General Secretary Truong Chinh - An outstanding leader

President Tran Dai Quang's article about General Secretary Truong Chinh on the occasion of his 110th birthday.

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of General Secretary Truong Chinh's birth (February 9, 1907 - February 9, 2017), President Tran Dai Quang wrote an article entitled "General Secretary Truong Chinh - An outstanding theorist, an outstanding leader, a great personality of the Vietnamese Revolution".

Comrade Truong Chinh became a close colleague and student of President Ho Chi Minh and was considered an outstanding leader in the turning points of the Vietnamese revolution. In the photo, from right to left: President Ho Chi Minh, Director of the General Political Department Nguyen Chi Thanh, General Secretary Truong Chinh, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Van Dong in Viet Bac. (Photo courtesy)

General Secretary Truong Chinh, a steadfast and exemplary communist, a talented theorist, an outstanding leader, one of the excellent students and close associates of the great President Ho Chi Minh, a shining example of principles and discipline, a great intellectual of the Vietnamese revolution, devoted his whole life to the cause of national liberation, national reunification, building and defending the Fatherland.

Comrade Truong Chinh's eighty-one years of life, sixty-three years of continuous, vibrant and rich revolutionary activities were closely associated with the extremely arduous but very proud struggles of our people. For more than forty-six years holding the important positions of Acting General Secretary, General Secretary, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the State Council, he and the Party Central Committee, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, applied and creatively developed Marxism-Leninism in the Vietnamese revolution; built and led the successful implementation of guidelines, strategies and tactics with flexible methods and art of leadership, creating glorious miracles in the people's national democratic revolution and socialist revolution. His name and career will forever be engraved in the glorious history of the Party and the nation, most clearly demonstrated in the historical turning points of the country that required a change in strategic direction.

As early as 1930, when imprisoned in colonial prisons, comrade Truong Chinh always showed his steadfastness and indomitability in the face of the enemy's brutal beatings, turning the prison into a school of theory to study culture, politics, and cultivate revolutionary ideals, as President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: "Turning misfortune into fortune, our comrades took advantage of their time in prison to meet and study theory. Once again, this proved that the enemy's extremely savage policy of terror not only failed to hinder the progress of the revolution, but on the contrary, it became a kind of fire that tested gold, it trained the revolutionaries to be even more steadfast"[1].

Since 1939, in the context of the domestic and international situation having changed very rapidly, the Party leadership had not been re-established, and overcoming the enemy's fierce pursuit, comrade Truong Chinh had made great contributions in reorganizing the Central Executive Committee and was elected as Acting General Secretary at the 7th Conference of the Party Central Executive Committee (November 1940) and then as General Secretary at the 8th Conference of the Party Central Executive Committee (May 1941). Under the chairmanship of leader Nguyen Ai Quoc and comrade Truong Chinh, who drafted the document, the 8th Conference of the Party Central Committee issued a historic Resolution, completing the policy of national liberation revolution, developing the theory of proletarian revolution in a colonial country, correctly resolving the relationship between the national-class and national-international issues, placing the task of national liberation above all, marking a very fundamental strategic shift of the Vietnamese revolution. The Conference proposed the policy of uniting all patriotic classes and strata in the Viet Minh Front, building bases, preparing for partial armed uprisings to advance to a general uprising to seize power for the people. After the Conference, in his capacity as General Secretary, comrade Truong Chinh and the Party Central Committee directed the implementation of the Resolution, expanding the Viet Minh Front, consolidating safe zones (ATKs), organizing armed forces and establishing liberated zones.

During this period, along with leading the comprehensive consolidation of the revolutionary movement, with the works Outline of Vietnamese Culture (1943), Marxism on Vietnamese Culture (1943), Comrade Truong Chinh made great contributions to forming the theoretical basis for building a Vietnamese revolutionary culture and arts following the motto of nationalism, science, and mass and leading the organization to implement the Party's cultural line. He also directed the establishment and directly wrote articles for the Communist Magazine - the Central Party's political theory agency; Cuu Quoc Newspaper - the mouthpiece of the Viet Minh General Department; Co Giai Phong Newspaper - the Central Party's propaganda and agitation agency... to convey to cadres, party members, and people about the rapid changes in the situation and the Party's policies and guidelines, the Viet Minh Front; mobilize and organize all classes of people to rise up to fight against French colonialism and Japanese fascism...

At the expanded meeting of the Party Central Committee Standing Committee (March 9, 1945), with scientific thinking, strategic vision, and acumen, comrade Truong Chinh and the Central Committee Standing Committee accurately assessed and analyzed the situation, correctly predicted the developments of the times and issued the Directive "Japan - France fighting each other and our actions", the Directive "Breaking Japanese rice warehouses to distribute to the starving people"; promptly changed the direction of the slogan and method of struggle, quickly raising a climax against Japanese fascism to save the country. He directed the successful implementation of a unique and creative policy of our Party, which was to carry out partial uprisings in many places, establish liberated zones, seize the opportunity, move towards the General Uprising, and achieve great victory in the historic August Revolution.

After the August Revolution, our young revolutionary government was in a precarious position. Comrade Truong Chinh was one of Uncle Ho's close and trusted associates. Together with the Party Central Committee, he led our people to overcome countless difficulties and challenges, maintain the people's government, seize opportunities, and prepare forces for a long-term, all-people, and comprehensive resistance war against the French colonialists. Comrade Truong Chinh's work "The Resistance Will Definitely Win" contributed to guiding our entire Party, people, and army to steadfastly resist, overcome all hardships and sacrifices, and firmly believe in the final victory.

In 1951, in the context of new changes in the world and domestic situation that were beneficial to the revolution, under the direct leadership and direction of President Ho Chi Minh, comrade Truong Chinh and the Party Central Committee focused their efforts and intelligence on preparing well for the 2nd Congress of the Party, especially preparing important documents. The theoretical and practical value of the Congress documents as well as the leadership and direction role of General Secretary Truong Chinh in preparing for the Congress were enormous and of historical significance. The success of the Congress marked a remarkable and comprehensive development of the revolutionary and resistance line in the new period. At this Congress, comrade Truong Chinh continued to be elected as General Secretary of the Party; together with the Party Central Committee, supplemented and completed the theory of the people's national democratic revolution, promptly resolved practical issues, brought the resistance war against French colonialism to complete victory, opening a new period of development of the Vietnamese revolution.

During the period when our country simultaneously carried out two strategic tasks: Building socialism, defending the North and liberating the South, unifying the country, in his capacity as a member of the Politburo and Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee, comrade Truong Chinh, together with the Party Central Committee, led the entire Party, people and army to bring the cause of resistance against the US to complete victory, completing the people's national democratic revolution, liberating the South, unifying the country, and bringing the whole country to socialism.

After the country's reunification, in his positions as Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee and Chairman of the State Council, he made great contributions to building a new type of state, a state of the people, by the people and for the people; participating in directing the drafting of many important laws.

In the pre-renovation period, in the context of the increasingly serious socio-economic crisis, stagnant production, hyperinflation, and extremely difficult people's lives, comrade Truong Chinh was one of the leaders who persistently tested reality, directed step-by-step implementation of innovation, first of all, innovation of thinking, laying the foundation for the formation of the Party's innovation policy. At the 9th Conference of the Party Central Committee (Term V), on the basis of analyzing and clarifying the mistakes and shortcomings in maintaining the centralized, bureaucratic, subsidized management mechanism for too long, comrade Truong Chinh concluded: "We must thoroughly eliminate centralized, bureaucratic, subsidized management, and switch to socialist business accounting. However, in terms of strategy, each step needs to be carefully calculated and considered"[2].

On July 14, 1986, the Party Central Committee held a special meeting and elected Mr. Truong Chinh as General Secretary, with only 5 months left until the 6th Congress. As General Secretary, during the preparation for the 6th Congress, he once said, "For our country, innovation is an urgent requirement, a matter of vital importance." (Photo courtesy)

After the death of General Secretary Le Duan, on July 14, 1986, at a special meeting of the Party Central Committee, comrade Truong Chinh was elected General Secretary. With a sharp, sensitive theoretical thinking, closely following reality, and closely following the situation at the local level, he soon recognized the trend of the times, the reality of the country and the aspirations of the people, courageously looked straight at the truth, and directed the entire Party to "renew thinking, change the way of thinking, the way of doing, dare to admit and change previous wrong decisions, dare to bravely handle complicated matters" ([3]). During the process of directly directing the preparation of documents for the 6th Party Congress, he emphasized: “It is necessary to clearly see the complexity and difficulties of the innovation process. This is a struggle between the new and the old, the progressive and the backward. The most difficult thing is: This is a struggle within the Party and state agencies, a struggle between comrades, a struggle with oneself” ([4]).

Comrade Truong Chinh paid special attention to the work of building a clean and strong Party, saying: “Making the Party clean and strong is the most important task in the work of building the Party, only then will our Party be strong enough to lead our country's revolution in the coming time. Restoring, maintaining and enhancing the Party's fighting spirit is an urgent requirement today. Cadre work must be closely linked to the work of building the Party” ([5]).

At the 6th National Congress of the Party, comrade Truong Chinh presented a Political Report of historical significance, which clearly stated: “Our Party’s attitude in assessing the situation is to look straight at the truth, correctly assess the truth, and clearly state the truth” ([6]), affirming: “The great lesson learned from the past years is that in the conditions of the Party in power, we must pay special attention to strengthening the connection between the Party and the people; regularly carry out the struggle to prevent and overcome bureaucracy. Each communist party member must truly be both a leader and a truly loyal servant of the people. All policies and strategies of the Party must originate from the interests, aspirations and capabilities of the working people, and must arouse the sympathy and response of the masses” ([7]). He pointed out: "We must innovate, first of all, innovate thinking, so that we can overcome difficulties and achieve the goals set by the 6th Congress... The important thing is to attach importance to theoretical work to provide scientific content for innovation in thinking" ([8]).

The 6th National Party Congress had great significance, marking a strategic breakthrough in the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, and was highly appreciated by domestic and international public opinion. Comrade Truong Chinh, in his responsibility as General Secretary and architect of the renovation cause, made great contributions to preparing documents and successfully organizing the Congress.

At the 6th Party Congress, comrade Truong Chinh, along with comrades Pham Van Dong and Le Duc Tho, were honored by the Congress and given the responsibility of advising the Party Central Committee. (Photo courtesy)

After the 6th National Party Congress, in his capacity as Advisor to the Party Central Committee, and appointed by the Politburo as Head of the Platform Drafting Subcommittee, he devoted all his mind and energy to actively contributing to the development of the Platform, Socio-Economic Strategy and preparing content for the 7th National Party Congress.

Throughout his revolutionary activities, comrade Truong Chinh set a shining example of a clean, healthy, simple, modest, thrifty, honest, impartial lifestyle, always close to reality, close to the people, and was trusted, loved, protected, and respected by the people. He was an exemplary leader of the Party and State in terms of seriousness, respect for working principles, thoughtfulness, and carefulness to every detail; especially leaving a brilliant mark in terms of self-criticism and criticism.

The 110th anniversary of General Secretary Truong Chinh's birthday is an opportunity for us to review, remember and express our deep gratitude for his great contributions to the Vietnamese revolution. In the context of the world and regional situation continuing to develop in a complicated manner, with many unpredictable and uncertain factors, and domestic difficulties, requiring our entire Party, people and army to synchronously and comprehensively promote the renovation process, General Secretary Truong Chinh's speech during the preparation process for the 6th Congress: "For our country, renovation is an urgent requirement, a matter of survival" is forever engraved in the hearts of our people, encouraging and motivating us to move forward.

Studying and following the example of General Secretary Truong Chinh, we vow to maintain solidarity and unity, strive to overcome difficulties and challenges, successfully implement the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress, bring the cause of innovation that he was one of the pioneers to continue to gain even greater achievements, open a new, glorious and beautiful period of development for the country, and firmly advance towards socialism./.

[1]Ho Chi Minh:Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 12, p. 402.

[2]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 921.

[3]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 1,201.

[4]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 1,207.

[5]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 1,232.

[6]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 1,292.

[7]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, p. 1,308.

[8]Truong Chinh:Collection, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2009, vol. 3, pp. 1,403-1,404.

Prof. Dr. Tran Dai Quang - Member of the Politburo, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam