In 1987, he spoke and wrote many important articles clarifying his views on innovation, especially the issues he raised under the title "Things to be done immediately" under the pen name N.V.L (which means "Nói và làm” or “Nhảy vào lửa”) to create positive changes in social life Vietnam.
Renouncing the ideological decisions that he claimed had caused the problems, he allowed private enterprise and market prices and disbanded agricultural collectives.
The article has the title "Things to do immediately", signed NVL.From 1986 to 1991, during his term as General Secretary, Nguyễn Văn Linh made a decisive contribution to turning the situation around, paving the way for the new guava cause to move forward.
In order to overcome the inadequacies and backwardness of Vietnam's centralized, bureaucratic and subsidized mechanism, he introduced new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing things.
He abandoned the regime of high-ranking leaders flying domestically and going on business trips by Lada car without air conditioning (standard for Deputy Minister level); From the South to the North, take a plane with everyone; cutting down on security protection,...
"It is not objectively necessary to establish a political mechanism of pluralism and multiparty government," he stated, while always referring to Western-style democratic systems as "demagogic bourgeois democracies".
He attacked the growing gap between the rich and the poor and accused American companies of dumping goods on the country rather than helping it with investments and technology.
He then wrote a regular newspaper column called "Things That Must Be Done Immediately" attacking corruption and incompetence among the Vietnamese political elite.
[2][11] Linh died of liver cancer on 27 April 1998, in Ho Chi Minh City[2] just 3 days before the 23rd anniversary of the liberation of the South, he was 82 years old.
Scholars like Stern see that Linh relied less on mobilizational instruments, campaigns exhortations, symbols and more on bureaucratically co-ordinated programmes.
He was able to utilize unique combinations of resources to attack specific party related problems, often relying on media and selected mass organizations to propel his reformist ideologies.
Linh was critical in steering plenary sessions of the Central committee to take more importance in decision process where competing views of economic policies and fundamental political issues were discussed.
[13] Under Linh, effort was made to make the party more responsible and accountable for policies and personnel choices which was a strong factor in the success of economic reform.
While Linh publicly took an even stronger position in favor of a grassroots movement "to help the party correct, rectify, and overcome its shortcomings in the earlier years, some might consider that it was Võ Văn Kiệt who opined in 1995 that businessmen should be encouraged to succeed for the economy by understanding the economics of business.
In considering the narratives of both persons, it is important to note that that Võ Văn Kiệt and his allies might have used ideologies, whether called socialist or market as practical tools to advance their own strategic objectives and power.
An objective way to weigh perspectives would be to understand that these members also ultimately wanted power to their advantage and this added another dimension in analysing how one worked towards contributing along with his true agenda balanced.
The harsh realities and economic crisis were both not necessary or sufficient conditions for the reform fully take place but it was the entrepreneurial process which saw structural changes and later kicked off innovation in Vietnam.
As the policies of Nguyen Van Linh were adopted at the 6th Congress, Vietnam slowly transformed into a market economy which brought success to the reform.
These were key evidences towards the assessments of the Nguyen Van Linh narrative in considering his contributions in the renovation, modernisation and industrialization of Vietnam which made him a responsible contributor.
This also paints Kiệt in different dimensions where he was willing to reflect on his own policies and make adaptations to ensure what was best for the nation, a key trait and contribution towards Vietnam's economic successes.
Being the first deputy Prime Minister then, he was game in taking an unprecedented method in setting up two key independent specialist expert groups to conduct research and studies on the matter.
He was adept in using the advice from both groups and combined the best ideas to develop an ordinance on the banking sector, to his credit, he later also created a department responsible for mobilizing intellectual resources from the former regime in the South.
Linh penned articles to give weight to reform experiments where experimentation of policies was allowed before such practices were sanctioned in his critical role to the state.
However, one might also see Võ Văn Kiệt as the southerner reformer who placed himself to critics of central government policies in the South by supporting innovative economic schemes.