World Notes Viet Nam

The event marked the most sweeping change in the Vietnamese Communist leadership since the party's founding in 1930. At the Sixth Party Congress in Hanoi last week, three longtime stalwarts resigned because of "advanced age and bad health": General Secretary Truong Chinh, 79, Premier Pham Van Dong, 80, and veteran Politburo Member Le Duc Tho, 76. They are among the last members of the generation of leaders that defeated the French and the Americans on the battlefield. But they failed to reap the benefits of peace, leaving behind a legacy of 800% inflation, widespread unemployment and chronic shortages.

The congress named a new, 13-man Politburo, though the torch has not exactly been passed to a fresh generation: the youngest member is 58, and the incoming General Secretary, Nguyen Van Linh, is 71. A former Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) party secretary, he has been identified with economic reform. Whether he can bring prosperity to his country is another matter. Several veteran Viet Nam observers believe that Hanoi's new leaders remain divided on the wisdom of adopting capitalist measures. Nor do these experts believe that the New Guard will alter the country's foreign policy course. Despite overtures from the Chinese, Viet Nam is expected to remain allied with the Soviet Union and to continue its military occupation of Kampuchea.