Can Lao Party

The Cần Lao Nhân Vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. With its secret membership, it was modeled on the organization of the Communists. Ostensibly, its ideology was based on French-Catholic Personalism, blended with other Eastern and Western philosophies. However, most observers regarded the party as simply an institution of control, with little effort made to formulate or disseminate an ideology. Instead of unifying the people against the Viet Cong, it alienated them because of Diem's corrupt practices of favoritism. ["Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960 Volume I: Vietnam", (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1986): 455-456.] Upon the overthrow of the Diem regime in a US-backed 1963 coup, the Can Lao collapsed.

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