n more revealing was the decision taken in late 1959
to stress the individuality and unique character of the Viet- namese revolution. In place of previous encomiums to the Chi- nese model and the "ideology of Mao Tse-tung," Hanoi utilized the anniversary celebrations of Indo-China Communist party in January-and Lenin's birthday in April to introduce a new ration- ale ascribing all of its revolutionary victories to Lenin and
Ho Chi Minh, described as Lenin's "most outstanding disciple
i n Vietnam" who had "creatively applied Marxism-Leninism t o
the concrete conditions of Vietnam." This new national asser- tiveness, no doubt calculated, reflected North Vietnam's deci- sion to steer a neutral course between the conflicting Sino- Soviet doctrinal pronouncements on correct methods of build-
ing socialism and Communism.
The new exaltation of Lenin as the ideological mentor of the Vietnamese revolution was carried to extremes. Inan April Hoc Tap editorial, it was asserted that 'fever since restoraoof peace in 1954, we have taken Lenin's theory on the transition to socialism as a compass in socialist trans- formation and the building of socialism i n North Vietnam,"
and in the August-September issue of this party organ Premier Pham Van Dong cited Lenin 13 times as the ideological guide
to North Vietnam's revolution. Of particular interest in this voluminous discussion were the increasing references t o "Lenin ' s
theory of agricultural cooperatives,It a good indication that the DRV was shying away from the ideologically suspect "peo- ple's communes" of Communist China. On this point, Hanoi's position was virtually identical with Moscow's.
There were other indications of a growing tendency to look to the Soviet Union for guidance in economic development pro- grams. First was Le Duan's announcement in January 1960 that North Vietnam would shift from agricultural to heavy industrial development as the main task of the First Five Year Plan (1961- 1965) and his instruction to learn "especially from the USSR" in carrying out this task. A Soviet scientific and technical
mission arrived in spring 1960, charged with "drawing up a long-term, comprehensive construction plan." Equally import-
ant was Le Dtian's reiteration at the Third National Party Con- gress i n September t h a t North Vietnam f u l l y accepted Khrushchev's concept of an integrated bloc-wide economic system in which
each country acknowledged "socialist principles of international division of labor and cooperation'' and ''coordinated its long- term national economic plans.. .as an integral part of the world