Later in December 1978, Lê Duẩn oversaw the Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia which ultimately led to the fall of the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge on 7 January 1979.

[13] In December 1957, Hồ told the 13th Plenary Session of a "dual revolution"; Trường Chinh became responsible for the socialist transformation of the north, while Lê Duẩn focused on planning the offensive in the south.

[16] Lê Duẩn was informally chosen as the First Secretary of the party by Hồ in 1959, at the January plenum of the Central Committee and was elected to the post de jure at the 3rd National Congress.

He was considered a safe choice because of his time in prison during the French rule, his thesis The Road to the South and his strong belief in Vietnamese reunification.

However, Hồ continued to influence North Vietnam's governance: Lê Duẩn, Tố Hữu, Trường Chinh and Phạm Văn Đồng (all of whom were influential figures in the country's politics during and after the war) often shared dinner with him.

Lê Duẩn claimed that the Việt Cộng would "rally 'all patriotic forces' to overthrow the Diệm government [in the South] and thus ensure 'conditions for the peaceful reunification of the Fatherland'".

[30] When Hồ called for the establishment of a neutral South Vietnamese state in 1963, Lê Duẩn responded by making overtures to the Chinese, who rejected the Soviet position of peaceful coexistence.

[32] He believed the fundamentals of the conflict had not changed; the South Vietnamese regime's unpopularity remained its "Achilles' heel" and he continued to advocate a combination of guerrilla warfare and PAVN offensives.

[32] In 1967, despite the opposition of some party leaders, Lê Duẩn and his militant group adopted General Nguyễn Chí Thanh's operational plan for the General Offensive/General Uprising involving attacks on ARVN and Republic of Vietnam Government installations throughout South Vietnam, which they believed would spark a spontaneous popular uprising among the South Vietnamese population forcing the US and its allies to depart.

After the failure of these attacks, COSVN issued Directive 55 on 5 April 1969 to all of its subordinate units: "Never again and under no circumstances are we going to risk our entire military force for just such an offensive.

[36] In his victory speech, Lê Duẩn stated: "Our party is the unique and single leader that organised, controlled and governed the entire struggle of the Vietnamese people from the first day of the revolution.

[44] According to the International Herald Tribune, an estimated 6,000,000 Vietnamese were suffering from malnutrition, leading the government to request aid from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The collectivisation process led to an abrupt drop in food production in 1977 and 1978, leading the 6th Plenum of the Central Committee to completely overhaul the Party's agricultural policies.

The result of the visit was an official communique, which stated that the Soviets would send qualified experts to the country to educate and train economic, scientific, technical and cultural personnel.

In Asia Vietnam played a role similar to Cuba's in Latin America: it supported local revolutionary groups and was a headquarters for Soviet-style communism.

Zhou was told by Phạm Văn Đồng and Lê Duẩn that US President Richard Nixon's upcoming visit to China was "against the interests of Vietnam".

The Chinese opposed immediate reunification and to that end, began making economic agreements with the Provisional Revolutionary (Communist) Government of South Vietnam (PRGSV).

Lê Duẩn in a speech did not mention the Soviet Union by name, but noted that Vietnam had succeeded because of help from other socialist countries, meaning the Eastern bloc.

[76] On 17 February 1979, the Chinese People's Liberation Army crossed the Vietnamese border, withdrawing on 5 March after a two-week campaign which devastated northern Vietnam and briefly threatened Hanoi.

Võ Chí Công promised Khmer leader Ieng Sary that Vietnamese troops would withdraw when the conflict had been won by the communists.

[79] In a conversation with Phạm Hùng, Lê Duẩn told him that despite some differences in opinions, the "authentic internationalism and attitude" of the sides would strengthen their party-to-party relations.

"[80] Lê Duẩn added that "these were bad people [the KCP leadership headed by Pol Pot]", but that Nuon Chea was "our man and is my personal friend.

Lê Duẩn is believed to have been in bad health during this period; he had travelled to the Soviet Union on several occasions for medical treatment during the late-1970s and early 1980s.

It was reported that Lê Duẩn did not lead the party delegates of the 5th National Congress to the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum because of his deteriorating health.

[96] Regardless of his health, the Lê Duẩn/Lê Đức Thọ clique still retained considerable power during the 5th National Congress; they were able to fill the 5th Central Committee, the 5th Secretariat and the 5th Politburo with their own supporters.

Several moderates and old companions of Hồ Chí Minh as well as pro-Chinese communists (labelled dismissively as Maoists) and followers of Trường Chinh were removed from the Politburo and the Central Committee.

This struggle would lead to economic reform called Đổi Mới beginning in 1986 as Lê Duẩn and his supporters began the effort to open the economy.

[101] He was temporarily succeeded by Trường Chinh, who himself retired from the post and was replaced by Nguyễn Văn Linh(who had returned to the Politburo in 1985) at the December 6th National Congress.

For instance, party cadres who presented the peasants' demands for higher prices for their products at the National Congress were criticised by Lê Duẩn.

[110] Lê Duẩn departed from Marxist–Leninist orthodoxy when it came to practical policy and stated that the country had to "carry out agricultural cooperation immediately, even before having built large industry.