Editing Lê Duẩn (section)

=== The "Road to the South" ===
[[File:Le_Duan.jpg|thumb|Lê Duẩn in 1951]]
In the aftermath of the [[Geneva Accords (1954)|1954 Geneva Accords]], which split Vietnam into North and South, Lê Duẩn was responsible for reorganising the Việt Minh combatants who had fought in South and Central Vietnam.{{sfn|Ooi|2004|p=777}} While most Việt Minh fighters were regrouped to North Vietnam as stipulated in the Accords, 5,000 to 10,000 fighters were left in the south as a base for future insurgency.<ref name="Hastings">{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |title=Vietnam an epic tragedy, 1945–1975 |page=104 |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-06-240567-8}}</ref>

In South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime countered the communists by launching the "Denounce the Communists" campaign. Tens of thousands of suspected communists were detained in "political re-education centers". There were also increasing attacks by communist cadres, with over 450 South Vietnamese officials assasinated in 1956. The North Vietnamese government claimed that over 65,000 individuals were imprisoned and 2,148 killed in the process by November 1957.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Robert F.|title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development|year=1975|publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] Publications|isbn=978-0817964313|pages=174–178}}</ref> According to historian [[Gabriel Kolko]], from 1955 to the end of 1958, 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed and many were executed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kolko |first=Gabriel |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofwarviet0000kolk/mode/2up?q=%2522political+prisoners%2522 |title=Anatomy of a war : Vietnam, the United States, and the modern historical experience |date=1994 |page=89 |publisher=New Press, W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-1-56584-218-2}}</ref> Historian [[Guenter Lewy]] considers such figures exaggerated, stating that there were only 35,000 prisoners in total in South Vietnam during the period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewy |first=Guenter |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/America_in_Vietnam.html?id=LtDufIAplzkC&redir_esc=y |title=America in Vietnam |date=1980-05-29 |page=294–95|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-987423-1 |language=en}}</ref>

As opposition to Diem's rule in South Vietnam grew, Lê Duẩn wrote ''The Road to the South'', calling for revolution to overthrow his government and forcefully reunify Vietnam. His thesis became the blueprint for action at the ''11th Central Committee Plenum'' in March 1956. Although "The Road to the South" was formally accepted, his plan was not fully implemented until later as both China and the Soviet Union opposed full-scale conflict in Vietnam at the time.{{sfn|Ang|2002|p=19, 58}} In 1956 Lê Duẩn was appointed to the [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam|secretariat of the party]]. He was ordered by the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Politburo]] in August 1956 to guide the communist insurgency in South Vietnam. That same month he traveled from [[U Minh]] to [[Bến Tre]] and instructed the southern communists to stop fighting in the name of religious sects.{{sfn|Ang|2002|p=19}} Throughout the year, the party had been split on the issue of land reform in the North. Lê Duẩn remained neutral, allowing him to act as the First Secretary (head of the Communist Party) on Hồ's behalf in late 1956.{{sfn|Ang|2002|p=24}} 

In 1957, he was given a seat in the Politburo.{{sfn|Ooi|2004|p=777}} At the 1957 May Day parade, Trường Chinh was still seated as the country's second most powerful figure. Lê Duẩn was gradually able to place his supporters, notably Lê Ðức Thọ, in top positions and outmaneuver his rivals. He visited Moscow in November 1957 and received approval for his war plans.{{sfn|Ang|2002|p=24}} In December 1957, Hồ told the 13th Plenary Session of a "dual revolution"; Trường Chinh became responsible for the socialist transformation of the north, while Lê Duẩn focused on planning the offensive in the south.{{sfn|Ang|1997|p=75}}
 
By 1958, Lê Duẩn ranked second only to Hồ in the party hierarchy, although Trường Chinh remained powerful. Lê Duẩn was a party man and never held a post in the government.{{sfn|Ang|1997|p=75}} He made a brief, secret visit to South Vietnam in 1958, writing a report, ''The Path to Revolution in the South'', in which he stated that the North Vietnamese had to do more to assist the southern fighters.{{sfn|Brocheux|2007|p=167}} In January 1959, under increasing pressure from southern communist cadres who were being successfully targeted by Diệm's regime,{{sfn|Lomperis|1996|p=333}} the Central Committee in Hanoi approved plans for North Vietnam to fully support the effort to overthrow the South Vietnamese government and reunify Vietnam under a communist government.<ref name="Hastings"/> In July 1959, North Vietnam invaded Laos, occupying eastern parts of the country in order to establish the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]] which would be used to send soldiers and weapons to South Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morrocco |first=John |title=Rain of Fire: Air War, 1969–1973 |date=1985 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |page=26 |isbn=9780939526147 |series=Volume 14 of Vietnam Experience}}</ref>