What is communism like in Vietnam?

Answer 1

Communism is a system that only works if people are selfless and truly dedicated to the society. In practice, it ends up as Dictatorship because the people running it easily take everything that is rightfully the people's. it can either be looked at as the extreme of either side, it can be seen as super liberal, because the government controls virtually everything, or super right wing, because as Marx described, the people are the government, and are completely free.

Answer 2

They refer to themselves as socialist these days but you can believe that it is a communist country. I traveled extensively there in 2008 and 2009 for over 90 days and will do another 65 day trip this year. I rode local buses, stayed in small hotels and ate and drank beer with the local people. The repression is not open but the various christian religions, mostly the TinLan or protestant evangelists are quite heavily repressed and north of the old DMZ the Catholics get there share of repression as well. Most people speak little about the government but a recurrent theme when asked is "I love my country but I don't like my government". The country is very poor, average wage about $100USD per month and suffers now from a large unemployment problem as well as a mounting HIV/AIDS infected population of IV drug users. I was there for 18 months in 1968-69 and found the regular people quite charming, friendly and open. As I reacquainted myself with them and even found several old friends from those long ago days I have a love for the people and the country that is hard to explain. One day the Communists will be out of power and the country will be free.

The Communist, during the Vietnam War, assassinated thousands of South Vietnam citizens. If you pay attention and understand Vietnamese, a lot of people, like 70% of the populations, will say "I hate this government. This government sucks". We love our country, but not our government.