VIETNAMESE EXPERIENCE 37 rural commune, situated in the Delta of the Red River in the district of Hai Hau (Province ofAnh Nam Minh) We can divide the process into four different stages. i) 1959-1963: Cooperation in the process of production'. At that time, the commune was divided into nine units, taking as the main basis the formal traditional village {long). This conimune was constituted by five former traditional units. The first cooperatives, with the peasants putting in common some of their woik instruments but keeping the property of their land, were organized on the traditional Icing, some of the units having been divided into two. This was socially very important because the lang was the unit of traditional communal production and also of social identity. There was no break between the organization of production and the social and cultural dimension of the whole life of the peasants. ii) 1963-1970'. First collectivisation of land in the form of cooperatives'. These first cooperatives were based on the lang and five of them were established. The lang had at that time a population of about 800 to 1,000 which means 100 to 125 families. It was thus a very small unit, with all the characteristics of what we have seen before. This collectivization of land was however not compulsory. There was free access to the cooperative and some of the peasants did not join it. Within the general organization, 5 per cent of the land had been set aside for private gardens. This first collectivization of land permitted also the beginning of a diversification of agricultural production iii) 1970-1977^ Organization of the cooperative at the scale of the commune'. Such an organizaton, which came about 20 years after the beginning of the land reform, had been preceded by changes in the material basis of production. During those yearb, a new irrigation system had been initiated, covering the whole of the commune and integrating the various longs in one irrigation system, connected with major canals constructed by tlie Slate. Some economic infrastructure had also been built for the storing of rice, new roads had been constructed to link the centre of the commune with the different langs^ land use had been redefined, and social and cultural institutions had been established in the centre of the commune, such as secondary school, dispensary, house for the aged people, etc. However, from the social and economic point of view, some difficulties arose during this period. There were many weaknesses in the management of the cooperative, because of a lack of competence. Till 1977 some peasants were taking back their land and cultivating again on an individual basis, especially during the periods of mismanagement or of bad crops. iv) 1977-1981'. Consolidation of the coorperative'. During this period, reorganization of the work brigades was done and these were built on the basis of tlie former langs. There were five main work brigades,