I saw him rolling in his boat, his flesh raw, with inhuman cries! And that makes us laugh, it seems exceedingly funny. WE HAVE ALREADY THE COLONIAL SOUL!

And further:

When I was there (Tonkin) we hardly spent a week without seeing some heads fall.

Of these spectacles, I have retained but one thing, it is that we are more cruel, more barbarous than the pirates themselves. Why these refinements toward the convicted person who is going to die? Why the physical torture, these prisoner processions through the villages?

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Mr. Doumier, former Governor-General of Indochina, delivered these solemn words at a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies: “I knew the police in the colonies and I even expanded the number of brigades, having found it was the police force which gave to natives the guarantee of being defended against the possibility of abusive actions by some settlers. The policemen were popular among the natives.

We will see how the policemen intend to manufacture “their popularity.” Let us say at once that they are very mild and paternal for criminals, it is an established fact. But for the peaceful natives, that’s another story. Not to mention for the moment the painful case of the Central Prison of Saigon, where, in 1916 ²⁶, pushed by a highly patriotic zeal, the police indiscriminately stopped gentlemen, without rhyme or reason, and the innocents thus arrested were condemned and executed. Even if the Annamite blood that reddens the Plain of Tombs fades with time, the wounded heart of widows, orphans and mothers will never be healed. The culprits including the police who were the vile instruments are not punished and justice is not yet done. Today only a few specific cases are posted (for investigation).

A commissioner of Tonkin, on the pretext of maintaining the cleanliness of the gutters, walks all day along the flow paths and as soon as he sees the smallest blade of grass in the water, distributes innumerable punishments and fines to the unfortunate inhabitants of the place.

To avoid accidents in waterways, a flotilla of borrowed river craft in the west of Cochinchina was used to install a police station in each channel with the mission of preventing junks spinning by too fast or obstructing traffic. With the presence of the police, it is a true sluice of fines and tickets this is opened. Almost all the junks passing through these waters are being imposed fines ranging from one to two piasters. To crushing taxes collected by the state is also a right of toll established by “popular” policeman, and the Annamite is happy, very happy!

Further progress awaits the most zealous, it seems that the gentlemen of the police are entitled to a 20% commission on the fines! What a great plan!

A native newspaper said that “the indigenous population does not want more French policemen who are too often a disaster for honest people.”

²⁶ In 1916, there was a series of uprisings against French rule that resulted in the execution of 51 people.

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A certain Mr. Pourcignon rushed furiously at an Annamite who had the curiosity and daring to look for a few seconds at the house of the European. He strikes and finally fells him with a pistol shot in the head.

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A railroad employee strikes a Tonkinese village chief with strokes of a cane, stops him, and locks him up in a dog cage.

Mr. Beck splits his chauffeur’s skull with a punch.

Mr. Bres, entrepreneur, killed with kicks an Annamite whose arms he tied together, after being bitten by his dog.

Mr. Deffis, tax collector, killed his Annamite domestic with a tremendous kick in the kidneys.

Mr. Henry, mechanic, hears noises in the street; the door of his house opens; and an Annamite woman enters, pursued by a native. Henry, who believes that the individual pursues his own daughter²⁷, grabbed a shotgun and fired. The individual drops dead.

A Frenchman ties his horse in a stable where there was is the mare of a native. The horse rears, causing a blind rage in the Frenchman. He hits the native until blood flows from his mouth and ears. After which he garroted him and hung him in the staircase.

A missionary (ah yes! A gentle apostle) suspecting his native seminarian of stealing 1,000 piasters, tied him up, suspends him from a frame, and strikes him. The poor man fainted. He is taken down. When he comes to, it starts again. The native is dying. He may be dead today.

Etc…, etc.

Has justice has punished these individuals, these civilizers?

Some were acquitted and the others have not even been worried.

²⁷ congai – daughter in Vietnamese.

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Having seen three natives graze their sheep in his olive trees, a French settler sent his wife to get a rifle and cartridges. He ambushed them in a thicket, fired three times and severely wounded three natives.

Another French colonist had in his service two native workers, Amdouni and Ben-Belkhir. They had, it seems, stolen some grapes. The colonist sent for the natives and beat them with a blackjack until they fainted. When they regained consciousness, our protector bound them, arms in back, and hung them by their hands. Although both unfortunates lost consciousness, this heinous torture lasted four hours and ended only when a neighbor protested.

Carried to the hospital, they each had one hand amputated. It is not certain that the other hand can be saved.

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An Annamite, 50 years of age, and employed for 25 years in the service of the railways of Cochinchina, was murdered by a white officer. Here are the facts:

Lé-Van-Taï had four other Annamites under him. Their function was to close the bridge for passing trains and open it to inland waterway transport. Regulations require closure of the bridge ten minutes before the trains pass.

On April 2^nd, 4:30 p.m., an Annamese had closed the bridge and lowered the signal. Just then came an administrative officer of the Navy Yard returning from hunting. The boat began to whistle. The native employee ran to the middle of the bridge, waving his red flag to make it understood to the officers of the little steamboat that the train was about to pass. But then the boat came alongside a bridge pier. The officer jumped out and walked angrily toward the Annamite. The latter prudently ran off toward the house of his manager, Taï. The officer pursued by throwing stones. Having heard the noise, Taï left his house and went to meet the representative of civilization who yelled at him. “Idiot! Why didn’t you open it?” In response, Taï, who can not speak French, pointed to the red flag. This simple gesture infuriated the associate of Mr. Long who, without further ado, fell on Taï and after having well “beaten him” pushed him into a brazier fire that was nearby.

Horribly burned, the annamite gatekeeper was taken to the hospital, where he died after six days of agony.

The official was not worried. In Marseilles, the official prosperity of Indochina is exhibited; we are starving in Annam. Here we sing of loyalty, there, we are murdered!

While the life of an Annamite dog is not worth a sapeck²⁴, for a scratch on the arm Mr. inspector general Reinhart receives 120,000 francs compensation.

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The Moroccan civilization of cannon fire continues.

A commander of Zoaves,²⁸ garrisoned at Settat, addressing the soldiers, says: “We must finish with these savages. Morocco is rich in agricultural and mineral products. We, French, civilized, we are here for two purposes: to civilize and to enrich ourselves.”

He is right, this commander. He especially has the frankness to admit that, if you go to the colonies, it is to steal from the natives. Because, after only 10 years of protectorate, 379,000 hectares of arable land in Morocco is occupied by Europeans, 368,000 by French civilizers. The area of the colony being 815,000 square kilometers, if civilization continues its march; in a few years, the unfortunate Moroccan will no longer have an inch of land free for him to live on and work in his own country without the yoke of exploiter colonialism and slavery.

²⁸ light infantry

CHAPTER VI

Administrative Mismanagement

The budget of Cochinchina, for example, amounted to 5,561,680 piasters (12,791,000 francs) for 1911; it was 7,321,817 piasters (16,840,000 francs) for 1912. In 1922, it amounted to 12,821,325 piasters (96,169,000 francs). A simple calculation shows that between 1911 and 1922 there was a difference of 83,369,000 francs in the budget of this colony. Where does the money go? Simply to staff costs that engulf almost 100% of total revenue.

Other follies are added one to another for wasting money sweated out of poor Annamites. We do not yet know the exact number of piasters spent on the ride of the King of Annam to France; but we know that, to await the auspicious day, the only one when the Dragon in Bamboo could embark, we had to compensate the liner Porthos for 4 days of delay at 100,000 francs per day (400,000 francs). Travel, 400,000 francs. Reception costs 240,000 (besides the salaries of police officers to monitor the Annamese in France). To lodge the Annamite militiamen in Marseilles for “presenting arms” to His Excellency and His Majesty, 77,600 francs.

Since we are in Marseille, let’s take advantage of it to see what the colonial exposition cost. Firstly, and apart from the supported in the metropole [France], thirty officials were brought from the colonies who, while they take the aperitif at the Cannebière Hotel, draw salaries at the exhibition and in the colonies. Indochina alone has to spend 12 million for this exhibition. And do you know how this money was spent? Here is an example: the famous reconstruction of the palaces of Ankor required 3,000 cubic meters of timber at 400 or 500 francs per meter. Total 1.2 to 1.5 million francs!

Other examples of waste. For carrying Mr. Governor-General, automobiles and luxury cars are not enough: he needs a special railcar, modifications to this car costs the Treasury 125,250 francs.

In eleven months of the year, the Economic Agency (?) has detracted from the economies of Indochina a sum of 464,000 francs.

At the colonial school, where future civilizers are made, 44 professors of all categories are funded for 30 or 35 students. Even more thousands of francs.

The annual cost to the budget of ongoing inspections of defensive works in the colony is 785,168 francs. Now, the gentlemen inspectors never left Paris and know no more about the colonies than they know the old moon.

If we go to other colonies, we find the same mismanagement everywhere. To receive an unofficial “economic” mission, the treasury of Martinique is “relieved” of 40,000 francs. In the space of 10 years, the budget of Morocco went from 17 to 290 million francs, although it reduced by 30% expenditure of local interest, that is to say, the expenses that would have benefited natives!

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Returning from a visit to the colonies, a former deputy cried out, “The highway robbers are honest people compared to the officials of our colonies!” Although favored by huge salaries, (a European agent, even illiterate, starts at 200 piasters = 2,000 francs) these gentlemen are never satisfied. They want to earn more, by every means.

Scholarships were awarded to sons who profit from the positions of their fathers, residents or administrators in service, who receive low wages (40,000 to 100,000 francs).

Some sessions of the Colonial Council are almost solely devoted to the systematic looting of the budget. One chairman on his own has almost two million francs of subcontracted work. A director of the Internal Affairs, who represents the government in the Council, requested and receives his salary doubled. The undertaking of a road, extended from year to year, performed without oversight, is the third regular profit. The position of medical officers of for colonies is the fourth serious compensation. The fifth is doctor of municipal services; the sixth is supplier of stationery and official printer. And so on.

If the coffer sounds somewhat empty, it certainly will not take long to refill it. On their own authority, they warn the natives that they need a certain amount. The burden is spread between the villages that are eager to perform so as not to incur immediate reprisals.

When a Resident-General has any expense to settle, he issues mandarin’s certificates. One tells of a province where such an operation of this kind was done to the tune of 10,620 francs. And these facts are not rare at all.

One of our senior Residents, whose appropriations were depleted for the boat a few months too early, was reimbursed for the expenses of I know not what celebration where the king would be invited to the launch.

The traveling salesmen of civilization and democracy are familiar with the D system.²⁹

²⁹ système débrouillard – meaning one who is resourceful at getting out of difficulties by any means necessary. Débrouillard means survivor.

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A former Governor-General of Indochina confessed one day that this colony is covered with too many staff for its budget and often unnecessary.

A good half of these officials, writes a colonial, province chiefs or others, fulfill only in a very imperfect manner the qualifications of men who are conferred with such broad and formidable powers.

They all are good at wasting public money, and the poor Annamite wretches pay, always pay. They pay not only officials whose functions are useless, but they also pay employees whose employment does not exist! In 19…, 250,000 francs were thus evaporated.

For the movement of His Excellency, a warship was assigned. The fittings amount to 250,000 francs, not counting the “incidental expenses” which cost Indochina over 80,000 francs for each trip.

The Governor was not satisfied with the sumptuous palaces he inhabits in Saigon and Hanoi, he took a villa by the sea. It is still Indochina that is “on the hook”.

In 19… some one or other of a foreign type went to Saigon, the Governor received him in a princely manner. For four days, it was a riot of parties, gluttony, and champagne; poor Cochinchina paid the bill: 75,000 francs.

Administrators are small potentates, who like to surround themselves with luxury and sumptuousness to raise, they say, their prestige vis-à-vis the native. A Resident created a company of lancers to be his guard and never goes without an escort. In all the Residences, one finds 6 to 11 horses, 5 or 6 carriages: victorias, tilburys, mylords, malabars, etc. To these means of transport, already superfluous, is added luxurious automobiles costing tens of thousands of piasters in the budget. Some administrators even maintain a racing stable.

These gentlemen are housed, furnished, and illuminated at the expense of a princess; on top of that, their coachmen, their drivers, their stable hands, their gardeners, in a word their servants are paid by the administration.

Literary distractions themselves are provided free of charge to those happy people. One such director budgeted 900 piasters for his heating!³⁰ And 1,700 piasters of costs for newspaper subscriptions! Another manages to transform a set of accounts: the purchase of dresses, of pianos, of toilet articles, into buying materials for the upkeep of the Residence or other similar classifications, to weigh on the state budget!

³⁰ Vietnam is a tropical country. The January normal low is 53 degrees Fahrenheit in the North.

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Whether they were soup merchants or masters in high school, once arrived in the colonies, our civilizers lead lives of princes. One administrator uses five or six militia to keep goats. Another is making, with militiamen sculptors, pretty figurines of Buddha or elegant trunks of camphor wood.

We mention the case of a brigade inspector for whom the regulations allowed only one militiaman as an orderly and employed:

1 Sergeant factotum, 1 steward, 3 boys, 2 cooks, 3 gardeners, 1 valet, 1 coachman, and a groom.

And Madame had in her service: 1 tailor, 2 launderers, 1 embroiderer, 1 weaver.

The child had a special boy who never left him.

A witness cites a meal at a director’s – an ordinary meal and not a banquet – where each guest had a militiaman behind him to change his plates and pass him the courses. And all the militia in the room are placed under the command of a sergeant-major.

CHAPTER VII

The Exploitation of Natives

After stealing fertile land, the French sharks collect taxes on bad land one hundred times more outrageous than the feudal taxes –

Vigne d’Octon

Before our occupation, the property tax roll was by crop category: all the lands within the villages, communal and individual. The tax rate ranged from 1 piaster to 50 cents for rice paddies. For the other fields, 1.40 piasters to 12 cents. The unit area was the square Mau, 150 Thuoc per side. The length of the Thuoc varied. It was, according to the provinces, of 42, 47 and 64 centimeters and the corresponding areas of the Mau was 3,970; 4,900 and 6,200 square meters.

To increase State revenues, we take as the basis of all measures a length of 40 centimeters, less than all the units of measure used: the area of a Mau is thus fixed at 3,600 square meters. Property tax is increased by that in proportions that vary with the provinces: a twelfth in some localities, a third in others, two-thirds in the less favored.

From 1890 to 1896, direct taxes had doubled; from 1896 to 1898, they increased by half. When an increase is imposed on a village, it resigned itself and paid: to whom could it have brought its complaints? The success of these operations encouraged Residents to repeat them. In the eyes of many French, the docility of the town was clear proof that the measure was not excessive!

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The head tax goes from 14 cents to 2 piasters and 50 cents. The unregistered, that is to say the young people under 18, who had to pay nothing until then, are subject to a tax of 30 cents, or more than twice that paid previously by the registered.

According to a decree of the Resident-Superior of Tonkin dated December 11, 1919, all natives aged 18 to 60 years old are subject to a unique personal tax of 2 piasters and 50 cents.

It is required that each Annamite constantly carry his identity card and present it on request. Whoever forgets or misplaces this card, is arrested and imprisoned.

To address the decline in piasters, the Governor-General Doumer has simply increased the number of registered taxable!

Every year we give each village a number of registered and a certain extent of land of various categories; do we want additional resources? We change the figures during the year, villages are forced to pay on an enrollment and area of land greater in number and area than had been given at the beginning of the year. Thus in the province of Nam-Dinh (Tonkin) whose total area does not reach 120,000 hectares, the statistics mentioned 122,000 hectares of rice paddies and the Annamite is forced to pay the tax for land that does not exist! If he cries, no one hears.

Taxes are not only overwhelming, they vary each day.

It is the same with certain rights of movement. It is impossible, however, to equitably collect taxes of this kind: we issue a permit for 150 kilos of tobacco, and manage to hit the same product several times; when it has changed ownership, and when the 150 kilos have been divided between three or four different buyers? The only rules are the imagination of the customs agents; they inspire such fear that the Annamite, on seeing them, abandons on the road the basket of salt, tobacco or betel he was carrying: he would rather give up his goods than pay eternal royalties. In some regions, it is necessary to tear out the tobacco plants and throw down the areca palms, to not put up with the trouble that was going to result from the new tax.

In Louang-Prabang (Laos), lamentable paupers loaded with irons are used for cleaning roads. They were guilty only of not being able to pay.

Devastated by flooding, the province of Bac-Ninh (Tonkin) was forced to pay 500,000 piasters in taxes.

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You have heard Mr. Maurice Long, Governor-General of Indochina, Mr. Albert Sarraut, Colonial Secretary and their press – a disinterested press – trumpeting the success of the Indochinese loan. However, they do not to tell you by what means they have achieved this success. They may be right not to disclose their professional secret, and that secret is this: First, we start by luring the dupes with the bait of profits. As it does not make enough, we rob the villages of their communal property. It is still not enough; so the wealthy natives were brought, they are given a receipt in advance, and they only have to manage to pay the amounts listed. As the government till is deep and industrial and native traders not many, these compulsory loans do not fill those unfathomable depths. Then the borrower State, taps on the heap of the most tapped out: it requires two, three, four or more fellows to subscribe to a common share!

Here, for example, is a trick that we administrators employ use to subtract money from the pockets of the togged³¹ natives.

It was in a province of the West, a few weeks before the opening of the Indochinese loan.

The chief of this province meets the canton chiefs under his jurisdiction, and after explaining the terms of the loan with an interpreter, says to them by way of conclusion:

- “Here, my duty is to give you the explanation.

Subscribe now!

While informing a canton chief standing next to him, the distinguished “quan-lon”³² asked:

- And you, what can you have from your canton?

The poor man, caught off-guard by the question, stammered a few words to make it understood that he could not give figures, having not yet seen his citizens to realize their potential.

- Close your m…. You are not worthy of your duties. I dismiss you!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

The loan is opened. The Governor of Cochinchina, during his tour, stops at the province capital and asked about the number of subscriptions for the week.

- 73,000 piasters! They told him.

The governor did not seem happy with the figure, as the province is deemed the richest in western Cochinchina, and it did more than that, in the last loan.

After the departure of the head of the colony, the province chief decides to make a publicity tour of his fief. He sees all the rich natives with a firearm. To each he sets an amount, and, to make clear to the complainant that it is not for fun, he confiscates his gun.

- You know, if you do not deliver, we will not return your weapon!

And the people perform.

Incidentally, the same administrator spent 30,000 piasters to build a 9 kilometer road which is collapsing into a nearby canal. We hope the Trans-Indochina railroad³³ has a better fate.

³¹ caï-ao – coat or shirt, a garment with pockets.

³² name of a high ranking mandarin pagoda near Hanoi, meaning the big, large or mighty.

³³ The Trans-Indochinois, the Trans-Indochina railroad was built by the French from the border with China to Saigon.

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A pagoda was under construction. The workforce was provided by prisoners under the direction of a notable. On the daily work sheet, the day laborers were regularly paid by contractors. But it was Mr. Resident who pocketed the money.

Mr. Resident had been decorated. To celebrate his decoration, a public subscription was opened. The amounts of subscriptions was absolutely set for officials, agents and notables, the minimum was 6 piasters. Sum collected: 10,000 piasters. A beautiful rosette,³⁴ is it not?

Providing for construction of wooden bridges and communal schools had left to our honest administrator a small tip of about 2, 000 piasters.

Registration of the animals being free, Mr. Resident permits his employees to collect from .5 to 5 piasters per registered head. In exchange, he receives from them a monthly pension of 200 piasters.

A faked classification of rice paddies also returns to the official – now decorated – 4,000 piasters.

An illegal concession of some hectares of land adds 2,000 piasters to the Residential till.

Civilizer, patriot, diehard, Mr. Resident widely took advantage of Victory loans: some villages subscribed to the loan of 1920 – note that we have a loan for each win and a win for each year – for 55,900 francs, at 10 fr. 25 per piaster, makes 5,466 piasters. In 1921, the piaster had fallen to 6 francs, Mr. Resident generously took all such securities from their accounts and paid them 5,466 piasters. He banked 9,325 piasters later, following an increase [in the value of the franc].

³⁴ Rosette of the Legion of Honor, the highest French decoration.

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We note in the Official Journal, 1^st session of December 22, 1922, the following fact:

“During the war, the African infantrymen had sent home money orders which, often, formed considerable sums. These money orders never reached the intended recipients.

A colleague has just recently reported a similar “phenomenon”. This time, it is about Réunion. For months, the islanders were not able to receive any packages destined for them.

“Such a phenomenon, the newspaper said, surprised both those sending and those who were not receiving.

“There have been complaints. There was an investigation and this, hardly begun, leads to the explanation of the mystery, the discovery of a series of robberies committed with a rather remarkable industriousness and consistency.

“We arrested an employee, then another, then a manager, finally, when all the employees were behind bars, the director joined his staff in prison.

“Every day, the investigation revealed something new. There were more than 125,000 francs worth of stolen packages, the accounting was faked and such a mess that restoring order in the accounts would have required more than six months.

“If we can sometimes find a dishonest employee in an administration, it is rare that an entire department, from the top to the bottom of the ladder, catches the contagion; but what is stranger, is all this gang of thieves has been operating for several years without being disturbed.”

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On the occasion of the discussion of the draft law on military aircraft, expenses for which the colonies, that is to say the natives, will be forced to cough up (Indochina 375,000 francs, Occidental Africa 100,000 francs), Mr. Morinaud, deputy from Algeria, said:

“On this occasion, allow me, ladies and gentlemen, after all the congratulations that were sent to them, including the Times, who called it a miraculous fact, it is our turn to provide a tribute of admiration for the brave French who have just completed such a great achievement, a tribute that deserves to be shared by Mr. Citroën, selfless industrialist, who was quick to supply them with financial and technical resources. (Applause.)

“What happened the day after the great event? It is that the military posts that we have in southern Algeria immediately ordered these unparalleled means of transport for the Sahara, known as caterpillar cars.

“The posts of Touggourt and of Ouargla - this information was provided to me in recent days by the Governor of Algeria – just ordered two.

“All our other forts will, of course, be quickly provided with them.

“It is necessary, in the short term, to set up some four or five more, so that they succeed one another every 200 kilometers.

“New posts will therefore be created. They soon will order caterpillar cars. Thus, all Saharan forts will communicate easily with each other. They will ensure their supplies from post to post with amazing ease. They regularly will receive their mail. (Applause.)

(From the Official Journal, Jan. 22, 1923.)

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Corvée³⁵ workers are not only used to neaten up walkways around homes for the approval of some Europeans, the forced laborers, always at the mercy of the Residents, also perform more strenuous work.

At the mere announcement of the Minister of Colonies’ trip to Indochina, 10,000 men were raised to complete the line of V. L., we wanted him to inaugurate.

During the summer of 18.., some time before the famine which desolated the center of Annam, 10,000 Annamites, led by the mayors of their towns, were requisitioned to dredge a channel. Much of this huge manpower found itself without work; we still kept it for months, away from the rice paddies, at the time when the presence of so many idle hands would have been indispensable in the fields. It should be noted that such an army has never gathered when it concerned warding off a public calamity; at the end of 18…, most of the unfortunates who perished from hunger in Annam would have been saved, if someone had organized a transport service from Tourane for provisioning the areas where the famine was rampant; the 10,000 Annamites of the canal would have been able, in a month, to distribute 2,000 tons of rice in their provinces.

The work on the Tourane road and those of Tran-Ninh and of Ai-Lao leaves painful memories. The forced laborers had to travel one hundred kilometers before reaching the sites. Then they were housed in appalling huts. Zero hygiene; disorganized medical services on the road; no relief, no shelter. They received insufficient rations of rice, some dried fish, unhealthy drinking water and feared the mountain. Diseases, fatigue, and the ill-treatment caused a great mortality.

If the forced laborers are replaced by requisitions, there is but one difference between the two systems, it is that the duration of forced labor is limited and that of requisitions is not. Both meet all needs: if the customs wants to move salt, it commandeered boats, should it build a warehouse, we requisition workers and materials at the same time.

Requisition is a particularly ill-disguised deportation. Without taking into account farming and religious festivals, it drains whole communities to work sites. Only a small number return and, for that matter, nothing is done to ensure their return.

On their way to Lanabion, on their way to the mountain where death awaited them, fed sparingly, even going days without food, forced laborers or requisitioned, by whole convoys, left the ranks or rebelled, causing terrible repression from the guards and dotting the road with their dead bodies.

The administration of Quangchou-Wan received instructions from the government to recruit. On this occasion, it captured all the natives who worked on the piers. They were tied up and thrown in the conveying vessel.

The inhabitants of Laos, indigenous poor, live in constant fear of forced labor. When the recruitment officers arrive in front of the huts, they find the huts empty.

At Thydau-Mot, an administrator determines that he needs a steamroller. What does he do? He makes an arrangement with a concession company that seeks cheap labor. The company buys the roller and delivers it to the administrator for the price of 13,500 francs. The administrator requires a corvée³⁶ of his constituents for the benefit of the company, agreeing that the day of a forced laborer is worth 50 cents. For three years, the inhabitants of Thydau were made available to the company and pay in forced labor for the roller that it pleased Mr. Administrator to buy for his garden.

In another place, the forced laborers, their day finished, were required to transport for free, over a distance of one kilometer, the stones for building the wall surrounding the administrator’s hotel.

At any time, the Annamite can thus be removed, forced to do the worst chores, malnourished, poorly paid, requisitioned for an unlimited time, and abandoned hundreds of kilometers from his village.

³⁶ drafted unpaid workers, forced laborers.

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The Annamites, in general, are crushed by the benefits of French protection. The Annamite peasants, in particular, are even more shamefully ground down by this protection: they are oppressed as Annamese; they are expropriated as peasants. They are the ones who are the forced laborers, who produce for the whole band of parasites, of civilizers and others. They are living in poverty when there is abundance at their executioners; and starve when there is crop failure. They are robbed on all sides, in every way, by the administration, by modern feudalism, by the Church. Formerly, under the Annamese system, the land was divided into several categories, according to its productive capacity. The tax was based on this classification. Under the current colonial regime, it is changed. When we want to find the money, the French government simply changes the categories. With the stroke of a magic pen, it transforms a barren land into fertile land.

That is not all. It artificially increases the amount of land by reducing the unit of measurement. For this reason, the tax is automatically increased by a third in some places, two-thirds in others. This is not enough to appease the greed of the protector State that raises taxes every year. Thus, from 1890 to 1896, taxes doubled. They have increased by half from 1896 to 1898, and so on. The Annamites are always allowed to be fleeced, and, encouraged by the success of these operations, our protectors continue their grift.

In 1895, the administrator of a province in Tonkin robbed a village of several hectares for the benefit of another village, a Catholic one. The dispossessed complained. They were put in prison. Don’t believe that the administrative cynicism stopped there. The unfortunate robbed were still obliged to pay until 1910 taxes on land they had removed in 1895!

After the thief government, concessionaires are the robbers. It gave Europeans who have only a big belly and white skin concessions we have heard exceeding 20,000 hectares.

These concessions are based mostly on legalized thefts. During the conquest, the Annamite peasants – like the Alsacians in 1870 – had abandoned their lands to take refuge in that part of the country left free. When they returned their lands were “concessioned”. Entire villages were dispossessed and the natives were reduced to working for the lords of modern feudalism which sometimes appropriates up to 90% of the harvest.

Under the pretext of encouraging colonization, a large number of big grant holders are exempt from property tax.

After obtaining free land, the concessionaires get free, or almost, the workforce. The administration supplies them a number of convicts who work for nothing, or at least it uses its influence to recruit workers who are given starvation wages. If the workers do not become numerous enough, or if they are not happy, we resort to violence; the grant holders seize the mayors and the notables of the villages, bastinado and torture them until they have signed a contract committing them to provide the number of workers required.

In addition to this temporal power, there are spiritual saviors who, while preaching to the Annamites the virtue of poverty, nonetheless seek to enrich themselves with the sweat and the blood of the natives. In Cochinchina, the Saint Apostolic Mission alone has 1/5^th of rice paddies of the country. Although it was not taught by the Bible, the way to acquire these lands is very simple: it is usury and corruption. The Mission benefits from crop failures by lending money to farmers and requiring them to put up their land as collateral. The lending rate is usurious; when the Annamese can not pay at maturity, the pledged lands belong permanently to the Mission.

The more or less superior governors, to whom the motherland entrusted the fate of Indochina, are generally ignorant or villains. It is enough for the Mission to possess a few private papers, personal, compromising, to scare the sparrows and get from them everything it wants. Thus, a Governor General has granted to the Mission 7,000 hectares of waterfront land belonging to indigenous people who are condemned, with one stroke, to begging.

With this brief overview, we see that, under the mask of democracy, transplanted French imperialism in the country of Annam, the accursed system of the Middle Ages, that the Annamite peasant is crucified by the bayonet of capitalist civilization and by the cross of prostituted Christianity.

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Algeria is suffering from famine. Here Tunisia is ravaged by the same plague. To remedy this situation, the Administration has arrested and imprisoned a large number of the hungry. And so that the “starving” do not take prison for a sanctuary, they are not given anything to eat. They are dying of starvation during imprisonment. In the caves of El Ghiria, the hungry nibble the carrion of a dead donkey for several days.

In Beja, sharecroppers³⁷ fight with crows for dead animals.

In El Arba market, in Ghida, in Oued Mlize, the natives die of starvation every day, by the dozens.

With starvation, typhus broke out in several areas and threatens to spread.

³⁷ Khammés

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To hide the ugliness of its criminal exploitation regime, colonial capitalism still decorates its rotten coat of arms with the idealistic motto: Fraternity, equality, etc.

In the same workshop and for the same work, the white worker is several times better paid than his brother of color.

In government, the indigenous, despite their length of service and despite proven ability, receive starvation wages, while a white who has recently had strings pulled for him receives a higher salary with less work.

Uprooted from their land, their homes, and regimented by force as “volunteers”, the militarized natives are quick to savor exquisite “equality”.

At the same rank of the native, the white is almost always considered a superior. This “ethno-military” hierarchy is even more striking when the white soldiers and colored soldiers travel together in a train or on a boat.

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Young natives, who studied in the schools of metropolitan France and obtained their doctorate in medicine or law, can not practice their profession in their own country if they are not naturalized and God only knows what difficulties the native encounters, what humiliating steps he must fulfill, before obtaining naturalization.

How can a native become naturalized?

The Act of March 25, 1915, relating to the acquisition of French citizenship by French subjects, tells us this:

Art. 1^st – The following may be, after the age of 21 years, admitted to the enjoyment of the rights of a French citizen: a subject or French protected from Algeria, Tunisia or Morocco, who has established their residence in France, in Algeria or in a country under the protectorate of the Republic, and who meets the following conditions:

1^st Obtaining the cross of the Legion of Honor or one of the diplomas of university or professional studies, the list will be decided by decree.

2^nd Have rendered important services to colonization or to the interests of France.

3^rd Having served in the French army and has acquired either the rank of officer or NCO, or the military medal.

4^th Having married a French woman and have one year of residence.

5^th Have lived more than ten years in the said countries and have sufficient knowledge of the French language.

In spite of the insufficiency of this law, it passes muster if honestly applied; but no, distinguished officials sit down and, as prying fools, they require applicants for naturalization to respond in writing to the following questions:

A – Your wife and children, do they speak French?

B – Do they dress like a European?

C – Do you have furniture in your home?

D – And chairs?

E – Do you eat at the table or on the mat?

F – What do you eat?

G – Do you eat rice or bread?

H – Do you own property?

I – And your wife?

J – What is the income from your profession?

K – Your religion?

L – To which groups do you belong?

N – What are your duties in these societies?

O – Why are you asking for naturalization, indigenous status being good and sweet. Is it to be an official? To be great? Or to prospect for gold and ore?

P – Who are your closest friends?

A little more, and these gentlemen will ask us if our wife made l… to us?

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CHAPTER VIII

Justice

Is it true that, from excess of humanitarian feeling, so often proclaimed by Mr. Sarraut, we did, in the prison of Nha-Trang (Annam), put the inmates on a dry diet, that is to say they were deprived of water for meals? Is it true that we smeared the noses of prisoners with tincture of iodine to make them more easily identifiable in case of escape?

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About the precautions taken to combat the “plague” the July 13, 1921 Independent of Madagascar, published a report whose excerpts follow:

A number of huts were burned last Monday, including a quite beautiful one, that of Rakotomanga on Gallieni Street. The hut of Mr. Desraux, did not have the same fate, its estimated worth was too expensive, with all it contains (50,000 francs); accordingly, it was decided that it would simply be disinfected, and it would be forbidden to live in it for quite a long time, 6 months we believe.”

We add that Mr. Desraux is a French citizen while Rakotomanga is a subject because of being a native. We remind our readers that the law of 1841³⁸ has been passed for all French farmers.

³⁸ The law of 1841 was social legislation dealing with child labor and civil jurisdiction.

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In Madagascar, six natives were arrested on the concession of a colonist for not having paid their taxes. In court, the defendants state that the settler who employed them, Mr. de la Roche, promised: 1^st to pay their taxes; 2^nd to exempt them from performance of public services, and 3^rd to give them 10 francs in salary for 30 days of work. It should be noted that this colonist employs them for only one day a week. To meet their needs, these natives are forced to work for the Malagasy in the vicinity of the concession. On the other hand, Mr. de la Roche not only did not pay their taxes, as he had promised, but still, it seems, kept the money that these natives had given him for the payment of these taxes.

The administration, for once, has opened an investigation. But you will see…

Informed of the case, the agricultural Association of Mahanoro, of which Mr. de la Roche is probably a member, telegraphs the Governor-General to protest against the inappropriate police raid on the property of Mr. de la Roche and to ask for a sanction against the police chief, whose crime was to have discovered the French abuse committed to the detriment of the natives.

The Governor-General, in order not to “have stories” simply buried the scandal.

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The Council of war in Lille has sentenced to 20 years hard labor Von Scheven, a German officer, who, during the occupation, whipped the natives of Roncq.³⁹

But why, in Indochina, this French gentleman who kills an Annamite with a revolver shot in the head; this French official who locks a Tonkinese in a dog cage, after having ferociously “cudgeled” him; the French entrepreneur who kills a Cochinchinese after binding his arms and having him bitten by his dog; a French engineer who “drops” an Annamite with a hunting rifle; the French naval employee who killed a native gatekeeper by pushing him into a coal fire, etc., etc. Why are they not punished?

And why these young gentlemen from Algiers who, after having punched and kicked a small 13 year old native and impaled him on pikes around “the tree of victory,” have seen “imposed” a penalty of only 8 days in prison – suspended?

And why do the N.C.O. who whipped Nahon, and the officer who murdered him go unpunished?

It is true that Annam and Algeria are conquered countries – as was Roncq; but the French of these countries are not the “Boches” and that which is criminal for the latter is an act of civilization when it is committed by the former, and finally the Annamite and Algerian are not men; they are the dirty “nhaquês” and dirty “wogs”.⁴⁰ There is no justice for them.

The ironic Vigné d’Octon was not mistaken when he wrote: “Law, justice for the native? Come now! The stick, revolver and rifle, that’s all they deserve, these vermin!”

³⁹ Roncq is a small village in northeast France, three kilometers from the Belgian border.

⁴⁰ nhaque and bicot (wogs) are racist slang terms for Arabs

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In the arms factories, woefully ill-equipped, penalties are imposed on the heads of the natives. There are fines ranging from 200 to 3,000 piasters.

Mr. Doumer is aware that the Annamese will never pay such sums; yet, he wants to make money at any cost, and this clever man provides that villages will be accountable. (Article 4)

To condemn a whole village, you would certainly need, you would say, to establish its complicity.

Not at all, with Article 4, it is not necessary. Being responsible for an individual offense, any village would have been unable to prevent this violation.

This article 4 has an infernal virtuosity, because it suffices for farmers agents, paid to mete out the most offenses possible, to declare that the village did nothing to prevent such offense.

Title III determines the method of recording violations that farmers agents have the power to cite.

There is but one pitfall here. Most often these agents, who are illiterates, draw up irregular minutes. It overcomes this disadvantage by having the minutes drawn up by the customs agents of the capital, on the basis of reports prepared by the farmers agents.

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Indochina is a darling girl. She well deserves mother France. She has everything that the latter has: its government, its wages, its justice and also its little plot. We will talk about only the latest two.

Justice is represented by a lady with scales in one hand and sword in the other. As the distance between Indochina and France is great, so great that, arriving there, the scale loses its balance and the trays are melted and changed into opium pipes or into official bottles of alcohol, the poor woman is left with nothing but the sword to strike. She strikes even the innocent, and especially the innocent.

As for conspiracy, that is another story.

We will not recall the famous rebellions of 1908 and 1916 thanks to which a good number of French protected have been able to taste the benefits of civilization on the scaffold, in the prisons or in exile; these plots are already old and leave no trace but in the memories of the natives.

Let us only speak about the most recent plot. While Metropolitan France had the resounding Bolshevist conspiracy, the gentlemen colonists of Indochina – like the frog in the fable⁴¹ – also wanting a conspiracy for themselves, swelled up and finally had one.

Here is how they supplied it.

A French mandarin (resident of France, if you please), an Annamite sub-prefect and a native Mayor are charged with making this plot.

The executive trinity spread the rumor that the conspirators had concealed two hundred fifty bombs intended to blow up all over Tonkin.

However, on February 16, the Criminal Court of Hanoi recognized that not only the existence of a revolutionary organization with destructive gear was not at all prepared; but that the plot was just a provocative maneuver by government agents eager to curry administrative favor.

Do you believe that after this judgment the incarcerated Annamites were released. No! It is necessary at all costs to maintain the prestige of the conquerors? To do this, instead of just decorating the clever inventors of the case, we condemn, to 2 to 5 years in prison, 12 Annamese, mostly scholars, and on the door of the prison, we read – in French, of course – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.

And the so-called native-loving newspapers hurry to sing the impartiality of this caricature of justice!

Listen instead to the Colonial Dispatch which holds the championship of Annamiteophobia:

“French justice has delivered its verdict. It is an acquittal for half of the accused and light sentences for the other half…Convicted were the scholars who had celebrated the benefits of liberty in bad occasional verse.”

You see, it is a real crime for the Annamese to sing the blessings of liberty and they are tossed into prison for five years, just for that!

“We must,” continues the same newspaper, “welcome the highly impartial verdict of our judges and our juries, etc.”

And again, the Colonial Dispatch has reported, with joy, the highly impartial verdict of French justice in the case of the famous Viuh-Yên conspiracy. The Annamites of Paris, like their distant countrymen, have demonstrated their trust in our judiciary and stated that they were right and that the case in question ends to their complete satisfaction. No, Mr. Pouvourville,⁴² you jest a little too loudly.

⁴¹ LaFontaine’s fable of the frog that wanted to be as big as an Ox. The frog inflated itself so much in the attempt, that it exploded.

⁴² Georges-Albert Puyou de Pouvourville (1862 – 1939) was a French soldier who fought in China before holding several military and administrative positions in Tonkin. He became a Taoist and, as a writer, fashioned himself an expert on the oriental mind.

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The newspaper France-Indochina has reported the following fact:

“A few days ago, the house of Sauvage reported to the security service the disappearance from his workshop of a large quantity of iron, about a ton. Upon receipt of the complaint, our officers immediately set to the task of finding the perpetrators of this theft, and we learn with pleasure that a European inspector of security helped by native security agents just laid their hands on the thieves as well as on their accomplice.

“Mr. S…, manager of Sauvage’s house, as well as the said Trâvan-Loc, apprentice mechanic, and Trânvan-Xa, have been arrested and referred to the Public Prosecutor for theft and conspiracy…”

Did you notice the extreme delicacy of our colleague? When it concerns Mr. French thief, running the Sauvage house, his name is suppressed, it is replaced with ellipses. The prestige of the superior race must be saved at all costs. But for common Annamite thieves, their family name and first name is mentioned, and it is no more M…, these are the “named”.

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By the act of October 10, 1922, the government just completed a significant change in the colonial judiciary. We note, among other names, those of Messrs. Lucas and Wabrand.

It is worth recalling briefly the history of these two magistrates.

Mr. Lucas, who was Attorney General in French West Africa, is the same who came up during recent scandals of Togo. In a statement to the press, the Minister of Colonies was forced to declare that “the investigation also shows that the participation of Mr. Lucas in the case would weigh on this judge THE HEAVIEST RESPONSIBILITIES.”

It is probably in recognition of these heavy responsibilities that the President of the Court of Appeals of French Equatorial Africa is attacked.

As for Wabrand, his story is simpler and less known. In 1920, a French agent of the trading house Peyrissac named Durgrie, went hunting in Kankan (Guinea). He shot a bird that fell into a river. A small native boy happened by. Durgrie grabbed him and threw him into the river, ordering him to go for the game. The water was deep, the waves strong. The child, not knowing how to swim, drowned. The parents of the victim lodged a complaint. Durgrie, summoned by the commander of the circle,⁴³ agreed to give one hundred francs to the bereaved family.

The unhappy parents refused this nefarious bargain. Mr. Commander, angered, took the side of his compatriot, the murderer, and threatened to put the parents in jail if they persisted in pursuing the assassin, then he “stores” the file.

However, an anonymous letter announced the fact to the Attorney General in Dakar. The senior magistrate sent the prosecutor Wabrand to investige. Mr. Wabrand came to Kankan, spent the evening at the station master’s and the next day at Mr. de Cousin de Lavallière’s, deputy commander of the circle. He left the next day, without having even begun his investigation. This did not prevent Mr. Wabrand from concluding that the information was libelous. The Intercolonial Union reported the fact to the League of Human Rights (22 December 1921), but considering that the case might not be sensational enough, they are not interested.

Since his visit to Kankan, Mr. Wabrand remains quietly at his post, receiving chickens and sacks of potatoes sent by his friend de Cousin de Lavallière, pending promotion. As you see, Mr. Wabrand deserved the … just reward that the government has granted him by appointing him Prosecutor in Dakar (?).

With the Darleses and the Beaudoins, the Wabrands and the Lucases, the superior civilization is in good hands and the fate of the indigenous settlements, too.

⁴³ commandant du cercle – the lowest level European official in French colonies.

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The criminal court has just given 13 months in prison to Fernand Esselin and the widow Gère, and 10 months of the same penalty to George Cordier, for having possessed, transported and sold a kilo of “coco” or opium.

Very well. And that amounts to – by a simple calculation – 36 months in prison for 1 kilo of drugs!

It should therefore be necessary – if justice was equal for all, as they say – that the life of Mr. Sarraut, Governor-General of Indochina, be extremely long for it to serve the entire sentence; as it should be at least one million three hundred fifty thousand (1,350,000) months in prison each year, because every year he sells the Annamese over one hundred fifty thousand kilos of opium.

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Unable to get rid of the famous Dê-Tham,⁴⁴ not having succeeded in killing him, in doing away with him by poison or dynamite, the remains of his parents were dug up and thrown in a river.

After the protests in South-Annam, several scholars were sentenced to death or exile. Among others, Doctor Tran Quy Cap,⁴⁵ distinguished scholar and revered throughout the world, was arrested at his post of professor and, without being interrogated, was beheaded twenty-four hours later. The Administration refused to return his body to his family.

In Haiduong, due to a riot that had no casualties, sixty-four heads were dropped without trial.

During the execution of the infantrymen in Hanoi, the Administration brought by force their fathers, mothers and their children to be present at this solemn slaughter of beings who were dear to them. To prolong the feeling and “teach a lesson to the people” we redid what was done in the eighteenth century in England, when they planted on pikes in the streets of the City or on London Bridge, the heads of defeated Jacobites. For weeks, we have seen on the main roads of Hanoi, grinning on bamboo pikes, the heads of the victims of French repression.

Burdened by ruinous expenses and exposed to harassment without number, the Annamites of the Center⁴⁶ demonstrated, in 1908. Despite the entirely peaceful nature of these events, they were punished without mercy, there were hundreds of severed heads and mass deportation.

Everything is done to set the Annamite against his people and solicit betrayal.

Villages are declared responsible for disorders that occur in their territory. Any village that gives shelter to a patriot is doomed. For information, the process, - always the same – is simple: we question the mayor and notables, he who is silent is executed on the spot. IN TWO WEEKS, A MILITIA INSPECTOR EXECUTED SEVENTY-FIVE NOTABLES!

Not for a moment did we think to distinguish the patriots who fought in despair from the scum of the cities. To destroy the resistance, it sees no other way than to entrust the “pacification” to traitors who sold out our cause, and who undertake in the Delta, in Binh-Thuan, in Nge-Tinh, these horrible columns of police whose awful recollection remains forever in the memory.

⁴⁴ anti-French revolutionary (1860 – 1913)

⁴⁵ Tran Quy Cap (1870 – 1908) was a poet and scholar active in the movement to restore Vietnamese sovereignty

⁴⁶ Annam – At one point, France considered Vietnam to be three colonies: Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochinchina in the south.

CHAPTER IX

Obscurantism

To deceive the public opinion in of the metropolis and quietly exploit the natives, the sharks of civilization add complete obscurantism to the stupefaction of Annamites by alcohol, and opium.

Thus, under the decree of 1898, the native press is subject to preventive censorship.

This act says: “The circulation of newspapers and periodicals, in any language whatsoever, may be prohibited by a simple order of the Governor-General.

“The publication of newspapers in the Annamite language can not take place without authorization from the Governor-General. This authorization will be given only on condition that the text of articles for inclusion in this publication is submitted for approval to the Governor. This authorization is always revocable.

“Performance or delivery of songs, drawings or paintings contrary to the respect due to authority figures is punishable.”

You see here how dexterously colonial Anastasia⁴⁷ handles scissors!

It is by this means that the Indochinese administration can smother all the scandals and commit all abuses with impunity.

At some municipal elections in Saigon, the governor prohibited three managers of Annamite newspapers from publishing in their pages the text of the decree governing the municipal elections in the colony. These managers were candidates in these elections, and it was formally forbidden them to insert anything at all regarding their program. As no more than 20 Annamites have the right to assemble, the candidates were forced to see one by one the 3,000 voters who make up the electorate. At the same time, the Governor informed the other Annamite newspapers that censorship would be merciless for articles, snippets, titles or references relating to any colonial or municipal election. One of these papers, having translated into Annamite the text of the law punishing acts of corruption in the electoral process, saw said translation censored, while the Governor, without scruples, brought leaders to his office to urge them to vote, and make them vote for the list that has his support!

This censorship is not limited to publications in the native language, but she puts her despicable paws on private correspondence and the French newspapers that refuse to sing the praises of our colonial Excellencies: the Post Office and the General Security Service of Cochinchina, directed by the son of Mr. Director Albert Sarraut, were ordered to not let pass, under any circumstances, the envelopes and letters, etc. addressed to the new Parisian newspaper, The Pariah, or that come from that newspaper.

For writing articles in The Pariah and other metropolitan newspapers denouncing abuses in his country by French administrators, a Malagasy, engaged during the war as a volunteer, and married to a French woman, has been banished and sentenced to five years in exile.

⁴⁷ Madame Anastasie was a cartoon character drawn by Andre Gill (1840-1885). She was an old woman carrying a huge pair of scissors with an owl overlooking her shoulder. She became the symbol of censorship.

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In Indochina, the public wants schools whose number is grossly inadequate. Every year, at the start of school, although parents knock on every door, begging for support, even offering to pay double the tuition, they are unable to squeeze in their children. And these, by the thousands, are condemned to ignorance for lack of schools.

I remember a cousin of mine who, wishing to enter one of these education paradises, made multiple approaches, sent request after request to the Resident- Superior, the provincial Resident, the director of the National School and the head principal of the primary school. Naturally, he received no response. One day, he screwed up the courage to himself deliver a written request to the French headmaster of a school where I had the privilege of being admitted some time ago. Our “headmaster”, enraged at seeing such audacity, addressed him “Who allowed you to come here?” and he ripped the request to pieces in front of the whole dazed class.

The budget does not allow the government to build new schools, it is said. Not exactly. Of the 12 million piasters that constitute the budget of Cochinchina, 10 million find good ways to rush into the pockets of officials.

On the other hand, fearing they are contaminated by Bolshevism, the colonial government does everything it can to prevent young Annamites from coming to study in France. Article 500 (bis) of the Decree of June 20, 1921 on public education in Indochina said:

“Any native, French subject or protected, who wants to go to Metropolitan France to continue his studies, must get permission from the Governor-General. The decision will be made after consulting with the head of the local administration and the director of Public Instruction.

“He must, before his departure, bring to the Directorate of Public Instruction, an academic passbook bearing his photograph and indicating his marital status, address of his parents, schools previously attended, grants or scholarships from which he has benefitted, diplomas obtained, and the address of his correspondent in France. This passbook must be approved by the Governor-General.

“The files of natives who continue their studies in France are deposited with the Directorate of Public Instruction.”

“Brutalize to rule”, that is the method dear to the governors of our colonies.

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L’Humanité has reported how, four years after the just war, postal censorship is still strictly applied in Madagascar.

Indochina has nothing to envy of Madagascar.

We cited the case of Pariah.

Coincidentally, this new abuse of power coincides with the arrival in Saigon of the forger administrator Baudouin, and his brilliant second, the son of Mr. Albert Sarraut and spy chief.

On the other hand, the administration continues to stop and search private letters.

While natives are killed and robbed with impunity, these do not have even the most basic right; that of corresponding! This attack on freedom adds a feather to the abhorrent policy of spying that exists in our colonies.

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The government of Indochina organized the sabotage of the Pariah newspaper, that of French West Africa prohibits the entry into the colony of newspapers published by black Americans; that of Tunisia expels the Director of Social Futures. Mr. Lyautey drives out the director of The Moroccan Wasp. (The journalists were granted one hour to pack.)

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At the time of the opening of the fair in Hanoi and while Mr. Baudoin, Acting Governor-General of Indochina, toured the booths, police broke into one of them and seized the collections and albums of caricatures presented by The Indochinese Argus, whose criticism and satire are not to the taste of the powerful of the day.

Mr. Clementi, director of this newspaper, was arrested and put in jail.

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CHAPTER X

Clericalism

During pacification, the Ministers of God did not remain inactive. Like bandits who lie in wait and panic people in order to loot after the fire, our missionaries took advantage of the disorganization of the country after the conquest to… serve the Lord. Some betrayed the secrets of the confessional and delivered the Annamite patriots to the guillotine or execution post of the conquerors. Others spread throughout the country to solicit forced conversions. One such priest, “bare feet and legs, pants rolled up to his buttocks, belly girded with a belt full of cartridges, rifle on his shoulder and revolver in his back, marched at the head of his flock armed with spears, machetes and flintlocks; this is how he proselytized at gunpoint, supported by our troops which he led in the pagan villages reported to him as rebels.”

After the expedition to Peking, Monsignor Favier, apostolic bishop and knight of the Legion of Honor, had pocketed alone a sum of 600,000 francs, the product of looting. “In front of the palace of prince Ly,” wrote an eyewitness, “comes a long convoy of carts and wagons, under the direction of Bishop Favier, escorted by 300 to 400 Christians, as well as French soldiers and sailors. They are movers in the interest of Heaven!... The task completed, soldiers and sailors each receive a check for 200 francs, drawn on the Congregation of Saint-Vincent de Paul.” In an official report, we read this formal accusation: “The dikes of discipline are silently broken by the example of collective looting under the direction of Bishop Favier.”

Naturally, Bishop Favier was not the only one to so evangelize. He had imitators. “From the lifting of the siege,” writes one, “the missionaries led the soldiers to the house of bankers they knew and in which were deposited gold bullion: they were accompanied by their pupils or by Chinese converts who performed the pious work of helping to rob their compatriots and providing the good Fathers with money for the saints’ uses.”

It would take too long to tell here all the satanic acts committed by these worthy disciples of Mercy. We mention in passing, the priest who held, pushed, beat, bastinaded, and tied a small native boy to a post of his curacy, then threatened his boss with a revolver, a European, who came to reclaim the small martyred one. Another sold an Annamite Catholic girl to a European for 300 francs. Another beat half to death a native seminarian. When the village of the outraged victim, wanted, while waiting for divine Justice, to bring a complaint against the brute – pardon, I meant against the reverend father, - human justice warns the naïve plaintiffs in these terms: “Be careful my children!, no stories, otherwise…” Bishop M… did he not say that French instruction is dangerous for Annamese: and Bishop P.., that God knew what he was doing applying the cane to the sides of the Annamites’ r…umps?

If heaven existed, it would really be too narrow to accommodate all these brave colonial apostles; and if the unfortunate Christ crucified returned to this world, he would be disgusted to see how his “faithful servants” observe holy poverty: The catholic mission in Siam has 1/3^rd of the country’s cultivable land. That of Cochinchina, 1/5^th. Of Tonkin ¼ in Hanoi alone, plus a small fortune of about 10 million francs. Needless to say, most of the property is acquired in shameful and unacknowledged ways.

“That which the settler does by using the State,” wrote colonel B., “the missionary does despite the State. Next to the field of the planter is the domain of the church. Soon there will not be an available patch of land where the Annamites can be established, work and live, without resigning themselves to being a serf!”

Amen!!

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God is good and all-powerful. Supreme fabricator, he has created a so-called superior race to place over another race called lower, created, also, by Him. Therefore, any civilizing mission – whether for the Caribbean, Madagascar, Indochina, or Tahiti – always has a tow truck called Evangelism mission. We know, for example, it was at the instigation of their colonial Eminences, supported by the wife of Napoleon III, that the Tonkin expedition was decided. And what had they done, their Eminences? They enjoyed the hospitality of the Annamese to remove military secrets, copy the plans, and communicate them to the expeditionary party. We do not know how this procedure is said in Latin, but in vulgar French, it is called espionage.

As the F. Garniers, the H. Rivières and did not know the country and did not know the native language, the missionaries served as interpreters and guides. In these roles, the holy men did not fail to put Christian piety into practice. Some priest said to the soldiers: “Burn this village, it did not pay us taxes”, or “Spare the other, it is subject to Us.” (Gl. B.) Us, that was the mission.

The colonial clergy was not only responsible for colonial wars, but the followers, the diehards, distained the “pre-mature” peace. In a report to the Department of the Navy, admiral R. de Renouilly wrote: “I want to try to build relationships with the Annamite authorities in order to conclude a peace treaty, but we encounter great difficulties created by the missionaries… A treaty with the Annamites, as advantageous as it was, did not satisfy the desires of these Gentlemen; they aspire to the complete conquest of the country and the overthrow of the dynasty. Monsignor Pellegrin stated it repeatedly, and I have found the same ideas in Bishop Lefèvre.”

Was it patriotism? No, because later, the admiral said that “the church operating in Cochinchina sacrifices the interest of France to its individual point of view.”

The following anecdote will illustrate this statement:

The king of Ham-Nghi left his capital occupied by the French. With his supporters, he besieges a village defending Christians, including six missionaries. Alerted, a French general asks a priest to lend him junks to transport the troops to rescue the besieged. The priest refused, claiming that all junks went fishing at sea, and would return three or four days later. After making inquiries, the general gathers that the priest has deliberately made the junks leave expressly so the relief troops could not leave. Then he sent for the priest and told him: “If I do not have my junks in six hours, I will shoot you.” The junks arrive, and the general asks the Reverend Father: “Why did you lie? – My general, if you arrived after the massacre of the missionaries, we would have six more martyrs to be beatified.”

Such are the evangelical actions our “Fathers” strive to do every day, and always in His name.

CHAPTER XI

The Martyrdom of Native Women

From what we have reported in the preceding pages, one can see in what manner the Annamite woman is “protected” by our civilizers. No place is immune from brutality. In town, in her house, in the market or in the countryside, everywhere she is exposed to maltreatment of the director, the officer, constable, the customs agent and stationmaster. It is not uncommon to hear about a European treating an Annamite woman like a con-dhi (prostitute) or as a bouzou (monkey). Even in the central market of Saigon, in the French quarter, they say, the European guards do not hesitate to beat the native women with blows of a black-jack or club to make them move along!

We could multiply these sad examples endlessly, but the facts already mentioned should suffice, we hope, to show our sisters in the Metropole the poverty and oppression suffered by the unfortunate Annamite woman. Let us see whether the native woman of other colonies – also under the protection of the mother-country – is better respected.

In Fedg-M’Zala (Algeria), a native was sentenced to one year in prison for theft. The convict escaped. A detachment commanded by a lieutenant was sent to encircle the douar.⁴⁸ After a painstaking search, we did not find the escapee. So we gathered 35 women belonging to his family and his allies. Among them were girls aged 12, 70 year old grandmothers, pregnant women and still nursing mothers. Under the watchful eye of the lieutenant and administrator, each soldier grabbed a woman. The notables and tribal chiefs were forced to attend this show. It was to impress them, they say. After which, they destroyed houses, livestock was removed, the raped women were stuffed in a room where they were guarded by their own tormentors and where the same sadistic acts repeated for more than a month.

They said: “Colonialism is a robbery.” We add: rape and murder.

⁴⁸ douar/dowar – a small encampment of Arab tents grouped in a circle round a central enclosure for cattle. (Oxford English Dictionary)

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Under the heading “Colonial Bandits”, Victor Meric recounted to us the incredible cruelty of the colonial administrator who was pouring rubber into the sexual parts of a Negress. Afterwards, he made her carry a huge stone on her head, in the blazing sun, until death ensued.

Today, this sadistic officer pursues his exploits in another district.

Facts as odious are unfortunately not uncommon in what the good press calls “France Overseas.”

In March 1922, an officer of Customs and Excise in Baria (Cochinchina) almost dispatched an Annamite from this life, a salt carrier, with the excuse that she had disturbed his nap by being rowdy beneath the verandah of the house he occupied.

The best part is that this woman was threatened with being removed from the site where she worked if she made a complaint.

In April, another agent of Customs and Excise, who succeeded the first, made himself worthy of his predecessor by his brutality.

An old Annamite, also a salt carrier, had a discussion with her supervisor about a deduction from her salary. She complained to customs. The latter, without further ado, administered to the carrier two great blows. And while the old woman bent down to pick up her hat, the civilizer gave her a violent kick in the belly, which immediately caused a copious flow of blood.

She fell, lifeless, but the associate of Mr. Sarraut, instead of picking her up, summoned the village chief and ordered him to take the injured person away. The notable refused. Then the officer brought the husband of the victim, who was blind and ordered him to remove his wife.

Want to bet that, like their colleague administrator in Africa, our two customs and excise agents in Cochinchina were not worried. They even get a promotion.

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The small natives of Algiers are hungry. To have something to eat, kids six to seven years old are boot blacks or carry bread baskets to the market.

The civilizing colonial government thinks these little outcasts earn too much. It requires each one of them to have a trading license and to pay a fee of 1 fr 50 to 2 francs per month.

Workers of the mother country who protest against the unjust tax on salary, what do you think of this odious tax?

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Before the war, sugar, in Martinique, sold for 280 francs per ton; rum, 35 francs per hectoliter. (100 liters)

Today, the first sells for 3,000 francs and the second for 400 francs.

The boss thus makes a profit of 1000%.

Before the war, the worker earned 3 francs per day. Today, he earns 3 fr. 75 to 4 francs per day.

Therefore, wage increases barely reach 30%.

The cost of living has increased by at least 300%.

Add to this outrageous imbalance the reduced purchasing power of the franc and you get an idea of the wretchedness of the native worker.

In February 1923, following the refusal of the bosses to raise wages, the workers went on strike.

As everywhere, and in the colonies more than elsewhere, employers have little hesitation in spilling the worker’s blood. Thus, in this strike, two young Martinican workers, one 18 and one 19, were brutally murdered.

The employers’ ferocity spared neither children, nor women. Here is what the May 1923 issue of The Pariah reported:

“The bias of the authorities is clearly against the workers. All those who had refused the job at the price offered by the bosses are reported, arrested, and searched by the police, who all showed the greatest malice toward the unfortunate.”

Thus, the day before yesterday, two policemen went to pick-up, at Trinity Hospice, a woman, Louise Lubin, who was wounded in both legs by bullets on the 9^th of February, when Bassignac was shot. She was thrown in jail on the grounds that “through acts or threats, she would have undermined the freedom to work.”

“But what is certain is that the poor woman can not walk, and the police wanted to take her 32 kilometers away, by foot, to appear before Mr. Judge.

“When she was arrested, it took five or six days before the doctor, who lived in Fort-de-France, 32 kilometers away, visited her.

“Who gave the medical discharge, as this incarcerated mother of three children says she is not cured, that she remains disabled and can not walk?

“I mention this fact, alongside many others, also revolting, that recur around the colony.

“During the strike, on certain properties, the “hutted”⁴⁹ employees were forced to work under the supervision of police and marines, as in the days of slavery.

⁴⁹ casé – is an African hut. The implication is that these are workers who have their own homes.

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We read in a newspaper:

“In Constantine (Algeria), troops of meskines⁵⁰ walk around and beg. One of the unfortunate dies near the El-Kantara bridge, her child in her arms.

“From Boghari to Djelfa, the trains are beset by old people, children and women carrying babies in their arms, asking for charity.

“They have a skeletal appearance, covered with rags. They are prevented from approaching the stations.”

⁵⁰ derogatory term for Arab from nearby Ait el Meskine, Morocco

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It is a painful irony that civilization – symbolized in its various forms, liberty, justice, etc…, by the gentle image of a woman and designed by class of men who pride themselves on gallantry – subject its living emblem to the most despicable treatment and shamefully attack her morals, her modesty and her life.

Colonial sadism is of an unbelievable frequency and cruelty, but we simply recall here some facts that have been seen and reported by witnesses not suspected of bias, and allow our Western sisters to understand the value of the “civilizing mission” and the suffering of their sisters in the colonies.

“On the arrival of soldiers,” says a colonial, “the population fled, the only ones remaining were two old people, a girl and a woman breastfeeding her new-born, holding hands with a little 8 year old girl. The soldiers demanded money, liquor and opium. And as nobody understands French, they become furious, and stunned one of the grandfathers with a rifle butt. Then, for hours, two of them, already drunk on arrival, amused themselves by cooking the other old person over an open fire. However, the others raped in turn the girl’s mother, and her daughter. Then, they lay the girl on her back, tie her up, gagged her, and one of them sticks his bayonet in her belly, he cuts off a finger to steal a ring, and head to grab the necklace.

“On the flat land of the old salt marsh, the three bodies are left: the little girl laid bare, the girl disemboweled, whose left forearm stiffened up to the indifferent sky a clenched fist, and the corpse of the old man, that one horrible, naked as the others, disfigured by cooking, with his fat which flowed and coagulated with the belly skin, blistered, browned and golden like the skin of a roasted pig.”

After taking Chomoi (Tonkin) in the evening, an officer of the African battalion sees a prisoner, living, without injury. In the morning, he sees him dead, burned, the fat flowing, with blistered golden belly skin. Soldiers had spent the night grilling this disarmed being, while others tortured a women.

A soldier forces an Annamite to indulge his dog. She refuses, he kills her with a bayonet thrust in the stomach. The same witness tells, “that one festival day a boisterous soldier threw himself on an old Annamite who he pierced with his bayonet for no reason.”

A gardener soldier seeing a peaceful group of curious men and women gardeners enter his yard at ten o’clock in the morning, immediately fired on them with shotgun and killed two girls.

A customs officer who was denied entrance to the home of a native, set fire to the hut and broke the leg of the wife of the latter when, blinded by the smoke, the unfortunate fled with her children.

The unbridled sadism of conquerors knows no bounds. They push their cold cruelty as far as the delicacy of a bloodthirsty civilization allows them to imagine.

The crushing taxes hit not only on the land, animals and men, but their beneficial (!) effects also extend to the female population: “Indigenous paupers, loaded with chains, are used in cleaning the roads. They are guilty only of not being able to pay.”

Of all the efforts that the civilizers have made to improve the Annamite race and to lead it to progress (?), it is necessary to mention the forced sale of state alcohol. It would take too long to enumerate here all the abuses arising from the sale of a poison for dosing out and swallowing democracy.

We told how, to enrich the sharks of the monopoly, the criminal government of Indochina allows its servants to force women and children to pay for alcohol they do not consume. To please the monopolizers, laws designed to punish smuggling were invented, placing on the head of the native an arsenal stocked with awful penalties; we arm customs agents. They have the right to go on private property.

We are somewhat astonished, and that is something, when we see arriving in Hanoi or in Haiphong, long processions of elderly, pregnant women, children tied to each other, two by two, led by policemen, accounted for by their crimes in customs.

But this is nothing compared to what happens in the provinces, particularly in Annam, where the Resident judges and encages together young and old, men and women.

The same author then recites the procession of parents, to the prison gate: “Elders, women, kids, all of them were dirty, ragged, hollow cheeked, eyes burning with fever; and children were dragged, unable to keep up on their little legs. And all these exhausted people carried the most diverse objects: hats, clothes, cooked rice balls, food of all kinds, to be passed secretly to the accused, father, husband, breadwinner, almost always the head of household.”

All that has been said remains less than the truth. Never at any time, in any country, has violating all human rights been practiced with such cruel cynicism.

It is not only the continuous home visits, it is the body searches that can be carried out everywhere and on the natives of both sexes! The customs agents enter native homes, forcing women and girls to undress completely and, when they are in the costume of Truth, push their lustful fantasies as far as affixing the customs stamp on the body.

Oh! French mothers, women, girls, what do you think, my sisters! And you, French sons, husbands and brothers? This is the French “colonized” gallantry, is it not?

The enthusiasm of the Annamites for modern instruction scares the Administration of the Protectorate. That is why it closes municipal schools, it transforms them into stables for gentlemen officers, it hunts students and encages teachers. A native teacher was arrested, brought to the province capital bare headed, under the scorching sun, a pillory around her neck.

A chief warrant officer of artillery set fire to a house, on the pretext that the owner did not want to receive him at midnight.

A polygamous lieutenant threw a young Annamite girl to the ground and beat her to death with a rattan cane because she did not want to be his concubine.

Another officer had raped a girl in odiously sadistic ways. Brought before the Criminal Court, he was acquitted because the victim was an Annamite.

In every speech, in every respect, in all places where they have the opportunity to open their mouths and where there are bystanders to hear, our statesmen repeatedly assert that only the German is barbaric, imperialist, and militarist, while France, this peaceful France, humanitarian, republican and democratic France represented by them, is not imperialistic, or militaristic. Oh! Not at all! If these same statesmen send soldiers – children of workers and workers themselves – to massacre the workers of other countries, it is simply to teach them to live well.

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CHAPTER XII

The Awakening Slaves

I. IN INDOCHINA

In November 1922, due to a decrease in wages, 600 dyers in Cholon (Cochinchina), decided to stop working.

The employer offensive was unleashed throughout and everywhere the working class begins to become aware of its power and value.

If these unfortunate native workers, usually very docile and easy to handle, uneducated and unorganized, have been pushed – by self-preservation, if one may say so – to join together and fight against the ferocious demands of the employers, it is that their situation is much more miserable than is imagined in Europe. This is the first time that such movement takes place in the colony. Mark this sign of the times, and do not forget that our duty – workers of the Metropolis – is not only to give verbal solidarity to our class brothers there, but to educate them, to teach them the spirit and the methods of organization.

II. IN DAHOMEY

French capitalism, worried about the awakening of the working class in metropolitan France, seeks to transplant its control to the colonies. It draws from there the raw materials for its factories and the human material for its counter-revolution. Bourgeois newspapers in Paris and the provinces regularly devote entire pages to the colonial section. Generals and parliamentarians give lectures on the colonies. These virtuous scribblers and boasters do not find enough words to sing of our loyalty and the benefits of “their” civilization.

Sometimes these gentlemen push impudence to the point of opposing English colonial banditry, their… worth; they describe English policy as the “cruel method” or the “hard way” and argue that the French practice as full of justice and charity.

Just a glance is enough to evaluate how much this civilization is “beautiful and sweet.”

In Dahomey, the already crushing taxes are increased for the natives. They pluck the young men from their homes and their lands as “defenders of civilization.” Natives are prohibited from having guns to defend themselves against wild beasts that devastate whole communities. Education and sanitation are absent. In contrast, no means is neglected to submit the “protected” Dahomians to the abominable Indigenous Code, an institution that puts man at the level of a beast and that dishonors the so-called civilized world. The natives, out of patience, rebel. Then it is the bloody repression. We take strong measures. We send troops, machine guns, mortars and warships; a state of siege is proclaimed. We arrest and imprison en masse. Here is then the sweetness of civilization!

III. IN SYRIA

The population of Syria is happy, very happy with the administration of general Gouraud, officials say. But the following facts prove otherwise:

In March 1922, Mustapha Kemal went to Messina. To receive him, the Moslems in Syria raised a triumphal arch decorated with black flags bearing the inscriptions: “Turkish-Arab brotherhood”, “Do not forget your Syrian brothers!” “Deliver us!”, etc. etc.

Mustapha Kemal’s visit to Adana generated enthusiastic demonstrations. The irredentists of Antioch and Alexandretta⁵¹ have paraded black flags in the streets of the city for two days uttering hostile shouts against the French Mandatory administration.

In reply to the manifesto of the irredentist delegation, Mustapha Kemal had said: “A home dating back many centuries can not remain in the hands of foreigners.”

French colonialism has not changed its motto: “Divide and conquer.” Thus the empire of Annam – the country inhabited by descendants of the same race, people with the same mores, the same history, the same traditions and speaking the same language – was divided into five parts. By hypocritically exploiting this division, we hope to cool the feelings of solidarity and brotherhood in the heart of Annamese and compensate for them with antagonism of brothers against brothers. After having set one against the other, the same elements are artificially grouped into a “union”, the Indochinese Union.

We can see the same tactic in the new colonies. After having dividing Syria into a “series of States”, the French high commissioner in Beirut claimed to form a Syrian “Federation” from the “States” of Aleppo, Damascus and Alawites. A flag has been invented for this purpose. Like the flag of Annam, we did not forget to graft on this federal flag – at the top and near the flagpole – the “protective color”. December 11, 1922 was the “solemn” day when this flag was flown for the first time on the federal palace in Aleppo.

On this occasion, official speeches were made. Soubhi Barakat Bey, federal president, spoke of “generous protector”, of “sincere guide”, of “victorious leaders” and a lot of things. Mr. Robert de Caix, acting High Commissioner also talked a lot. Among other things, this official said that “independent Syria is not the first people whose cradle France has watched over”, etc … All these palavers, however, deceive no one. And at the Lausanne Conference, the Syria-Palestinian delegation to defend the independence and unity – the true - of Syria, has sent a protest letter, a letter that was published by our colleague The Tribune of the East and that we are pleased to reproduce here.

“Minister,

“As one tries to repair the breaches the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) has raised in the question of the Middle East, and where the Arab people are, proportionate to the sacrifice they made, most directly affected by the evils resulting from this treaty, one finds, unfortunately, that the voice of its representatives from the various districts still has no echo in this conference which was convened to establish a firm and lasting peace.

“And this is when the French authorities find it timely to solemnly crown the work of colonization undertaken four years ago, by displaying the emblem of eternal slavery, the Tricolor, on the flag that has just been adopted by the so-called Syrian Confederation. It rejects, once again, the statements of the Allies, the commitments England made on their behalf vis-à-vis the Arabs and even promises of French statesmen ensuring independence to that unhappy country. Syria, which has clear title to prompt and complete independence and that is not less worthy than any other country in the east or west, is deprived of a national flag. As a sign of the mandate, which camouflages annexation, it imposes three colors in its national flag.

“Mr. Speaker, we have always protested against the mandate, we have never recognized it, and we now strongly protest against the adoption of its symbol in our flag.

“Almost all the powers, even those that are no less great than France, did not adopt this method in humiliating their most backward colonies.

“The Covenant of the League of Nations specifies the provisional character of mandates (Article 22, Paragraph 4). On what basis, therefore, are French authorities empowered to have their colors adopted by a country they claim to lead to the independence already recognized by the aforesaid pact?

“Minister, consider our protest about this and we reaffirm our very keen desire to assert our just claims to the conference.

“Sincerely, etc…

“For the head of the Syrian-Palestinian delegation,

The Secretary general,

“Emir Chékib Arslan”

On the other hand, the inhabitants of Hama, many of whom are civil servants, lawyers, professors, journalists and traders, addressed to the President of the Council of Ministers of France, a letter including the following key passages:

“We have the honor, Mr. Council President, to present our claims, as well as protest against the reaction of the Council that we consider not our interests and those of the country in general.

“1^st Said Federal Council is not elected by the votes of the nation. Its members are not, in any way, the representatives of the nation, nor reflect its thinking.

“2^nd Said Council is devoid of any power; it can not even address the vital issues concerning the country, constrained to dealing only with business submitted to it. Finally, its decisions are at the discretion of the High Commission who can execute or reject them.

“3^rd The very basis of that Council is skewed by the fact that each State has one vote despite of the population inequality of the States. Add to this, the inexplicable oddity, that only unanimity counts on this Council, and that any differences ends the debate which is then brought before the High Commissioner.

“4^th Said Council, presented as a step on the path to unity, is actually the negation of unity and of even the personality of the country, in that this Council, appointed to office, in no way reflects national thought; maybe it is even against this thought, while in the eyes of the world it would be considered the interpreter of national aspirations and provide an argument against the nation itself.

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“As for our wishes, we can formulate them in the following manner:

“a) Actual recognition of the independence and unity of Syria;

“b) Once the census currently underway is completed, we will conduct the election of a national Assembly by universal suffrage that will enact the constitution and determine the form of government of the country. This Assembly could be held toward the end of 1922, the date when the Federal Council will have convened:

“c) The formation of a government responsible to the Assembly with full legislative power.

“These are the real aspirations of the people of Hama, they are equally those of the majority of the Syrian people.”

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Since this brochure was written, grave events have emerged in a number of colonies: including the bomb thrown by an Annamite in Canton, the Caribbean bombs, the bloody strikes in Guadeloupe, the equally bloody demonstrations in Damascus, the strikes of Bizerte, of Hammanlif and the excitement in Tunisia.

⁵¹ Iskenderun, Turkey

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IV. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE COLONIAL PEOPLES

Capitalism is a leech with a suction cup applied to the proletariat of the Métropole and another one on the proletariat of the colonies. If you want to kill the beast; the two cups must be cut at the same time. If only one is cut, the other will continue to live and the cut section will grow back.

The Russian Revolution has clearly understood this. That is why it did not merely make beautiful platonic speeches and vote humanitarian motions for the oppressed peoples, but it teaches them how to fight. It helps them morally and materially, as Lenin wrote in his Theses on Colonial Questions. It called a congress in Baku, where twenty-one Eastern nations sent their delegates. The representatives of western workers’ parties participated in the Congress. It was the first time in history that the proletariat of the conquerors and the conquered have extended a brotherly hand and together sought ways of effectively fighting capitalism, their common enemy.

After this historic Congress, despite external and internal difficulties that beset it, revolutionary Russia has never hesitated to come to the aid of those people that already – by the example of its heroic and victorious revolution – have been roused from their lethargy. The first step was the creation of the University of the East.⁵²

The university now has 1,025 students of which 151 are girls. Of these students, 895 are Communists. Their social status is the following: 547 peasants, 265 workers, and 210 intellectuals. There are, in addition, 75 ward pupils aged 10 to 16 years old.

150 teachers are responsible for giving courses in social sciences, mathematics, historical materialism, history of the labor movement, natural science, history of revolutions, and political economy, etc., etc. In the study halls, young people of sixty-two nationalities fraternally rub shoulders.

The university has ten large homes available to its students. It also has a cinema, which is freely available to the students on Thursday and Sunday, and leased to a contractor other days of the week. Two libraries, with 47,000 volumes, allow young revolutionaries to further their research and to feed their minds. Each nationality or “group” has its own private library, with books and newspapers in their native language. Artfully decorated by the students, the reading room is filled with newspapers and journals.

The students themselves publish “a single copy” newspaper that is posted on a large panel at the exit of the reading room. Patients receive medical care in the hospital belonging to the university. A nursing home, in Crimea, is reserved for convalescents. The Soviets donated to the university two camps, with new houses. Each has a farmyard, where one can study breeding. “We already have “30 cows and 50 pigs” said the agricultural secretary of the University, with ill-concealed pride. The 100 hectares of land allocated to these colonies are cultivated by students, who, while on vacation and after their work hours and exercise, go help the peasants.

Let us say, in passing, that one of these colonies was owned by the grand duke. It is quite curious to see the red flag flying proudly on the turret decorated with the grand-ducal crown, and the small Korean or Armenian peasants chatting and playing irreverently in the great hall of “His Imperial Highness.”

The students are fed, housed and clothed for free. Each receives 5 gold roubles per month as pocket money.

To give its residents the essentials of child care, the University patronizes a children’s home and a model nursery, whose population is 60 pretty babies.

The University spends 516,000 gold roubles per year.

The sixty-two nationalities represented at the University form a “commune”. The president and officials of the commune are elected every three months by universal suffrage. A student representative takes part in the economic and administrative management. In turn, all the students must work in the kitchen, library, and club, etc. All “crimes” and disputes are judged by a court chosen and attended by all comrades. The commune meets once a week to discuss the international political and economic situation. From time to time we organize meetings and recreational evenings, where improvisational artists make you sample the art and literature of the most diverse remote areas.

The most characteristic fact of all, and which illustrates the “barbarism” of the Bolsheviks: not only do they deal with these “inferior” colonial brothers, but also they invite them to participate in the political life of Russia. In a soviet election, the students who, in their country of origin, are the “subjects”, the “protected”, that is to say they are not entitled to anything other than paying, who have no voice in the affairs of their own country, and who are not allowed to talk politics, participate in popular vote and send their delegates to sit in the Soviets. My colonial brothers, who tire of begging in vain for naturalization, make the comparison between bourgeois democracy and workers democracy!

All these students have suffered and have seen suffering. All have lived under the “superior civilization” and under the exploitation and oppression of foreign capitalism. That is why all are enthusiastic and avid to learn. They are passionate and serious. They do not at all have the air of the boulevardier and young Orientals who haunt the Latin Quarters in Paris, Oxford or Berlin. One can say, without exaggeration, that the University houses under one roof the future of colonial peoples.

The near and far East, which runs from Syria to Korea – we speak only of the colonial and semi-colonial countries – has an area of more than 15 million square kilometers and a population of more than 1,200 million inhabitants. All these vast countries are now under the yoke of capitalist imperialism. And, despite their number, which should be their strength, these oppressed people have never seriously attempted to emancipate themselves, in that they have not understood the value of national and international solidarity. They did not have – like the peoples of Europe and America – intercontinental relations. They have in themselves a gigantic force they know nothing of!~ The founding of the University of the East marks a new era, and the University, by bringing together the young, active, intelligent people of colonial countries, is undertaking a great work:

a) To teach to these future combatants the principle of class warfare, the principle of race warfare, on one hand, and the patriarchal customs on the other, which are unclear in their minds;

b) To put the vanguard of workers in the colonies in close contact with the Western proletariat, to prepare the way to a close and effective cooperation, which alone will ensure the final victory of the international working class;

c) To teach the colonial peoples – until now isolated from each other – to raise awareness and to unite – thus laying the basis of a future Eastern Federation, which will constitute one of the wings of the proletarian revolution;

d) To give to the proletariat of the countries whose bourgeoisie has colonies, the example of what they can and should do for their subjugated brothers.

⁵² The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) also known as Far East University or Stalin School, established April 21, 1921.

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V. PROLETARIANS AND PEASANTS IN THE COLONIES1

The global carnage has opened the eyes of millions of proletarians and peasants of the colonies to their intolerable working conditions. A series of revolutionary explosions, powerful but not yet organized, marked the end of the world war. This irresistible, spontaneous force, that aspires to fight for a better future was led and directed by the national indigenous bourgeoisie. Grown and strengthened during the war, the middle class no longer wanted to stay in the hothouses of imperialism and give up to it the largest share of the exploitation of “its workers and peasants.” The struggle for national liberation, the slogan of the young colonial bourgeoisie, was greeted with enthusiasm and powerfully supported by the toiling masses of India, Egypt, Turkey, etc…

The International communist struggles tirelessly against the rapacious capitalists in all the countries of the world.

Could it hypocritically shy away from the national liberation struggle of the colonial and semi-colonial countries?

The Communist International has openly proclaimed its support and assistance for this fight and, true to its purpose, it continues to provide this support.

(Extract from the Manifesto of the Executive Committee of the Third International.)

VI. AN APPEAL BY THE PEASANT INTERNATIONAL TO THE FARM WORKERS OF THE COLONIES

The Peasant International, meeting in its first Congress, which took place recently in Moscow, marked its concern for the peasant workers of the colonies by sending the following appeal:

Farm workers of the colonies!

Farmers of the colonies, modern slaves who, by the millions, in the fields, savannas and forests of two continents, suffer under the double yoke of foreign capitalism and your native masters.

The Peasant International Conference, held for the first time in Moscow to prepare the fighting organization which was previously lacking for workers of the earth, calls upon your class consciousness and asks you to swell its ranks.

Even more than your brother peasants of the mother-countries, you have to work long hours, in misery, with the insecurity of joblessness.

You are often subjected to forced labor, to murderous portering and endless drudgery.

You are crushed by taxation.

Exploitative capitalism keeps you in darkness, oppresses you ideologically and decimates your race by the use of alcohol and opium.

The heinous Native Codes, imposed by capitalist imperialism, robs you of any individual freedom, of political and social rights, thus placing you on a lower rank than beasts of burden.

Not content to reduce you to misery and ruin, capitalism tears you from your homes, from your culture, to make you canon fodder and throw you into fratricidal wars against other natives or against the peasants and workers of the mother country.

Colonial outcasts!

Unite!

Organize!

Join your action to ours; fight together for our common emancipation!

Long live the emancipation of the natives of the colonies!

Long live the Worker’s International!

Long live the International Peasant’s Committee!

VII. THE TRADE UNION ORGANIZATION IN THE COLONIES

Extract of the minutes of the meeting held June 27, 1923 by the third session of the Central Council of the Red Trade Unions International:

The union struggle in the colonies

Contemporary imperialism is based on the exploitation of millions of workers in the colonial and semi-colonial countries. Also, the collapse of imperialism will not be complete and final until we have succeeded in rooting out the foundation of the imperial edifice. From this point of view, the organization of trade unions in the colonial countries acquires a particularly serious significance. Supporters of the Red Trade Union International have done almost nothing in this sense, not in Egypt, or in Tunisia, or in all countries that are under the boot of French imperialism. The liaison that exists between various groups of French colonial workers and French trade unions is only by chance. No systematic work is undertaken. However, it is obvious that before having won over the masses in the colonies, we will be powerless to undermine the imperialist organization. What is needed is a large propaganda campaign to create trade union organizations in the colonial countries and develop trade unions existing in an embryonic form. It is equally necessary that we overcome the distrust of workers of the colonies against representatives of the dominant races, showing them the actual class brotherhood between the workers of all nations and of all races. The organic binding of the colonial trade unions and those of the mother-country can only be the result of extensive work in the colonies.

Do not forget the workers of the colonies, help their organizations struggle constantly against the governments of the mother-countries which oppress the colonies. This is one of the most imperative duties of every revolutionary union, especially in the countries where the bourgeoisie enslaves and exploits the colonial and semi-colonial people.

.

. .

MANIFESTO OF THE “INTERCOLONIAL UNION”, ASSOCIATION OF NATIVES OF ALL THE COLONIES

“Colonial Brothers! In 1914, the public authorities, facing a terrible cataclysm, turned to you and asked you then to make your share of sacrifice to safeguard a homeland they said was yours, but which, until then, you had known only in the spirit of domination.

“To induce you, we did not fail to shine in your eyes, the benefits that your collaboration would be worth. But the torment passed and, as before, you remained subject to the Native Codes, the special courts, deprived of rights which make for human dignity: freedom of association, right of assembly, freedom of the press, right of free movement, even in your country; so much for the political side.

“From the economic point of view, you remain subject to a heavy and unpopular poll tax and of portering tax; to the salt tax; to the poisoning and forced consumption of alcohol and opium as in Indo-china; guarded at night, like in Algeria, to look after the property of the colonial sharks.

“For equal work, your efforts are paid less than your fellow Europeans.

“Finally, you were promised the earth.

“You now realize that it was all lies.

“What must be done to achieve your emancipation?

“Apply the formula of Karl Marx, we tell you that your manumission can only from your own efforts.

“It is to help you in this task that the Intercolonial Union was founded.

“It groups, with the agreement of metropolitan peers sympathetic to our cause, all from the colonies residing in France.

“Means of action: To create this work of justice, the Intercolonial Union intends to put the problem before public opinion with the aid of the press and by speeches (conferences, meetings, using of the platform of our deliberative assemblies by our friends who hold elective office) and finally by all the means in our power.

“Oppressed brethren of the metropolis! Dupes of your bourgeoisie, you have been instruments of our conquest; practicing this same Machiavellian politics, your bourgeoisie now intends to use us to punish any hint of emancipation.

“In opposition to Capitalism and Imperialism, our interests are the same; remember the words of Karl Marx:

“Workers of the world, unite!”

“The Intercolonial Union”

APPENDIX

To the Annamite Youth

Mr. Paul Doumer, ex-governor general of Indochina, writes: “When France came to Indochina, the Annamite people were ripe for slavery.” More than half a century has passed since then. Some great events have changed the world. Japan is ranked among the top world powers. China has had its revolution. Russia has chased its tyrants, it became a workers republic. A fresh breeze of emancipation raises the oppressed people. Irish, Egyptian, Korean, and Hindu, all the defeated of yesterday and the slaves of today are fighting heroically for their independence tomorrow. Only the Annamite remains what he was, ripe for slavery.

Hear this wretched prose, delivered by guest at a banquet for 200 guests, given in honor of the honorable Outrey, Valude and Company, and where, to sniff the odor of the socks of the bloc-nationers the Annamite has not hesitated to pay 85 francs for some tuck! “I am proud, says the speaker, I am proud to express, on behalf of all, our feelings of deep respect, joy and gratitude, for you, who, for our dazzled our eyes, synthesize the government of the glorious French nation.

“There are no words nice enough to spell out exactly the meaning of our innermost thoughts, but, Gentlemen, be very certain of our faithful attachment, our sincere loyalty, and of reverence for Guardian and Protective France, which considers us all its children, regardless of race and of color.

“We have all seen for ourselves for how much benefits we are indebted to the High Administration and representatives of France in this country for the fair and farsighted application of liberal and benevolent laws.”

At the funeral of governor general Long, Mr. N…-K…-V…, doctor of legal sciences, doctor of political and economic sciences, attached to the Saigon Procuratorate, says that if all Indochina could express its voice, it is certain that this voice would rise sorrowfully to thank the Governor for everything he has done for the Annamite people. E. M. V. exclaiming:

“Those who, thanks to your liberal measures, take part today with the representatives of the protecting nation, in the growing prosperity of Indochina, thank you from the bottom of their heart and venerate your memory. The economic question was your major concern. You wanted to give Indochina all the economic tools to make her a second France, the France of the Far-East, strong and powerful, and which will be a subsidiary of republican France.

“You were the heart and soul in your mission to civilize a people stopped on the road to progress by a combination of historical and climatic circumstances. You were the champion of progress and the apostle of civilization…”

For his part, Mr. Cao-van-Sen, engineer, president of the Association of Indochinese, said that Indochina mourns the untimely death of Mr. Long. And he ended his speech with these words:

“We sincerely mourn you, Mr. governor general, as you have been for all of us a benevolent leader and father.”

From all this, I conclude that if indeed all the Annamese were also as groveling as these creatures of the Administration, it must be agreed that they have only the fate they deserve.

.

. .

There is no need for our youth to know that there are currently more than two thousand young Chinese in France, and fifty thousand in Europe and in America. Almost all are graduates and all are student workers. We have seen for ourselves scholarship students and simply students, who, thanks to the generosity of the State or the capital of their family (one and the other are unfortunately inexhaustible examples) who spend half their time at the academy…of billiards; half in other places of pleasure; and the rest, and it is rare that there is any rest, at the University or in School. But Chinese student-workers, they do not intend anything less than the actual increase of the economic condition of their country, and have a motto: “Live by the fruit of their own work, and learn on the job.”

Here is how they do it: As soon as they arrive at their destination, everyone who has the same ability and wanting to learn the same trade, form themselves into groups to make representations to the bosses. Once admitted to the workshop or factory, they naturally begin as apprentices, and then as simple workers. It is very painful for many who were raised in the luxury and softness of the family to do heavy and tiring work. If they were not equipped with a firm will and driven by a prodigious moral force, most of them would have wavered. But so far all have continued their work. Another obstacle that they have overcome through their powers of observation which is almost a privilege for us Far-Easterners, and which our young neighbors know how to use for their benefit, and that is language. If they do not understand or have difficulty understanding their employers, they observe carefully what they show them.

They do not earn much. With the little they earn, they must first be self-sufficient. They then make it a point of honor to refrain from asking for financial help from the government or their family. Finally, according to how much they made from their work, they pay a percentage to a mutual fund they founded. This fund is made for two purposes: 1^st to help the sick or unemployed students get a doctor’s certificate for the first, and an employer’s certification for the second; 2^nd to give an allowance for one year to all those who will have finished their studies, in order to enable them to take a advanced courses.

In all the countries where they work, they founded a magazine (always with contributions from student-workers). The magazine, in Chinese characters, keeps them abreast of what is happening in the homeland, and the major events of the day of both worlds, etc… In the journal, a forum is reserved for readers where they communicate information relevant to their learning, get to know the progress of each one, and give advice and encouragement. They work during the day; they study at night.

Coming with such tenacity, such desire, such spirit of solidarity, our “young uncles” will surely achieve their goal. Aided by a workers’ army of 50,000 men endowed with an admirable courage and possessed of discipline and modern technique, China will soon gain its place among the industrial and commercial powers.

We have in Indochina everything that people could want: ports, mines, huge fields, vast forests: we have a skilled and hardworking labor force.

But we lack organization and organizers! This is why our industry and trade equals zero. So, what then our young do? It is sad, very sad to say: They do nothing. Those who have no means dare not leave their village; those who have wallow in their laziness; and even those who are abroad think only of satisfying the curiosity of their age.

Poor Indochina! You will die, if your enfeebled youth does not revive.

________________

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