Pham Van Dong - a knowledgeable revolutionary

PANO – Former Prime Minister Pham Van Dong started his revolutionary career when he was a very young intellect. He was born on March 1^st, 1906 to an intellectual family in Duc Tan commune, Mo Duc district, Quang Ngai province. During his revolutionary career, he had several other names, such as Lam Ba Kiet, To and Tong. On the occasion of his 110^th birth anniversary, PANO would like to introduce the former Prime Minister’s life and revolutionary career.

Pham Van Dong was sent to study in Hue, Vietnam’s Capital City under the Nguyen dynasty. In 1924, he graduated the junior secondary education level at the Hue National School (a famous Vietnamese secondary school) and continued to Buoi School, a famous secondary school in Hanoi (Chu Van An Secondary School).  He studied there for only two years and did not finish the secondary education level as he decided that school could not help him much in approaching major contemporary ideologies. He then left school and went overseas. In 1926, he travelled to Guangxi, China, to attend a political training course. During the training course, he met Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) for the first time, and learned about Marxist and Leninist ideologies from him. He proved to be a brilliant Vietnamese youth and was admitted to the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth Association (a predecessor of the Vietnam Communist Party). In short, Pham Van Dong was lucky as he met Uncle Ho and approached Marxism and Leninism very early.

PM Pham Van Dong (second from right) with President Ho Chi Minh

In early 1927, Pham Van Dong returned to Hanoi, and then moved to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to start his revolutionary career. With his revolutionary knowledge, quality and leadership ability, he was elected as the Secretary of the Southern Organization of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. In May 1929, Pham Van Dong went to Hong Kong, China, to attend the first Congress of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association and was elected as a Member of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. After the first congress he was assigned to consolidate revolutionary organizations in Central Vietnam. In July 1929 when he was returning to Saigon, he was arrested by French agents. He was charged with revolutionary activities and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In July 1930, he was jailed in Con Dao island. Under the pressure of widespread and intensive struggles of Vietnamese revolutionary organizations and people, as well as vanguard movements in France, Pham Van Dong was freed from prison in June 1936.

In September 1939, Pham Van Dong had a secret meeting with the General Secretary of the Indochina Communist Party Nguyen Van Cu in Hanoi. The two revolutionary leaders exchanged views on the Vietnamese revolutionary situation in the new period. Pham Van Dong asked the General Secretary to allow him to go overseas to meet Nguyen Ai Quoc. In May 1940, the Vietnamese revolutionary overseas branch arranged a secret meeting between Nguyen Ai Quoc and Pham Van Dong and Vo Nguyen Giap in Kunming, China. This was the second time Pham Van Dong met his revolutionary master, Nguyen Ai Quoc. In late 1940, under the instruction of Nguyen Ai Quoc on urgent revolutionary cadre training, Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap and Phung Chi Kien designed a specific curriculum and textbooks for a training course. They then came back to Vietnam to prepare the organization for revolutionary cadre training courses under the direct leadership of Nguyen Ai Quoc, who returned to his homeland in January 1941 after 30 years travelling around the world to find the right way to salvage the nation from backward Vietnamese feudalism and French colonial domination. In the Northern province of Cao Bang, Pham Van Dong was in charge of editing the newspaper “Independent Vietnam” under the direct leadership of Nguyen Ai Quoc.

On August 15^th, 1945 the National Congress was held in Tan Trao to roll out the Resolution of the Vietnam Communist Party on a general uprising. During the congress, delegates founded the Vietnam National Liberation Committee, or Vietnam’s temporary government, headed by Ho Chi Minh. Pham Van Dong was a member of the committee. On January 6^th, 1946, Pham Van Dong was elected to the National Assembly in the first general election. On May 31^st, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree 82/SL, assigning Pham Van Dong to lead a delegation of the Vietnamese Government to participate in official negotiations with the French Government. The negotiations were unsuccessful due to the pledge violation of the French side, and Pham Van Dong returned home in October 1946 to join the national resistance war and lead the revolutionary movement in Central Vietnam. Later he was posted to the Central Headquarters, and was elected as a nonofficial member of the Central Committee of the Labour Party of Vietnam. In July 1949, he was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Head of the Central Foreign Relation Commission.

From September 1955 to 1987 he was the Prime Minister. For more than 30 years as the Prime Minister, he tried his best to consolidate the people’s government. According to him, a strong people’s government should consist of three major elements: good law, good policy and democracy. As a result, he focused mainly on developing the economy, culture and society. What is more, he used the theory of Marxism and Leninism to promote three revolutions: production relations, science and technology, and ideology and culture, of which the science and technology revolution was considered the key to success.

In his capacity as Prime Minister, Pham Van Dong designed a number of five-year plans. He held that a five-year plan was a harmonious combination between socio-economic development and Fatherland protection, and that the Party’s general directions and economic guidelines should be applied in the implementation of the five-year plan in a creative manner and in accordance with the current socio-economic and cultural situation. He usually underscored the need to alleviate poverty and eliminate backwardness and hunger, while at the same time frequently strengthening defense and maintaining political security and social order, with the aim of successfully building socialism in Vietnam, contributing to the international struggle for peace, independence, democracy and socialism in the world.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong emphasized the building of local governments. He held that local authorities served as bridges to connect localities across the country and made up a united network from the Central level to the provincial, district and communal levels. During his long term of office, he often went to localities to work with local authorities and inquired after local people; as a result, he was loved and respected by local-level cadres and people.

It can be said that Prime Minister Pham Van Dong was a knowledgeable leader with great talent and virtues. Although he had little opportunity to study at university, he continuously learned by himself and absorbed a good deal of knowledge of various areas, from politics to economics, science and technology, culture, military and leadership. In fact, he often had good insights into situations, made quick and good strategic decisions, and drew up good policies on national socio-economic development, the building of socialism and defense. In foreign relations, he was an excellent diplomat and could speak many languages.

What is more, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong with his clear thinking and explanations could make listeners easily comprehend complex issues. He was also known as a leader with a benign heart as he took good care of people, especially disadvantaged people and children.

He passed away on April 29^th, 2000 at the age of 94. But Prime Minister Pham Van Dong lives on in the Vietnamese people’s minds and hearts as a knowledgeable and dedicated revolutionary leader and a great character as a human being.