Title: Tập ảnh 45 năm hoạt động của Đảng Lao động Việt Nam
45 years of the Worker's Party of Vietnam (1930-1975)
Photographer(s): Vietnam Revolution Museum
Writer(s): Le Vinh Tuy, Thy Ngoc
Designer(s):
Publisher(s): Kim Dong and Vietnam Revolution Museum, Saigon, Vietnam
Year: 1975
Print run: 17000
Language(s): Vietnamese
Pages: 120
Size: 25 x 31 cm
Binding: Hardcover with dust jacket
Edition:
Print: An Quan, Saigon, Vietnam
Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: Vietnam, 1930-1975
ISBN:
The book celebrates the journey of the Worker's Party of Vietnam - former name of the Communist Party from 1930 to 1975, narrating its decades-long struggle against French colonialism and American imperialism. Historical events and key leaders are presented in a linear timeline: where photographs were lacking, drawings filled in. Here we see photographs as illustrations and the photobook performing state politics.
Given the high production cost, the state has often been a major sponsor of books with significant photographic content; although text contributed greatly to shaping the narrative and in some cases helped clarify details obscured due to the low quality of reproduction. Iconographic representation of spirit and strength prevails, amplifying the state-sanctioned message of the fight for national unification. As collective effort is regarded as a socialist virtue, this perhaps explains why individual authorship was not a foremost concern. The photographer or source of each image is not specified, a common practice that is also endorsed by the previous Soviet publication in this selection. Other ideological and aesthetic influences are present in visual tropes, the use of text and graphic design.