Thayer Consultancy Background Briefing:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Vietnam Communist Party
Reaches Ninety, 1930-2020
Carlyle A. Thayer
January 23, 2020

We request your thoughts and ideas onthe occasion of the 90th founding anniversary
of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3, 1930-2020). Below are our questions:

Q1. What are your brief assessments of the leadership role of the
Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in the national defense and
construction in the past 90 years?
ANSWER: In my opinion the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has demonstrated.
leadership on ten major occasions to free Vietnam from foreign domination and to
establish a reunified and independent Vietnam.
First, the Vietnamese revolutionaries who founded the CPV in February 1930 united
other revolutionary organizations from the three regions of Vietnam and became a
truly national party.
Second, the CPV joined the Communist International in 1930 and assumed
responsibility for struggle against colonialism across French Indochina, including Laos
and Cambodia. The CPV demonstrated leadership by linking Vietnam’s struggle with
the world struggle against colonialism and imperialism.
Third, the CPV demonstrated its revolutionary credentials by supporting the peasants
who rose up in revolt against the French to establish the Nghe-Tinh xoviet in 1930-31.
Fourth, the CPV took the lead against fascism and colonialism in 1941 when it founded
the League for the Independence of Vietnam and pursued a national-democratic or
two-stage revolution.
Fifth, the CPV took the decisive step of seizing the opportune moment and successfully
launched the August Revolution that led to the declaration of Vietnam’s
independence on 2 September 1945, Vietnam became one of the first colonies to do
so thus contributing to the worldwide struggle against colonialism.
Sixth, the CPV successfully led the war of resistance against French colonialism from
1946-54 by waging a people’s war. This culminated in the victory at Dien Bien Phu in
May 1954.
Seventh, the CPV took a bold step in negotiating with France to end their armed
conflict at Geneva in 1954. Although Vietnam was partitioned, the CPV had a firm base
in North Vietnam that had a capital city, Hanoi, and a port to the outside world, Hai
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Phong. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was linked to China and by rail to the
Soviet Union. The CPV leaders (then Vietnam Workers’ Party or VWP) were able to
carry out land reform, agricultural collectivization and begin the initial steps towards
industrialization.
Eighth, in January 1959 the VWP took the decision to resume armed struggle in South
Vietnam in order to reunify Vietnam.
Ninth, the VWP took the lead in mobilizing the Vietnamese people to successfully
resist the U.S. Air War in the North by dispersing people from the cities and utilizing
advance weapons from the Soviet Union and China.
Tenth, the VWP successfully prosecuted the war against the United States in the South
by matching the conventional strategy of the US and devising new means to achieve
victory such as the 1968 Tet Offensive and the Great Spring Offensive in 1975.
Since reunification Vietnam has modernized all elements of the Vietnam People’s
Army including the ground forces, the air defence-air force, navy and coast guard.
Q2. In your opinion, which policies of the CPV are most significant
to the country’s socio-economic development and international
relations over the past years?
ANSWER: Vietnam’s decision in 1953-54 to carry out land reform by redistributing land
to the tiller ended the domination of landless and poor peasants by landlords and rich
peasants and laid the basis for the development of low-level and then high-level
agricultural producers’ cooperatives. Although there were problems in this process,
the end result was a more egalitarian society in a poor developing country.
But the major policy that has significance to the present day was the adoption of doi
moi in late 1986. Vietnam ended Soviet-style central planning and initiated private,
largely family-based, production. This led to a marked rise in rice production and an
explosion (bung ra) in light industry. At the same time, Vietnam expanded trade
relations and encouraged foreign investment with outside countries to help develop
a “socialist market economy.” Vietnam’s economic growth has led to a marked decline
in poverty as Vietnam became a lower middle-income economy.
The most important turning point in international relations came in 1987-88. In 1987
Politburo Resolution No. 2 provided the foreign policy objective of withdrawing
military forces from Kampuchea. In May 1988 the CPV Politburo adopted Resolution
No. 13 entitled, ‘On the Tasks and Foreign Policy in the New Situation’. This resolution
set priority on economic development through a multi-directional foreign policy with
the goal of making ‘more friends, fewer enemies.’
Subsequently, all national party congresses have endorsed and elaborated on this
policy with great success. Vietnam normalized relations with China and the United
States and joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as its sixth member.
Vietnam now has sixteen strategic and twelve comprehensive partnerships with the
major powers. And Vietnam is successfully pursuing “active, proactive economic
integration” through bi- and multi-lateral free trade agreements.
Q3. What are major concerns and challenges to the CPV leadership in
Vietnam in the coming time?
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ANSWER: There are two major concerns, among many, that currently preoccupy CPV
leaders. The first is the issue of how to sustain current economic growth that is
equitable across society and protects the environment. There are many variables that
will influence this objective: the impact of continued economic tensions and tariff wars
between the United States and China, a slow-down in the global economy, domestic
corruption, protectionism in Vietnam’s major markets, the pace of privatization of
domestic state-owned enterprises, and Vietnam’s ability to absorb the technologies
that are part of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
The second major concern relates to the possibility of tensions, arms race, and armed
conflict in the South China Sea, Taiwan Straits, East China Sea, and Korean peninsula.
All of these conflicts are likely to involve China.
Finally, Vietnamese leaders will be preoccupied with preparations for the thirteenth
national party congress in early 2021 to ensure a smooth political transition and
consensus on the main socio-economic policies for the next five years and beyond.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vietnam Communist Party Reaches Ninety,

1930-2020,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, January 23, 2020. All background
briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.