The Vietnamese Economy: 1985-1991

Adoption of doi moi

The sixth party congress in 1986 adopted a policy of doi moi or renovation. It was understood by all as a policy a greater reliance on the market.

Nonetheless, there were considerable forces of resistance to this direction: In June 1987, Pham Hung - former Interior Minister and very conservative - was appointed Prime Minister

In May 1987, the communist party newspaper began carrying a series of articles and editorials (some signed NVL) acknowledging low morale and injustice in the government and party; pressing for economic reform; urgeing greater democracy in party life; criticizing bureaucrats who resisted reform; indirectly endorsing an effort by journalists and the media to be more critical of the existing system, including bureaucratic tyrants.

In September 1987, a Central Committee communique urged criticism of official wrongdoing. Other messages openly described the economic hardship in the country

The author of many of these statements was Nguyen Van Linh - the General Secretary:

Born in 1915; arrested for distributing anti-French leaflets in 1930 (at 15); released from prison in 1936; Communist Party organizer from 1936-1941; jailed from 1941-1945; party official from 1945-1960; Central Committee in 1960; party official for south Vietnam during the war; directed the Tet Offensive in 1968; party chief in Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 and named to the politburo; in conflict with Le Duan over policy toward the south - Linh saw it as too old-fashioned socialism; removed from the politburo in 1982; reinstated in 1985; carried out the policies of doi moi and withdrawal from Cambodia; stepped down in 1991; in later life he voiced opposition to the effects of his own reforms - fearing foreign investors and criticizing the rise of vice and the growing gap between rich and poor; Linh died in April 1998.

The main reasons for doi moi were the rapid growth of Vietnam's neighbors (including China), the dramatic changes in the Soviet Union, and the threats to the regime posed by persistent economic crisis