Collective leadership is considered an ideal form of ruling a communist party, both within and outside a socialist state. Its main task is to distribute powers and functions from the individual to a single group. For instance, in China or in Vietnam, when the country was ruled by Le Duan, powers have been distributed from the office of General Secretary of the Communist Party and shared with the Politburo Standing Committee while still retaining one ruler. Nowadays, in Vietnam there is not one paramount leader, and power is shared by the party General Secretary, President and the Prime Minister along with collegial bodies such as the Politburo, Secretariat and the Central Committee.