Trường Chinh (, meaning "

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

"), born Đặng Xuân Khu (9 February 1907 – 30 September 1988) was a Vietnamese

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

political leader, revolutionary and theoretician. He was one of the key figures of Vietnamese politics for over 40 years, and played a major role in the 1946-54 war against the French. Trường also played an important role in shaping the politics of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...

(DRV) and creating the

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

structure of the new Vietnam. Between November 9, 1940 and November 11, 1945, when the party dissolved, Trường was General Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party Central Committee. Between 1946 and 1954, the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

led to the fall of

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

and the partitioning of Vietnam between

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. On February 19, 1951, Trường became First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Central Committee (although Hồ Chí Minh, in his capacity as founder and chairman of the party, was Trường's superior). In 1956, after the failure of the Land Reform program, he was dismissed from his post of General Secretary and had less power. Hồ Chí Minh selected

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 Natio ...

to succeed him as the

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

and Lê became the most powerful person in the party after Hồ Chí Minh's death in 1969. However, Trường Chinh remained an influential force in the party during the

Second Indochina War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and after the reunification of Vietnam; he was Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam from 1960 to 1981 and head of state of Vietnam from 1981 to 1987 as 3rd

President of Vietnam The president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam () is the head of state of Vietnam, elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam from its delegates. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, candidates for the post are nominated by the Central Commit ...

. Following the death of Lê Duẩn in July 1986, Trường again became General Secretary, and held the post until December 18, 1986. His last vital role was to carry forward the Đổi Mới renovation that still affects Vietnam to this day.

Early life

Trường Chinh's name at birth was Đặng Xuân Khu. He changed his name to Trường Chinh, which means "Long March", in honor of the 6,000-mile military retreat of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) between 1934 and 1936 led by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. He was born on February 9, 1907, in the Hành Thiện village, Xuân Hồng sub-district, Xuân Trường district, Nam Định province (in the area of the Red River delta, 120 kilometers from Hanoi). He was the oldest son among five children of the Đặng family which was an important family of the village. His siblings were Đặng Thị Yên, Đặng Thị Uẩn, Đặng Thị Tường, and Đặng Xuân Đỉnh. He grew up in a

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

family which was not wealthy. His family background and his father highly shaped his knowledge and influenced him to join the anti-colonial movement. He learned

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

from his father and was sent to the district school. His grandfather, Đặng Xuân Bảng, was a Confucian intellectual who worked for the Nguyễn court under the reign of Emperor

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

and published many books about history, literature and Confucian ideology written in Hán scripts. His father was Đặng Xuân Viện who was a famous Confucian scholar and wrote many history books. Unlike his grandfather, Viện was not interested to work for the Nguyễn court. Instead, he participated in the Đông Kinh Nghĩa thục (Tonkin Free School) movement against French colonialism in 1907. Trường Chinh's mother was Nguyễn Thị Từ (1880-1964) who grew up in a Confucian mandarin family of the Nguyễn court. Trường Chinh married Nguyễn Thi Minh, who remained loyal and carried on the burden of looking after the family, especially her husband's family after he was jailed for his political beliefs.

Leader of student movement

In the midst of the political and social transition in Indochina, particularly the spread of French educational system in the nineteenth century. Trường Chinh was sent to educate in the French school, which was the starting point for his political movement. In 1923, he was sent to Thành Chung secondary school, the first secondary school for the local people and taught in the Western educational system, located in Nam Định province. In the school, Trường Chinh was inspired by the French philosophers’ works such as Jean-Jacque Rousseau and

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

as well as the French revolution in 1789 and the Chinese revolution in 1911. In Nam Định, he lived with a poor labour family who worked in the industrial factory. His childhood experience urged him to set up a student movement with his schoolmates, Nguyễn Văn Hoan, Đặng Châu Tệ, Phạm Năng Độ, Nguyễn Khắc Lương, and Nguyễn Đức Cảnh. This group, later on, joined the student movement in

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

. They published newspapers in order to spread their thoughts on the anti-colonial movement. In 1925, when Phan Bồi Châu, the respectful nationalist, was captured in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and brought back to Vietnam, Trường Chinh was in the second year in high school. He joined the nationalist movement and printed leaflets together with his friends demanding the release of Phan Bồi Châu. This was the first time he personally participated in a political movement. His second involvement was a year after that. In 1926, the death of Phan Chu Trinh (Phan Châu Trinh), the well-known nationalist, led to the huge protests all over Vietnam. Trường Chinh and his schoolmates asked a permission from the local authority to organize a mourning for Phan Chu Trinh. Trường Chinh became the head of the student movement in Nam Định and cooperated with other schools. Not only students but peasants, labourers, and villagers numbering more than ten thousand also participated in the Phan Chu Trinh commemoration. The gathering turned violent and, as a result, Trường Chinh and other student leaders were taken away by the police together with more than 200 people. After this event, the French colonial administrators kept an eye on him. He quit school in Nam Định. After that, he did self-study and passed the secondary school level exam. He moved to

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

to pursue his study in Indochinese trade college (trường Cao đẳng Thương mại Đông Dương). In Ha Noi, he still focused on political movement with his friends from Nam Định and wrote for newspapers.

Road to Communist Party

When Trường Chinh was in Ha Noi, he had an opportunity to choose his revolutionary path. In 1928, he joined the national salvation movement together with other Vietnamese young intellectuals. He read widely on Socialist works such as

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Lenin. In 1929, he was one of first groups that founded the Communist Party of Indochina (1929–1930). He started to work on the Party's published works such as ''Búa Liềm'' newspaper and ''Người sinh viên'' newspaper aimed to educate the people on the Socialist path; at condemning the French colonial government and at arousing the local mass as to ally with the Party. However, in 1930, the Nghệ Tĩnh-Soviet movement and the

Yên Bái mutiny The Yên Bái mutiny () or officially Yên Báy general uprising () was an uprising of Vietnamese soldiers in the Troupes coloniales, French colonial army on 10 February 1930. This took place in collaboration with civilian supporters who were mem ...

started their own rebellion in Tonkin and this led the French colonial government to purge the political movement in Indochina. In 1930 Trường Chinh became member of the

Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) 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 Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the col ...

and was appointed to the Committee's propaganda of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Indochina. He was caught on November, 14th 1930 and was sentenced to twelve years, but was released in 1936. Although Trường Chinh was imprisoned for his political beliefs

Hỏa Lò prison Hỏa Lò Prison (, Nhà tù Hỏa Lò; ) was a prison in Hanoi originally used by the French colonists in Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later perio ...

in Hanoi and deported Sơn La prison in

Sơn La province Sơn La is a province nestled in the Northwestern region of Vietnam. In 2018, Sơn La ranked 31st among Vietnam's administrative units in terms of population, 40th in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), 49th in GRDP per capita, and 63rd in GR ...

for seven years, he was continuously active in the political movement. He was the leader of the Communist movement in the prisons where he published poems, articles, books about socialism and criticism of the Vietnam nationalist Party. The colonial prison significantly became the revolutionary school for most of the intellectual revolutionists and communists. After release from prison, he continued his political movement, especially through his books and newspaper articles. He was a journalist, a writer, and a socialist intellectual who used his writings under various pennames such as Trường Chinh, Sông Hồng, Tân Trào, T.C. and S.T. to fight the French colonial government since he was a teenager. He was also a strategist for the Indochinese Communist Party.

Political roles and ideology

Trường Chinh's ideology was inspired by

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

Leninism Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

and he was influenced by Hồ Chí Minh, as seen from his works on including revolutionary ideology, political and revolutionary strategies as well as cultural strategies and policies. According to the Communist Party, Trường Chinh was "Ho Chi Minh's excellent student", although he did not always agree with Ho Chi Minh's ideas. There are two main arguments about Trường Chinh's ideology. Firstly, his ideology was seen as radical and based on Mao Zedong Thought which is clearly evident in his published works and the pattern of the

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

program that he had borrowed from China. Secondly, it was a hybrid incorporating Marxism and Leninism that formed the core of Trường Chinh's ideology which supported the anti-colonial movement and did not oppose nationalism. His ideology firstly was influenced by the Soviet bloc, after that, China bloc, and was adopted in Vietnam contexts.

First Secretary of the Communist Party

Trường Chinh played a significant role in the Communist Party during the critical time in building and strengthening the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) power. Besides Hồ Chí Minh, he was a central figure of the ICP in the independence formation of the

(DRV). In the 1940s, during the time that Hồ came back to Vietnam, Trường Chinh was already well known among the cadres of the Communist Party. He was portrayed as the radical leader of the Pro-Chinese faction while Hồ led the Pro-Soviet faction. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Trường Chinh became the famous Communist leader in the north. He served as the

General Secretary of the Communist Party The title of General Secretary or First Secretary is commonly used for the leaders of most communist parties. When a communist party is the ruling party of a socialist state—often labeled as communist states by external observers—the general s ...

during a crisis when the French eliminated the leaders of the anti-French movement. In 1940, Trường Chinh was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Indochina. He was the party's second ranking leader after Hồ Chí Minh. He was chaired of Party's National Conference in northern

Tuyên Quang Province Tuyên Quang () is a province of Vietnam, located in the northeastern part of the country to the northwest of Hanoi, at the centre of Lô River valley, a tributary of the Red River. Its capital is Tuyên Quang. The province had a population of ...

, launching an uprising to seize power from the French and Japanese. In the following years, the party fought a war for independence against French colonists.

August Revolution in 1945

When Trường Chinh became a leader in the anticolonialist movement, he also adopted the strategic theses of the

(CCP). He therefore was the person who significantly determined the direction of the communist movement, as well as the think-tank in laying the foundation of modern Vietnam. In fact, he was highly regarded by the members and supporters of the communist movement. In addition, during the anti-colonial period, he and General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...

developed a military strategy that enabled Vietnam to defeat the Japanese forces during the World War II. Trường Chinh emerged to play a crucial role in the August Revolution (Cách mạng tháng 8) in 1945. However, the political situation in the 1940s was divided into factionalism. The two factions consisted of Hồ Chí Minh's and Trường Chinh's who obviously had different strategies, especially in the 1945 August Revolution. While Ho Chi Minh and his faction were based in Pác Bó in north Vietnam, Trường Chinh and his followers moved down to Hanoi and focused on the

Red River delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...

. The center of the Communist movement, therefore, separated into two centers. After the success of the August Revolution in 1945 and until 1956, Trường Chinh faction was more powerful. The August Revolution was a major turning point and it led to the declaration of independence in September of the same year. On the day of Vietnam's declaration of independence, Trường Chinh was one of the leaders of the Communist Party who stood with Hồ Chí Minh at the Ba Đình Square in Hanoi.

Land reform campaign in North Vietnam

A blot in Trường Chinh's political life was the failure of the Land Reform campaign in the DRV between 1953 and 1956. The land reform campaign had a largely impact on Vietnamese society as it challenged the existing social and cultural structure. The land reform campaign was accompanied by extensive repression and excess, which resulted in the false imprisonment and execution of large numbers of people, many of whom were party members.Gittinger, J. Price
"Communist Land Policy in Viet Nam"
''Far Eastern Survey'', Vol. 29, No. 8, 1957, p. 118. The land reform was proposed and pushed by Trường Chinh as the Secretary of the Workers Party of Vietnam (Đảng Lao động Việt Nam). He aimed to change Vietnam to a new society which was neither feudal nor colonial society. He started developing his ideas of the land reform together with Võ Nguyên Giáp in 1938. Both had published their work ''The Peasant Questions'' (''Vấn đề dân cày'') which critiqued the social structure in Vietnam and the peasants’ problems in Vietnam. That work is praised from the Communist Party as the foundation of the understanding about agricultural system and Vietnamese peasants’ life. Before the land reform, the party started implementing tax reduction policies to help farmers. However, later on, the goal was to expand the mass base by allocating land to the peasants who formed the majority in the country, as well as managing the feudal class. The land reform was debated among the party's leaders. Trường Chinh had already been criticized for his unwillingness to agree with other party leaders and for his support of China while other leaders relied on the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as their role model. While Trường Chinh was persuaded by other party members to use the Soviet model, he claimed that Vietnam was able to learn from China's land reform experience. In Trường Chinh's view, the party needed land reform to gain mass support by having a peasant revolution, overthrowing the landlords, and being a step in the liberation of Vietnam. The party accepted Chinese guidance, because of its close relationship with China's leader,

. Trường Chinh admired Mao's ideological strategies and he adopted Mao's land reform campaign. Scholars have different opinions towards the land reform in Vietnam. Firstly, the land reform in North Vietnam was actually considered as a radical program and the adaptation of the CCP model was implemented between 1946 and 1953. The party leaders also used the land reform campaign "land to the tillers" for economic collectivization. However, another scholar pointed out that although Vietnam was mostly influenced by China, Vietnam's adaptation of the Chinese land reform had some differences to suit the Vietnamese context. The achievement of the revolution in China encouraged Vietnam to accept China as a model to design the policy and accept China as a consultant in policy implementation. Trường Chinh presented the guideline for the land reform in April 1953. The Party passed the land reform decree and provided material support to the farmers. The land reform also aimed to strengthen psychological strategy to gain the support of the peasants. It also aimed to increase productivity and strengthen the war efforts against France. On December 4, 1953, the Legislature passed the Land Reform Act (Luật Cải Cách Ruộng Đất), which marked a significant change as its implementation also purposed at eliminating the feudal system of landlords. Unlike in China, the land reform failed in Vietnam resulting in famine and widespread starvation. Over almost four years, many criticisms arose from the political leaders and Vietnamese peasants who claimed it a "bloodbath reform" because many people were killed and murdered. In addition, many people died from starvation. In 1956, more violence was reported which led to massive criticism and protests. The land reform was considered a failure of the communist party. Finally, the communist leaders had to terminate the land reform and Trường Chinh took responsibility by resigning from his post as General Secretary of the Communist Party. However, the land reform was a significant path for the Worker's Party and the rural structure. The land reform was successful in, at least, helping the rural peasants to own land. The achievement of the land reform program indicated from the mass support from more than 200,000 peasants who willingly delivered supplies and crossed from mountains to valleys to support the Viet Minh to fight against the French troops. Even though the land reform program was emphasized by many scholars as the failure of Trường Chinh, Hồ Chí Minh was the mainstay in pushing the program after he had sought advice from

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and Mao. After Hồ Chí Minh visited China and personally discussed it with Mao in 1950, the land reform program was finally launched in 1953. This period also marked the closest cordial relations between the CCP and the Worker's Party. Mao fully supported both advisor team led by Luo Guibo and provisions not only for the land reform program but also the war against the French. Criticism was leveled at Trường Chinh and the Communist Party. As a result, the massacres of the people, especially the landowners, were also severely criticized by party members. Many party members preferred to use the Soviet Union path instead. Finally, Hồ Chí Minh, on behalf of the Party apologized with tears for the Party's mistake and held Trường Chinh responsible. The failure of land reform in northern Vietnam was the turning point of the political faction. The

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

reduced China's influence in Hanoi. Trường Chinh resigned from his post of the secretary general of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Since then, Hồ Chí Minh supported Lê Duẩn, who later became the most powerful and longest-serving leader in Vietnam. In the 1960s, Lê Duẩn became the most powerful Communist leader while Trường Chinh was still on the list of the Politburo and a member of the central committee of the party. He still maintained his role in the party's think tank.

Cultural ideology and strategy

After the declaration of independence in September 1945, Trường Chinh played an important role in shaping the administration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam politically and economically, as well as creating the socialist structure and culture of the new Vietnam. He considered culture as a vital strategy for national liberation and nation-state building. In Vietnam, Trường Chinh was named as the architect of the foundation of the new culture of Vietnam because his cultural ideology had a great impact on Vietnamese society through many concrete ideas and policies. His works that have affected the Vietnamese society were the 1943 "Theses on Vietnam Culture (Đề Cương Văn hóa Việt Nam)" and the 1948 “the Marxism and Vietnamese Culture” (Chủ nghĩa Mác và vấn đề văn hóa Việt Nam). In the first work, "Theses on Vietnam Culture," Trường Chinh presented two main cultural patterns: the foundation of the new Vietnamese culture under the leadership of the Communist Party, and the use of art and cultural concepts as a weapon against national enemies. He argued that Vietnam had fallen under the influence of Chinese culture of

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

, French colonialism and Japanese fascists. In order to liberate Vietnam from these cultures, the Party needed to create a new culture (văn hóa mới). The essence of the new culture focused on people and adopted a new democratic approach. The second work, "The Marxism and Vietnamese Culture," Trường Chinh suggested the cultural revolution as a tool to fight the French colonial government under the principle of Marxism. The significance of culture was equal with the military and economic battle fronts. These two works became the fundamental elements to Vietnam society and culture and brought big changes to Vietnam society, particularly after the 1945 August Revolution. The key tool in eliminating the enemies of the nation was the expansion of the new democratic culture into the French-occupied cultural space as well as making the new democratic culture a national culture at the same time. Cultural policy and the construction of the new culture of Vietnam significantly strengthened the

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

through arts, performance, media and national history. Trường Chinh significantly built the Cultural Association for National Salvation in order to centralize artists who worked to publicize Party's ideology and appeal to local people for support. However, under the atmosphere of social restructuring was a large number of villagers who had some interactions with the landlord families became paranoid and fearful of the communists. The pressure to condemn the public's enemies finally led to the destruction of local social networks. Many people in North Vietnam were unable to withstand the pressure. Many of them committed suicide or escaped to South Vietnam. The process of creating a new cultural space was to equalize people's status including anti-feudal symbols and linguistic patterns. The new cultural pattern was not always successful although the Party forced it through the propaganda campaign. In some communities, many villagers still respected the condemned feudal people. The fundamental ideology of Trường Chinh influentially and violently affected north Vietnam, particularly during the land reform. The cultural impact of the land reform led to social turmoil in many communities. Particularly during the land reform, the Party's cadres were sent to the communities and violently wiped out what they believed was the feudal legacy and backwardness including superstition, feudal cultures such as clothes, old traditions, and norms. The landlords were charged with such offenses. Regardless of whether they were supporters of the Communist Party or not, they were judged as exploiters of the peasants. Furthermore, a group of the Communist supporters, called themselves as '' Nhân văn giai phẩm'' criticized the radical policy of Trường Chinh's cultural ideology during the implementation of the Land Reform program. However, many people in this group were jailed or forced to use the labour in the backcountry.

Đổi Mới (Renovation)

Vietnam was unified in 1975, and Trường Chinh was selected president in 1981. The economic renovation was credited to Nguyễn Văn Linh who succeeded General Secretary after Trường Chinh in 1986. However, Trần Nhâm writes that Trường Chinh was the first person who paved the way for economic renovation since 1968. In the midst of economic recession, scarcity and social crisis in the 1980s, the Central Committee received various reports about economic loss, inflations, and the increased social problems. Trường Chinh set up the research teams in order to collect and observe problems in local communities in the Central highland and in southern Vietnam as well as the success and failures from the old economic system. Trường Chinh came to be receptive to reformists and gradually sided with them after visits to the countryside in 1983. He used the research results to reform policies and presented them to the Sixth National Congress in 1986. He suggested that economic renovation was not enough to deal with the crisis that Vietnam encountered. The Party also needed to reform political and social policies. Furthermore, he asserted that production capacity needed to be increased. Although, Socialist ideology rejected Capitalism, it could not avoid the economic acceleration by increasing production capacity. Instead of focusing on industrial sector, the Party needed to support and increase agricultural production as the root of Vietnam society. In addition, the 1986 renovation (Đổi Mới) was driven by the changing world order that saw the collapse of the Socialist bloc and the domestic motivation within Vietnam, particularly among the Communist leaders. The economic renovation also affected areas such as politics in Vietnam and relationships among the Communist leaders, the vanishing financial support from the Soviet Union, the diplomatic policy in seeking for the economic cooperation within the region. In this economic transition, Trường Chinh was the new reformer as seen in the fellow communist leader Võ Văn Kiệt's writing in which he praised Trường Chinh as the only comrade who completely understood the real ideology of Socialism and also tried to principally adopt it in the society. However, he was replaced by Nguyễn Văn Linh at the Sixth National Congress in December 1986, part of a sweeping leadership change that marked the beginning of the Đổi mới (''Renovation'') period.

Final years and death

He resigned as president in 1987 due to ill health, but continued to serve as advisor to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He died on September 30, 1988, after falling down from the stairs, at the age of 81. His funeral was held at the Ba Đình Hall and he was buried at the Mai Dich Cemetery.

Honours and awards

*: **

Gold Star Order *: ** Cs2okg

Order of Klement Gottwald (20 February 1982) *: ** Order of Lenin ribbon bar

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(22 January 1982) ** Order october revolution rib

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

(6 February 1987) *: ** Honorary Citizen of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

On May 25, 2023, the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council (, ), also known as Kyivrada (), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The members of city council are directly elected by Kyivans and the council is chaired by the M ...

decided to deprive Trường Chinh of this title, but the decision was not signed by the mayor of Kyiv,

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,

Works and publications

* 1938: The Peasant Question (''Vấn đề dân cày'') (Co-author with Võ Nguyên Giáp) * 1943: Theses on Vietnam Culture (''Đề cương văn hóa Việt Nam)'' * 1946: The August Revolution (''Cách mạng Tháng Tám)'' * 1947: The Resistance Will Win (''Kháng chiến nhất định thắng lợi'') * 1948: The Marxism and Vietnamese Culture (''Chủ nghĩa Mác và vấn đề văn hóa Việt Nam)'' *1969: Forward Along The Path Charted By K. Marx

References

Sources

* Bradley, Mark Philip. Imaging Vietnam and America: The Making of Post Colonial Vietnam, 1919–1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. * Elliot, David W. P. Changing Worlds: Vietnam's Transition from the Cold War to Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. * Ninh, Kim Ngoc Bao. World Transformed: The Politics of Culture in Revolutionary Vietnam, 1945–1965. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005. * Nguyen, Lien-Hang T. Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012. * Malarney, Shuan Kingsley. Culture, Ritual and Revolution in Vietnam. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002. * Marr, David G. Vietnam: State, War, and Revolution (1945-1946). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. * Moise, Edwin E. Land Reform in China and North Vietnam: Consolidating the revolution at the village level. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1983. * Teodoru, Daniel E. “The Bloodbath Hypothesis: The Maoist Pattern in North Vietnam's Radical Land Reform,” in ''Southeast Asian Perspectives'', No. 9 (Mar., 1973), pp. 1–78. * Thai Quang Trung. Collective leadership and factionalism: an essay on Ho Chi Minh's legacy.Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985. * Trần Nhâm. Trường Chinh: Một tư duy sáng tại, Một tài năng kiệt xuất. Hà Nội: NXB Chính trí Quốc gia, 2007. * Trần Nhâm.Lê Duẩn – Trường Chinh: Hai nhà lý luận xuất sắc của các mạng Việt Nam. Hà Nội: NXB Chính trị Quốc gia, 2002. * Tuong Vu. Vietnam's Communist Revolution: The Power and Limits of Ideology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. * Viện Nghiên cứu Hồ Chí Minh và các Lãnh tụ của Đảng. Trường-Chinh và Cách Mạng Việt Nam. Hà Nội: NXB Chính trị Quốc gia, 1997. * Vo, Alex-Thai Do. “Preliminary Comments on Mobilizing the Masses, 1953” in Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Volume 31, Number 3, November 2016, pp. 983–1018. * Zhai, Qiang. China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

External links