Practical highest position in the Vietnamese politics
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee
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Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam
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Type
| Party leader
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Member of
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Appointer
| Central Committee
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Term length
| Five years, renewable once (but exemptions can be given)
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Precursor
| First Secretary
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Inaugural holder
| Tr?n Phu
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Formation
| 27 October 1930
; 93 years ago
(
1930-10-27
)
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The
general secretary of the
Communist Party of Vietnam
Central Committee
,
[1]
simply and informally the
general secretary
(
T?ng bi th?
- TBT), is the current title for the holder of the highest office within the
Communist Party of Vietnam
and practically being the highest position in the
politics of Vietnam
. The general secretaryship used to be the second-highest office within the party when
H? Chi Minh
was the
chairman
, a post which existed from 1951 to 1969, and since 1969, the general secretary has generally been regarded as the highest leader of Vietnam. The general secretary also holds the title of the
secretary of the
Central Military Commission
, the leading party organ on military affairs.
The current general secretary is
Nguy?n Phu Tr?ng
, ranking first in the
Politburo
.
[3]
The position was once designated the
first secretary
(
Vietnamese
:
Bi th? Th? nh?t
) from 1951 to 1976.
Tr?n Phu
, one of the founding members of the
Indochinese Communist Party
, was the party's first general secretary. A year after being elected, he was sentenced to prison by the French authorities because of anti-French activities. He died in prison the same year.
Tr?n's
de facto
successor was
Le H?ng Phong
who led the party through the office of General Secretary of the Overseas Executive Committee (OEC). The OEC general secretary led the party because the
Central Committee
had been all but annihilated.
Ha Huy T?p
, the third general secretary, was removed from his post in March 1938, and was arrested by the authorities in May.
Nguy?n V?n C?
, the fourth general secretary, was arrested by the authorities in June 1940, and executed by shooting on 25 May 1941. He was succeeded by
Tr??ng Chinh
in May 1941.
An article in
Nhan Dan
on 25 March 1951 described Tr??ng Chinh's role as the "builder and commander" of the revolution, while H? Chi Minh was referred to as "the soul of the Vietnamese revolution and the Vietnamese resistance".
Tr??ng Chinh was demoted as first secretary in 1956 because of his role in the
Land Reform campaign".
H? Chi Minh took over the office of first secretary, but quickly appointed
Le Du?n
acting first secretary.
Du?n was elected first secretary in 1960, and was second only to H? Chi Minh until the latter's death on 2 September 1969.
From 2 September 1969 until his death on 10 July 1986, Du?n was the undisputed leader of Vietnam.
He died two months before the next
National Party Congress
. He was succeeded by Tr??ng Chinh, the former general secretary who had served as the second-most powerful politician in Vietnam since H? Chi Minh's death. Tr??ng Chinh was demoted from his post at the
6th National Party Congress
, and was succeeded by
Nguy?n V?n Linh
.
The Western press called Linh "Vietnam's
Gorbachev
" because of his reformist policies.
Linh resigned because of bad health in 1991, and
đ? M??i
was appointed to the general secretaryship by the
7th National Congress
.
[15]
M??i ruled until 1997, when he was ousted from power by the reformist-wing of the party.
Le Kh? Phieu
was M??i's successor, and he was elected as a compromise candidate.
Phieu was ousted in 2001, before the
10th National Party Congress
, when the Central Committee overturned a decision of the Politburo; a majority in the Central Committee voted to remove Phieu as general secretary.
Nong đ?c M?nh
succeeded Phieu, and Manh came to be considered a moderniser. Manh was also the first general secretary with a university degree.
[19]
Manh retired in 2011, and Nguy?n Phu Tr?ng succeeded him, and he now is considered the most powerful political figure in Vietnam.
[20]
The general secretary presides over the work of the Central Committee, the Political Bureau, the Secretariat, and chairs meetings with key leaders (
Working Regulation of the Central Committee
, 2011).
Officeholders
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
These numbers are not official.
- ^
The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a
National Party Congress
elects the Politburo.
According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes given by the Central Committee.
Le H?ng Anh
, the
Minister of Public Security
, was ranked 2nd in the
10th Politburo
because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being
To Huy R?a
of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked at the bottom because he received the lowest number of approval votes. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.
Before the 10th Party Congress Politburo rankings functioned as the official
order of precedence
, but it no longer does (however, there are some who disagree with this view).
- ^
He was ranked No. 1 until the
1945 August Revolution
led by
H? Chi Minh
.
- ^
He was ranked second until the death of H? Chi Minh, the CPV chairman, on 2 September 1969.
- ^
He is confirmed to have died on 7 August 2020
- ^
He is currently the only living former general secretary
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Abuza, Zachary (2001).
The Lessons of Le Kha Phieu: Changing Rules in Vietnamese politics
. Vietnamese Professionals of America.
The Catholic University of America
.
- Brocheux, Pierre (2007).
Ho Chi Minh: a Biography
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
9780521850629
.
- Corfield, Justin (2008).
The History of Vietnam
. ABC-CLIO.
ISBN
9780313341946
.
- Currey, Cecil (2005).
Victory At Any Cost: The Genius of Vietnam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap
. Potomac Books.
ISBN
9781612340104
.
*
Dodd, Jan; Lewis, Mark; Emmons, Ron (2003).
Rough Guide to Vietnam
. Rough Guides.
ISBN
9781843530954
.
- Koh, David (July?August 2008). "Leadership Changes at the 10th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party".
Asian Survey
.
48
(4). University of California Press: 650?672.
doi
:
10.1525/as.2008.48.4.650
.
JSTOR
10.1525/as.2008.48.4.650
.
- Largo, V. (2002).
Vietnam: Current Issues and Historical Background
. Nova Publishers.
ISBN
9781590333686
.
- Mason, Michael G.; Mason, Mike (1997).
Development and Disorder: A History of the Third World Since 1945
. University Press of New England.
ISBN
9780874518290
.
- Ooi, Keat Gin (2004).
Southeast Asia: a Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor
. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO.
ISBN
9781576077702
.
- Porter, Gareth
(1993).
Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism
. Cornell University Press.
ISBN
9780801421686
.
- Quinn-Judge, Sophie (2002).
Ho Chi Minh: The Missing Years, 1919?1941
. University of California Press.
ISBN
9780520235335
.
- Van, Canh Nguyen; Cooper, Earle (1983).
Vietnam under Communism, 1975?1982
. Hoover Press.
ISBN
9780817978518
.
- Woods, L. Shelton (2002).
Vietnam: a Global Studies Handbook
. ABC-CLIO.
ISBN
9781576074169
.
- Thai, Quang Trung (2002).
Collective Leadership and Factionalism: an Essay on Ho Chi Minh's Legacy
.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
.
ISBN
9789971988012
.
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Central Committee
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National meetings
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Leadership sittings
| Elected by the
Central Committee
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Elected by
Congress
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Wider organisation
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Ideology
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