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The Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam ( vi, Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), formerly the Standing Committee of the Central Committee from 1930 to 1951, is the highest body of the
Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
(CPV) between Central Committee meetings, which are held at least twice a year. According to Party rules, the Politburo directs the general orientation of the government and enacts policies which have been approved by either the National Party Congress or the Central Committee. The members of the Politburo are elected and given a ranking by the Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of a National Party Congress. The current Politburo (13th) was elected by the Central Committee in the aftermath of the 13th National Congress and consists of 18 members. The first-ranked member is General Secretary of the Central Committee.


Duties and responsibilities

The Politburo is a subunit of the Central Committee, the supreme organ on party affairs. The members of the Central Committee, when the
Party Congress The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...
has ended, freely elects the composition of the Politburo. The number of Politburo members is also decided by the Central Committee membership. Until 1990, there were two different forms of Politburo membership: full and alternate. When the
Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...
was abolished in 1996, a short-lived Politburo Standing Committee (also known as the Politburo Standing Board) was established. Unlike the Secretariat, the Politburo Standing Committee was appointed by the Politburo and not the Central Committee (although the two bodies had nearly-identical functions). The Politburo Standing Committee was abolished in 2001 at the 9th National Congress, and the Secretariat was reestablished. Elected members are given rankings in an
order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...
. The Politburo is the leading organ on Party affairs; the Central Committee convenes only twice a year, but the Politburo can implement policies which has been approved by either the previous Party Congress or the Central Committee. It is the duty of the Politburo to ensure that resolutions of the Party Congress and the Central Committee are implemented nationally. It is also responsible for matters related to organisation and personnel, and has the right to prepare (and even convene) a Central Committee
plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference which all members of all parties are to attend. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily related to a specific st ...
. The Politburo can be overruled by the Central Committee, as happened in 2001 when the Politburo voted in favour of retaining
Lê Khả Phiêu Lê Khả Phiêu (27 December 1931 – 7 August 2020) was a Vietnamese politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam from December 1997 to April 2001.Gainsborough 2010, p. 143 Lê Khả Phiêu served in the Viet ...
as
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
; the Central Committee responded by overturning the Politburo decision, dismissed Lê from active politics altogether, and forced the Central Committee to elect a new General Secretary after the 9th National Congress. Meetings are held regularly; decisions within the Politburo are made through
collective decision-making Group decision-making (also known as collaborative decision-making or collective decision-making) is a situation faced when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. The decision is then no longer attributable to any ...
, which means that policies are only enacted if a majority of Politburo members support them. In the 1960s, outside analysts believed the Politburo was divided into two factions (pro-China and pro-Soviet); this forced Politburo members to decide policy through compromise. This was later proven wrong, because
Hồ Chí Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Pri ...
became a staunch believer in collective decision-making during the 1950s after the beginning of
de-Stalinisation De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...
in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Hồ's successor,
Lê Duẩn Lê Duẩn (; 7 April 1907 – 10 July 1986) was a Vietnamese communist politician. He rose in the party hierarchy in the late 1950s and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (VCP) at the 3rd Nati ...
, stated at the 4th National Congress that "Only with collective decisions made by collective intelligence will we be able to avoid subjectivism that leads to errors and sometimes to dangerous consequences". Hồ's emphasis on the maintenance of unity led the Party to eschew the
Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
's (CPC) policy of " criticism and self-criticism". The CPC's criticism and self-criticism policy was used to resolve "internal contradictions"; the problem with this concept was that it always assumed that one side was right. "Criticism and self-criticism" was not introduced in Vietnam, chiefly for this reason. However, Zachary Abuza (author of ''Renovating Politics in Contemporary Vietnam'') claims that Politburo decision-making is built on factional infighting and ideological differences rather than on any notion of collective leadership. The Politburo is responsible to the Central Committee, and the Central Committee can question the Politburo. The composition of the Central Military Commission, the leading Party organ on military affairs, is decided by the Politburo. It is the responsibility of the Secretariat (not the Politburo) to ensure the implementation of directives stemming from the Politburo.


Power in relation to the state

Before the reforms of
Nguyễn Văn Linh Nguyễn Văn Linh (; 1 July 1915 – 27 April 1998) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician. Nguyễn Văn Linh was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1986 to 1991 and a political leader of the Vietcong during ...
during the late 1980s, the Politburo was the supreme decision-making organ in all areas of party and state. Before 1988, the Politburo had no clear guideline on its responsibilities on socioeconomic issues. Because of this lack, the Politburo frequently meddled in the affairs of the
Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
(the central government). Until 1988, the Politburo made detailed planning and budgetary decisions; from 1988 onwards, the Politburo decides a plan's general orientation, but lets the central government make detailed socioeconomic decisions. The all-encompassing role of the Politburo before 1988 blurred the roles of the party and state in the decision-making process. Another problem until 1988 was that many members of the Politburo were leading officials within the state (again blurring the roles of party and state). The Politburo has the unofficial power to appoint members of the central government through the
National Assembly of Vietnam The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc hội nước Cộng hoà xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) is the national legislature of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Constitution of Vietnam recognizes the a ...
. Because the National Assembly is dominated by the party, party leadership has considerable leverage in appointing members of the central government. However, even if the Politburo decides the appointment of officials, party members can oppose the nominees; the appointment of
Đỗ Mười Đỗ Mười (; 2 February 1917 – 1 October 2018) was a Vietnamese communist politician. He rose in the party hierarchy in the late 1940s, became Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1988 and was elected General Secretary of the Central ...
was opposed by the Club of Resistance Veterans, a group of reformist communist cadres.


Current members

The current 18-member Politburo was elected on January 31, 2021 at the first plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee. Nguyễn Phú Trọng was re-elected for his third term as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a position he has held since 2011.


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * {{Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Government of Vietnam Lists of political office-holders in Vietnam