2019-09-27 Fri

As soon as World War II came to an end, and long before the United States entered the war in Viet Nam, France attempted to re-establish control over its former Southeast Asian colonies. From 1946 onwards the French army was actively engaged in suppressing the Vietnamese communist factions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to save French Indochina.

The French propagandized this North Vietnamese 50 dong note by creating a facsimile in which the image of Ho Chi Minh was dropped from the front of the note. A crude picture of a peasant with a North Vietnamese banknote in his hand was substituted instead. The propaganda message left no doubt as to what he should do with it.

There are innumerable examples of the propaganda banknotes even used after the World War. Throughout Asia, various countries issued these propaganda notes. Duplicity and propaganda had been around since ancient times.

Image Courtesy: Pdf John E.Sandrock