title: PGA European Tour

text: In 2009, the Order of Merit was replaced by the Race to Dubai, with a bonus pool of US$7.5 million (originally $10 million) distributed among the top 15 players at the end of the season, with the winner taking $1.5 million (originally $2 million). The new name reflected the addition of a new season ending tournament, the Dubai World Championship, held at the end of November in Dubai. The tournament also had a $7.5 million prize fund (originally $10 million), and was contested by the leading 60 players in the race following the season's penultimate event, the Hong Kong Open. The winner of the Race to Dubai also receives a ten-year European Tour exemption, while the winner of the Dubai World Championship receives a five-year exemption. The reduction in prize money, announced in September 2009, was due to the global economic downturn. In 2012, the bonus pool was reduced to $3.75 million with the winner getting $1 million and only the top 10 golfers getting a bonus. The bonus pool was increased to $5.0 million in 2014 with the top 15 players earning part of the pool. In 2019 further changes were made, in 2018 the top 10 finishers on the Race to Dubai shared the bonus pool of $5m, but as of 2019 the sum was split between only the leading five finishers. Whoever topped the standings received an additional $2m compared with the $1.25m won by Francesco Molinari in 2018. In addition, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai was cut to the top 50 golfers on the Race to Dubai list, the prize fund was kept at $8m but the winner's share was increased to $3m. This was designed to increase interest and player participation in the event.


title: PGA European Tour

text: In November 2021, the Race to Dubai was rebranded as the DP World Tour Rankings in line with the tour being retitled as the DP World Tour. However, in November 2022, the tour announced that the Rankings would be reverted back to the Race to Dubai, starting from the 2023 season.


title: PGA European Tour

text: For the 2017 season, the European Tour launched the Rolex Series, a series of events with higher prize funds than regular tour events. The series began with eight events, each with a minimum prize fund of US$7 million. The initial Rolex Series events were:


title: PGA European Tour

text: From the 2019 season onwards, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship became a designated Rolex Series event and the Open de France was relegated to a regular tour event. In 2020, the season was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; as a result, the Turkish Airlines Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge were cancelled, and the Irish and Italian opens were downgraded to regular events.


title: PGA European Tour

text: In 2021, the Rolex Series was reduced to four tournaments; the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the Scottish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. The four events did have increased prize funds up to $8 million however. The Dubai Desert Classic was added to the series for the 2022 season.


title: PGA European Tour

text: The European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit" until 2009, when it was replaced by the Race to Dubai. It is calculated in euro, although around half of the events have prize funds which are fixed in other currencies, mainly pounds sterling or U.S. dollars. In these instances, the amounts are converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament is played. The winner of the Order of Merit receives the Harry Vardon Trophy, not to be confused with the Vardon Trophy awarded by the PGA of America.


title: PGA European Tour

text: The table below shows the top 10 career money leaders on the European Tour. Due to increases in prize money over the years, it is dominated by current players. The figures are not the players' complete career earnings as most of them have earned millions more on other tours (especially the PGA Tour) or from non-tour events. In addition, elite golfers often earn several times as much from endorsements and golf-related business interests as they do from prize money.


title: PGA European Tour

text: The European Tour Golfer of the Year, since 2009 official known as "The Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year" is an award handed by a panel comprising members of the Association of Golf Writers and commentators from television and radio.


title: PGA European Tour

text: The European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award is named after the English three-time Open Champion Sir Henry Cotton. Originally chosen by Henry Cotton himself, the winner was later selected by a panel comprising the PGA European Tour, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the Association of Golf Writers. It is currently given to the rookie who places highest in the Race to Dubai. The award was first presented in 1960, and thus predates the official start of the tour in 1972. There have been five years when no award was made.


title: PGA European Tour

text: The European Tour Players' Player of the Year was inaugurated in 2008, with the winner being determined by a vote of tour members. In 2017 the award was renamed as The Seve Ballesteros Award in honour of the legendary Spanish golfer. From 2021 onwards, the Seve Ballesteros Award merged with the Golfer of the Year award, creating one singular honour voted for by the players.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: In mathematical physics, Yang–Mills theory is a gauge theory based on a special unitary group SU("N"), or more generally any compact, reductive Lie algebra. Yang–Mills theory seeks to describe the behavior of elementary particles using these non-abelian Lie groups and is at the core of the unification of the electromagnetic force and weak forces (i.e. U(1) × SU(2)) as well as quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force (based on SU(3)). Thus it forms the basis of our understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: In 1953, in a private correspondence, Wolfgang Pauli formulated a six-dimensional theory of Einstein's field equations of general relativity, extending the five-dimensional theory of Kaluza, Klein, Fock and others to a higher-dimensional internal space. However, there is no evidence that Pauli developed the Lagrangian of a gauge field or the quantization of it. Because Pauli found that his theory "leads to some rather unphysical shadow particles", he refrained from publishing his results formally. Although Pauli did not publish his six-dimensional theory, he gave two talks about it in Zürich. Recent research shows that an extended Kaluza–Klein theory is in general not equivalent to Yang–Mills theory, as the former contains additional terms. Chen Ning Yang long considered the idea of non-abelian gauge theories. Only after meeting Robert Mills did he introduce the junior scientist to the idea and lay the key hypothesis that Mills would use to assist in creating a new theory. This eventually became the Yang–Mills theory, as Mills himself discussed, "During the academic year 1953-1954, Yang was a visitor to Brookhaven National Laboratory...I was at Brookhaven also...and was assigned to the same office as Yang. Yang, who has demonstrated on a number of occasions his generosity to physicists beginning their careers, told me about his idea of generalizing gauge invariance and we discussed it at some length...I was able to contribute something to the discussions, especially with regard to the quantization procedures, and to a small degree in working out the formalism; however, the key ideas were Yang's."In early 1954, Yang and Mills extended the concept of gauge theory for abelian groups, e.g. quantum electrodynamics, to non-abelian groups to provide an explanation for strong interactions. The idea by Yang–Mills was criticized by Pauli, as the quanta of the Yang–Mills field must be massless in order to maintain gauge invariance. The idea was set aside until 1960, when the concept of particles acquiring mass through symmetry breaking in massless theories was put forward, initially by Jeffrey Goldstone, Yoichiro Nambu, and Giovanni Jona-Lasinio.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Yang–Mills theory was independently discovered by Ronald Shaw in January 1954, a graduate student at the University of Cambridge. Since the resulting massless particles did not seem to be found in nature at the time, Shaw and his supervisor Abdus Salam chose not to publish the results. Shortly after Yang and Mills published their paper, Salam encouraged Shaw to publish his work to mark his contribution, however Shaw declined and instead it only forms a chapter in his PhD thesis published in 1956.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: This prompted a significant restart of Yang–Mills theory studies that proved successful in the formulation of both electroweak unification and quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The electroweak interaction is described by the gauge group SU(2) × U(1), while QCD is an SU(3) Yang–Mills theory. The massless gauge bosons of the electroweak SU(2) × U(1) mix after spontaneous symmetry breaking to produce the 3 massive weak bosons (, , and ) as well as the still-massless photon field. The dynamics of the photon field and its interactions with matter are, in turn, governed by the U(1) gauge theory of quantum electrodynamics. The Standard Model combines the strong interaction with the unified electroweak interaction (unifying the weak and electromagnetic interaction) through the symmetry group SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1). In the current epoch the strong interaction is not unified with the electroweak interaction, but from the observed running of the coupling constants it is believed they all converge to a single value at very high energies.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Phenomenology at lower energies in quantum chromodynamics is not completely understood due to the difficulties of managing such a theory with a strong coupling. This may be the reason why confinement has not been theoretically proven, though it is a consistent experimental observation. This shows why QCD confinement at low energy is a mathematical problem of great relevance, and why the Yang–Mills existence and mass gap problem is a Millennium Prize Problem.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Yang–Mills theories are special examples of gauge theories with a non-abelian symmetry group given by the Lagrangian


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: with the generators formula_2 of the Lie algebra, indexed by , corresponding to the "F"-quantities (the curvature or field-strength form) satisfying


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Here, the are structure constants of the Lie algebra (totally antisymmetric if the generators of the Lie algebra are normalised such that formula_4 is proportional with formula_5), the covariant derivative is defined as


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: The field has the property of being self-interacting and the equations of motion that one obtains are said to be semilinear, as nonlinearities are both with and without derivatives. This means that one can manage this theory only by perturbation theory with small nonlinearities.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Note that the transition between "upper" ("contravariant") and "lower" ("covariant") vector or tensor components is trivial for "a" indices (e.g. formula_11), whereas for μ and ν it is nontrivial, corresponding e.g. to the usual Lorentz signature, formula_12.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: We give here some comments about the physical dimensions of the coupling. In "D" dimensions, the field scales as formula_23 and so the coupling must scale as formula_24. This implies that Yang–Mills theory is not renormalizable for dimensions greater than four. Furthermore, for "D" = 4, the coupling is dimensionless and both the field and the square of the coupling have the same dimensions of the field and the coupling of a massless quartic scalar field theory. So, these theories share the scale invariance at the classical level.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: A method of quantizing the Yang–Mills theory is by functional methods, i.e. path integrals. One introduces a generating functional for "n"-point functions as


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: but this integral has no meaning as it is because the potential vector can be arbitrarily chosen due to the gauge freedom. This problem was already known for quantum electrodynamics but here becomes more severe due to non-abelian properties of the gauge group. A way out has been given by Ludvig Faddeev and Victor Popov with the introduction of a ghost field (see Faddeev–Popov ghost) that has the property of being unphysical since, although it agrees with Fermi–Dirac statistics, it is a complex scalar field, which violates the spin–statistics theorem. So, we can write the generating functional as


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: for the ghost. This is the expression commonly used to derive Feynman's rules (see Feynman diagram). Here we have "c" for the ghost field while ξ fixes the gauge's choice for the quantization. Feynman's rules obtained from this functional are the following


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: These rules for Feynman diagrams can be obtained when the generating functional given above is rewritten as


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: being the generating functional of the free theory. Expanding in "g" and computing the functional derivatives, we are able to obtain all the "n"-point functions with perturbation theory. Using LSZ reduction formula we get from the "n"-point functions the corresponding process amplitudes, cross sections and decay rates. The theory is renormalizable and corrections are finite at any order of perturbation theory.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: For quantum electrodynamics the ghost field decouples because the gauge group is abelian. This can be seen from the coupling between the gauge field and the ghost field that is formula_32. For the abelian case, all the structure constants formula_33 are zero and so there is no coupling. In the non-abelian case, the ghost field appears as a useful way to rewrite the quantum field theory without physical consequences on the observables of the theory such as cross sections or decay rates.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: One of the most important results obtained for Yang–Mills theory is asymptotic freedom. This result can be obtained by assuming that the coupling constant "g" is small (so small nonlinearities), as for high energies, and applying perturbation theory. The relevance of this result is due to the fact that a Yang–Mills theory that describes strong interaction and asymptotic freedom permits proper treatment of experimental results coming from deep inelastic scattering.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: To obtain the behavior of the Yang–Mills theory at high energies, and so to prove asymptotic freedom, one applies perturbation theory assuming a small coupling. This is verified a posteriori in the ultraviolet limit. In the opposite limit, the infrared limit, the situation is the opposite, as the coupling is too large for perturbation theory to be reliable. Most of the difficulties that research meets is just managing the theory at low energies. That is the interesting case, being inherent to the description of hadronic matter and, more generally, to all the observed bound states of gluons and quarks and their confinement (see hadrons). The most used method to study the theory in this limit is to try to solve it on computers (see lattice gauge theory). In this case, large computational resources are needed to be sure the correct limit of infinite volume (smaller lattice spacing) is obtained. This is the limit the results must be compared with. Smaller spacing and larger coupling are not independent of each other, and larger computational resources are needed for each. As of today, the situation appears somewhat satisfactory for the hadronic spectrum and the computation of the gluon and ghost propagators, but the glueball and hybrids spectra are yet a questioned matter in view of the experimental observation of such exotic states. Indeed, the σ resonance is not seen in any of such lattice computations and contrasting interpretations have been put forward. This is a hotly debated issue.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: Yang–Mills theories met with general acceptance in the physics community after Gerard 't Hooft, in 1972, worked out their renormalization, relying on a formulation of the problem worked out by his advisor Martinus Veltman. Renormalizability is obtained even if the gauge bosons described by this theory are massive, as in the electroweak theory, provided the mass is only an "acquired" one, generated by the Higgs mechanism.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: The mathematics of the Yang–Mills theory is a very active field of research, yielding e.g. invariants of differentiable structures on four-dimensional manifolds via work of Simon Donaldson. Furthermore, the field of Yang–Mills theories was included in the Clay Mathematics Institute's list of "Millennium Prize Problems". Here the prize-problem consists, especially, in a proof of the conjecture that the lowest excitations of a pure Yang–Mills theory (i.e. without matter fields) have a finite mass-gap with regard to the vacuum state. Another open problem, connected with this conjecture, is a proof of the confinement property in the presence of additional Fermion particles.


title: Yang–Mills theory

text: In physics the survey of Yang–Mills theories does not usually start from perturbation analysis or analytical methods, but more recently from systematic application of numerical methods to lattice gauge theories.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, commonly known as Chennai Central (station code: MAS), is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway station in South India and one of the most important hubs in the country. It is connected to Moore Market Complex railway station, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central metro station, Chennai Park railway station, Chennai Park Town railway station and is 2 km from Chennai Egmore railway station. The terminus connects the city to northern India, including Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi as well as to Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Kerala, Hyderabad and different parts of India.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The century-old building of the railway station, designed by architect George Harding, is one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai. The station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway and the Ripon Building. During the British Raj, the station served as the gateway to South India, and the station is still used as a landmark for the city and the state.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station was renamed twice; first to reflect the name change of the city from Madras to Chennai in 1996 it was renamed from Madras Central to "Chennai Central", and then to honour the AIADMK founder and the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. G. Ramachandran, it was renamed as "Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station" on 5 April 2019.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: About 550,000 passengers use the terminus every day, making it the busiest railway station in South India. Along with Chennai Egmore and Coimbatore Junction, the Central terminus is among the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called "John Pereira's Gardens", belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore railway station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore railway station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach–Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on the grounds known as the Kannappar Thidal in Periyamet, on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station has a platform area of 51,182 square metres (excluding the suburban station building) and the total building area of the main station is 14,062 square metres.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 17 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 5 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long-distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle short-length trains like the Chennai Rajadhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bengaluru Shatabdi Express, Mysuru Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex building, has 5 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Sapthagiri Express, Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE locomotive from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric locomotive shed.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, the Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore Chennai Mail killing 57 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the five platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around passengers in the station at a given point. As of 2015–16, the main station alone (excluding the suburban station) has an average passenger footfall of 95,560 per day. Passenger earnings in the same period amounted to 8947.4 million. The station managed 491 trains a day. It has been projected that the number of passengers using the main station per day in the next 40 years will be 650,000.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central railway station is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising to of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On September 2018, a 5,000-litre drinking water vending reverse osmosis plant was commissioned in the station.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country every day. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the "Basin Bridge Train Care Centre" for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric locomotive trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five locomotive trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai Circle of Archaeological Survey of India. The work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained. The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In February 2019, as part of the Railway Ministry's plan to install flag masts at 75 major stations in the country, a 100-foot flag mast was installed at the front of the main building of the station at a cost of 1.5 million. Weighing around 2 tonnes, the mast is made of galvanised iron pipes. The mast is one of the tallest in the city. The polyester-and-cotton flag is 60-ft wide and weighs around 9.5 kg, and can be hoisted both manually and electronically.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: An underground metro station of the Chennai Metro namely Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central metro station serves as the hub. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Blue Line) (Airport–Tiruvottiyur) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Green Line) (Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Metro–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J. Jayalalithaa CMBT Metro). The metro station, is at a depth of , is the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over . The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, northwest of Chennai Central. Four passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train, which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am, started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Guwahati–Bengaluru Cantt. Superfast Express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In April 2020, all trains were cancelled till the 30th of September, except Chennai Central - New Delhi Rajdhani Express due to COVID-19.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central in May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as "Kaakum karangal" (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of , along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of . The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of . It will be long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons—ballast-less tracks or tracks on a concrete bed—were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. on platform 3, on platform 4, and on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central is among the 23 stations in the country that will be privatised as part of redevelopment under the BFOT (Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer) scheme. More passengers amenities will be provided on a 1.545-acre plot of land adjacent to the Moore Market Suburban complex allotted for commercial exploitation. Additional space for operational purposes, including the station master's room, passenger information centre, movement control room, Railway Protection Force control room containing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, Government Railway Police station, and Travelling Ticket Examiner chart room, covering a total of 2,873.76 square metres will be built.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The developer will maintain the station premises for 15 years, while the lease period of the additional land and aerial space to be developed will be 45 years.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: In 2017, the state government proposed to build a commercial square called the Central Square in the around the station.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 6 March 2019, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the National Democratic Alliance political rally, which was held in Kancheepuram in the presence of then Railways Minister Piyush Goyal that the iconic station will be renamed after the AIADMK founder and the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. G. Ramachandran.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: On 5 April 2019, the station was officially renamed ""Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station.""


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The name is currently India's longest and the world's second-longest name for a railway station after Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales.


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:


title: Chennai Central railway station

text: The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.


title: Work It (film)

text: Work It is a 2020 American dance comedy film directed by Laura Terruso and written by Alison Peck. Produced by Alicia Keys, Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton, the film stars Sabrina Carpenter, Liza Koshy, Keiynan Lonsdale, Michelle Buteau and Jordan Fisher as high school students of different backgrounds, and follows their journey to win the titular Work It dance competition. The film was released on Netflix on August 7, 2020.


title: Work It (film)

text: Quinn Ackerman, a quirky and intelligent high school senior living with her single mother, works as a technical director for the Thunderbirds, her high school's elite dance team, which is well known around the state as the reigning champions of the Work It dance competition. When Quinn spills coffee on the control panel and ruins a live performance, the ruthless leader of the Thunderbirds, Julliard Pembroke, fires her from the position.


title: Work It (film)

text: Quinn's dream to attend Duke University, her late father's alma mater, is soured when the admissions counselor, Veronica Ramirez, informs that her application is too similar to the other applicants, and that her chances of standing out to the admission's team are not good. Quinn misleads Ramirez into thinking that she is a dancer on the Thunderbirds, even though she only worked the lighting. Despite this, Ramirez is instantly impressed, and vows to see her perform live at the Work It dance competition. Though she considers confessing to her white lie, Quinn instead decides to commit to it, realizing it's her only chance of getting into Duke. Quinn enlists the help of her best friend, Jasmine Hale, who is a dancer for the Thunderbirds herself, to teach her how to dance and prepare her for the team's open auditions in two weeks. Quinn's dancing skills improve substantially by the time of the audition, but Julliard still rejects her. After Jasmine stands up to him and defends Quinn, Julliard sarcastically suggests that the two start their own dance team, which Quinn does. Jasmine reluctantly agrees to quit the Thunderbirds in favor of Quinn's new team, but is worried about not being scouted by a recruiter from a dance academy in New York City.


title: Work It (film)

text: Quinn and Jasmine research a former champion of the Work It competition, Jake Taylor, who stopped competing and vanished after a knee injury two years prior. Quinn tracks him down and approaches him at the dance studio where he now works, and asks him to be a choreographer for her team, but Jake rejects her, insisting that dance is done with passion, and can't be learned by thinking. Meanwhile, the girls round up a group of unknown dancers at their school who all differ in style, including Raven, a goth and rocker; Chris, a soccer player; DJ Tapes, a kid who sells mixtapes; Robby, a karate student; and Priya, an Indian style dancer. After seeing the team's potential during an informal dance meetup, Jake agrees to choreograph for Quinn's team at Work It, but only if they can win the upcoming qualifying competition by themselves. With Jake's permission the team practices in the studio where he works. Under the name "TBD", they cut qualifiers but on a technicality issue with an opposing team. Jake concludes that they need much improvement and have a lot of work to do if they want to win at Work It.


title: Work It (film)

text: Jake and Quinn spend more time together, and Quinn confesses that she's not sure that she truly wants to attend Duke anymore but feels she has to because of the time and effort she and her mother put into it. One night, Jake takes her aside and decides to experiment with freestyle dancing with her. As the two practice, Quinn's talent surfaces, and they kiss. With newfound confidence, Quinn takes it easier on herself and puts more effort into her dancing and teamwork.


title: Work It (film)

text: Quinn emails Veronica Ramirez and informs her that she has started her own team and that they will be competing at Work It. However, when Julliard discovers that Jake is choreographing for the Quinn's team, he turns them in for using the studio to practice without paying, and Jake loses his job. Quinn's grades drop due to her dedication to the team, and she receives an email from the Duke admissions team informing her that Veronica no longer works there. Quinn confesses everything to her mom, and they agree that she should quit the dance team and bring her grades up before turning in her final transcript. The team feels betrayed by Quinn's departure, especially Jasmine, who rejoins the Thunderbirds, and Quinn ends her romance with Jake after deciding she doesn't have the time for it.


title: Work It (film)

text: While working at the nursing home, Quinn has a conversation with an older woman named Ruthie, who encourages her to not waste all her time studying, but rather to live her life to the fullest. While stamping books, Quinn starts listening to music and begins to "get out of her head", as Jake told her, and dance. She rediscovers her own passion for dance and reconciles with Jake, and they both decide to bring the team back together. Quinn reconciles with Jasmine, who quits the Thunderbirds and rejoins the TBDs.


title: Work It (film)

text: The group begins to learn each other's unique dance styles, and Jake incorporates them into the choreography. On the day of the competition, Quinn's mother discovers that she is still in dance, and tries to stop her from leaving, but Quinn steals the car keys and leaves. When Quinn arrives, the TBDs are already on stage, and she enters halfway through the act. Quinn dances with the team and sees her mother in the audience, clearly proud of her daughter. The TBDs narrowly win the competition over the Thunderbirds, and both Jasmine and Julliard are approached by a scout from the New York Dance Academy. Quinn runs into Veronica, who is now working at NYU, and she invites her to apply for the fall semester.


title: Work It (film)

text: On April 2, 2019, Adam Fogelson of STX announced the film along with Alicia Keys producing it. On May 2, 2019, it was announced that Sabrina Carpenter, Liza Koshy and Keiynan Lonsdale would star in the film. Laura Terruso was announced as the director, and that Terruso would rewrite the film from an original script from Alison Peck, with Elysa Koplovitz Dutton Leslie Morgenstein from Alloy Entertainment producing the film alongside Keys. On July 2, 2019, Drew Ray Tanner, Michelle Buteau and Jordan Fisher all joined the cast and it was announced that Netflix would distribute the film. It was also announced that day that Carpenter would also serve as an executive producer.


title: Work It (film)

text: Filming took place from June 2019 to August 2019 at the University of Toronto (St. George Campus), Humber college Lakeshore Campus, Toronto, York University Keele campus in Toronto, Canada and on the campus of California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles in December 2019.


title: Work It (film)

text: "Work It" was released by Netflix on August 7, 2020. It was the top-watched film in its debut weekend, before falling to fifth place in its second weekend.


title: Work It (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Pepper Ann

text: Pepper Ann is an American animated television series created by Sue Rose and aired on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC. It debuted on September 13, 1997, and ended on November 18, 2000. "Pepper Ann" was the first Disney animated television series to be created by a woman.


title: Pepper Ann

text: Tom Warburton, who later created Cartoon Network's "", served as the lead character designer for the series.


title: Pepper Ann

text: "Pepper Ann" focuses on the trials and tribulations that occur during the titular character's adolescence and charts her ups and downs at Hazelnut Middle School. It aired as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block. The character originated in a comic strip published in "YM" magazine.


title: Pepper Ann

text: Reruns were also shown on Disney's One Too on UPN during the 2000–2001 season, and later on Disney Channel, and on Toon Disney until 2008.


title: Pepper Ann

text: All 65 episodes of the series were released on Disney+ on September 8, 2021, with the episodes from seasons 4 and 5 listed under season 3 on the platform and most of the season 5 episode segments in mismatched order.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn (; 7 April 1907 – 10 July 1986) was a Vietnamese communist politician. He rose in the party hierarchy in the late 1950s and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (VCP) at the 3rd National Congress in 1960. He continued Hồ Chí Minh's policy of ruling through collective leadership. From the mid-1960s (when Hồ's health was failing) until his own death in 1986, he was the top decision-maker in Vietnam.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: He was born into a lower-class family in Quảng Trị Province, in the southern part of French Indochina as Lê Văn Nhuận. Little is known about his family and childhood. He first came in contact with revolutionary thoughts in the 1920s through his work as a railway clerk. Lê Duẩn was a founding member of the Indochina Communist Party (the future Communist Party of Vietnam) in 1930. He was imprisoned in 1931 and released in 1937. From 1937 to 1939, he climbed the party ladder. He was rearrested in 1939, this time for fomenting an uprising in the South. Lê Duẩn was released from jail following the successful Communist-led August Revolution of August 1945.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: During the First Indochina War (1946-1954), Lê Duẩn was an active revolutionary leader in South Vietnam. He headed the Central Office of South Vietnam, a Party organ, from 1951 until 1954. During the 1950s Lê Duẩn became increasingly aggressive towards South Vietnam and called for reunification through war. By the mid-to-late 1950s Lê Duẩn had become the second-most powerful policy-maker within the Party, eclipsing former party First Secretary Trường Chinh. By 1960 he was officially the second-most powerful Party member, after Party chairman Hồ. Throughout the 1960s Hồ's health declined and Lê Duẩn assumed more of his responsibilities. On 2 September 1969 Hồ died and Lê Duẩn became the most powerful figure in the North.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: He became the General Secretary in 1960, officially becoming the main personality in the party after Hồ Chí Minh. After Hồ's death, Lê Duẩn took over the leadership of North Vietnam. Throughout the Vietnam War of 1955 to 1975, Lê Duẩn took an aggressive posture, seeing attack as the key to victory. When South Vietnam was reunited with North Vietnam in 1976 and the party was restructured, Lê Duẩn became General Secretary of the Party. Lê Duẩn and his associates were overly optimistic about the future. The Second Five-Year Plan (1976–1980) failed and left the Vietnamese economy in crisis. He endorsed the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia of December 1978, aiming to overthrow the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge regime. This had a serious impact on relations between Vietnam and China, with Vietnam responding with the deportation of ethnic Chinese and China carrying out a heavy-loss punitive expedition against Vietnam in 1979. From then on, Vietnam maintained a closer alliance with the Soviet Union and joined Comecon in 1978.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê remained General Secretary until his death in 1986. He died in Hanoi; his successor was initially Trường Chinh. Lê Duẩn was also known as Lê Dung, and was known in public as "anh Ba" (third brother).


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn was born as Lê Văn Nhuận in "Bich La" village, "Triệu Đông", Triệu Phong, Quảng Trị Province on 7 April 1907 (although some sources cite 1908) to a poor family with 5 children. Locals from his generation say that Duan's parents were metal scrap collectors and blacksmiths. The son of a railway clerk, he became active in revolutionary politics as a young man. He received a French colonial education before working as a clerk for the Vietnam Railway Company in Hanoi during the 1920s. Through his job, he came into contact with several communist activists. In this period he educated himself to a Marxist.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn became a member of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1928. He cofounded the Indochina Communist Party in 1930. Lê Duẩn was imprisoned the next year. He was released six years later, in 1937. From 1937 to 1939 he advanced in the party hierarchy and at the "2nd National Congress", he joined its Central Committee. He was imprisoned again the following year for fomenting an uprising. After five years he was released, shortly after the 1945 August Revolution, in which the Indochinese Communist Party took power. Following his release, he became a trusted associate of Hồ Chí Minh, the lead figure of the party.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: During the First Indochina War Lê Duẩn served as the "Secretary of the Regional Committee of South Vietnam", at first in Cochinchina in 1946, but was reassigned to head the Central Office of South Vietnam from 1951 until 1954. The Viet Minh's position in the South became increasingly tenuous by the early to mid-1950s and in 1953 Lê Duẩn was replaced by his deputy Lê Đức Thọ and moved to North Vietnam.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: In the aftermath of the 1954 Geneva Accords, which indirectly split Vietnam into North and South, Lê Duẩn was responsible for reorganising the combatants who had fought in South and Central Vietnam. In 1956, he wrote "The Road to the South", calling for revolution to achieve reunification. His thesis became the blueprint for action at the "11th Central Committee Plenum" in 1956. Although "The Road to the South" was formally accepted, its implementation waited until 1959.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: In 1956 Lê Duẩn was appointed to the secretariat of the party. He was ordered by the Politburo in August 1956 to guide the revolutionary struggle in South Vietnam. The same month he traveled from U Minh to Bến Tre and instructed the southern communists to stop fighting in the name of religious sects. Throughout the year, the party had been split by factional rivalry between party boss Trường Chinh and President Hồ, who was supported by Võ Nguyên Giáp. This rivalry focused on the issue of land reform in the North. Lê Duẩn remained neutral, allowing him to act as the First Secretary (head of the Communist Party) on Hồ's behalf in late 1956. In 1957, he was given a seat in the Politburo.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: At the 1957 May Day parade, Trường Chinh was still seated as the country's second most powerful figure. Lê Duẩn was gradually able to place his supporters, notably Lê Ðức Thọ, in top positions and outmaneuver his rivals. He visited Moscow in November 1957 and received approval for his war plans. 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.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: By 1958, Lê Duẩn ranked second only to Hồ in the party hierarchy, although Trường Chinh remained powerful. Lê Duẩn was a party man and never held a post in the government. He made a brief, secret visit to South Vietnam in 1958, writing a report, "The Path to Revolution in the South", in which he stated that the North Vietnamese had to do more to assist the southern fighters. The Central Committee decided to initiate the revolution in January 1959.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: 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". According to Bùi Tín he was not Hồ's original choice for the post; his preferred candidate was Võ Nguyên Giáp, but since Lê Duẩn was supported by the influential Lê Đức Thọ, the "Head of the Party Organisational Department," Lê Duẩn was picked for the post. 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. Hoàng Văn Hoan claimed, after being sent into exile, that the Congress also purged several party members. Indeed, three former ambassadors lost their Central Committee seats.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn was officially named First Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1960, thereby succeeding Hồ as the party's de facto leader even though the latter remained its chairman. 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. In 1963, Hồ purportedly corresponded with South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm in the hope of achieving a negotiated peace. Together with Lê Đức Thọ, "Head of the Party Organisational Department" and Nguyễn Chí Thanh, a military general, Lê Duẩn tried to monopolise the decision-making process – this became even more evident following Hồ's death. In 1964, Hồ's health began to fail and Lê Duẩn, as his trusted underling, more visibly took on day-to-day decision-making responsibilities. Some analysts claim that by 1965 Hồ and Lê Duẩn had split and that "for all intents and purposes" Lê Duẩn had sidelined Hồ. Lê Duẩn, Lê Đức Thọ and Phạm Hùng "progressively tried to neutralise Hồ Chí Minh" and Phạm Văn Đồng.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: By the late-1960s, Hồ's declining health had weakened his position within the leadership. While Hồ was still consulted on important decisions, Lê Duẩn dominated the Party. When Hồ died on 2 September 1969, the collective leadership he had espoused continued, but Lê Duẩn was first among equals. The Central Committee's first resolution following Hồ's death pledged to uphold the collective leadership. Lê Duẩn chaired Hồ's funeral committee and gave the event's final speech.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: From the beginning the party leadership had split into pro-Soviet, pro-Chinese and moderate factions. Under Hồ the party had followed a policy of neutrality between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in the aftermath of the Sino–Soviet split. This policy continued until reunification. In the aftermath of the war, a power struggle began between Lê Duẩn's pro-Soviet and its rival pro-Chinese factions. Former rivals Lê Duẩn and Lê Đức Thọ formed a coalition and purged the pro-Chinese faction. Their first victims were Hoàng Văn Hoan and Chu Văn Tấn. While the Politburo made decisions through consensus, Lê Duẩn, through his post as General Secretary, was the most powerful figure and was able to increase his power via his alliance with Lê Đức Thọ, Trần Quốc Hoàn and Võ Nguyên Giáp. Together with Lê Đức Thọ, Lê Duẩn controlled personnel appointments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Political Directorate of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the General Logistics Department of the PAVN and the Ministry of Transport.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: To strengthen their hold on power, Lê Duẩn and Lê Đức Thọ established a patronage network. For instance Lê Đức Thọ's brother, Đinh Đức Thiện was appointed Minister of Communications and Transport; in April 1982 Đồng Sĩ Nguyên, a protégé of Lê Duẩn, became Minister of Transport. Mai Chí Thọ, friend of Lê Đức Thọ, was Chairman of the People's Committee of Hồ Chí Minh City (equivalent to a mayor) from 1978 to 1985. Several of Lê Duẩn's relatives were appointed to offices in the propaganda and culture sector. However, with the exception of Mai Chí Thọ none of these figures reached the pinnacles of power in Vietnamese politics.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: At the 3rd National Congress, Lê Duẩn called for the establishment of a South Vietnamese people's front. The Central Committee supported the proposal. A Central Committee resolution stated that "The common task of the Vietnamese revolution at present is to accelerate the socialist revolution in North Vietnam whilst at the same time stepping up the National People's Democratic Revolution in South Vietnam." On 20 December 1960, three months later, the Viet Cong was established. 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'".


title: Lê Duẩn

text: After the Sino–Soviet split, the Vietnamese Communist leadership divided into pro-China and pro-Soviet factions. From 1956 to 1963, Lê Duẩn played a moderating role between the two factions, but with the death of Diệm and the Gulf of Tonkin incident, he became considerably more radical. The Chinese continued to support them throughout the war, with Liu Shaoqi, the President of the People's Republic, in 1965 stating, "it is our policy that we will do our best to support you." Unlike Hồ, who wanted a peaceful resolution, Lê Duẩn was far more militant. He wanted, in his own words, "final victory". Howard Jones claimed Duẩn dismissed Hồ's position, as did the majority of the Politburo, calling him "naive". 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.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: With the increased involvement of the United States military in 1965, the North's military strategy was forced to change. As Lê Duẩn noted in a letter to Nguyễn Chí Thanh, the war would become "fiercer and longer". 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. The communist commanders in the South were to avoid large attacks on the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), but instead focus on many small attacks to demoralize the enemy. Lê Duẩn believed that the key to victory was for the PAVN to keep the initiative. He dismissed the possibility of an attack against North Vietnam by American forces, claiming that an attack on North Vietnam would be an attack on the entire socialist camp.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: 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 having sidelined, and in some cases arrested, opponents of the plan, this would be adopted as the official strategy to win the war. The General Offensive/General Uprising would be launched during the Tết holiday in January/February 1968. The Tet Offensive would prove to be a military defeat, but a strategic success. Despite the failure of the offensive, the North Vietnamese launched a Phase II attack in May 1968 and a Phase III attack in August 1968, both of which were repulsed, with the PAVN and VC again suffering large casualties. 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. On the contrary, we should endeavor to preserve our military potential for future campaigns."


title: Lê Duẩn

text: By July 1974, following the cut-off of U.S aid to South Vietnam, the North Vietnamese leadership had decided to abrogate the Paris Peace Accords and to invade in 1975, instead of 1976 as previously planned, because they believed an earlier Vietnamese unification would put Vietnam in a stronger position against Chinese and Soviet influence. 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." In his speech he congratulated the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRGRSV), the underground South Vietnamese government established in 1969, for liberating South Vietnam from imperialism. PRGRSV-ruled South Vietnam did not last long, however, and in 1976 the reunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established. Lê Duẩn purged South Vietnamese who had fought against the North, imprisoning up to 300,000 people in re-education camps (not including "dissidents detained in the many prisons of Vietnam") and captured Hoa people's property (the Chinese who live in Vietnam), setting off a mass exodus and humanitarian disaster (see Vietnamese boat people).


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Vietnam developed little during the war years; industry was nearly non-existent in both North and South and both countries were dependent on foreign donor countries. Worse, the country's critical agricultural infrastructure had been badly damaged. The South had roughly 20,000 bomb craters, 10 million refugees, 362,000 war invalids, 1,000,000 widows, 880,000 orphans, 250,000 drug addicts, 300,000 prostitutes and 3 million unemployed.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Having won the war and defeated Republic of Vietnam, Lê Duẩn's mood in April 1975 was optimistic. As one Central Committee member put it, ""Now nothing more can happen. The problems we face now are trifles compared to those in the past."" Lê Duẩn promised the Vietnamese people in 1976 that each family would own a radio set, refrigerator and TV within ten years; he seemed to believe he could easily integrate the South Vietnamese consumer society with agrarian North Vietnam. In 1976 the 4th National Congress declared Vietnam would complete its socialist transformation within twenty years. This optimism proved unfounded; instead Vietnam staggered from one economic crisis to another.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: After the war, per-capita income stood at US$101; it decreased to $91 in 1980 and then increased to $99 by 1982, according to United Nations figures. Phạm Văn Đồng admitted that per-capita income "had not increased compared to what it was ten years ago". Physical health declined and malnutrition increased under Lê Duẩn, according to the Ministry of Health. 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. Lê Duẩn's policies and the war against Pol Pot (1976-1979) and China (1979) led to an abrupt decline in the standard of living; monthly per capita income in the North declined from $82 in 1976 to $58 in 1980.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: The main goals of the Second Five-Year Plan (1976–80), which was initiated at the 4th National Congress, were as follows;


title: Lê Duẩn

text: The Vietnamese leadership expected to reach these targets with economic aid from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and loans from international agencies of the capitalist world. The 4th National Congress made it clear that agriculture would be socialised; however, during the Second Five-Year Plan the socialisation measures went so badly that Võ Chí Công, a Politburo member and Chairman of the Committee for the Socialist Transformation of Agriculture, claimed it would be impossible to meet the targets set by the plan by 1980. An estimated 10,000 out of 13,246 socialist cooperatives, established during the plan, had collapsed in the South by 1980. Politburo member Lê Thanh Nghị attacked lower-level cadres for the failure of the socialist agriculture transformation. 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.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: With regard to heavy industry, the leadership's position was muddled. In his "Fourth Political Report" Lê Duẩn stated that during the transition to socialism, priority would be given to heavy industry "on the basis of developing agriculture and light industry". In another section of the report, Lê Duẩn stated that light industry would be prioritised ahead of heavy industry. The position of Phạm Văn Đồng, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (the head of government), was just as confused as Lê Duẩn's. In practice Lê Duẩn prioritised heavy industry: 21.4% of state investment was in heavy industry in the Second Five-Year Plan and 29.7 percent in the Third Five-Year Plan (1981–85). Light industry only received 10.5 and 11.5, respectively. From 1976 to 1978 industry grew, but from 1979 to 1980 industrial production fell substantially. During the Second Five-Year Plan industry grew just 0.1 percent. The 6th Plenum of the Central Committee criticised the policy that the state had to own everything.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Before the 5th Central Committee Plenum, Lê Duẩn believed that Vietnam was in a perilous position, although no talk of reforms followed. Beginning in 1979, Lê Duẩn acknowledged that economic policy mistakes had been made by the national Party and State leadership.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Until the 6th plenum, the planners prevailed. That plenum condemned the old ways and promised that from then on the economy would be governed by "objective laws". The roles of the plan and the market were openly discussed for the first time and the roles of the family and the private economy were enhanced and certain market prices were officially supported by the Party. Lê Duẩn endorsed the reforms at the 1982 5th National Congress. Lê Duẩn talked about the need to strengthen both the central planned economy and the local economy at once. In his report Lê Duẩn admitted that the Second Five-Year Plan had been a failure economically.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: At the beginning these changes had little practical effect, possibly due to opposition by the planners and confusion or fear among cadres. From 1981 to 1984 agricultural production grew substantially, but the government did not use this opportunity to increase production of such crucial farm inputs as fertilizer, pesticide and fuel, nor of consumer goods. By the end of Lê Duẩn's rule, in 1985–1986, inflation had reached over 100% annually, complicating economic policy-making.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn visited the Soviet Union in October 1975. 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. The Soviet Union gave Vietnam economic assistance and supported several national economic projects on most favoured terms. The communique stated that cooperation was within the "frameworks of multilateral cooperation of socialist countries." Such a statement would normally have meant membership in COMECON, but Vietnam was not a member, wanting to establish its sovereignty. Phạm Văn Đồng snubbed the Soviet ambassador during the anniversary of the October Revolution and rejected key Soviet foreign policies. Despite continued pressure from the Soviets to join COMECON, Vietnam declined. Instead Vietnam joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, moves the Soviet Union opposed.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Vietnam relented in 1978, seeking economic aid to fund the Second Five-Year Plan. In 1978 Lê Duẩn and Phạm Văn Đồng signed a 25-year Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Cooperation with the USSR. Under Soviet protection, Vietnam invaded Kampuchea. In reaction China invaded Vietnam. Vietnam leased several bases to the Soviet Union to protect its territory from China. It was rumored that one of China's demands for peace was the ending of Soviet assistance to Vietnam. 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. Vietnam supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and received $3 million a day in military aid.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: At the 5th National Congress, Lê Duẩn reaffirmed Vietnam's relations with the USSR. He stated, "Solidarity and co-operation with the USSR: such is the corner stone of the external policy of our Party and of our State." He further noted that their alliance was "a guarantee of the victory of the defense of the motherland and the socialist edification of our people." Soviet official Mikhail Gorbachev echoed Lê Duẩn's sentiments and said "Vietnam can count on the solidarity and the support of the USSR."


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn's foreign policy was criticised by Hoàng Văn Hoan, who accused him of sacrificing the country's sovereignty. A delegation led by Vitaly Vorotnikov, visited Vietnam during its National Day, the holiday that celebrated the establishment of North Vietnam after the August Revolution and met with Lê Duẩn. Lê Duẩn attended the 27th Communist Party Congress and later met with Gorbachev. Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov and Anatoly Dobrynin attended Lê Duẩn's funeral.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: During the Vietnam War, the Chinese claimed that the Soviet Union would betray North Vietnam. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai told Lê Duẩn that the Soviets would lie to them to improve its relationship with the United States. According to Zhou this policy was enacted following Alexei Kosygin's departure from Vietnam in 1965. Lê Duẩn did not accept this view and at the 23rd Party Congress (which China boycotted) he referred to the Soviet Union as a "second motherland". Because of his statement, China immediately began to cut its aid to North Vietnam. According to the first secretary at the Soviet embassy to China, the North Vietnamese saw the Chinese actions as an attack on them. At the Chinese Communist Party's 45th anniversary, instead of a communique by Hồ Chí Minh, Phạm Văn Đồng and Lê Duẩn as had happened at the 44th anniversary, the Vietnamese Central Committee offered official greetings, but without signatures from top-level officials.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Relations between the two countries further deteriorated following the China/US rapprochement. The North Vietnamese, who were still fighting the Americans, felt betrayed. At the CPV Politburo meeting on 16 July 1971, the North Vietnamese agreed that Chinese policy towards the United States was like a "torpedo" directed against North Vietnam. 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". Later, in November, Phạm asked the Chinese to cancel Nixon's visit; the Chinese refused. The North Vietnamese began to doubt China and they hid information about North Vietnam's next planned military offensive. The Sino/US rapprochement did not hurt Sino/Vietnamese relations in the long run, because the Soviet Union also eventually reconciled with the US.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Chinese and North Vietnamese documents state that relations between them worsened in 1973–75. A Vietnamese document claimed that China hindered the eventual reunification, while Chinese documents claimed that the source of the conflict was Vietnamese policy towards the Spratly and the Paracel Islands. However, the core issue for the Chinese was to minimize Vietnam's cooperation with the Soviets. Increasing Soviet/Vietnamese cooperation left China ambivalent about reunification.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: During Lê Duẩn's China visit in June 1973, Zhou told him that North Vietnam should adhere to the Paris Peace Accords. Following the signing, Lê Thanh Nghị stated that the direction of Vietnam's communism was directly linked to its relations with the Soviet Union. The Chinese opposed immediate reunification and to that end, began making economic agreements with the Provisional Revolutionary (Communist) Government of South Vietnam (PRGSV). PRGSV head Nguyễn Hữu Thọ was treated well by the Chinese. This policy further damaged relations. China and Vietnam drifted further apart; eventual Chinese aid did not improve relations.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Thanh, unsuccessfully visited China in August 1975 to seek aid. On 22–28 September, Lê Duẩn and Lê Thanh visited China in a second attempt. During the visit the Vietnamese wanted to assure the Chinese they were interested in maintaining good relations with both China and the Soviet Union. Deng Xiaoping stated that both superpowers acted as imperialists and sought hegemony. 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. Two agreements were signed, but no non-refundable aid agreement was made. No joint communique was issued and Lê Duẩn left earlier than planned. According to Anne Gilks, the Sino/Vietnamese alliance effectively ended with the Fall of Saigon. Relations with China further deteriorated; several leading pro-Chinese communists were purged from the party.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn visited China from 20 to 25 November 1977 to seek aid. CPC Chairman Hua Guofeng stated that Sino/Vietnamese relations had deteriorated because they held different principles. Hua insisted that China could not help Vietnam because of its own economic difficulties and differences in principles. Lê Duẩn countered that the only difference was how they viewed the Soviet Union and the United States. Following his visit, China (Xinhua) condemned COMECON. China halted all economic development projects between May and July 1978. During this period total Chinese aid to Vietnam amounted to $300 million.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: 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. Both China (40,000) and Vietnam (over 20,000) suffered heavy losses. Peace talks broke down in December 1979 and both China (400,000) and Vietnam (600,000) began a major build-up of forces along the border. Sporadic fighting on the border occurred throughout the 1980s and China threatened to force Vietnam's exit from Kampuchea.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: The independent Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP) was established alongside the Vietnamese and Laotian parties following the dissolution of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1955. The Kampuchean movement was the weakest of the three. When the Vietnamese began formal military aid to the Khmer Rouge in 1970, the Khmer leadership remained skeptical. On the orders of Võ Chí Công two regiments were sent into Kampuchea. Võ Chí Công promised Khmer leader Ieng Sary that Vietnamese troops would withdraw when the conflict had been won by the communists. The entry of Vietnamese troops led many Vietnamese officials to believe that Khmer Rouge officials had begun "to fear something". 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. After reading reports by Võ Chí Công, Lê Duẩn probably concluded that "authentic internationalism" in Kampuchea was in trouble. At the time, the Vietnamese leadership hoped this situation would change, but privately they understood that the Kampuchean situation was different from the Lao situation.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: After Pol Pot and his supporters seized control of KCP in 1973, KCP/VCP relations deteriorated sharply. North Vietnamese formations that were active in Kampuchea during the civil war were thereafter regularly attacked by their allies. By 1976, while it appeared that Kampuchea/Vietnam relations were normalizing, private suspicions within the respective leaderships grew. Lê Duẩn, Tôn Đức Thắng, Trường Chinh and Phạm Văn Đồng sent messages congratulating the ascension of Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea as Premier, President of the Presidium and President of the Assembly of the People's Representative, respectively. In turn, KCP sent a congratulatory message to the PRGRSV on its seventh anniversary. On 21 September 1976 a Vietnamese women's delegation visited Kampuchea and the KCP sent public greetings to the 4th National Congress. The Vietnamese leadership hoped that pro-Vietnamese elements would develop within the KCP. When Kampuchean radio announced Pol Pot's resignation, Lê Duẩn and the Vietnamese leadership took it seriously. During a meeting with the Soviet ambassador, Lê Duẩn told him that Pol Pot and Ieng Sary had been removed from the KCP leadership. The change was welcome to Vietnam, since the two were a "pro-Chinese sect conducting a crude and severe policy." 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." All-out confrontation was not planned and Lê Duẩn still believed that state-to-state relations could improve. He further noted that Kampuchea would eventually become like Laos, a socialist state, and value its relationship with Vietnam and the Soviet Union.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: On 30 April 1977, Democratic Kampuchea attacked several Vietnamese villages in An Giang Province, most notably in the Ba Chúc massacre. The Vietnamese leadership was shocked by this unprovoked attack and counterattacked. Vietnam still sought improved relations and when Pol Pot, on 27 September 1977, announced the existence of the KCP, Vietnam sent a congratulatory note. In a conversation with the Soviet ambassador on 6 October, Lê Duẩn had no explanation for Kampuchea's actions. He described the leadership as "strongly nationalistic and under strong influence of Peking [China]." Lê Duẩn called Pol Pot a Trotskyist while claiming that Ieng Sary was "a fierce nationalist and pro-Chinese." He erroneously believed that Nuon Chea and Son Sen harbored pro-Vietnamese views.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: On 31 December 1977, Kampuchea broke relations with Vietnam, stating that the "aggressor forces" from Vietnam sent had to be withdrawn. This was needed to "restore the friendly atmosphere between the two countries." While they accused Vietnam of aggression, the real problem all along was the Vietnamese leadership' plan, or ideal, of establishing a Vietnamese-dominated Indochinese Federation. Vietnamese troops withdrew from the country in January, taking thousands of prisoners and civilian refugees. While the point of the Vietnamese attack had been to dampen the Kampuchean leadership's aggressive stance, it had the opposite effect – the Kampuchean leadership treated it as a major victory over Vietnam, matching their victory over the Americans. Kampuchea did not respond to diplomatic overtures and began another attack. Vietnam responded by promoting an uprising against Pol Pot's rule and invaded.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: On 15 June 1978, the VCP Politburo sent a request to the Soviet Union to allow a delegation headed by Lê Duẩn to meet with Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet leadership in general. In a meeting with the Soviet ambassador in September, Lê Duẩn said that Vietnam intended "to solve fully this question [of Kampuchea] by the beginning of 1979." Lê Duẩn did not believe that China would retaliate because it would have to send its forces by sea, although China did attack in 1979, but chose Vietnam as its target. He claimed that Vietnam had little time and that waiting would benefit China. He further claimed that Vietnam had established nine battalions of Khmer deserters and that it was seeking Sao Pheum to lead them. In fact, Sao Pheum had been dead for three months. Lê Duẩn still believed that Nuon Chea was a friend of Vietnam, despite his largely anti-Vietnam speech. Nuon Chea and Son Sen remained staunch Pol Pot supporters until the 1990s.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Vietnam sent 13 divisions into the country on 25 December 1978, with an estimated 150,000 soldiers supported by heavy artillery and air power. Kampuchea attempted a conventional defense, but this tactic led to the loss of half of its army within two weeks. The defeats prompted much of the Kampuchean leadership to evacuate to the western region of the country. On 7 January 1979, the PAVN and the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation entered Phnom Penh. On the following day, a pro-Vietnamese state, known as the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), was established, with Heng Samrin as head of state and Pen Sovan as General Secretary of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party. The struggle between the Khmer Rouge and the PRK ended only with Vietnam's withdrawal in 1989.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: By the time of the 5th National Congress, the party leadership had turned into a veritable gerontocracy. The five most powerful Politburo members were all over the age of 70; Lê Duẩn was 74, Trường Chinh was 75, Phạm Văn Đồng was 76, Phạm Hùng was 70 and Lê Đức Thọ was 72. 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. Lê Duẩn looked both feeble and old; he had problems reading his report to the Congress.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: At the 5th National Congress, the Lê Duẩn/Lê Đức Thọ clique amassed considerable power by staffing 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. General Võ Nguyên Giáp was forced to leave the Politburo. Giáp's removal signaled more the defeat of a rival than of an ideological tendency. Nguyễn Duy Trinh and Lê Thanh Nghị were removed from the Politburo because of their moderate stances, while Trần Quốc Hoàn, Lê Văn Lương and Nguyễn Văn Linh were removed because of their alignment with Trường Chinh. In their place Lê Duẩn and Lê Đức Thọ appointed military men, including Đỗ Mười, Lê Đức Anh and General Đồng Sĩ Nguyên. The appointment of Nguyễn Đức Tâm and Nguyễn Cơ Thạch strengthened Lê Đức Thọ. The Lê Duẩn/Lê Đức Thọ clique thereafter had a clear majority within the 5th Secretariat.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn's report to the 5th National Congress was a biting self-criticism of his leadership and the party's management. He criticised political and economic corruption and the gerontocracy itself. The 5th Central Committee contained only one member under 60. During this period the Central Committee was disrupted by factional infighting between pragmatists and conservatives. This struggle would lead to economic reform. Lê Duẩn and his supporters began the effort to open the economy.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Apparently Lê Duẩn suffered a heart attack after the Congress and was hospitalized in the Soviet Union. He remained General Secretary until, on 10 July 1986, he died of natural causes in Hanoi at age 79. He was temporarily succeeded by Trường Chinh, who was replaced by Nguyễn Văn Linh at the December 6th National Congress.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: In 1929, Lê Duẩn married Lê Thị Sương (1910-2008). They had four children from the marriage: daughters (Lê Tuyết Hồng, Lê Thị Cừ, Lê Thị Muội) and son (Lê Hãn).


title: Lê Duẩn

text: In 1950, Lê Duẩn remarried to Nguyễn Thụy Nga (1925-2018), who was of Chinese origin. They had three children: daughter (Lê Vũ Anh) and sons (Lê Kiên Thành, Lê Kiên Trung).


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn was a nationalist and during the war he claimed that the "nation and socialism were one". He stressed the importance of building socialism politically, economically and culturally and of defending the socialist fatherland. Ideologically, he was often referred to as a pragmatist. He often broke with Marxism–Leninism to stress Vietnam's uniqueness, most notably in agriculture. Lê Duẩn's view of socialism was statist, highly centralised and managerial.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: In one of his own works, Lê Duẩn talked about "the right of collective mastery" but in practice opposed it. For instance, party cadres who presented the peasants' demands for higher prices for their products at the National Congress were criticised by Lê Duẩn. His ideas of collective mastery were hierarchical: "Management by the state aims at ensuring the right of the masses to be the collective masters of the country. How then will the state manage its affairs so as to ensure this right of collective mastery?" His answer to this problem was managerial and statist.


title: Lê Duẩn

text: Lê Duẩn's concept of "collective mastery" was featured in the 1980 Vietnamese Constitution as was his concept of "collective mastery" of society. The concept was Lê Duẩn's version of popular sovereignty that advocated an active role for the people so that they could become their own masters as well as masters of society, nature and the nation. It stated that the people's collective mastery in all fields was assured by the state and was implemented by permitting their participation in state affairs and in mass organisations. On paper, the organisations, to which almost all citizens belong, play an active role in government and have the right to introduce bills before the National Assembly.