Kaysone Phomvihane
The implications of the 1979 changes did not dawn on the party leadership before the mid-1980s. In the beginning, the market reforms were promoted under the umbrella of the Socialist Economic Management Mechanism, and by 1984 the New Economic Management Mechanism. Both these terms stressed the importance of state management of the economy. The LPRP still deemed "that the state economy, collective economy and state capitalism were based on the principle of a planned economy, whereas the private and individual sectors were based on the principle of commodity-money relations." At the 8th Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee, Kaysone Phomvihane told the plenum that the two-line struggle between socialism and capitalism had entered a new and complex stage. At the 3rd National Congress Kaysone Phomvihane further clarified his statement, claiming that the two-line struggle was between those who supported and those who opposed economic reforms. In reaction to opposition from party officials, especially those centred around Nouhak Phoumsavanh, Kaysone Phomvihane introduced the term New Thinking into ideological discourse at the 4th National Congress. The term was defined in opposition to what Kayasone Phomvihane termed "old thinking":