Phu Rieng was one of many French rubber plantations in colonial Vietnam; Tran Tu Binh was one of 17,606 laborers brought to work there in 1927, and his memoir is a straightforward, emotionally searing account of how one Vietnamese youth became involved in revolutionary politics.
Tran Tu Binh (1907–1967) was a young revolutionary who rose to the rank of general in the army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and later filled the important post of ambassador to People’s Republic of China. David G. Marr is an emeritus professor and visiting fellow at the Australian National University as well as author of Vietnam: State, War, and Revolution, Vietnam 1945: The Quest for Power, and Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920–1945.
“Tran Tu Binh’s recollection of his experience of labor service in
the ‘rubber villages’ of the Michelin company was first published
in 1965 in Hanoi under the title Phu Riéng Do [Red Phu Rieng]. His
description of the maltreatment, brutal punishment, lack of
adequate food, housing, and medical care that Vietnamese workers
had to endure in the ‘hell on earth,’ as plantations were called,
corroborates what we know of the terrible forms of exploitation the
representatives of the rubber companies practiced.”
*The Journal of Asian Studies*
“This is a fascinating and short book—it extends to just 90 pages,
including end notes and introduction. It is ably translated by John
Spragens Jr…and edited by David G Marr for Ohio University and is a
vital part of not just modern Vietnamese history but of
post-colonial literature as a whole.”
*BookIdeas*
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