President Ho Chi Minh - hero of national liberation and a great man of culture, pioneer and exemplary soldier of the international communist and worker movements. His life and revolutionary career is an epic of patriotism, devotion and sacrifice for independence and freedom of the Fatherland, happiness of the people and peace, development and advancement of the humankind(1). His thought, morality and lifestyle are an extremely valuable asset of the entire Party, army and people and will forever be a huge source of pride and encouragement for all Vietnamese generations today and in the future, and will lighten the Vietnamese revolution as well as lead the Party and the people to achieve great victories in the Fatherland’s construction and defense.

1. President Ho Chi Minh - Great patriot, national liberation hero

Born and raised when the country was colonized, witnessing the people’s sufferings and misery and the failures of many patriotic uprisings and movements against the French colony, and the deadlock of Vietnamese revolution with “no way out”, the young patriot Nguyen Tat Thanh burned in himself the determination to find a new way to save the country and the people and to liberate the nation. He decided to go to France, towards Western countries, to find out what was behind the slogan “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity”; and “... after seeing how they do, I will come back to help our fellow countrymen”(2). In the West, he soon realized that the bourgeois revolutions, despite being as great as the American revolution or the French revolution, could not liberate the laborers, that is, these revolutions were not radical and were unfulfilled. He was immersed in the worker movement and social movement in France and other Western countries and actively took part in the Communist International; he was a co-founder of the French Communist Party and the Union of Colonies to encourage, unite and guide people of colonial countries to stand up for self-liberation.

From the rich revolutionary practice, when studying Lenin’s Preliminary Draft Theses on the National and Colonial Questions in the light of the Russian October Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh found the only appropriate way to salvage the country and liberate the nation, which is the proletarian revolution, the people’s democratic revolution closely associated with the socialist revolution. By supplementing, developing, and creatively applying Marxism - Leninism to the Vietnamese revolutionary practice, he became a shining example of absolute loyalty to the communist ideology, of great contributions to the friendship among world peoples, between the proletariat in ruling countries and in colonial peoples, among the brotherly socialist countries and among the progressive forces around the world in the fight for national liberation, class liberation and human liberation.

As a noble symbol of Vietnamese patriotism, President Ho Chi Minh awakened and promoted the precious patriotic tradition of the nation to a high level of revolutionary heroism, bringing into full play the endless strength of our people in the struggle for national independence and the resistance war and national construction. He pointed out a great opportunity for the Vietnamese people with a strong will: “No matter what sacrifice we have to devote, even if we have to burn down the whole of the Truong Son range, we must be determined to win back independence”(3), encouraging our entire people to rise up to seize the ruling power, smash the slavery chains of colonialism and feudalism, making the victory of the August Revolution, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. That victory is not only a shining milestone in the Vietnamese nation’s history but also a turning point marking the collapse of colonialism, opening a new era for the fight for independence of the people in colonial countries, demonstrating President Ho Chi Minh’s strong affirmation in the Declaration of Independence in front of the entire nation and people: All nations in the world are born equal; every nation has the right to life, the right to happiness and the right to freedom. Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, and in fact has become a free and independent country(4).

2. President Ho Chi Minh - the genius leader, the Communist Party of Vietnam’s founder, leader and trainer

In the book titled “Revolutionary Path”, the Party’s first training manual for cadres, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed, “First of all revolution demands a revolutionary party... The revolution can only succeed if the Party is strong, just as the boat can only run when there is a driver. To be stable, a party must have an ideology as its core... A party without its ideology is like a person without wisdom, a boat without compass”(5).While abroad, he founded the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League and organized cadre training classes to spread Marxism - Leninism in the Vietnamese worker movement and patriotic movement. From this school, he trained a number of outstanding students, many of whom became the Vietnamese Party’s first leaders. These were the extremely significant steps of ideological, political, organizational and personnel preparation so that in the spring of 1930, Ho Chi Minh chaired the Conference on founding the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), opening a new era for the Vietnamese revolutionary cause.

He considered CPV is a true revolutionary party, the vanguard of the working people and the whole nation, taking Marxism - Leninism as the ideological foundation and the nation’s interests and people’s happiness as the goals of action.  “The Party is not an organization for promotion or benefits. It must fulfill the tasks for the liberation of the nation, the prosperity of the country and the happiness of the people”(6); “the Party has no other interests than those of the nation and Fatherland”(7).

To accomplish the mission of a ruling Party, according to him, it is necessary to regularly pay attention to Party building and rectification and to strengthen the Party’s leadership and fighting capacity. Within the Party, democracy must be executed widely; party members must preserve the unity and oneness of mind in the Party as the apple of their eyes and bear in mind that “cadres are the root of every task” as they resolutely fight against the diseases that make the Party “crowded but not strong”; the Party and each party member has to closely connect with the people, to serve the people and take care of the people in all spheres(8).

He considered building the Party’s morality as a vital issue directly related to the Party’s existence and to the success or failure of the revolution, because morality is the foundation and the root of a revolutionary party and true revolutionaries. He affirmed that the fact that the Party initiated, led and organized the national liberation and built a new, rich and civilized society was a glorious mission and a noble humanitarian cause, but also an important responsibility assigned by the whole nation. Therefore, the Party must be the entity acquiring the quintessence of the nation and the era, worthy of being a new type of political party, being wise, and “being moral, being civilized”(9).

Building the Party’s morality can only succeed if every cadre and every party member studies and self-trains on a daily basis, raises revolutionary morality, and sweeps away individualism in order to become virtuous and talented people, being both ethical and professional and shining examples. President Ho Chi Minh once said: “A revolutionist must be virtuous. No matter how talented they are, without virtue, they cannot lead the people”(10).The top revolutionary qualities instructed by Him are as follows: determination for a lifetime struggle for the Party and for the revolution; making every effort in the work for the Party and firmly maintaining the Party’s disciplines and well executing the Party’s lines and policies; putting the Party’s and people’s interests above self-interests, wholeheartedly serving the people, sacrificing for the Party and the people; striving to study Marxism - Leninism, always using self-criticism and criticism to enhance thought and improve work, consolidate unity and oneness in mind(11). In His Testament left to us, President Ho Chi Minh anxiously instructed: “Ours is a ruling party. Each party member, each cadre must be deeply imbued with revolutionary morality, and show industry, thrift, integrity, uprightness, total dedication to the public interest and complete selflessness. Our Party should preserve absolute purity and prove worthy of its role as the leader and very loyal servant of the people”(12).

3. President Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam’s outstanding cultural celebrity of world stature

President Ho Chi Minh devoted and sacrificed his whole life to national liberation, social liberation, and human liberation; to a world of peace, compassion and development. His thoughts are the quintessence of human culture, imbued with the  Oriental and Western cultural values. He absorbed the Buddhist philosophy of “compassion, joy, salvation”; “harmony” ideology and “building a universal world” of Confucianism; “Equality, Charity” of Christianity; and the “Three Principles of the People” of Sun Yat-sen. But above all, he absorbed the revolutionary ideology, “all is for human and the cause of human liberation” of Marxism - Leninism. He is the crystallization of a thousand-year cultural tradition of the Vietnamese nation; his thoughts embody the aspiration of those nations that desire to affirm their own cultural identities and strengthen mutual understanding(13). Therefore, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) honored President Ho Chi Minh as the Vietnamese hero of national liberation hero –a great man of culture.

President Ho Chi Minh is the image of a great man, a new type of people’s leader: great but not lofty; noble and very simple with a close bond to the masses; a true love for comrades and people; and wholehearted and devoted to sacrificing himself for the cause of national independence and reunification(14). All His life he had only the ultimate desire “to make our country completely independent, our people completely free, and our compatriots have means of subsistence and schooling”(15). The only thing He regretted when departing this world was that “He could not be able to serve longer and more”(16). It was the great aspiration and purpose that gave him a great will and energy “not to be seduced by wealth, not to be transformed by poverty and not to be bowed by power”(17); to overcome all misery and difficulties in order to lead the Party and people to achieve great victories in the struggle for national independence, reunification and steadfast on the path to socialism. 

4. Ho Chi Minh Thought - compass and torch lighting the way for the struggle for national liberation, national reunification and socialist construction

Coming to Marxism - Leninism and considering it a “miraculous manual”, Ho Chi Minh also claimed that Marxism - Leninism, “is not a dogma, but a compass for revolutionary action;... is not something rigid but is full of creativeness... it needs regularly supplementing with new conclusions drawn from vivid practices”(18). Creatively applying Marxism - Leninism to the Vietnamese revolutionary practice, he built a priceless treasure of thought in all aspects of the revolution: on relationships between the nation and the class, between proletariat revolution and colonial revolution, between Vietnamese revolution and world revolution; on the rule of creation and leadership role of communist parties, building a legitimate Marxist party in a colonial and feudal country; on gathering and building forces in the Vietnamese national liberation revolution, a building block of great national unity, and combining national strength with the power of the times; on building socialism given that Vietnam is an agricultural country with a low starting point, skipping the capitalist stage; on building and rectifying a clean and strong Party; on the building of a State of the people, by the people, for the people in association with socialist democracy, etc. Ho Chi Minh Thought is a guideline for the Vietnamese revolutionary boat to overcome storms to reach the shore of victory. During the resistance war against the French colonialist invasion, with the spirit “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”; with the determination “It is better to sacrifice everything than to lose the country, to live in slavery”, the whole Vietnamese nation bravely fought to make the Dien Bien Phu victory “a golden epic”. During the resistance war and national salvation against the US, with a strong will “the Vietnamese country is one, the Vietnamese people are one. Rivers may be drained out, mountains may be eroded, but the truth will never change”, the entire Party, army and people unanimously undertook two strategic tasks: socialist building in the North and liberation in the South and national unification, composing an heroic epic of the North-South blood relationship, and the ardent desire of a peace-loving nation, which never yields to an enemy. Under the rain of bombs and bullets, overcoming all the hardships and difficulties, the Northern people both successfully built socialism and fulfilled their big rear-end obligations to support the large frontline of the South, so that the whole army and people could “fight until the US runs away and the puppet government falls”, gaining glorious victories with the peak of the Ho Chi Minh historic campaign, completely liberating the South, combining all parts of the country, opening an era of independence and unification, and bringing the entire nation to socialism.

5. Study and follow Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle - The Party will definitely succeed in leading the firm construction and defense of the Socialist Vietnam Fatherland

Loyally and excellently inheriting Ho Chi Minh’s career, during the renewal today, the country has gained huge achievements of historical significance; the people are wealthier and happier and the Party has grown stronger. That victory is the result of the resolute and creative application of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the persistence in the goal of “national independence associated with socialism” and in the innovative, creative lines for the construction and defense of the Socialist Vietnam Fatherland. That victory brings us excitement, pride and trust in the accurate and wise leadership of the Party, the most decisive factor for the achievements gained by the country and people on every stage of the revolutionary journey.

Being proud of these achievements, we are increasingly aware of our great responsibility to new requirements and tasks. The country’s renewal has become more intensive, difficult and complicated. The situations in the world and region are developing quickly, which is complicated and unpredictable. The hostile and reactionary forces are constantly disseminating, inciting, distorting, and opposing the Party, State, and regime. Such internal invaders as the deterioration of ideology, morality and lifestyle, corruption, bureaucracy, and “self-development” and “self-transformation” in a part of cadres and party members are doing harm to the people’s trust in the Party.

From the practice of the country’s revolution over the past 90 years and the nation’s ideology, morality and lifestyle are always a valuable guide for the entire Party, army and people to overcome all difficulties and challenges. Promoting the study and follow of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle is a great and important part in the task of building and rectifying the comprehensively clean and strong Party in the 12th Party Congress term. Building the Party’s morality has become an important motto to prevent and repel the deterioration of ideology, morality and lifestyle, bureaucracy, corruption, group interests, self-evolution, and self-transformation to consolidate the people’s trust in the Party. This has been resolutely done by the Party, which is trusted, consented and supported by the people, especially in the time when the whole Party, army and people are holding Party congresses at all levels, advancing towards the 13th National Party Congress.

Held at a time when the country has passed 35 years of implementing the Renewal and 30 years of implementing the Platform for national construction in the transition period to socialism, including 10 years of implementing the Platform (supplements and amendments) in 2011 and 10 years of implementing the Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2011-2020(19), the 13th National Party Congress will be an important milestone orienting the future orientation with the desire and vision of a socialist-oriented developed country by the middle of the century. Upon the new opportunity and the new fortune of the country and the people, we are more deeply imbued with the teachings of President Ho Chi Minh about the application of the motto “use invariables to cope with variables”, on the ways to practice “the spirit of solving everything” and deeply grasp the “universal truth” of Marxism - Leninism, the ways to adhere to the principle of inheritance and development, persistence and innovation, and smooth combination of theories and practices so that we can constantly perfect the renewal path, meeting the country’s objective requirements in line with the trend of the times.

Each cadre and party member is imbued with Ho Chi Minh’s instructions that the “cadre is the root of all work” and “training cadres is the Party’s rooted work” attached to the Party’s destiny, the regime’s survival and the country’s development; on the requirements of “raising revolutionary morality”, responsibility of self-training, self-cultivation, and setting good examples for the masses; on building a ruling party with integrity, purity, strength, wisdom and courage on par with the task assigned by the Fatherland and the people; on the lesson of taking the people as the root, the centre and the subject of the renewal cause, using the people’s talent and power to benefit the people; promoting the cultural values and the strength of Vietnamese people, combining the strength of the great national unity bloc with the power of the times during the revolutionary cause.

“Our nation, our people, our country gave birth to President Ho Chi Minh, the great national hero, and it is he who brought honor to our nation, our people and our country”(20). Firmly following the Marxism - Leninism foundation, Ho Chi Minh’s Thought, persisting with the goal of national independence and socialism and the Party’s renewal lines, the entire Party, army and entire people united with oneness in mind, with determination and aspiration to make a Vietnam’s development miracle. We will definitely build socialism under the motto of “rich people, a strong country, democracy, justice and civilization”, shouldering the great powers of the five continents as the wish of President Ho Chi Minh.

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Endnotes:

(1) Ta Ngoc Tan: Opening speech at the scientific conference for 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh’s departure to seek a way to save the country, May 17, 2011, Hanoi.

(2) Tran Dan Tien: Stories of President Ho Chi Minh’s life, Literature Publishing House, Hanoi, 1984, p.11.

(3) Vo Nguyen Giap: Historical Journeys, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1994, p.196.

(4) Declaration of Independence giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945.

(5) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.2, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2000, p.268.

(6), (7) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.5, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.289, 290.

(8) Ho Chi Minh City: Complete Works, vol.13, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.272.

(9) President Ho Chi Minh’s speech at the Party’s 30th Anniversary (January 5, 1960), The People’s Newspaper, No. 2121, January 7, 1960.

(10) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.5, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1996, pp.252-253.

(11) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.11, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.603.

(12) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.15, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, pp.611-612.

(13) Resolution 24c/18.65 of UNESCO Session 24-1987.

(14) Tran Minh Truong: President Ho Chi Minh - The great leader who sacrifices his whole life for the country and the happiness of the people, Nhan Dan electronic newspaper, dated 18-5-2018.

(15), (16) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.12, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1996, p.517, 512.

(17) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.6, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1996, p.184.

(18) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, vol.7, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 1996, p.496.

(19) Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong: Some issues that need special attention in personnel preparation for the 13th National Party Congress, Nhan Dan Newspaper, dated April 27, 2020.

(20) Eulogy of Vietnamese Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, read by Comrade Le Duan, Party First Secretary, at the solemn memorial ceremony to President Ho Chi Minh, September 9, 1969.