The Tet Offensive

In using military force to bend countries to their will, the imperialists have always had a wide technological advantage over peoples whose economic and scientific development was stifled by years of colonial domination. Yet there have been remarkable victories that inspired the Black Panthers in this country to say, “The power of the people is greater than the man’s technology.”

One such astounding event was the Tet Offensive in Vietnam of January 1968 — exactly 45 years ago. In what was a mass armed uprising, the people of South Vietnam, led by the National Liberation Front, exploded the Pentagon’s myths and showed that the U.S. could never win the war to subjugate them.

Workers World Party celebrated this great victory for the oppressed with a special forum in New York City on Jan. 18. Talks described what happened in the Tet Offensive and how Marxism and Leninism were indispensable in inspiring and ideologically arming the Vietnamese for victory. It also heard from the founder of the American Servicemen’s Union, Andy Stapp, on how rebellion swept the ranks of the U.S. armed forces during that period.

Talks from the meeting are online at the Workers World website (tinyurl.com/bjv7x25).