Late Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh commemorated

Tran Quoc Vuong, permanent member of the CPVCC’s Secretariat, speaks at the ceremony. (Source: VNA)

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and former President Truong Tan Sang sent baskets of flowers to the ceremony. 

Addressing the event, Tran Quoc Vuong, permanent member of the CPVCC’s Secretariat, highlighted the late Party chief’s contributions to the national revolution, saying he was a model, devoted  communist, a strong and staunch leader and an eminent student of late President Ho Chi Minh. 

Secretary of the Hung Yen province Party Committee Do Tien Sy recalled Linh’s deep sentiments towards his hometown and quoted the late leader as saying that the provincial Party Committee should work to develop Hung Yen in all aspects, turning it into a strong province nationwide.

The same day, a memorial site dedicated to Linh in his hometown in Yen Phu village, Giai Pham commune, Yen My district, which displays more than 120 documents and objects on the life and career of the late leader, received the title of the national historic relic site. 

Nguyen Van Linh, born as Nguyen Van Cuc on July 1, 1915 into a civil servant family in Hanoi,  was General Secretary of the CPV from 1986-1991.

A year after joining the patriotic movement at the age of 14, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment by the French colonialists. He then was jailed on Con Dao Island which was dubbed “hell on earth” until 1936 when election of the Popular Front in France was a success. 

After his release, Linh returned to become Secretary of the Party Committee of Hai Phong city. In early 1939, he was sent to Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and became Vice Secretary of the Sai Gon Party Committee. Later the same year, he was assigned to the central region with the mission to restore Party organisations there. He was once again arrested and imprisoned in Con Dao by the French colonial regime in early 1941. 

With the success of the August Revolution in 1945, Linh was, for a second time, set free and returned to Nam Bo (Southern region) where he continued to fight for the liberation of the South and national reunification in his capacity as Secretary of the Sai Gon-Cho Lon municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Sai Gon-Cho Lon Special Zone Party Committee and Secretary of the Nam Bo Party Committee. 

Following national reunification, Linh served as Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee. He was elected Party General Secretary at the sixth National Party Congress in December 1986, and became the first Party leader to lead and organise the execution of the Party resolution on “ Doi Moi ” (renewal), which marked a historic turning point in Vietnam’s revolutionary cause.

Linh initiated and pursued the principles of Doi Moi while keeping to the socialist orientation, maintaining and promoting the Party’s leadership and respecting and bringing into full play the people’s right to mastery as reflected in the motto “people know, people discuss, people do and people inspect.”

The Doi Moi process has since brought about significant successes, laying firm foundations for the country to accelerate in the next era.

Linh and the Party Central Committee also devoted great efforts to cleaning up Party and State mechanisms, creating a flow of fresh air to society. His column “Things to be done immediately” on Nhan Dan newspaper won public approval for attacking negative phenomena in the community and creating an open and democratic social atmosphere./.

VNA