VIET MINH

Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh (Hanoi, 2 September 1945)

"All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.
This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights." Those are undeniable truths.
Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice. In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.
They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center and the South of Vietnam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united.
They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots. They have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood. They have fettered public opinion; they have practiced obscurantism against our people. To weaken our race they have forced us to use opium and alcohol.
In the fields of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people, and devastated our land.
They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of bank-notes and the export trade.
They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty.
They have hampered the prospering of our national bourgeoisie. They have mercilessly exploited our workers.
In the autumn of 1940, when the Japanese Fascists violated Indochina's territory to establish new bases in their fight against the Allies, the French imperialists went down on their bended knees and handed over our country to them.
Thus, from that date, our people were subjected to the double yoke of the French and the Japanese. Their sufferings and miseries increased. The result was that from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, from Quang Tri province to the North of Vietnam, more than two million of our fellow-citizens died from starvation. On March 9, the French troops were disarmed by the Japanese. The French colonialists either fled or surrendered, showing that not only were they incapable of "protecting" us, but that, in the span of five years, they had twice sold our country to the Japanese.
On several occasions before March 9, the Vietminh League urged the French to ally themselves with it against the Japanese. Instead of agreeing to this proposal, the French colonialists so intensified their terrorist activities against the Vietminh members that before fleeing they massacred a great number of our political prisoners detained at Yen Bay and Cao Bang.
Notwithstanding all this, our fellow-citizens have always manifested toward the French a tolerant and humane attitude. Even after the Japanese putsch of March 1945, the Vietminh League helped many Frenchmen to cross the frontier, rescued some of them from Japanese jails, and protected French lives and property.
From the autumn of 1940, our country had in fact ceased to be a French colony and had become a Japanese possession.
After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people rose to regain our national sovereignty and to found the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The truth is that we have wrested our independence from the Japanese and not from the French.
The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bao Dai has abdicated. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a century have fettered them and have won independence for the Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been established the present Democratic Republic.
For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government, representing the whole Vietnamese people, declare that from now on we break off all relations of a colonial character with France; we repeal all the international obligation that France has so far subscribed to on behalf of Vietnam and we abolish all the special rights the French have unlawfully acquired in our Fatherland.
The whole Vietnamese people, animated by a common purpose, are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer their country.
We are convinced that the Allied nations which at Teheran and San Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.
A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.
For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country. And in fact it is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.

Source: Ho Chi Minh, Selected Works (Hanoi, 1960-1962), Vol. 3, pp. 17-21

Here the PDF of my collection. There are not pictures, i will post them when i would be back. And the file is in italian. But i have all the different sections also in english, so if you're interested, just let me know.

drive.google.com/file/d/1qc6t2yY4vhR3KkOcc4yvOh8fMjUVIS2J/view?usp=sharing

Catalogs

From a philatelic and postal history point of view, in what is now Vietnam the following entities have succeeded each other over time, reflecting what has been the history of the country:

1) Cochinchina (1886-1888)
2) Annam-Tonkino (1888-1889)
3) Indochina (1889-1945)
4) Democratic Republic of Vietnam (RDVN, 1945-1976)
5) State of Vietnam (SoVN, 1951-1955)
6) Republic of Vietnam (RVN, 1955-1975)
7) National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NF, 1963-1968)
8) Republic of South Vietnam (RSVN, 1970-1976)
9) Vietnam (VN, 1976 -...)

Now let's see which worldwide catalogs cover the listed areas. Michel, Scott and Yvert-Tellier are three among the most popular stamp catalogs worldwide. Alongside these we can include other local or specialized catalogs, listed below for reference. Each catalog has its own numbering system, protected by copyright.

1) The Michel catalog (Germany) is the only one that covers all nine areas. The Michel is also the only catalog to cover the stamps of Sedang, LK4, LKV, and Nga Khe.
2) The Scott catalog (United States) covers 8 areas: Cochinchina, Annam-Tonkino, Indochina, RDVN, SoVN, RVN, RSVN and VN. Scott does not cover the National Front. Beyond any further consideration on this point, it is necessary however, keep in mind that genuine letters with National Front stamps do not exist.
3) The Yvert-Tellier catalog (France) also covers 8 areas: Cochinchina, Annam-Tonkino, Indochina, RDVN, SoVN, RVN, RSVN and VN. The catalog does not cover the National Front.
4) The Dragon catalog of the Democratic Republic of China covers 8 areas: Cochinchina, Annam-Tonkino, RDVN, SoVN, RVN, NF, RSVN and VN. The catalog does not cover Indochina, but covers all postal issues of the state of  Vietnam (Bao Dai regime) and the Republic of Vietnam (Ngo Dinh Diem and all subsequent governments).
5) Stanley-Gibbons (England) covers 6 areas: RDVN, SoVN, RVN, NF, RSVN and VN. The Stanley-Gibbons doesn't cover Cochinchina, Annam-Tonkin and Indochina.
6) The Soviet Union CPB catalog covers 4 areas: RDVN, NF, RSVN and VN. In addition, the CPB catalog covers stamps of the LKV.
7) Finally, the Danh Muc catalog of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam covers 4 areas: RDVN, NF, RSVN and VN.

8) We also mention the Nu-Line catalog. This catalog is now out of stock and can only be found in dealers specialized in philatelic literature.

Nu-Line Specialized Postage Stamps Catalog of North Viet Nam
First edition, 1995
©1995 Nu-Line Co. Ernest Racz, Publisher

As in another thread we were speaking about stunning collection, take a look at this (it's not mine)... Different stamps, but similar collecting attitude...
drive.google.com/file/d/1z67qhddwU45kOnZXjzgnhthY_cpLcF8C/view?usp=sharing

That's my collection. I hope you can see all the images (15 pages) and i hope you'll like them.
The presentation follow the Yvert numbering, which seems to me the best, but maybe just because it's the one i started with.
Regardless the stamps, there could be something to say... about the level of details (maybe, in this case, the description doesn't add too much) about the font used, about the scans (i have to change my scanner)

But something i would like to underline is about perforations. I put the perforation listed in the catalog (where there are more), but a lot of time, it doesn't match with my measurement. This issue is common also to other area. Poland i.e. There's a measure in the catalog, but when i measure i always get something else. I still haven't got if the problem is in my perforation gauge, if it's me who still haven't understood how to measure it, or the catalog...

Roberto (ameis33), thank you very much for sharing your North Vietnam collection pages with us.

You have done a beautiful job with the pages, and the stamps look excellent, too.  Bravissimo!