April 30 Victory: "Don't forget the 300,000 martyrs who have yet to return home"

President Nguyen Thien Nhan: "On April 30, 2015, let's pray for the souls of the martyrs to return to see the development of the country."

"On April 30, 2015, let us pray for the souls of the martyrs to return to see the development of the country, to see the sacrifices of the heroic martyrs rewarded. We must not forget that there are still more than 300,000 martyrs whose remains have not been found." Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Politburo member, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, shared with the press on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the complete liberation of the South and the reunification of the country (April 30) to clarify the significance of this important historical event as well as the Front's mission in mobilizing the strength of national unity.

3 memorable lessons from the historic victory of April 30

PV:Mr. President, the whole country is celebrating a glorious historical milestone, the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country. As the head of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, how do you assess the significance of the April 30 victory in the current context?

Chairman Nguyen Thien Nhan:When the country was at war, it was normal for young men to go to war, while women stayed home to do all the work. In those days, when bombs fell on houses and streets, people sought shelter and then continued to work and continue to fight.

But after 40 years, we all see that survival in war is not the law of mankind. The general law is survival in peace.

Our victory in that war has a very important meaning, a historical lesson. This is the victory of the people (95% illiterate) and more than 95% barefooted against the most modern empire in the world at that time. But why did we win?

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Politburo member, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (photo: Hoang Long)

We know that our nation has a tradition of fighting, but fighting such a modern enemy with guns, ammunition, and overwhelming power is an extremely big challenge. At that time, we had the most advanced tool in terms of revolutionary philosophy, and the superiority of the Party's intelligence combined with the tradition of the Vietnamese people created a great strength. Without this dialectical strength, we could not have liberated the country. In my opinion, the first lesson is that a country can be weak in material terms, but it must not be backward in intelligence.

Second, why can barefooted people defeat enemies wearing shoes? Why can bamboo sticks defeat cannons and airplanes? It is thanks to the spirit of national solidarity. In 1960, Uncle Ho taught, "Thanks to the great national solidarity, for centuries the Vietnamese people have protected their independence and freedom. Thanks to the great solidarity, the Vietnamese people defeated colonialism, making the August Revolution a success and the resistance war victorious. Thanks to the great solidarity, our Vietnam will certainly be unified."

Third, if we only rely on our own strength, we cannot defeat the invaders. In addition to the intellectual power of mankind, which is Marxism-Leninism, we can use the power of the times. That is the help of developed countries in Eastern Europe. Without the help of countries like the Soviet Union, how could we have cars, tanks, and planes to fight the Americans?

The lesson is that if a nation has the right path, follows the righteous path and knows how to take advantage of the power of the times, it can defeat a very large enemy. Or in other words, to be able to overcome challenges, it must know how to take advantage of the power of the times. But the internal factor must still be the core to promote the external factor.

The question is what is the power of the times today? During the war, the power of the times was the consensus on the goal of regaining peace and national independence. Now the power of the times is the ability to reach consensus with other nations. Each nation must take care of its own interests, independence, sovereignty, and the happiness of its people, but must not infringe upon the interests and rights of others. If we can do so, we can unite politically and ideologically.

Second, in the current era of globalization, we must know how to take advantage of the opportunities of globalization in terms of markets, technology, capital, human resources as well as regional connectivity. This is a very special opportunity that opens up opportunities for a country, even though its starting point may be lower than many other countries, to still be able to rise quickly.

The third lesson is solidarity. Even now, with GDP per capita exceeding 2,000 USD, this lesson is still extremely important to promote in current conditions.

PV:How does the President evaluate the contributions of the National Liberation Front in the victory of April 30, 1975, especially the period 1954-1975?

Chairman Nguyen Thien Nhan: In the climax of the uprising of the Southern people, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was born (December 20, 1960).

From December 20, 1960, after only one year of the development of the political struggle movement, the people had the initiative to combine political struggle with military agitation, from which local armed struggle and the Dong Uoc movement were created. The masses themselves proved that from the political struggle force, military agitation could form small armed forces to fight the enemy, recapture each piece of land, gradually forming a force combining politics, military agitation, and armed forces. By the end of 1964, we had basically destroyed the strategic hamlet strategy of the US and the puppet regime.

When the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam appeared, the struggle created a new situation of liberated zones. This was very special, in 1965 liberated zones began to appear. Thus, after 5 years of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, with the combination of the struggle in the South and support from the North, from the struggle within the enemy, we had our own zones. This was a revolutionary transitional period but at the same time there were liberated zones. The Front was responsible for managing the government in the liberated zones.

It can be said that the role of the Front changed from directly supporting political and armed warfare to managing liberated zones, while receiving support from the North to form a State management system to carry out activities.

The birth of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was the result of a correct revolutionary line. The Front promoted the people's initiative and developed step by step through the Front, contributing worthily to the victory of liberating the South and unifying the country.

Don't forget the 300,000 martyrs who have yet to return home.

PV:Promoting the spirit of April 30 victory in building and defending the Fatherland today, what important goals and tasks are the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations aiming to achieve, Mr. Chairman?

Chairman Nguyen Thien Nhan:In 2014, the Vietnam Fatherland Front held the 8th Congress, which identified 5 action programs. In addition to the very basic traditional activities that still need to be done better, which is to mobilize people to understand the Party's policies and guidelines, to have consensus and thereby promote initiatives for implementation, the Front's communication work emphasizes reflecting the people's voices to the Party and authorities at all levels. The motto is to tell the people about the Party's policies and the country's situation, but to listen to the people and convey the people's voices to authorities at all levels, including the important task of listening to the voices of Vietnamese people abroad.

The second task is to face international and domestic challenges and to accelerate sustainable development more effectively, we must promote people's initiatives, organize campaigns and emulation movements so that people can promote initiatives to contribute to building the country and making people's lives better.

The third task is to promote democracy, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political organizations play the core role of social supervision and criticism for the country's development as required by the 2013 Constitution. This is a sacred responsibility and anyone working for the Front, youth, women, veterans, and labor unions has the honor and mission of carrying out the responsibility of supervision and criticism as required by the Constitution.

Another task is how the Front can build a truly strong organization from the grassroots to meet the expectations of the people as well as the Party and the State. In the current context, I think it is necessary to increase propaganda about the achievements of our country over the past 40 years.

I just attended the 40th anniversary of the victory in Tra Vinh, and I saw clearly that, without comparing with 1975, just comparing with 1997, when Tra Vinh province was re-established, in 2014, the province's economic growth increased 5 times, the face of the countryside changed rapidly. Previously, in the Southwest, if you wanted to meet someone, you had to cross the ferry, but now great bridges are everywhere, the people's dream of hundreds of years has now come true.

Previously, who would have thought that Ca Mau and Bac Lieu would have wind power, but now 20 wind turbines have been put into operation and are still being built. Thus, a country coming out of the war with an income of only 78 USD, after 40 years everything has changed. The task of the front is to mobilize the strength of great national unity to rise up, making the country develop faster and more sustainably.

PV:On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of national reunification, what message does the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front want to send to the Vietnamese people both at home and abroad?

Chairman Nguyen Thien Nhan:On April 30, 2015, let us pray for the souls of the martyrs to return to see the development of the country, to see the sacrifices of the heroic martyrs rewarded.

We pray for the heroic Vietnamese mothers who have passed away, so that when their children and grandchildren burn incense, they will know that their names are engraved everywhere in this country. For the heroic Vietnamese mothers who are still alive, let us try to take care of them, so that they can all be happy.

We should not forget that there are still more than 300,000 martyrs whose remains have not been found. Let us light a stick of incense at the martyrs' cemetery, at the memorial, and even at our family altars to hope that the martyrs will sympathize with us when, 40 years have passed, our Government, army and our Lao and Cambodian friends have made efforts to bring tens of thousands of martyrs' children back home, but there are still more than 300,000 martyrs who have not returned home.

We also want international friends who contributed to the April 30 victory to know that Vietnam always remembers their support for Vietnam in the war against America.

PV:Thank you very much.

According to VOV