Need to strengthen supervision and management

(Baonghean) - Recently, public opinion within the party and among the people has been concerned, even dissatisfied, about the situation where some party members, after retirement, do not participate in party activities in their residential areas. This has directly affected the party's reputation among the people. So what are the causes and solutions to this situation?

No longer a rare thing

The Tan Thanh 2 Party cell (Le Mao ward, Vinh city) has 30 party members, except for 4 young party members, all of whom are retired cadres. Among them, there are party members who, although they are between 75 and 80 years old, are still actively participating and are the core of movements and activities in the block and residential area. Examples include party member Nguyen Xuan Uong, 79 years old, who suffered a mild stroke but did not apply for exemption from party activities but still held the position of party cell leader, taking on the block's education promotion work; or party member Ho Thi Tinh, nearly 80 years old, still being the head of the women's association, regularly going to each house to remind people to maintain hygiene, and propagandizing and mobilizing support when requested. Besides the retired cadres and party members who are old but still active in "village and block work", according to Party cell secretary Nguyen Ngoc Thuy: "It is sad that there are retirees who are still healthy, their family circumstances are not difficult, but after retirement they do not submit their application to participate in party activities at their place of residence". Also according to comrade Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, from 2010 to now, through monitoring, there are 2 cases in the block where party members after retirement did not submit their application to participate in party activities.

Model of planting ornamental plants and fruit trees by party member and war invalid Phung Trong Nghia, Bac Hai block, Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town.

The situation of retired party members not submitting party records at their place of residence or submitting but not participating in party activities, can be said to have been happening in many areas and among many subjects such as: civil servants, public employees in state agencies, social organizations, including leaders of provincial-level agencies; mid- and high-ranking officials in the military and police forces...

According to the report of Vinh City Party Committee, from 2012 to June 2014, in 6 Party Committees directly under the Provincial Party Committee (Party Committee of Provincial Agencies, Party Committee of Enterprises, Party Committee of Provincial Public Security, Party Committee of Provincial Military Command, Party Committee of Provincial Border Guard Command and Vinh University), there were 102 retired Party members but their party activity records have not been transferred to Vinh City Party Committee. In addition, there were 13 Party members directly under 2 Party Committees of Provincial Agencies and Party Committee of Enterprises, although their party activity records had been transferred to Vinh City Party Committee, they have not been transferred to the Party Committees of wards, communes and Party Committees of blocks and hamlets, or have been transferred but have not participated in activities. The above mentioned Party members are concentrated in Hung Binh Ward (17 Party members), Ha Huy Tap Ward (12 Party members), Truong Thi Ward (11 Party members), Le Mao Ward (10 Party members), Hung Phuc Ward (7 Party members)...

In Do Luong district, through the collection of party activity records transferred to the District Party Committee, there are currently 24 party members in the district who have not submitted their party membership records to their place of residence, and the actual number of retired party members who have not participated in activities is still unknown. There are opinions that if there were a complete count of the number of retired party members transferred from Party Committees in the province and from other Party Committees in the country (where the party members worked before retirement), this number in the whole province would be even larger. In addition, there are also cases where retired party members, although still living in their place of residence, transfer their party membership records and party records to their hometown to avoid "questioning" from the local Party Committee; there are cases where they transfer their records to their place of residence but then return to their hometown to live, only occasionally going to their place of residence to participate in activities, "avoiding" having to work as a block or hamlet cadre...

What is the cause?

Talking directly with the people involved, I heard thousands of reasons and explanations for this situation. Some people said, "Well, I'm retired now, so I'll just rest and not participate in any party cell activities or meetings anymore. Secondly, I'm retired, so I can't contribute anything anymore, so why would I participate in activities?" Others said they were worried about becoming "source cadres of the block or hamlet" so they didn't want to "publicly" be party members. Some people think that "the quality of Party cell activities is still formal, the content is monotonous"... Comrade Nguyen Ngoc Thuy - Secretary of the Tan Thanh 2 Party Cell (Le Mao Ward, Vinh City), said: "The core problem is still the vague awareness of the Party of some Party members in this category. On the other hand, there are some cases where their motivation to join the Party is for personal purposes, not for the purposes, ideals and career of the Party; they want to join the Party to have the opportunity to advance and be promoted to leadership positions, so when they retire, they do not want to participate in Party activities". Looking at it from another perspective, Comrade Tran Sy Loc - Secretary of the Quang Phuc Party Cell (Hung Phuc Ward, Vinh City), said that the evaluation and classification of Party members at the end of the year according to the regulations of the superiors, retired Party members who do not hold positions in the Party Committee or mass organizations are only evaluated at the level of completing their tasks, thus not creating motivation and encouragement for active and enthusiastic Party members.

According to Comrade Dau Van Thanh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Board: The phenomenon of retired party members not participating in party activities today, according to the spirit of the 4th Central Resolution "Some urgent issues on Party building today", is the state of political and ideological degradation of a number of party members. The main reason is the opportunistic and individualistic thinking, and the unstable political will in the face of difficulties, shortcomings, and limitations of the party organization of some party members. If party members have a correct understanding of the Party and the responsibilities of party members, each party member must participate in building the Party, participating in innovation, and improving the quality of party cell activities so that the party cell can truly be the political nucleus at the grassroots level. If party members wait for a good environment to return to activities, the Party does not need such party members. On the part of the party organization, it must also frankly admit that the role of some party organizations has declined, not really becoming the political nucleus to lead the local political system; There are places where the rights of party members are not guaranteed, and even when they are violated, they are not protected. The fact that some officials and party members with positions and power lack exemplary behavior, are corrupt, arbitrary, and authoritarian; many negative phenomena occur continuously without being resolved... has partly affected the psychology and ideology of party members. Meanwhile, the management and monitoring work of party organizations towards party members is not really good, so there is no timely solution to rectify the situation of party members abandoning party activities.

Timely solution needed

According to some opinions, the phenomenon of retired party members not participating in party activities does not affect the organization and strength of each party cell, because the number of these party members compared to the total number of party members in each party organization currently accounts for a very small proportion. However, the issue of concern is the consequences, affecting the ideology, the mentality of striving to join the Party, the goals and ideals of the young generation, the positive factors, the people who are both red and specialized, very necessary for the Party. Comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Secretary of the Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc, said: The entire Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc has more than 4,300 party members, the number of retired party members who do not participate in party activities is only in the dozens.

Although the phenomenon of retired party members not participating in party activities is not common, with the awareness and desire that party members of the Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc who are cadres of leading provincial agencies when retiring to their place of residence must still be core party members, exemplary in local movements, contributing to enhancing the prestige of the Party Committee of the Bloc in particular and the prestige of party members who are cadres and civil servants in general when returning to the people. Therefore, when discovering that retired party members still do not participate in party activities through reports from the Party cells of the Bloc and hamlets, the Party Committee of the Bloc reported to the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, and at the same time proactively reviewed the number of retired party members in recent years. Through the survey, it was shown that there were a number of retired party members who still kept their party records at the agency where they worked before retiring. After reviewing, the Party Committee of the Bloc requested that party organizations transfer party records to party members at their place of residence, and also stipulated that party members who retire for 1 month must transfer their membership certificate and party records to their place of residence.

According to some opinions from grassroots party committees and party cells, in the past, party members who transferred party activities from one place to another were only allowed to bring a "Party activity transfer introduction letter", while all party member records were transferred via official dispatch, so the party organizations where the party members transferred to would grasp and manage the party members' activities in their agencies and localities. But now, party members who transferred party activities from one place to another are allowed to bring both the introduction letter and the "original" party member records. Therefore, when they go to a new agency or unit or return to the locality where they retired, if they do not want to participate in party activities, they do not have to submit the activity transfer letter and party member records and that's it! In principle, the party organization in the new unit does not receive the party activity introduction letter, so even if they know for sure that this person is a party member, they will not recognize him as a party member. As for the party organization in the old unit that transferred party activities to the party member it previously managed, its responsibility has ended. From the practical situation, according to comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang - Secretary of the Party Committee of Hung Phuc Ward (Vinh City), it is recommended that when a party member retires, the party activity records from the working agency should be transferred directly to the local Party Committee, and the records should not be transferred to the party member. Only then can the local party organization grasp the party member when he/she retires, thereby reducing the situation of party members "leaving the party" by transferring party activities as is currently the case.

It is necessary to regulate the criteria for evaluating and classifying retired party members more accurately, reasonably and appropriately. Recently, when some Party Committees in the province conducted a review of retired party members who did not participate in party activities, some party members were eager to come to party organizations to submit their documents and ask to participate in party activities. This raises the question of strengthening the management and supervision of party members more closely. In fact, for a long time, party organizations have only managed party members at the "input" (ie at the time of admission), but have not paid due attention to the "output", only stopping at knowing the number of party members who were expelled, disciplined, passed away... but the number of party members who stopped participating in activities in many forms and for various reasons is still not known.

Therefore, in some places, party members have been transferred for a long time but are still on the management list, on the contrary, there are party members who have returned to their localities but do not participate in activities, and the party organization does not remind them, or even does not know. In addition, it is necessary to promote education, training, and enhance the responsibility of party members in Party building work in both favorable and difficult times. At the same time, it is necessary to stipulate criteria for evaluating and classifying retired party members more accurately, reasonably, and appropriately. According to Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department Dau Van Thanh, the consistent solution is to improve the leadership capacity and fighting strength in both theory and practice of party organizations at all levels, affirming the role and function of party organizations as always being the core of leadership and a strong spiritual support for party members to fulfill their tasks.

The Party Charter does not stipulate a “retirement” age for Party members. Each Party member should not turn himself into “a large number of cadres and Party members who have degraded in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle” as assessed by the Central Resolution 4 “Some urgent issues on Party building today”. On the contrary, he should be proud of being a Party member and must protect his political rights to set an example for the younger generation. The path to the Party for each Party member is not easy, so he must continue to participate in activities to contribute to building the Party and local government, only then will he truly be worthy of being “a Party member who goes first, the country follows”.

Article and photos:Plum Blossom