The 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Đại hội Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam VI) (CPV) was held in Ba Đình Hall, Hanoi, between 15 and 18 December 1986.

The 8th plenum of the 5th Central Committee (10–17 June 1985)—and its antecedents the 6th (3–10 July 1984) and the 7th (11–17 December 1984) plenums—instructed the party to direct a performance review of its organization, personnel and efficiency.

[1] Lê Đức Thọ, head of the Central Organizing Commission, said the party had become "a cumbersome and ponderous mechanism, only marginally efficient, marked by ill-defined responsibilities and poorly divided functions.

[3] In a Nhân Dân (The People) editorial, Lê Đức Thọ stressed the need to go beyond political slogans and remonstration to enhance the level of management skills of party cadres in party-level organizations.

[3] To solve this problem, the central party leadership began talking about the need to introduce personnel planning, a retirement age, rotation of officials and tenure length for cadres and sensitive posts.

[5] Economic reforms in 1985 led to rampant inflation, and the 9th plenum (mid-December 1985) forced the central leadership to reintroduce rationing in order to reduce the hardships for the poor, while in March 1985 the Council of Ministers legalized limited, small-scale, private enterprise in the handicraft and small industry sectors.

[6] On 8 April, the 5th Politburo issued the "Draft Resolution on guaranteeing autonomy to basic economic units", which decreed the implementation of the reform program agreed upon by the 8th plenum.

[13] According to the Vietnamese media, the district-level congresses mostly agreed on basic economic goals and several proposed amendments to the draft Political Report.

[14] However, the provincial-level conferences were not completely dormant and scored some minor victories, such as reducing the average age needed to join an executive committee and they adopted a more flexible and efficient mode of planning and organization.

[17] Phạm Hùng, the Minister of Interior, in his speech to the Cuu Long Provincial Congress said that the reintroduction of the market economy and the renewed acceptance of private ownership would not hurt Vietnam's socialist transformation.

It should be emphasized that the delay in correctly affecting a transition in the nucleus leading body was a direct cause for the inadequacy of party leadership in recent years in meeting the requirements of the new situation.

[20] The leadership's failures were reiterated by a host of speakers, including Nguyễn Văn Linh, who spoke about the problems of "sluggish production, confusion in distribution systems, enduring socio-economic difficulties, and flagging confidence of the population".

[20] Nguyễn Thanh Bình, the Central Committee Secretary responsible for agriculture, echoed previous sentiments during the preparations for the Congress and spoke of the need for decentralization, household and family economics, and the introduction of an independent market.

[20] While supporting change, Trường Chinh in his Political Report talked about the validity of the party's organizational principles, which had governed Vietnam's economy.

[20] In a closed session, the Presidium of the 6th National Congress on 18 December acknowledged the importance of the continued transformation of private industry and commerce and the validity of economic contracts between production and business units.

[20] The party leadership's immediate goals set forth in the Political Report were: To restructure the production system; readjust the investment outlay within the system; continue the building and strengthening of the socialist relations of production; to utilize and develop the economic sectors in the correct way; to renovate the way economy was managed; to emphasize the role of science and technology in the economy; and to expand and to increase the effectiveness of Vietnam's foreign economic relations.

[21] The Congress reaffirmed Vietnam's strong ties with the Soviet Union and its "special relationships" with the socialist states of Laos and Kampuchea (Cambodia).

[22] The Congress announced Vietnam's wishes to improve its relations with the capitalist world, specifically mentioning Sweden, Finland, France, Australia and Japan.

[19] The political and economic reports stressed Đổi Mới (Renovation), and Vietnam specialist Carlyle Thayer wrote that Võ Văn Kiệt may have been the foremost advocate of this concept.

"[24] Võ Văn Kiệt stressed the role of exports and the production of grain, food, and consumer goods to revitalize the Vietnamese economy.

[20] Immediately after the 8th National Congress on 18 December, the 6th Central Committee convened its 1st plenum to elect the composition of the 6th Politburo, the 6th Secretariat, the Control Commission and other central-level party organs.

[25] On 17 December, the Congress's third day, the three top leaders—Trường Chinh, Lê Đức Thọ—and head of government Phạm Văn Đồng, announced that they would not seek membership of the 6th Politburo or the 6th Central Committee.