[5] Trần's de facto successor was Lê Hồng Phong who led the party through the office of General Secretary of the Overseas Executive Committee (OEC).

[6] Hà Huy Tập, the third general secretary, was removed from his post in March 1938, and was arrested by the authorities in May.

[7] Nguyễn Văn Cừ, the fourth general secretary, was arrested by the authorities in January 1940, and executed by shooting on 28 August 1941.

He was succeeded by Trường Chinh, the former general secretary who had served as the second-most powerful politician in Vietnam since Hồ Chí Minh's death.

Trường Chinh was demoted from his post at the 6th National Party Congress and was succeeded by Nguyễn Văn Linh.

[14] The Western press called Nguyễn Văn Linh "Vietnam's Gorbachev" because of his reformist policies.