Party poised to open door to entrepreneurs
Strip away a centrally planned economy and anti-capitalist ideology, and what's left? Communism Vietnam-style, circa 2006.
The proposal may become reality at next year's Communist Party congress if a proposal is passed allowing private-sector entrepreneurs to join the party ranks.
'The constraints the party faces in attracting as members some of society's new movers and shakers seem to be leaving it somewhat marginalised,' said Fred Burke, of legal firm Baker & McKenzie's Ho Chi Minh City branch.
'As a businessman in Vietnam, I'd say this is something that's long overdue.'
If adopted, the move would follow 20 years of market-oriented reforms. The number of private firms has risen from a nominal 414 in 1991 to more than 120,000.
Two stock markets have opened in the past few years, state-owned enterprises are being privatised on a wide scale, and joining the World Trade Organisation remains one of the leadership's top priorities.
'Once private entrepreneurs are allowed into the party, the word 'communism' becomes a contradiction,' said Vietnam political analyst Carl Thayer.
The idea was rejected on ideological grounds at the party's last congress in 2001. But after China made the move in 2002, Vietnam's leadership took notice.
Ta Huu Thanh, deputy head of the party's powerful Economic Commission, is frequently quoted in the state-owned media trumpeting the importance of allowing the party a private sector of its own.
At street level, the ideological ironies of the proposal are not likely to become a talking point.
Most people have not heard about it - hardly a surprise, with less than three million out of 83 million being party members.
'It's new, but it's natural and it's a good idea,' said Bui Manh Hung, 30, owner of a small air conditioner shop in Hanoi.
'We won two hard wars, why can't we succeed in this too.'
