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'Đỗ Mười' (born February 2, 1917 in Dong My) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1991 to 1997.
Đỗ Mười was made prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in June 1988, capping a 35-year career in the state bureaucracy. As prime minister he became increasingly identified with the forces of conservatism at the highest level of leadership. In 1991 he became secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party. Đỗ Mười retired from Communist party leadership in 1998.
In what was called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's (SRV) biggest leadership shake-up in five years, Đỗ Mười was elected the Communist Party's General Secretary replacing Nguyen Van Linh, 75, in 1991. The election on June 27, 1991 replaced seven of the 12 men in the ruling Politburo and a similar personnel housecleaning took place in the party Central Committee. Like Linh, Đỗ Mười advocated reforming the marketplace without fundamentally altering the political system (Doi Moi reforms). Party officials made clear that Linh was retiring because of poor health and was not being ousted.