FROM REFORMISM TO COLONIAL COMPROMISE: PRESS AND THE COLONIAL PUBLIC SPHERE OF THE INDOCHINESE CONSTITUTIONALIST PARTY (1919-1942)

Abstract

This article examines the trajectory of the Indochinese Constitutionalist Party in Cochinchina, tracing its shift from constitutional reformism to accommodation with the French colonial administration between 1919 and 1942. The study aims to clarify the characteristics, dynamics, and historical limits of a bourgeois political force within a colonial setting. Methodologically, it employs a qualitative approach, combining content analysis of contemporary newspapers (La Tribune Indigène, La Tribune Indochinoise, L’Écho Annamite, Nông Cổ Mín Đàm) with existing scholarship, within a theoretical framework that integrates the concepts of the public sphere, colonial discourse, and the function of the press in constructing the colonial public sphere. The findings reveal three phases: the initial stage (1919-1922) centered on reformist demands; the period from 1923 to 1938 institutionalized these claims through the press and representative councils but declined after the 1929-1933 economic crisis; and the final stage (1939-1942), the tendency toward compromise and collaboration with the French colonial administration in Cochinchina became predominant, reflecting a shift from a reformist stance to loyalty to the colonial order. The study concludes that while the Constitutionalist Party contributed to expanding the colonial public sphere, its trajectory from reformism to accommodation underscores the structural limitations of bourgeois politics in Cochinchina under colonial rule.