A Profile of Viet Cong Cadres
Abstract
This Memorandum is based on interviews with 112 civilian and military cadres of the Viet Cong (a cadre being here defined as one who commands the authority of at least a squad leader or his civilian equivalent). The interviews were designed to reveal the political views and attitudes of the respondents, the basis and strength of their motivation to fight, and, in the case of defectors and disaffected captives, the reasons for their disenchantment with the Viet Cong. Sixty-four percent of the respondents were captives, and the rest voluntary defectors to the South Vietnamese Government. The sample consisted of the following elements: 58 'regroupees,' that is, former Vietminh fighters who had been moved to North Vietnam in accordance with the Geneva Agreement of 1954 and, after undergoing military and political training in the North, had been infiltrated back into the South; 20 Vietminh veterans who had remained in the South after 1954; and 34 cadres recruited in the South after 1956. It thus included a large proportion of men who had been in the resistance movement for many years and who had been well indoctrinated. All the interviews took place between August 1964 and September 1965 and thus reflect information about conditions in the Viet Cong up to mid-summer of 1965.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- ADA032416
Entities
People
- J. J. Zasloff
- W. P. Davison
Organizations
- RAND Corporation