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Truong Chinh (real name Dang Xuan Khu) (1907 1988) was a Vietnamese communist political leader and theoritician.
Dang Xuan Khu joined the Vietnamese Communist party which was led by Ho Chi 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, Truong became the first secretary of the communist party, officially the second most important position in the party, only surpassed by that of Ho Chi 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, Truong was allowed to undertake land reforms in North Vietnam which were inspired by Mao. These policies failed, causing many deaths from starvation, and Truong, 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.
Truong slowly regained his lost power. During the Vietnam War, Truong, who had always been one of the most vocal supporters in the party of restraint in military action, came to believe by the early 1970s that the cost of waging the war against South Vietnam and the United States was too high, and was preventing the party from using its resources to complete the revolution in North Vietnam.
Following the unification of Vietnam in 1976, Truong 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 Le Duan died, until December 1986. He attempted to continue in office as general secretary, but did not gain the necessary support at a party congress late in 1986.
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