This book, first published in 1989, examines the creation and implementation of Communist policy in Vietnam during the crucial period between the 1954 Geneva Conference and the establishment of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam in December 1960. This study challenges long-held views about the origins and nature of the Viet Cong. It carefully examines the various stages in the struggle for ’national liberation’ during this period, reviews the consequences of the failure of purely political means to achieve reunification and then focuses on the struggle between the Diem regime and the Communists.