Editing Lê Duẩn (section)

== Political beliefs ==
Lê Duẩn was a nationalist and during the war he claimed that the "nation and socialism were one".{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=140}} He stressed the importance of building socialism politically, economically and culturally and of defending the socialist fatherland.{{sfn|Võ|1990|p=63}} Ideologically, he was often referred to as a pragmatist. He often broke with [[Marxism–Leninism]] to stress Vietnam's uniqueness, most notably in agriculture. Lê Duẩn's view of socialism was statist, highly centralised and managerial.{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=140}}

In one of his own works, Lê Duẩn talked about "the right of [[Collectivism and individualism|collective]] mastery" but in practice opposed it. For instance, party cadres who presented the peasants' demands for higher prices for their products at the National Congress were criticised by Lê Duẩn. His ideas of collective mastery were hierarchical: "Management by the state aims at ensuring the right of the masses to be the collective masters of the country. How then will the state manage its affairs so as to ensure this right of collective mastery?"{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=140}} His answer to this problem was managerial and statist.{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|pp=141–142}}

Lê Duẩn's concept of "collective mastery" was featured in the [[Constitution of Vietnam#1980 Constitution|1980 Vietnamese Constitution]] as was his concept of "collective mastery" of society. The concept was Lê Duẩn's version of popular sovereignty that advocated an active role for the people so that they could become their own masters as well as masters of society, nature and the nation. It stated that the people's collective mastery in all fields was assured by the state and was implemented by permitting their participation in state affairs and in mass organisations. On paper, the organisations, to which almost all citizens belong, play an active role in government and have the right to introduce bills before the National Assembly.<ref>{{Country study |last=Cima |first=Ronald J. |country=Vietnam |abbr=vn |date=December 1987 |section=Constitutional Evolution}}</ref>
Lê Duẩn said that land ownership entailed a "struggle between the two roads – collective production and private production; large-scale socialist production and small scattered production."{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=141}} Since it was believed that collective ownership was the only alternative to capitalism, it was introduced without controversy by the country's leadership.{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=141}}

Subcontracting co-operatives to peasants became the norm by the late 1970s and was legalised in 1981. For conservatives, that policy was similar to that of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s [[New Economic Policy]], a temporary break from hardline socialist development. However, those who supported reforms saw subcontracting as another way of implementing socialism in agriculture, which was justified by the ideological tenet of the "three interests". That was an important ideological innovation and broke with Lê Duẩn's "two roads" theory.{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=141}}

Lê Duẩn departed from Marxist–Leninist orthodoxy when it came to practical policy and stated that the country had to "carry out agricultural cooperation immediately, even before having built large industry."{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=137}} While he acknowledged that his view was heresy, Lê Duẩn insisted that Vietnam was in a unique situation: "It seems that no country so far in history has been in a situation such as ours. We must lead the peasantry and agriculture immediately to socialism, without waiting for a developed industry, though we know very well that without the strong impact of industry, agriculture cannot achieve large-scale production and new relations of agriculture cannot be consolidated... To proceed from small-scale production to large-scale production is a new one."{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=138}} According to Lê Duẩn, the key to socialism was not mechanisation and industrialisation but a new division of labour. He also believed that co-operatives needed to be not [[autarkic]] but "organically connected, through the process of production itself, with other cooperatives and with the state economic sector." Vietnam could achieve this through state intervention and control. He saw the economy as one whole directed by the state and not many parts intertwined.{{sfn|JCSA|SSRC|1988|p=138}}

In his victory speech after the [[1976 Vietnamese parliamentary election|1976 parliamentary election]], Lê Duẩn talked about perfecting socialism in the North by eliminating private ownership and the last vestiges of capitalism and of the need to initiate socialist transformation in the South{{sfn|Van|Cooper|1983|p=25}} where, the party, according to Lê Duẩn, would focus on abolishing the [[comprador]] [[bourgeoisie]] and the last "remnants of the [[feudalism|feudal landlord classes]]".{{sfn|Van|Cooper|1983|p=25}} "Comprador bourgeoisie" was their term for the bourgeois classes, which made a living by financial dealings and through transactions with Westerners.{{sfn|Van|Cooper|1983|p=25}} Lê Duẩn did not reveal that in addition to removing the comprador bourgeoisie and the feudal landlord classes from the South, he intended to obliterate the entire bourgeois class.{{sfn|Van|Cooper|1983|p=26}}