Truong Chinh
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Trường Chinh (pseudonym meaning “Long March”, born Đặng Xuân Khu) (1907-1988) was a Vietnamese communist political leader and theoretician.
Đặng Xuân Khu joined the Vietnamese Communist Party which was led by Hồ Chí Minh sometime during the 1930s, soon after it was created. He became an admirer of the Chinese Communist leader, Mao Zedong, and adopted the pseudonym Truong Chinh, which was the Vietnamese name for the Long March which Mao undertook in China. In 1941, Trường became the first secretary of the communist party, officially the second most important position in the party, only surpassed by that of Hồ Chí Minh. In the following years, the party fought a war for independence against the French colonists, and gained an area of the country for their communist government, called North Vietnam, while a non-communist government took over South Vietnam. In the early 1950s, Trường was allowed to undertake land reforms in North Vietnam which were inspired by Mao. These policies failed, causing many deaths from starvation, and Trường, who had already been criticized for his willingness to disagree with other party leaders and his support of China while other leaders relied on the Soviet Union as their main communist role model, was demoted in 1956. He lost his position as first secretary, but remained on the Politburo.
Following the unification of Vietnam in 1975, Trường won a power struggle within the party in 1981, and became President (chairman of the council of state), and served in that position until 1987, when he resigned due to ill health and another power struggle within the party. He also served as General Secretary from July 1986 when Lê Duẩn died, until December 1986.
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| Preceded by Lê Duẩn |
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam 1941–1956 and 1986 |
Succeeded by Nguyễn Văn Linh |
| Preceded by Nguyễn Hữu Thọ |
President of Vietnam 1981–1987 |
Succeeded by Võ Chí Công |
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