Nguyen Van Linh, the first General Secretary of the renovation process

During his lifetime, General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh made many important contributions to summarizing practices, researching and designing the Party and State's innovation policy. During the term of the 6th Congress as General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee, he and the leadership team were sensitive, proactive, creative and skillful in steering the revolutionary boat through the dangerous steps of the period of great changes in the world, promoting the innovation process and achieving very important achievements, carrying out two strategic tasks of building and protecting the Fatherland, developing the economy - society, consolidating national defense and security. Improving people's lives, expanding foreign relations and enhancing Vietnam's position in the international arena.

General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh met with delegates attending the 6th Party Congress which opened on December 15, 1986, in Hanoi . (Photo: VNA)

General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh was the one who paved the way for innovation, participated in planning, and led the successful implementation of the innovation policy.

Comrade Nguyen Van Linh was assigned the important responsibility of being the General Secretary of the Party by the 6th Party Congress. He, together with the Politburo and the Party Central Committee, led and organized the implementation of the 6th Congress's renovation policy. He emphasized: "We must look straight at the truth, we must see that our subjective shortcomings are serious and long-lasting. We must have the courage to strongly and thoroughly criticize ourselves in order to innovate. Otherwise, we will fall into a state of prolonged stagnation with real disasters" [1]. According to him, it is necessary to innovate thinking, first of all economic thinking, focusing on liberating the productive forces and all potentials of society, improving and gradually raising the people's living standards, on that basis creating stability and development.

The General Secretary and the Politburo made breakthroughs in the weakest links, which were "bottlenecks", and made decisions to stabilize the situation in all aspects of the country; implemented three major economic programs: Food, consumer goods and export goods; selected the distribution and circulation sector as the "breakthrough spearhead" in the mechanism transformation, creating momentum for the transformation to eliminate the situation of "blocking rivers and banning markets", creating motivation to develop social productivity. He focused on leading the innovation of economic management mechanisms, especially the innovation of agricultural economic management mechanisms, leading to the birth of Resolution 10 of the Politburo in 1988 (also known as Contract 10), strongly liberating the production capacity for the household economy of farmers and just in the following year, from a country with food shortages, having to import hundreds of thousands of tons of food every year, it proactively solved the domestic food demand and shortly after became the world's leading rice exporter.

In the context of many complicated changes in the world and in the country, the Party building work has received special attention from the General Secretary and the Politburo, who have issued specialized resolutions on Party building and directed the drastic and effective implementation of the campaign to purify the Party and enhance the fighting capacity of Party organizations and the State apparatus to meet new tasks; a number of urgent issues on ideological work in the new situation,... to strengthen the revolutionary will, belief, enhance the political capacity of cadres and Party members, steadfastly uphold the Party's goals and ideals; at the same time, fight against wrong and politically ambiguous thoughts, and lose vigilance against hostile forces that are increasingly sabotaging the Vietnamese revolution.

On the press front, comrade Nguyen Van Linh was a leader and a soldier - journalist who used his sharp pen as a sharp weapon in the fight against corruption and negativity, making an important contribution to the work of building and rectifying the Party, leaving a strong impression with articles signed under the pen name NVL published in the column "Things to do immediately" of Nhan Dan Newspaper. He created a new vitality in the Party and in society, gaining the sympathy and support of cadres, party members and the people.

In order to create a favorable international environment for the renovation process, General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh led and directed the process of adjusting foreign policy, gradually breaking the siege and isolation of the country. Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW, dated May 20, 1988 of the Politburo on foreign policy in the new situation is the concretization of the foreign policy of the 6th Congress, reflecting the strategic vision of General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh and the Politburo in clearly defining the immediate and long-term goals of Vietnam's foreign affairs as maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national development. The General Secretary has made outstanding contributions on the foreign affairs front, creating a favorable international environment for the renovation process, taking steps to resolve the Cambodian issue, initiating the process towards normalizing Vietnam-China relations, gradually bringing Vietnam into ASEAN, implementing measures towards establishing diplomatic relations with the United States, and carrying out comprehensive solutions to build and strengthen friendly relations with countries in the region and the world.

As General Secretary or Advisor to the Party Central Committee, he always believed that our Party must constantly improve and perfect its leadership, especially in the face of the requirements of the cause of innovation and the cause of building socialism. He said: "Far-sighted vision, the ability to grasp the current needs of life and scientifically predict future movements are the top qualities that the Party must have" [2]. The cause of socialist innovation requires each cadre and party member to constantly innovate themselves. First of all, it is necessary to innovate awareness, constantly study to improve theoretical knowledge and apply it to practical work, overcome empiricism and dogmatism. He urged the implementation of self-criticism and criticism and organized personal reviews from the General Secretary to each member of the Politburo, not only in leadership work but also in sense of organization, discipline, ethics, and lifestyle. He set a shining example of a leader who was warmly welcomed by the entire Party and people.

Promoting the legacy of General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh in the current era of the Vietnamese nation's rise

Vietnam is entering the era of national development, actively integrating deeply into the world, making strong progress under the impact of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, realizing the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country, with a vision to 2030, oriented to 2045, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the country, Vietnam becomes a developed country.

The legacies of General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh on innovation, especially economic thinking, the lessons he left on planning and organizing the implementation of the innovation policy, on Party building and rectification, on fighting against negativity, on international integration... still retain their theoretical and practical values, and are being applied, supplemented and creatively developed by our Party in the new historical period. In the new era, inheriting and creatively applying the legacy of President Ho Chi Minh and other exemplary senior leaders of the Party and State, our Party affirms: Consistently applying and creatively developing Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, and the theory of innovation policy; steadfastly pursuing the goal of national independence and socialism; steadfastly promoting the comprehensive and synchronous innovation process; steadfastly upholding the principles of Party building; Economic and social development and environmental protection are the center; Party building is the key; Cultural and human development is the foundation; strengthening national defense and security and promoting foreign affairs and international integration are essential and regular; Promoting the construction and perfection of institutions for rapid and sustainable national development, resolutely removing bottlenecks and bottlenecks, unblocking and liberating all resources, promoting all driving forces for development; Promoting the strength of the people, the great national unity bloc and the people's hearts, combining national strength with the strength of the times, protecting the Fatherland early and from afar; Strengthening the building and rectification of the Party and the political system to be clean and strong in all aspects, tightening the close relationship between the Party and the people, promoting socialist democracy; strengthening control of power, resolutely and persistently fighting against corruption, waste and negativity.

Panoramic view of the memorial house of General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh. Photo: Hung Yen Newspaper

Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh, with nearly 70 years of revolutionary activities in all regions of the country, has undertaken and successfully completed many important responsibilities assigned by the Party and the people. He is a shining example of a revolutionary leader who is passionate, very practical, dares to think, dares to do and dares to take responsibility before the people and the Party. He is truly “an excellent student of President Ho Chi Minh, a very steadfast, loyal, devoted communist party member, who fought all his life for the ideal of national independence and socialism, for the happiness of the people, a highly prestigious leader of our Party, people and army, a trusted friend of international friends... Comrade Nguyen Van Linh - one of the most outstanding sons, the pride of the Party and the Vietnamese nation” (3).

Dr. LE THI THU HONG, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

[1] Nguyen Van Linh: Innovation to move forward, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi 1998, vol. 1, p.30.

[2] Nguyen Van Linh: Innovation to move forward, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi 1998, vol. III, p. 17.

(3) Eulogy of the Party Central Committee at the memorial service for comrade Nguyen Van Linh.

Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/chinh-tri/tiep-lua-truyen-thong/nguyen-van-linh-tong-bi-thu-dau-tien-cua-cong-cuoc-doi-moi-834883