The Vietnamese leadership other than Ho were not interested in his communism; they reached the compromise of “independence now, communism later”. When the US started to intervene, they officially went ‘commie’ as they had no choice if they wanted help from the Eastern bloc. Whatever you think of the Vietnam war, you have to respect the PAVN’s guts to keep fighting against the firepower the US brought against them. Men don’t march through artillery and napalm for an abstract idea, but for blood and soil.