À qui le crime profite-t-il? (Viet Minh leaflet on the back of a French Indochina one-piastre note, 1948)
Back of a Banque de l'Indochine one-piastre note carrying French-language slogans: 'To whom does the crime benefit?', 'We must end the Indochina war', 'We must negotiate with Ho Chi Minh'. The blame for the war is laid on an unnamed set of profiteers who 'traffic the blood of the peoples' (scapegoating), and the message rides on legal currency and cites the Penal Code and the constitution to borrow their authority (transfer).
- Date
- 1948
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Việt Minh (resistance authorities of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) during the First Indochina War
- Region
- Southeast Asia
- Country
- Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- Movement
- Regime
- Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- Leader
- Ho Chi Minh
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- First Indochina War
- Techniques
- ScapegoatingTransfer
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (Art Hanoi collection), retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons tags PD-Vietnam, PD-old; issued 1948 in Vietnam)
Việt Minh leaflet on a Banque de l'Indochine note, 1948; via Art Hanoi and Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
1 [corner numerals, both ends] A QUI LE CRIME PROFITE-T-IL ? IL FAUT METTRE FIN A LA GUERRE D'INDOCHINE IL FAUT NÉGOCIER AVEC HO CHI MINH LE CODE PÉNAL PUNIT QUICONQUE TRAFIQUE DU SANG DES PEUPLES DANS UNE GUERRE CONTRAIRE A LA CONSTITUTION. IMP. DUVAL, ROUEN [small printer's line, top right and bottom right]
1 [corner numerals, both ends] TO WHOM DOES THE CRIME BENEFIT? THE INDOCHINA WAR MUST BE ENDED WE MUST NEGOTIATE WITH HO CHI MINH THE PENAL CODE PUNISHES ANYONE WHO TRAFFICS THE BLOOD OF THE PEOPLES IN A WAR CONTRARY TO THE CONSTITUTION. PRINTED BY DUVAL, ROUEN
Read from the 500 px image, checked against the transcription in the Commons file description. The printer's line is very small and partly cut at the sheet edge, so its exact wording is as given in the Commons description.
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