Vietnam's chief theoretician, demoted for the land reform disaster and returned to launch Đổi Mới
His revolutionary name 'Trường Chinh' — 'Long March' — was a deliberate homage to Mao Zedong's epic retreat, marking him from the start as the party's pro-Chinese theoretician.
Vietnamese communist revolutionary and chief theoretician. He joined the Revolutionary Youth League in 1928 and helped found the Indochina Communist Party, becoming its General Secretary in 1940 and leading the party through the August Revolution and the anti-French war. He was the architect of the 1953–1956 land reform campaign, whose violent excesses forced his demotion. Yet he returned to power as Chairman of the National Assembly (1960–1981) and President (1981–1987). After Lê Duẩn's death in 1986, he again became General Secretary and, in his final act, steered the party toward the Đổi Mới reforms that reshaped Vietnam.
Career Timeline
- 1928–1930Joined Revolutionary Youth League; co-founded Indochina Communist Party
- 1930–1936Arrested by French colonial authorities, sentenced to 12 years; released 1936
- 1940–1945General Secretary, ICP — led the August Revolution
- 1946–1947Published The August Revolution (1946) and The Resistance Will Win (1947)
- 1951–1956First Secretary, Workers' Party — led land reform; dismissed after its failure
- 1960–1981Chairman, National Assembly Standing Committee
- 1981–1987President of Vietnam
- 1986.7–12General Secretary again — launched the Đổi Mới reforms