When the situation demanded, the cadres reinforced education and propaganda with terror tactics, including assassination of village leaders.11 The terror had to be carefully calibrated, Giap understood, for it was a double-edged sword. There were just so many bombs you could toss into homes and theaters, only so many throats you could cut. If you went too far, if you killed too many village notables, you risked a vigilante reaction, in which people rose up and declared, “To hell with it. We’re going to get killed regardless; we might as well band together and take a few of the gangsters with
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