In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary

Although the Vietnam War is still well known, few people are aware of the decades of struggles against the French colonial regime that preceded it, many of which had no connection with the Stalinists (Ho Chi Minh’s Communist Party). The Stalinists were ultimately victorious, but only after they systematically destroyed all the other oppositional currents.

Ngo Van’s In the Crossfire is the story of these other movements and revolts, caught in the crossfire between the French and the Stalinists, told by one of the few survivors. It is one of those rare books like Voline’s The Unknown Revolution or Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia that almost single-handedly unveil moments of hidden history—sublime moments when people break through the bounds of the “possible” and strive to create a life worthy of their deepest dreams and aspirations.

In the Crossfire is an English translation of Ngo Van’s fascinating and gripping autobiography, originally published in two volumes in France in 2000 and 2005. Coedited by Van’s close friend and collaborator, Hélène Fleury, and acclaimed situationist author and translator Ken Knabb, the book includes seventy color and black and white illustrations, reproducing many of Van’s paintings as well as numerous documentary photographs. It’s a compelling read for anyone interested in the revolutionary history of the twentieth century and beyond.

Praise

“A major corrective to the tendency of earlier anti-war activists to deify Ho Chi Minh, showing how the Vietnamese Stalinists hunted down and exterminated the native left opposition, while independent leftists and Trotskyists found themselves dodging bullets from both the French and the Communists.”
—Against the Current

“Destined to become a classic.”
—Fifth Estate

About the Contributors

Ngo Van was born in a peasant village in Vietnam in 1912. As a young man he moved to Saigon and became involved in underground struggles against the French colonial regime. In the aftermath of World War II, as most of his comrades were being murdered by the Ho Chi Minh’s Communist Party, Van escaped to France, where he became a factory worker. Following his retirement in 1978, he devoted the remainder of his life to researching and writing a series of books on the history of modern Vietnam. He died in 2005 at the age of 92.