Will the Real Caravelle Manifesto Please Stand Up? A Critique and a New Translation

Abstract

The Caravelle Manifesto of 1960 is arguably the most famous document ever produced by the political opposition in the Republic of Vietnam. Although domestically censored at the time, a published translation of the manifesto appeared abroad and became the standard version of the document in the English-speaking world. Yet this widely available translation is profoundly flawed. I have located what appears to be the original Vietnamese version, and I authenticate it through internal textual analysis and a comparison with earlier, more obscure translations. I urge scholars to adopt this version as the new standard and offer a more accurate translation.