Oleksandr Molchanov
Master’s student,
Faculty of History,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv,
Kyiv, Ukraine
E-mail: oleksandrmolcanov9@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0005-9646
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2026.53.6
THE POLITICAL STATUS OF HO CHI MINH DURING HIS INFORMAL LEADERSHIP IN THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL АSPECT
The role of Ho Chi Minh in the Vietnamese communist movement during the period from 1925 to 1945 differed from the role that is commonly understood today, namely that of a head of state and leader of the communist party. Ho Chi Minh began his political activity as a Comintern operative with extensive connections within that organization. After traveling to China together with Mikhail Gruzenberg, Ho Chi Minh began his ascent to leadership within the Vietnamese liberation movement.
His level of education, organizational skills, support from the leadership of the Comintern, and the formal “blessing” of the then-leader Phan Bội Châu were factors that enabled Ho Chi Minh to establish the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1925. This organization became the first one directly led by Ho Chi Minh. However, this position did not grant him significant political leverage, and it would still be premature at that time to regard Ho Chi Minh as the leader of Vietnamese communists.
Nevertheless, the experience of leading the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League contributed to Ho Chi Minh playing an important role in uniting the Indochinese Communist League, the Communist Party of Annam, and the Communist Party of Indochina into the Indochinese Communist Party. Even so, Ho Chi Minh did not officially head the party, instead becoming a leader operating behind the scenes. The positions of general secretary were held by individuals who remained in the homeland and were subjected to torture by the colonial administration.
Party members understood that recognizing Ho Chi Minh as the formal leader of the liberation movement would pose a serious threat to his life and health; therefore, he remained a leader de facto. De jure, the party was headed by Trường Chinh in 1940. In 1941, the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was established to fight the Japanese occupiers, and Ho Chi Minh personally became involved in the direct leadership and organization of resistance activities on the ground.
He demonstrated himself as a military leader and once again as a capable organizer, though still not a formal leader. The struggle continued until the very end of the Second World War, the withdrawal of Japanese forces from Indochina, and the forceful dissolution of the Vietnamese Empire (the puppet regime of Bảo Đại). On 2 September 1945, Ho Chi Minh wrote and proclaimed the Declaration of Independence.
This marked the consolidation of Ho Chi Minh’s new role—formal political leadership as head of the Provisional Government and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Key words: Vietnam, Indochina, history of the East, communism, revolutionary movement, political leadership, oriental science, Ho Chi Minh.
Received 2.12.2025.
Revised 24.12.2025.
Accepted 6.01.2026.
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