Trần Độ

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Lieutenant General Trần Độ
Vice Chairman of the 8th National Assembly of Vietnam
In office 19 April 1987 – 19 July 1992
Chairman	Lê Quang Đạo
Head of the Central Commission on Culture
In office 1986–1989
Preceded by	Hà Xuân Trường
Succeeded by	Trần Trọng Tân (as Head of the Central Ideology and Culture Department)
In office 1980–1982
Preceded by	position created
Succeeded by	Hà Xuân Trường
Deputy Minister of Culture
In office 1976–1980
Minister	Nguyễn Văn Hiếu
Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Commission
In office 1976–1980
Head	Tố Hữu
Vice Chief of the General Department of Politics of the People's Army of Vietnam
In office 1974–1976
Chief	Song Hào
Vice political commissar of the Central Military Commission for South Vietnam
In office October 1963 – 1975
Personal details
Born	Tạ Ngọc Phách (1923-09-23)23 September 1923 Tây Giang, Tiền Hải, Thái Bình, French Indochina
Died	9 August 2002(2002-08-09) (aged 78) Hanoi, Vietnam
Political party	Communist Party of Vietnam (Expelled on 4 January 1999)
Awards	Order of Ho Chi Minh Military Exploit Order (1st class, 3rd class)
Nickname	Chín Vinh (nom de guerre)
Military service
Allegiance	Vietnam Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam
Branch/service	People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam
Years of service	1941-1986
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	First Indochina War Battle of Hanoi (1946) Battle of Điện Biên Phủ Vietnam War

Trần Độ (1923–2002) was a Vietnamese politician and Lieutenant General of the People's Army of Vietnam. He was expelled from the Communist Party of Vietnam due to his opposing and critical opinions of the party and the state of Vietnam, particularly during post-Vietnam War.^[1]

His real name was Tạ Ngọc Phách. He grew up in Thái Bình Province. His father worked for bureau of interpretation in Hanoi, a quite high social status.

In 1939, he became a journalist in Hanoi. He was captured by the French that year but then released due to lack of evidence.^[2]

He joined the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1940. At the end of 1941, he was captured again. This time, he was sentenced to 15 years imprison. Late 1941, from Hỏa Lò Prison, he was exiled to Sơn La. Here, he was in prison with Lê Đức Thọ, Xuân Thuỷ,... In 1943, on prison move to Côn Đảo, he escaped, continuing revolution activity. He led the protest in and started his military career.^[3] He had gone south to join the Central Office for South Vietnam and served as the commander during the Tet Offensive assault upon Saigon.

1946 - He was a leader of Hanoi in the field of National Defense against the French. In the Battle of Hanoi (1946), he was the political commissar of Việt Minh forces in the city.^[4]

1950 - Major General

In the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, Trần Độ was the political commissar, together with the commander Lê Trọng Tấn commanded 312th Brigade attacking and eliminating Béatrice position (Him Lam) of French Central positions (Vietnamese: phân khu Trung tâm - Mường Thanh).^[5]

1964 - He went to South Viet Nam to set up military for war with Vietnam Republic, being the deputy command-in-chief.

1974 - Lieutenant General

1974 to 1976 - Vice President of Central Commission of Politics.

As a leader of national culture (after the war, he worked in the culture section), he wanted to give it more freedom. He is aware that culture without freedom is dead and culture with only propaganda is also dead. The more control, the more deadly culture is and the rarer valuable masterpiece.

In terms of Communist Party leadership, he said:" I advocate the leadership role of the Party. However, leadership does not mean dictatorship. History shows that every dictatorship will eventually end up in corruption, rotten society and Party itself."

In his opinion, the underlying cause of negative phenomenon in the Party and the society is partly due to the absolute rule of Communist Party.

He insisted that: Communist Party must give up dictator regime, give power to the national assembly, government. There must be laws allowing freedom for a new party, freedom of speech, journalism laws, publishing. Election laws, forgo the decision jusridiction of the Party.

It is this opinion that resulted in his expulsion from the party.