Nguyen Van Linh, whose real name was Nguyen Van Cuc, was born in 1915 into a family with a patriotic tradition in Hung Yen province. Having joined the revolution at the age of 14, he was arrested and jailed by the French colonialists.

In the mid 1980s, Nguyen Van Linh became Secretary of the Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. With his creativity and daring measures, Mr. Linh helped to design a new management and production model which aims to eliminate the subsidy system. According to Mr. Linh, renewal was a revolution, a complicated and contentious process that required consistency. Mr. Tran Quoc Vuong, standing member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat, said: “After Vietnam was reunified, Mr. Linh and other leaders in Ho Chi Minh City worked to find new economic management models. Mr. Linh said renewal was an evolution involving changing the old way of thinking, policies, organizations, and cadres. A leader who was conservative and did not accept renovation could not be successful”.

Nguyen Van Linh served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1986 to 1991. During that time, he launched a number of initiatives to renovate Vietnam’s central subsidy system.

“As the Party leader in the early period of renewal, Mr. Linh successfully implemented the renewal policies launched at the 6^th National Party Congress. In the context of the collapse of socialist systems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and economic sanctions and a socio-economic crisis in Vietnam, Party leader Linh and the Party Central Committee overcame numerous difficulties and stayed on a path of socialism suited to Vietnam’s situation. The renewal process has gained great achievements, especially in developing Vietnam’s economy, strengthening national defense, and elevating Vietnam’s position in the world”, Mr. Vuong said.  

During his tenure, Mr. Linh made numerous fact-finding visits to localities to seek new ways to improve the socio-economic situation.  Mr. Nguyen Van Tuong, a former member of the Inspection Board of Hanoi’s Party Committee, said: “Party leader Nguyen Van Linh is best remembered as an architect of the renewal policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam. His initiatives still retain their value as Vietnam continues to integrate into the world”.