By forcing the South Vietnamese to turn over all their possessions, leaving the South Vietnamese in poverty beyond imagination. After its lengthy war against the US, the economically depressed Vietnam spent all its dwindling resources invading Cambodia and fighting against China. It embarked on a socialist mission, sending former southern officials to re-education camps, nationalizing industries and businesses and socializing agriculture. Farmers and fishermen who were used to work in a free market system were unwilling to work for free for the government. People who were sent to unproductive new economic zones became deeply impoverished. Corruption under socialism was worse than the pre-1975 years because the communists wielded absolute power
