As the Vietnamese Communist Party prepared for the 8th party congress in 1996, predictions were that reform issues (e.g., privatization of land and the move to a market economy) would be fully aired and that a strategic course for the future would be set. In the end, however, the congress came to reflect the more cautious style of VNCP General Secretary Do Muoi, restating the party's core values and rejecting more radical changes. Based on party documents, party resolutions and decrees, Vietnamese-language newspaper accounts and the views of senior party and government officials, diplomats and scholars, this work closely examines the Muoi years as they led up to the 8th congress, the congress itself, and its impact on future Vietnamese policy.