Cable No. 505/TV from KBN [COSVN] Party Current Affairs Committee to P.10, Sau Dan [Vo Van Kiet], All Region Party Committees, B.76, N.50, and All Sections and Branches

1. Faced with the prospect total defeat, with our soldiers and civilians about to attack directly into their final lair, the American imperialists, who had previously removed Thieu from office, now have replaced Huong and moved Duong Van Minh up to become President. Their scheme is to conduct negotiations with us in order to try to save what is left of the Saigon regime.

When he stepped forward to accept the post of President at this time, Duong Van Minh ceased being a representative of the third force … Duong Van Minh’s action is part of the American scheme, and at the same time it is also in line with the political position taken by the Minh faction, which is that they do not want the Saigon regime to totally collapse and want to block the glorious victory that has been won by our nation at this historic moment.

This plan is clearly revealed in the contents of the proclamation issued by Duong Van Minh when he accepted the Presidency at 1650 hours on the afternoon of 28 April.

In that proclamation Minh said nothing about the United States, and he did not mention our two basic demands that were laid out in the proclamation issued by the Provisional Revolutionary Government on 26 April. Instead he appealed for “an immediate ceasefire and mutual cessation of all attacks,” and he appealed to the puppet army to “maintain your ranks and hold your positions in order to carry out your new mission, the mission of protecting what is left of our country.”

Appealing for the cessation of attacks, for national reconciliation and concord, and demanding the implementation of the Paris Agreement in generalized statements at this time means simply that one is carrying out the scheme of the Americans, which is to prevent our soldiers and civilians from attacking and causing the complete collapse of the current rotten and corrupt Saigon regime.

2. As was stated clearly by the Party Current Affairs Committee in Circular No. 10/TT.75 and in Cable No. 490/TV, dated 27 April 1975, “in the current situation in which the puppet government is facing the prospect of complete collapse, any lackey who takes power …, even if he announces that he will implement the Paris Agreement, that he will carry out peaceful national reconciliation, or makes any other such statement, is just supporting the American plot and is demonstrating that he has become a lackey of the Americans.”

Our entire Party, our entire army, and our entire population are determined to implement our unshakeable resolve to totally defeat the U.S. and the puppets; to overthrow the rotten and corrupt Saigon regime, which is the tool of American neocolonialism; and to totally liberate South Vietnam and reunite our beloved country. We are determined to intensify our attacks and uprisings until total victory is achieved, exactly as has been set forward in our plan and with not even a single change or deviation.

In this situation, with Huong’s removal and Minh’s rise to take his place, …the lower-level lackeys together with the enemy’s entire apparatus of repression are becoming increasingly frightened and are disintegrating. This provides us with very favorable conditions to win total victory.

… Only one road leads to true peace and independence, to freedom and democracy, to prosperity and national reconciliation: that is the road of crushing every American plot, of totally overthrowing the entire puppet army and puppet government, and of placing the entire government in the hands of the people.

All localities should closely monitor the editorials and opinions being broadcast on Radio Hanoi and Liberation Radio and should urge the people to listen to our radio broadcasts. You should use the proclamation issued by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam on 26 April and the editorials published in the newspaper Nhan Dan on that same day, 26 April 1975, and on subsequent days as the foundation for the explanations that you give to our cadre and our people as well as to the upper, governing classes. However, the key issue, the most vital problem, is that we will do whatever is necessary to gain total victory. That is the best way to describe the situation to the members of the upper classes.

As the situation develops further, the Party Current Affairs Committee will provide additional guidance.