Communist Party of Vietnam in the context of "Hoa people"

A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a form of government that combines the state leadership of a communist party, Marxist–Leninist political philosophy, and an official commitment to the construction of a communist society. Modern communism broadly grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe as a program to replace capitalism with a stateless, classless, and moneyless society, but its application as Marxism–Leninism began later in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

In the 20th century, several communist states were established, first in Russia with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and a few other regions after World War II. The institutions of these states were heavily influenced by the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and others. However, the political reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev known as Perestroika and socio-economic difficulties produced the revolutions of 1989, which brought down all the communist states of the Eastern Bloc bar the Soviet Union. The repercussions of the collapse of these states contributed to political transformations in the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and several other non-European communist states. Presently, there are five states which are officially communist in the world: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam.

Marxism–Leninism (Russian: марксизм-ленинизм, romanized: marksizm-leninizm) is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist governments throughout the 20th century. It was developed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by Joseph Stalin and drew on elements of Bolshevism, Leninism, and Marxism. It was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevization.

Today, Marxism–Leninism is the de jure ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as many other communist parties. The state ideology of North Korea is derived from Marxism–Leninism, although its evolution is disputed.

The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French Indochina War) was fought in Indochina between France and the Việt Minh, and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 1 August 1954. The Việt Minh was led by Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh. The conflict mainly happened in Vietnam.

At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° north was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten. The French return to southern Indochina was also supported by the Allies. On V-J Day, September 2, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Also in September 1945, Chinese forces entered Hanoi, and Japanese forces to the north of that line surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. At the same time, British forces landed in Saigon, and Japanese forces in the south surrendered to the British. The Chinese acknowledged the DRV and the communist-led Việt Minh, then in power in Hanoi, even though they also supported pro-Chinese nationalist factions. The British refused to do that in Saigon, and deferred to the French. The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại, who had governed Vietnam since 1926.

The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict from 1978 to 1989 between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam, and their respective allies. It began in December 1978, with a Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia which toppled the Khmer Rouge and ended in 1989 with the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia. This Cold War conflict was part of the Third Indochina War and Sino-Soviet split with the Soviet Union supporting Vietnam and China supporting the Khmer Rouge.

Despite both being communist, the alliance between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge broke down after both defeated Vietnamese and Cambodian anti-communist regimes respectively in the Vietnam War. As a result, the war was preceded by years of conflict between Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, when the Khmer Rouge ruled Democratic Kampuchea repeatedly invaded Vietnam, including massacres by the Khmer Rouge, notably the Ba Chúc massacre of over 3,000 Vietnamese civilians in April 1978. On 21 December 1978, the Vietnamese launched a limited offensive towards the town of Kratie. On 23 December 1978, 10 out of 19 divisions of the Khmer Rouge's Kampuchea Revolutionary Army opened fire along the border with Vietnam with the goal of invading the southwestern border provinces of Đồng Tháp, An Giang and Kiên Giang. On 25 December 1978, Vietnam supported Cambodian dissidents in exile and launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea, occupying the country in two weeks, capturing the capital Phnom Penh, and removing the Khmer Rouge government of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from power. In doing so, Vietnam put an ultimate stop to the Cambodian genocide which had killed between 1.2 and 2.8 million people or between 13 and 30 percent of the country's population since 1975. However, the Khmer Rouge regime maintained its membership in the United Nations and the war isolated Vietnam from the international community except the Eastern Bloc. The Vietnamese occupation caused discontent among Cambodians.

The general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (Vietnamese: Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), simply and informally the party general secretary or just general secretary (Tổng bí thư, TBT), is the contemporary title for the holder of the highest office within the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), being in practice the highest position in the politics of Vietnam and is considered one of the four pillars of the country's leadership. The general secretaryship used to be the second-highest office within the party when Hồ Chí 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 secretary of the Central Military Commission, the leading party organ on military affairs, being the highest political and ideological leader of the People's Army of Vietnam; however, unlike other Communist Parties' leaders, the Vietnamese position rarely assumes a co-official government office or title such as State President at the same time, alongside the consensus-based four pillars slightly lowering the position's supremacy in the Vietnamese political system to its one-party counterparts. The current general secretary is Tô Lâm, ranking first in the Politburo. The position was once designated the first secretary (Vietnamese: Bí thư Thứ nhất) from 1951 to 1976.

Trần Phú, 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. Trần's de facto successor was Lê Hồng 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. Hà Huy Tập, the third general secretary, was removed from his post in March 1938, and was arrested by the authorities in May. Nguyễn Văn Cừ, the fourth general secretary, was arrested by the authorities in January 1940, and executed by shooting on 28 August 1941. He was succeeded by Trường Chinh. An article in Nhân Dân on 25 March 1951 described Trường Chinh's role as the "builder and commander" of the revolution, while Hồ Chí Minh was referred to as "the soul of the Vietnamese revolution and the Vietnamese resistance". Trường Chinh was demoted as first secretary in 1956 because of his role in the Land Reform campaign". Hồ Chí Minh took over the office of first secretary, but quickly appointed Lê Duẩn acting first secretary. Lê Duẩn was elected first secretary in 1960 and was second only to Hồ Chí Minh until the latter's death on 2 September 1969.