On September 2, 2005, the Vietnamese people celebrated the 60th anniversary of the declaration of independence of their homeland. The fact that this significant milestone in its history coincided with the 60th anniversary of the victory of our people in the Great Patriotic War and the end of World War II is not a game of historical chance. In 1940, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), like many other Asian countries, was occupied by militaristic Japan. The August revolution of 1945, which brought Vietnam long-awaited independence, began immediately after news agencies in Hanoi received reports about the defeat of the Soviet troops in Northern China of the million-strong Japanese Kwantung army. "The Vietnamese people," Ho Chi Minh, the first president of independent Vietnam, later wrote, " will always be grateful to the Soviet Union, which defeated the fascists in Europe and Asia and made a decisive contribution to saving humanity from Fascist slavery. The victory of the Soviet Union contributed to the triumph of the August Revolution in our country." Historically, this is a very accurate estimate. Moreover, fate has generally decreed in such a way that almost the entire long-term struggle of the Vietnamese people, first for national liberation, and then in defense of the already won independence, was inextricably linked with our country. Despite the ambiguity of today's assessments of the international consequences of the October Revolution and the activities of the Communist International (Comintern), there can hardly be any doubt that these two factors contributed to the acceleration of the national liberation movement in the colonial and dependent countries and, ultimately, to the complete collapse of the world colonial system. This was especially evident in Vietnam. NGUYEN THE PATRIOT SPEAKS RUSSIAN As a young man, Ho Chi Minh City had "one but burning passion" - to see his homeland free and independent, which in the mid-19th century became a colonial ... Read more