Party leads the resistance war to complete victory

Historical conditions required the Party to supplement and complete the Vietnamese revolutionary path, bringing the resistance war to complete victory. The Party Central Committee decided to convene the second National Congress from February 11-19 in Vinh Quang commune, Chiem Hoa district, in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang. The congress saw the attendance of 158 official delegates and 53 alternate delegates, representing more than 760,000 Party members.

It was the first Party Congress to be held in the country in light of new conditions: the formation and growth of socialist countries in the world, and in particular, the birth of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 made a fundamental change to international relations, in favour of peace and revolution. The resistance wars of the peoples in the three countries of Indochina saw important victories. Taking advantage of the difficult situation of the French colonists, the US imperialists directly intervened in Indochina. On one hand, it was a move to help France, but on the other hand, the US was looking for an opportunity to oust the French. The situation required the Party to publicise its leadership over the resistance war.

According to the initiative proposed by the Vietnamese communists which was agreed on by Lao and Cambodian communists, the congress decided that as demanded by the resistance war, the working class and peoples of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia needed their own party. The congress passed a resolution to operate the Party in a public way and renamed it ‘the Vietnam Workers’ Party’ and approved the Party’s Political Platform and its new Declaration and Statutes.

The Party’s Political Platform summarised the revolutionary movements in the world and in Vietnam in the first half of the 20th century, forecast perspectives in the latter half of the century, and drew on lessons learned in the 21-year operation of the Party. The Political Platform outlined the major tasks ahead were to defeat the French colonists and the US interventionists, and gain complete independence and unification, contributing to the protection of peace in the world. In order to accomplish these tasks, the Party set policies and measures including strengthening the armed forces, consolidating mass organisations, promoting patriotic emulation movements, expanding the national unity bloc, strengthening international solidarity, and stepping up the construction of the Vietnam Workers’ Party as a strong and trustworthy and revolutionary party to lead the resistance war to victory.

A report on the Vietnamese revolution presented by Truong Chinh clearly stated the path for the people’s democratic national revolution towards socialism in Vietnam. The report outlined 12 policies of the Party in the people’s democratic national revolution. The report supplemented and completed the Party’s theory on the people’s democratic national revolution led by the working class, conducted in the context of a colonial and half-feudal country, and a nation with the tradition of valiant fighting and undaunted spirits as well as thousands of years of anti-invasion work.

The congress elected a Party Central Committee that consisted of 19 official members and 10 alternate members. The Party Central Committee elected the Politburo and the Secretariat. Ho Chi Minh was elected as the President of the Party Central Committee and Truong Chinh was re-elected as General Secretary.

The second National Party Congress was an event of great significance, marking a new step-forward for the Party and preparing all conditions to make the resistance war against French colonialists a complete success.