Based on V.I. Lenin's theoretical innovations regarding ownership and a multi-sector economy in the transitional period towards socialism, President Ho Chi Minh creatively applied these principles to the Vietnamese revolution. This not only contributed to the development of Marxist - Leninist theories but also served as a foundation for the Party to gain a clearer understanding of the country's development model on the path towards socialism.

President Ho Chi Minh at Viet Bac base in 1951 (file photo)

1. The core ideology of V.I. Lenin on ownership and a multi-sector economy in the transitional period to socialism

After seizing power, a socialist revolution would inevitably enter a phase of transforming the old society, characterised by the transition from a system based on private ownership of means of production to the establishment of a new society founded on public ownership. Confronted with an unprecedented revolutionary reality, V.I. Lenin introduced several new theoretical concepts regarding ownership and a multi-sector economy in the transition towards socialism.

According to Lenin, while gaining control over the material and technical foundations of the old regime is important, it is even more important to effectively utilise these elements to achieve a higher level of labour productivity than the previous society. Only then could the factors of the new socialist society, particularly public ownership, replace and assume a dominant role in the economy. Essentially, this represents a prolonged transitional period in which the old ownership system is gradually transformed, and a new ownership structure is established. This process is inevitable as the economic foundations of the new society at this stage are still in their formative phase and not capable of fully assuming their historical mission yet. Meanwhile, the material and technical base of the old ownership system remain present in various forms. Therefore, it is crucial for the revolutionary government to skilfully harness and develop modified elements of the old system to enhance labour productivity. The transformation of non-socialist economic sectors must be conducted flexibly and pragmatically; the balance of power between economic sectors must be taken into account; political stability and productive capacity according to the specific conditions of each country must be ensured. Besides, it is essential to avoid hastily imposing public ownership structures when necessary conditions for industrial development and the expansion of socialist ownership are not sufficiently accumulated yet.

As the first to systematically define economic sectors, Lenin formulated policies for managing each sector. He emphasised the role of the people's democratic government in planned economic management and flexible approach to capitalist private economic sectors. His policies aimed to attract and regulate these sectors in a way that would enhance labour productivity, restore economic stability, and vigorously develop productive forces.

One of the fundamental principles in Lenin’s policy of maintaining a multi-sector economy is that public ownership and the socialist economic sector must hold a key and dominant position while other economic sectors need transforming and integrating into the socialist framework. The socialist state plays a crucial role in the multi-sector economy not only as an economic management authority through policies and planning but also as an institution that engages workers in economic governance. It encourages public initiatives to create new forms of labour organisation, educating and mobilising the working class to participate in state building and administration, developing new management institutions, resisting the capitalist transformation of the economy.

In summary, from his core principles regarding ownership and a multi-sector economy in the transitional period towards socialism, Lenin provided highly significant instructions as follows.

First, the approach to a socialist revolution must be defined according to the starting point of the transitional period - whether large-scale production or small-scale one dominates. In a country where smallholder farmers constitute the majority, a socialist revolution could only be carried out through a series of transitional measures, in which developing a multi-sector economy is inevitable. Second, the classification of economic sectors in the transitional period must accurately, objectively reflect the country's economic conditions. Economic sectors should be arranged from low to high levels according to the historical and natural progression of productive forces and the principle in which production relations must correspond to the level of productive force development. Third, the movement and development of economic sectors from low to high levels demonstrate the trend towards socialism. Socialist orientation is an inevitable result and an intrinsic factor within a market economy regulated by the socialist state, rather than a mere combination of two independent elements. Fourth, socialism inevitably arises from the inherent laws of capitalist development. Instead of hindering the development of capitalist economic sectors, the struggle against capitalism should accelerate these sectors’ growth so that private capitalism serves as an auxiliary force for socialism, which may seem paradoxical but is entirely logical. Fifth, only when productive forces and the socialisation of production reach a highly advanced stage will public ownership of means of production naturally replace capitalist private ownership. Therefore, it is impractical to hastily abolish capitalist private ownership when the development of productive forces has yet to necessitate such a transformation. 

Given that the Soviet government was still in its “nascent stage”, facing external threats and conducting internal struggles against petty-bourgeois ideologies, Lenin’s ideas and practical policies on ownership and a multi-sector economy were, to some extent, tactical rather than fully institutionalised; therefore, there were drawbacks in the implementation process. Nevertheless, these guidelines laid an essential foundation, marking a significant turning point in the development of Marxist theories and the practice of socialist revolution worldwide.

2. President Ho Chi Minh’s creative application and development in the Vietnamese revolution

Applying and creatively developing Marxism - Leninism to the Vietnamese revolution, advocating that “the Party's goal is to lead the people to victory in the resistance war and national development, establish a new democracy, advance towards socialism and then communism”, Ho Chi Minh proposed linking the anti-colonial struggle with the proletarian revolution to seize power, gradually conducting a socialist revolution, and bringing our country into a transitional period towards socialism, via flexible policies for different classes in each phase.

The development of Vietnam’s socialist-oriented market economy (photo: tapchicongsan.org.vn)

During the resistance war against French colonialism and Japanese fascism, Ho Chi Minh promoted an alliance of all patriotic classes in a unique national unity organisation - the Vietnam Fatherland Front. He adopted policies, i.e. reducing taxes, lowering rents, and distributing land to peasants to encourage the people's participation in the war without introducing any policies of economic transformation in the free zones.

After peace was restored in the North, and the country started socialism building, identifying the country’s economic sectors, namely feudal landlord economy based on land rent, state-owned economy, cooperatives for consumption and supply, individual economies of farmers and handicraftsmen, private capitalist economy, and national capitalist economy, Ho Chi Minh clarified the nature of each economic sector and proposed policies to manage each sector based on their nature, development trends, and benefits to the national economy. He affirmed that as a new democratic revolution, the revolutionary forces included workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, and national capitalists. According to the President, while each class has a different revolutionary role due to their position and characteristics, “under the leadership of the Labour Party, these four classes unite in a unified front to combat imperialism and feudalism and bring the Vietnamese revolution to victory”.

From that class stance, Ho Chi Minh outlined the economic policy for the transitional period towards socialism in Vietnam, stating that “We will gradually transform from a people’s democratic regime to socialism by developing and reforming our national economy according to socialist principles, turning a backward economy into a socialist one with modern industry and agriculture, advanced science and technology”. The structure of ownership includes: “- State ownership, which belongs to the entire people. - Cooperative ownership, which is collective ownership of the working people. - Private ownership by individual workers. - A few means of production under capitalist ownership”; the goal was to implement policies from which both public and private sectors benefit, ensure mutual support between workers and peasants, and facilitate both internal and external circulation. “These four policies are the key to developing our country's economy”.

While prioritising the development of the state-owned economy to maintain its dominant role, reforming methods of craftsmanship and individual labour, and encouraging the transformation of industrial and commercial capitalists, Ho Chi Minh called for the state to especially encourage and guide the development of cooperative economy. Given that the majority of the population was made up of peasants, and agriculture was an important pillar of the economy, Ho Chi Minh consistently held the view that in order to advance towards socialism, alongside industrial development, agricultural production efficiency must be enhanced. He emphasised that “first and foremost, a strong labour exchange movement must be launched everywhere; based on this, agricultural cooperatives should be built from low to high levels”. He paid special attention to directing the cooperative movement, stressing the principles of voluntariness, democracy, and mutual benefit within the cooperative movement, viewing it as the organisational form to rapidly develop agriculture. According to Ho Chi Minh, the socialist transformation process was not limited to land reform or giving land to the peasants, but also required integrating individual farmers into collective farming. Furthermore, Ho Chi Minh placed great emphasis on building a democratic state and a capable administrative team to successfully complete the socialist revolution. He constantly required government officers to cultivate revolutionary ethics, eliminate individualism, combat bureaucracy, stay close to reality, and protect the legitimate interests of economic entities in a bid to gradually encourage them to work towards the common goal of the revolution.

Thanks to these sound policies, Ho Chi Minh and the Party mobilised all social resources, creating the combined strength of the entire nation, building a strong rear base in the North to support the front line in the South, defeating US imperialist war strategies. At the same time, these policies laid an important theoretical and practical foundation for shaping the country’s development model towards socialism, bringing prosperity and happiness to the people.

Associate Prof. VU VAN PHUC, PhD

Former Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Review