SACP Statement of Condolences on the Death of Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary

Saturday, 20 July 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to the family of Comrade Nguyễn Phú Trọng (80). The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (PCV), President from 2018 to 2021 and author of the book, Renewal in Việt Nam: Theory and Reality, breathed his last on Friday, 19 July 2024.

The SACP sends its sincere message of condolences to the Communist Party and people of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at large for the loss. Nguyễn Phú Trọng’s death also affects the world communist movement, to which the SACP expresses its solidarity and comradely message of condolences.

The heroic people of Vietnam proved that, no matter how big the monster, a united people can be victorious. Under the leadership of their Communist Party, the united people of Vietnam emerged victorious, cementing national unity, safeguarding their national independence and embarking on a reconstruction and development mission that saw Vietnam advance from strides to strides, including industrialisation. This is the historic victory that the people of Vietnam achieved in their protracted War Against the Americans to Save the Nation. The Vietnamese people’s revolutionary war started in the mid-1950s and ended in the mid-1970s against capture and control by the imperialist monster, the United States, and its allies and surrogates. As a direct fruit of their heroic victory, the people of Vietnam determine their own, sovereign policies, including a nationally chosen development path.

With over 55 years of active membership in the Communist Party of Vietnam, Trọng leaves behind a legacy of hard work, discipline and dedication to the working-class struggle for socialism and a peaceful world order. As part of the heroic people of Vietnam, he contributed immensely to the achievement, building and strengthening of Vietnam’s independence, characterised by the right to national sovereignty and self-determination.

Throughout his activism, Comrade Trọng diligently applied himself to further developing Marxism-Leninism in a rapidly changing world, based on the conditions obtaining in Vietnam. He was able to make a sterling contribution for the rebuilding of Vietnam following the heinous imperialist war imposed by the United States on his country. From this devastation, he and his comrades, working hand-in-glove with the people, succeeded in improving the people’s quality of life. They raised life expectancy from a low baseline of about 40 years in 1960 to about 78 years through practical measures. These measures included reducing child mortality rates, rapidly developing Vietnam’s productive forces and economy generally, expanding access to childhood and adult education linked with economic development, and radically improving the nation’s healthcare system to make quality healthcare available and accessible to all. These and other revolutionary development measures were successful within a short space of time due to the fact that the Communist Party of Vietnam placed the interests of the people first, before all else.

In memory of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, the SACP calls for the strengthening of working-class unity across the world in the cause for socialism.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

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