People of the Revolution and the USSR

Vietnam state institutions Communism 1890–1969 ○ Natural causes

He took on France, Japan and America in turn to win Vietnam's independence

“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.” — wartime radio address, 1966

Vietnamese revolutionary. After three decades of exile, including helping found the French Communist Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam, he led the Viet Minh to declare Vietnam's independence in 1945. He led North Vietnam through wars against France and the United States, becoming the symbol of Vietnamese independence.

Vietnam state institutions Communism 1905–1991 → Died in exile

Pro-Chinese veteran, North Vietnam’s first ambassador to China, who defected to China after the 1979 war

After the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, he evaded surveillance at Karachi and defected to China. He denounced Vietnam’s treatment of ethnic Chinese and accused its leaders of subservience to the Soviet Union.

A revolutionary from Nghệ An, he took part in the early communist movement with Ho Chi Minh. As North Vietnam’s first ambassador to China (1950–1957) he was a crucial link between the two countries, and he sat on the Politburo from 1956 to 1976 and was vice-chairman of the National Assembly from 1958 to 1979. His influence peaked in the early 1960s when Hanoi briefly leaned towards Beijing in the Sino-Soviet dispute, and waned as relations with China soured. In July 1979, travelling to East Germany for treatment, he slipped his escorts at Karachi, took refuge at the Chinese consulate and flew to Beijing, denouncing Vietnam’s persecution of the Hoa at a press conference in August. He died in Beijing in 1991.

Communist Party of Vietnam / Workers' Party of Vietnam Communism 1907–1986 ○ Natural causes

The longest-serving General Secretary who reunified Vietnam and invaded Cambodia in his 26-year rule

“Our party is the unique and single leader that organised… the entire struggle of the Vietnamese people from the first day of the revolution.” — reunification victory speech, 1976

A Vietnamese communist politician and theorist. A founding member of the Indochina Communist Party in 1930, he endured two French prison terms before earning Ho Chi Minh's trust and taking charge of the southern revolutionary apparatus. In 1956 he authored The Road to the South, providing the theoretical basis for the armed liberation struggle against the Saigon regime, and at the 3rd National Congress in 1960 he was elected First Secretary, becoming the party's supreme leader after Ho's death in 1969. He completed Vietnam's reunification in 1975, ordered the invasion of Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge in 1978, and held power through the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979) until his death in 1986.

Vietnam state institutions Communism 1907–1988 ○ Died

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 of 1945 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.

Vietnam state institutions Communism 1911–1990 ○ Natural causes

Vietnamese Politburo member who negotiated the Paris Peace Accords with Kissinger and declined the Nobel Peace Prize

Lê Đức Thọ took effective charge of North Vietnam’s delegation in Paris in 1968 and began secret talks with Kissinger in 1970, signing the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. He declined the Nobel Peace Prize, saying peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam.

Born Phan Đình Khải in Nam Định, he helped found the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and was held in French colonial prisons in 1930–1936 and 1939–1944. During the war against France he ran party organisation in the south alongside Lê Duẩn, and in 1955 he joined the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers’ Party. He arrived in Paris in June 1968 to take effective charge of the North Vietnamese delegation, and from February 1970 held secret talks with Kissinger that led to the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973. Named joint winner of that year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Kissinger, he declined it on the ground that peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam. He died in Hanoi in 1990.