Mr. Phan Dien: We have overcome 'communist arrogance'
After 1975, the winner's arrogance was one of the causes of many crises that made Vietnam "pay a painful price", former Politburo member and former permanent member of the Secretariat, Phan Dien shared with VnExpress.
- This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 6th Party Congress - the pivotal Congress that made the decision on Renovation. When you think of "the night before Renovation", what do you remember most?
- Recalling the subsidy period, I immediately remember the shortages, from food, fish sauce, salt to common consumer goods such as towels, soap, needles, threads...
Leaders began to feel the difficulties that the country was enduring, in addition to objective causes, there were also subjective causes due to our incorrect way of doing things, the state's management of society and the economy was somewhat unreasonable. For example, the 5% of land reserved for members had very high productivity, but the productivity of the common land of the cooperative was very low.
- After the country's reunification, what options does Vietnam have when deciding on the economic and social management model, sir?
- Every decision comes from a specific historical context. Looking back now, there is time to reflect, but at that time the situation was very complicated and urgent. The war had not ended long ago, everything was still in disarray, then the country entered two wars against invaders at the southwestern and northern borders.
The mainstream thinking at that time was that the North must certainly continue to build socialism according to the economic model being implemented before the war.
The question is what should the economic path of the South be like? The Party and the State have decided that the South must follow the path of the North. In the South, we decided to quickly reform the economy to socialism, abolish the private economy, promote cooperativization, and widely build agricultural cooperatives.
The entire economy strived to rapidly expand the state-owned economy and the collective economy, striving to complete socialist transformation and build new production relations in a relatively short time. This was also the only economic model that Vietnam knew at that time, and which the entire socialist bloc had been applying.
- At that time, was there any other way for the Southern economy when there were already seeds of private economy and market economy?
- After the reunification, in the first conferences of the Central Committee discussing the economic development policy of the South, initially, there was a proposal among the leadership: with the unique historical characteristics of the South, should we let the private economy and the market economy continue to develop for a while? If there is any reform, it needs to be tested step by step, cautiously, and experience should be learned while doing it... However, this idea has not received consensus from the collective. The Party and State leaders have decided to continue applying the economic model of the North.
- Looking back at the successes and shortcomings of that stage management method, what do you think we could have done differently?
- In my personal opinion, at that time we can follow the suggestions of some comrades as mentioned above, that is, do not rush to immediately carry out the socialist reform of the entire economy. Let the South continue to exist and develop a multi-ownership, multi-sector economy, including the private economy...
- So what do you think caused us to make the wrong moves and pay the price?
- I think we have more or less become subjective, which can be called "communist arrogance" after the 1975 victory. This can be understood as stemming from pride in our ideals and successes on the revolutionary path, but then going too far into a subjective tendency...
In Vietnam after the country's reunification, subjectivity is probably more evident in other areas. As for the economy, it is not arrogance but mainly due to a perception that is not suitable for reality and not in accordance with objective laws. We are too lacking in knowledge and experience, and we are convinced that the way of doing things in socialist countries is the only correct way, and that is all that must be learned. Moreover, the mainstream mentality at this time is "North and South have reunited as one family, if there are conditions to bring the whole country onto the path of socialism, there is no reason to hesitate".
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