Wartime Economy: The Resistance Market Model of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the First Indochina War (1946–1954)

Abstract

Current study analyzes the formation, organization, and contributions of the resistance market system in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the period 1946 – 1954. Based on the exploitation of documents issued by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government of Vietnam, as well as primary archival materials from the National Archives Center III in Hanoi, the study argues that resistance markets were not merely spaces for commodity exchange but constituted a distinctive model of wartime economy. Through ensuring the circulation of goods, mobilizing social resources, stabilizing civilian livelihoods, and providing financial support for the resistance war, the market system played a crucial role in building a self-reliant and self-sufficient economy in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under wartime conditions.