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Vietnam Other Party Organizations
Party caucuses operate throughout the government and mass
organizations. Using assorted methods of persuasion and
proselytization, they implement party lines, policies, and
resolutions; increase party influence and unity; and develop and
propose guidelines and programs for mass organizations and party
committees at various administrative levels. Party caucuses are
responsible for appointing political cadres to serve as delegates
or to hold key positions in such government organizations as the
National Assembly and the people's councils, or in such party
organizations as the party congresses and the mass organizations
(see The System of Government
, this ch.). In state agencies where
the "manager system" is practiced--those in which party cadres
have been appointed officially to management positions--the
functions of party caucuses are assumed by coordination and
operations committees.
The chapter is the basic party unit. It numbers from three to
thirty members depending upon whether it represents a production,
work, or military unit. Larger groups, such as factories or
cooperatives, may have more than one party chapter. A chapter's
chief responsibilities are to indoctrinate party members and to
provide political leadership for production units and the armed
forces.
Cadres are party members in leadership positions. They
function at all levels of party organization but are most
numerous at lower levels. The strength of the cadre system is its
ability to mobilize the people quickly. Its weaknesses include
abuse of power, which is facilitated by the absence of enforced
standards of conduct, and over-reliance by the higher echelons on
the lower. The higher party leaders tolerate the excesses of
lower echelon cadres because the lower level representatives tend
to be well entrenched in local society and in the best position
to influence the people. Higher officials simply lack the clout
to motivate the people as well.
Data as of December 1987
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