Early Life and Career
Đỗ Mười was born on the 2 February 1917 in Dong Phu, Thanh Trì, Hanoi. He began his life by working as a house painter, before he began working in nationalist politics in his teens. Đỗ Mười joined the Communist Party of Indochina in 1939, but was arrested by French authorities in 1941 or 1942 and was sentenced for 10 years to forced labour at the Hoa Lo Prison. He managed to escape in 1945, when the Japanese overthrew French rule of Indochina and established the Empire of Vietnam. After escaping from prison, Đỗ Mười became a member of the Viet Minh. During the First Indochina War Đỗ served in several provincial level positions before he was promoted to Brigadier General. Đỗ Mười was the commander at the Battle of Haiphong at the end of the war. During the war, he also served as a political commissar for the party. From May 1955 to December 1956, Đỗ served as chairman of the party's People's Military and Administrative Committee of Hai Phong. Đỗ Mười was appointed to the Central Committee in 1955, and at the 3rd Party Congress, he was elected to full member of the Central Committee. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade in December 1956, and held that post until April 1958, when he succeeded Phan Anh as Minister of Domestic Trade. Đỗ Mười held this post until February 1961, when he was forced to leave politics for a while due to bad health; he was succeeded by Nguyễn Thanh Bình. He returned to politics in November 1967 as Chairman of the Economic Board (later renamed the State Pricing Commission), and in 1969 Đỗ Mười was assigned to the building and construction sector. It is believed that Đỗ Mười was a Soviet liaison during the construction of the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum. In December 1969 he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction in Phạm Văn Đồng's Government.
At the 4th Party Congress, the first since the reunification of Vietnam, Đỗ Mười was elected to the Politburo as an alternate member. In July 1977 the Committee for the Transformation of Industry and Trade was established with Nguyễn Văn Linh serving as Chairman and Đỗ Mười serving as Deputy Chairman. The goal of the Committee was to initiate the socialist transformation of southern Vietnam by socialising the economy through nationalisations and collectivisations. The codename for the campaign was X2. Nguyễn did not serve long as chairman, and he was accused of "Rightism" and was replaced by Đỗ Mười in February 1978. Đỗ Mười was given the post because the Party leadership had been impressed by his work in the socialist transformation drive of North Vietnam in the 1950s. At the time, Đỗ Mười was renowned by his motto; "Capitalists are like sewer rats; whenever one sees them popping up one must smash them to death!" On 31 March 1978 Đỗ Mười signed a decree, on the behalf of Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đông, on forbidding private property in Vietnam. On his command, more than 60,000 youth groups were sent across Vietnam to close down private businesses.
In November 1977 Đỗ Mười was succeeded as Minister of Construction by Đồng Sỹ Nguyên. Đỗ Mười was elected to the Politburo in the aftermath of the 5th Party Congress. In the Politburo he served as a protege of Lê Duẩn, the General Secretary and the dominant leader of Vietnam. By 1984 Đỗ Mười was subscribing to the view that the Vietnamese economic system needed to be reformed; his original plan was to reform the price and wage system and to abolish subsidies for state enterprises. However, he did not support the view that radical reforms were needed, and he still firmly believed in the superiority of the planned economy over the market economy. In 1985 Đỗ Mười was assigned with the task of reviewing the accomplishments of various General Departments.
Lê Duẩn, the general secretary, died on 10 July 1986 and was briefly succeeded by Trường Chinh. Chinh proved to be a temporary replacement, and at the 6th Party Congress, held in December 1986, he was deposed and replaced by Nguyễn Văn Linh. Linh initiated the reform programme Đổi Mới (meaning) "renovation") to establish a socialist-oriented market economy. When Premier Phạm Hùng died on 10 March 1988, the Central Committee nominated Đỗ Mười for the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers (the official title of head of government) to the National Assembly of Vietnam, certain delegates of the National Assembly responded by nominating Võ Văn Kiệt for the post instead. The reason was that Đỗ Mười was ideologically conservative and was skeptical of the Đổi Mới policies, while Kiệt, in contrast, was reform-minded. Đỗ Mười won the election, but Võ managed to win 36 percent of the votes – a high percentage for an opponent in Vietnam.
Read more about this topic: Do Muoi
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