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Dynamite, Opium, and a Transnational Shadow Economy at Tonkinese Coal Mines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2020

THUY LINH NGUYEN
THUY LINH NGUYEN*
Affiliation:
Mount Saint Mary College Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The rise of the coal-mining industry in colonial Vietnam has often been associated with the French economic presence and their drastic methods of exploitation. But, beyond the confines of French mining enterprises, coal mining gave rise to transnational economic links, fuelled clandestine economic activities, and bound communities across the Chinese–Vietnamese borderland. Drawing from business and police records located at the Vietnamese national archives including those of the Société Francaise des Charbonnages du Tonkin (SFCT)—the largest French coal-mining company in Indochina, this article reveals a thriving, complex, and intersected world of criminal activities involving the theft and trafficking of explosives and opium at Tonkinese coal mines. An investigation into the patterns of these crimes and their perpetrators exposes a transnational shadow economy that managed to stay under the radar of both the French surveillance system and the Vietnamese nationalist movement. Breaking away from the metropole–colony paradigm in colonial historiography, this blended history of labour and crime provides a new lens through which to explore the dynamics of colonial rule and the interplay of the local and the global, as well as the creation of new and important inter-Asian networks.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 6 , November 2020 , pp. 1876 - 1904
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Kate Baldanza and the two anonymous reviewers whose very thoughtful and critical comments helped me come up with a more comprehensive and balanced analysis for this article.

References

1 The French used the term ‘Annamite’ synonymously with ‘Vietnamese’.

2 Procès–verbal no. 223, La tribunal de première instance de Haiphong, A.S vols d'explosif dans les régions de Quang Yen 72–79, Fonds de la Résidence Supérieure au Tonkin (hereafter RST) 70842–03, Vietnamese National Archives I (hereafter VNA–I).

3 Ibid.

4 The mining industries in Tonkin are often treated as the manifestation of industrialization spearheaded by the French capital and technology. See Robequain, Charles, The Economic Development of French Indochina (London: Oxford University Press, 1944): 243–304Google Scholar. Robequain argues that ‘in the management and organization of the mining enterprises in Indochina, the natives and native capital only played microscopic parts’ (p. 268). For an economic history of the mining industries and the larger capitalist development in Indochina, see Murray, Martin J., The Development of Capitalism in Colonial Indochina, 1870–1940 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980)Google Scholar. For a brief treatment of the coal industry, see Brocheux, Pierre and Hemery, Daniel, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858–1954 (Berkley: University of California Press, 2011): 170–173Google Scholar.

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6 According to Robequain, ‘mechanically mined tonnage represented only six per cent of the total coal output in 1937, and the remainder was mined by the traditional hand methods’ (Robequain, The Economic Development of French Indochina, 255). For Marxist economic history of French Indochina, see Murray, The Development of Capitalism, and Murray, Martin J., ‘“White Gold” or “White Blood”? The Rubber Plantations of Colonial Indochina, 1910–1940’, Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 19, nos 3–4 (1992): 41–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Murray, Martin J., ‘The Development of Capitalism and the Making of the Working-class in Colonial Indochina, 1870–1940’, in Munslow, Barry (ed.), Proletarianisation in the Third World: Studies in the Creation of a Labor Force Under Dependent Capitalism (Croom Helm, 1984): 216–233Google Scholar.

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13 Western and Vietnamese studies of Vietnamese nationalism often explain the political radicalization of the Vietnamese working class as the consequences of the French exploitation and abuse. See Duiker, William J., The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam, 1900–1941 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976)Google Scholar; Porter, Gareth, ‘Proletariat and Peasantry in Early Vietnamese Communism’, Asian Thought and Review, vol. 1, no. 3 (1978)Google Scholar; and Khánh, Huynh Kim, Vietnamese Communism, 1925–1945 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982)Google Scholar; Marr, David G., Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920–1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981)Google Scholar. For communist Vietnamese perspectives, see Giàu, Trần Văn, Giai cấp công nhân Việt Nam [The Vietnamese Working Class], 3 vols (Hanoi: Nhà Xuất Bản Sử Học, 1962)Google Scholar; Sảnh, Thi, Lịch sử công nhân mỏ Quảng Ninh [History of the QuHis Ninh Mining Working-Class], 2 vols (Quảng Ninh: Ty Văn Hóa Thông Tin Quảng Ninh, 1974)Google Scholar; Nguyễn Thanh Sỹ and Thi Sảnh, ‘Điều kiện làm việc cực nhọc và đời sống khốn cùng của công nhân vùng mỏ Hòn Gai-Đông Triều trước cách mạng tháng Tám' [The Miserable Working Conditions and Livelihood of the Mining Workforce in Hong Gai-Dong Trieu before the August Revolution], Tạp Chí Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử [Vietnamese Journal of Historical Research], vol. 118, 1969: 20–35Google Scholar; Ngô Văn Hòa, ‘Về hai cuộc đấu tranh của công nhân mỏ than trước đại chiến thế giới thứ nhất’ [About the Two Struggles of the Mining Working Class before World War I], Tạp Chí Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử, vol. 169 (1976): 69–78Google Scholar; Thi Sảnh, ‘Công nhân mỏ Quảng Ninh đấu tranh chống đế quốc Mỹ và tay sai’ [The Struggle of Qu Qu Ninh Mining Working Class against Imperialist America and Their Subordinates], Tạp Chí Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử, vol. 196 (1981): 32–44Google Scholar; Tạ Thị Thúy, ‘Đường lối kinh tế và mục đích của việc chiếm đoạt, khai thác mỏ của thực dân Pháp ở Việt Nam’ [The French Economic Strategy and Their Goals in Mining Acquisition and Exploitation in Vietnam], Tạp Chí Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử, vol. 8 (2014): 31–35Google Scholar; Nguyễn Ngọc Cơ and Hà Thị Thu Thủy, ‘Hoạt động khai thác các mỏ than ở Thái Nguyên của thực dân Pháp (1906–1945)’ [The French Exploitation of Coal Mines in Thái Nguyên (1906–1945)], Tạp Chí Nghiên Cứu Lịch Sử, vol. 4 (2004): 36–44Google Scholar.

14 Murray, The Development of Capitalism, 323.

15 L'Indochine Française: Exposition coloniale internationale (Gouvernement général de l'Indochine, 1931): 48.

16 Haut-Commissariat de France en Indochine: direction des mines et de l'industrie, Rapport sur l'activité minière au Vietnam, Année 1951, p. 22. File 2011 030 4988, Fonds de la Compagnie financière de Suez—Banque l'Indochine, Archives nationales du monde du travail, Roubaix, France (ANMT).

17 Brocheux and Hemery, Indochina, 124; Miller, E. Willard, ‘Mineral Resources of Indo–China’, Economic Geography, vol. 22, no. 4 (October 1946): 278CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 État statistiques sur la production, la consommation et le personnel de la S.F.C.T à Hongay en 1932, Fonds de la Société Française des Charbonnages du Tonkin (hereafter SFCT) 327, VNA–I.

19 Recruitment de main d'ouvre pour les travaux d'exploitation des mines de houille à Quang Yen (1895–1904), RST 77206, VNA–I.

20 Rapport dur les exploitations minières de Ke Bao (Tonkin) de la Société Française des Charbonnages du Tonkin de l'année 1933 par l'ingénieur chef du fond, SFCT 328, VNA–I.

21 Règlementation de la main d'ouvre étrangère en Indochine 1909–1916, RST 39594, VNA–I.

22 L’état statistiques sur la production, la consommation et le personnel de la S.F.C.T à Hongay en 1932, SFCT 327, VNA–I.

23 Labour studies of the mining industries in Latin America have documented the transformation of the itinerant mining workers into a more organized, unionized, and permanent labour force. See Klubock, Thomas Miller, Contested Communities: Class, Gender, and Politics in Chile's El Teniente Copper Mine, 1904–1951 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998): 17–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 For more information about the cai system in French colonial Vietnam, see Goudal, J., Problèmes de travail en Indochine (Geneva: Bureau International du Travail, 1937): 145–173Google Scholar; Murray, The Development of Capitalism, 338–344.

25 When arrested by the police, some migrant workers had no carte d'impôt, which was the proof that they had paid the poll tax to their local villages. Workers confessed that they could not even afford a return trip to their delta villages (source: Procès–verbal d'arrestation, province de Quang Yen, RST 70842–03: A.S vols d'explosifs dans les région de Quang Yen, p. 203, VNA–I (hereafter RST 70842–03, VNA–I)).

26 Vietnamese newspapers documented the frequent armed attacks in the Đông Triều, Quảng Yên region involving both Chinese and Vietnamese bands. ‘A Band of Robbers Were Plaguing the Quang Yen Region’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 13 March 1930, ‘A Robbery at Nang-dang Street (Hongay)’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 11 February 1933; ‘A Robbery and Murder in Đông Triều Goes on Trial’, Trung Bắc Tân Văn, 21 October 1936; and ‘Arresting a Chinese Band and Confiscating Ten Pistols’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 29 December 1935. This Chinese band of ten members was behind the robbery against a number of Chinese business stores in Cẩm Phả port.

27 ‘A Chinese Band of 20 Robbers Were Destroyed by the Police of Hongay-Cam Pha Mine’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 20 March 1935. The article details the French police's ambush of a Chinese gang whom they suspected of being behind the robbery of a mining company's wage convoy. The police killed three robbers, while the rest of the gang dispersed and fled into the woods.

28 Vols aux sociétés des charbonnages des ciments, commis par les indigènes, domiciliés aux provinces de Quang Yen, Kien An et Hai Phong, Fonds du Tribunal de première instance de Haiphong, RST 1309–01, VNA–I.

29 Hà Thành ngọ báo, no. 2030, 13 April 1934.

30 Tin mới, no. 180, 11 August 1940.

31 Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin à tous résidents chefs de province, commandants de territoire militaire et administrateur–maires Hanoi et Hai Phong, 19 September 1924, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

32 Monsieur le Procureur de la république, p. 86, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

33 Décret règlementant le régime d'explosifs en Indochine (Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extrême Orient, 1941).

34 Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin au Directeur Général de la Société des Charbonnages du Tonkin, p. 1, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

35 A.s création d'un commissariat spécial à Hongay et d'un port à Cam Pha, RST 63150, VNA–I ; also in Le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin à Monsieur le Directeur de la Société des Charbonnages du Tonkin, pp. 3–4, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

36 Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin à Monsieur le Directeur de la Société des Charbonnages du Tonkin, 1 April 1930, pp. 34–35, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

37 Note postale l'Administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen à Monsieur Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 4 August 1941, p. 115, RST 70842–04: A.s vols et détournements d'explosifs dans les régions de Quang Yen, VNA–I (hereafter RST 70842–04, VNA–I).

38 Some of the most notable cases include the loss of 203 boxes of dynamite, six boxes of cheddite powder, and four rolls of meche cords on 10 January 1924 or the most daring break-in on 1 September 1924 when the thieves took off with 38.087 kilograms of dynamite, 29.164 kilograms of cheddite, and 18,029 detonators (source: L'administrateur de 2ème class Edouard Broni au Résident de France à Quang Yen et Monsieur le Resident supérieur au Tonkin, p. 10, RST 70842–03, VNA–I).

39 L'administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen à monsieur Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 31 December 1941; Object: A.s Vol et traffic d'explosifs, p. 149, RST 70842–4, VNA–I.

40 Zinoman, The Colonial Bastille, 181–182.

41 A.s en magasinage illégal d'explosifs de mine: l'administrateur de 2ème classe H. Meneault, Résident de France à Quang Yen à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 29 December 1942, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

42 Procès–verbal No. 236 : Vols et colportage d'explosifs au préjudice de la SCDT Mine Clotilde Uong Bi, pp. 159–160, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

43 Note confidentielle no 40/c du commissaire adjoint de la Police de Uong Bi à Monsieur l'Administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen, p. 167, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

44 A.s à vol d'explosifs : l'Administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 9 September 1942, p. 159, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

45 Le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin à Monsieur le Directeur de la Société des Charbonnages du Tonkin, 13 September 1924, pp. 8–10, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

46 L'inspecteur Versini du Service de la sureté à Monsieur le Commissaire aux délégations judiciaires de Hai Phong, 26 April 1930, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

47 Service de la sureté à monsieur Résident Supérieur du Tonkin et à l'Inspecteur général des services de police, 2 October 1941, p. 136, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

48 Procès–verbal d'enquête sur un vol de 51 cartouches de berclavite commis au préjudice de la SFCT, pp. 103–104, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

49 See ‘A Gambling House Was Shut Down’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 28 July 1930; and ‘Sweat Money to Burn in Half an Hour’, Hà Thành Ngọ Báo, 31 March 1930. Both articles lament about the rampant gambling addiction in the mining port of Cam Pha, where different gambling houses competed against each other, using dirty tricks to lure customers and bring down rivals.

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56 Délit de vol et de colportage d'explosifs au préjudice de la SCDT, Tribunal de première instance de Hai Phong, pp. 130–133, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

57 L'administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen à monsieur le Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 20 June 1941, p. 97, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

58 A.S d'une tentative de vol d'explosifs au préjudice de la Société des Charbonnages du Dong Trieu (SCDT), Uong Bi, Quang Yen, 13 December 1940, pp. 71–72, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

59 About the role of Yunnan as the opium-trading hub between South China and Vietnam, see Bello, David, ‘The Venomous Course of Southwestern Opium: Qing Prohibition in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou in the Early Nineteenth Century’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 62, no. 4 (November 2003): 1109–1142CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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61 Le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin à Monsieur le Directeur de la Société des Charbonnages du Tonkin, 13 September 1924, p. 11, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

62 Note confidentielle no. 40/c du commissaire adjoint de la Police de Uông Bí à monsieur l'administrateur Résident de France à Quang Yen, p. 168, RST 70842–03, VNA–I.

63 Le commissaire sureté à Monsieur le Résident de France à Quang Yen, 9 August 1941, p. 120, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.

64 A.s Trafic d'explosifs: note postale à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Tonkin, 4 June 1941, p. 91, RST 70842–04, VNA–I.