Following the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm movement began soon after in the north, which was under Communist Party control. Journalists, artists and intellectuals began advocating for a more liberal approach towards writings and other works, inspired by incidents in fellow communist countries. Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev's denunciation of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong’s Hundred Flowers Campaign in neighbouring China, in particular, were seen by proponents of the Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm movement as encouraging developments indicating a less authoritarian and stifling stance towards free expression. The movement did not last long, however, as by late 1956 the Communist Party began to re-assert control over writings. The Communist Party declared in 1958 that the press was to be "the collective agitator, propagandist and organiser, an instrument of the party to lead the masses, a sharp weapon in the class struggle against the enemy".