President Ho Chi Minh - Founder and builder of the revolutionary press system

(Baonghean.vn) - Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Uncle Ho signing Decree No. 282-SL on December 14, 1956 on the press regime, looking back at the role of President Ho Chi Minh in founding and training the Vietnamese revolutionary press.

The first revolutionary newspaper in our country is considered the pioneering newspaper for the journalism stream, Thanh Nien, the mouthpiece of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association, No. 1 published on June 21, 1925, on Van Minh Street, Guangzhou, the capital of the Chinese Revolution at that time.

Before returning home in 1941, due to being busy with many international revolutionary activities, Nguyen Ai Quoc did not have the opportunity to publish any more newspapers, except for Than Ai in Thailand (1929). His journalistic activities at that time were mainly on the media of the Communist International, the Soviet Union, France, China and many other countries.

President Ho Chi Minh – Founder of Vietnam's revolutionary journalism (Photo)

The second important revolutionary newspaper that he published, right in Pac Bo - Cao Bang, in the early days of the Viet Minh Front, the biggest political event of his life after the founding of the Party (February 3, 1930), was the newspaper Vietnam Independence. Nguyen Ai Quoc transformed the style of theoretical journalism, propaganda of Marxism - Leninism, awareness of the colonial regime and professional revolutionary methods of Thanh Nien newspaper into a very simple newspaper for the masses, ethnic minorities, and at the same time opened up the type of "newspaper of mass organizations (mainly the Viet Minh Front, of the Trade Union, Women...)" besides the revolutionary press system of Party organizations.

After the August Revolution of 1945, the contingent of revolutionary journalists increased in number and became more and more “professional”. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh’s journalistic activities, although very diverse, were mainly as a journalist.

The formation of the revolutionary "press system" also bears the mark of many other contributions of his, such as the gradual construction of a theoretical foundation, training of press cadres,... which he paid great attention to. The first decrees on press publishing directly signed by President Ho Chi Minh, perhaps the earliest document was on September 18, 1945, are still considered the foundation for the construction of press laws of the new Vietnam. During the resistance war against France, his mark was clearly imprinted in the opening of a press training class named after Huynh Thuc Khang in the Viet Bac resistance base.

Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism Class on the opening day

Looking back at the history of our country's revolutionary press before 1954 also shows that Ho Chi Minh's mark is that besides applying the above formula, he also especially valued the function of educating revolutionary ethics, combativeness, and practicality of the press.

From the end of 1929, revolutionary newspapers gradually appeared in the country. When the Indochinese Communist Party was born, the Hammer and Sickle newspaper also appeared. At the end of 1929, the Party's Labor Committee had the Red Labor Union newspaper. In particular, the Red Labor Union in Bac Ky under the leadership of Nguyen Duc Canh launched the Labor newspaper in Hanoi, a newspaper that still exists today, still with the same name, considered one of the largest newspapers in our country today and has the longest history. At the end of 1929, the Annam Communist Party launched the Red newspaper.

Notably, six months after the Communist Party of Vietnam was born, on August 5, 1930, the Party Central Committee launched the first theoretical magazine, the Red Magazine, and the Struggle newspaper on August 15, 1930.

The Party newspaper system was first formed according to the Party's organizational model: there was the Central newspaper, then newspapers of the Regional Party Committees were also born, such as: Red Flag, Liberation of the Southern Regional Party Committee; Revolutionary Wave, Bolshevic of the Central Regional Party Committee...

Uncle Ho with reporters. Photo archive

Party bases in localities also had many unique newspapers such as Ximoong of Hai Phong; Than of Cam Pha, Dong Trieu; Bep, Bau Dau of Saigon-Gia Dinh... In Nghe Tinh area alone, during the 1930-1931 peak, there were up to 30 newspapers of the Regional Party Committee, Provincial Party Committee and district committees, of which the most famous was Song Cach Menh, directly controlled by Nguyen Phong Sac.

In the world, few Communist Parties in colonies have as many types of prison press as our Party! Newspapers and magazines, sometimes as small as leaflets or as small as a hand, are sometimes published quite neatly. Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi has the newspaper Con duong chinh (The main road), Lao tu tap chi (Prison magazine), Duoc duong (Torch of the road)... Con Dao Prison has Nhung nguoi tu do (Red prisoners), Hon Cau (Hung cau), Nghi nghi chung (Common opinion), Qua tieng song nhan (Through the sound of hateful waves)... Son La Prison has Suoi reo nam ay (That year's stream), Quang Nam Prison has Neo nha phat (The way to jail)...

In general, our Party's revolutionary press before 1945 always had to operate in secret, illegal circumstances, but the Vietnamese Communists were also very flexible and sensitive to the times. The period 1936-1939 is considered the period of the Indochina Democratic Front, which was an opportunity for our Party to publish newspapers openly and legally, and not only in Vietnamese. French-language newspapers such as LeTravail (Labor), Rassemblement (Assembly), En avant (Forward), Notre voix (Our Voice), Le Peuple (The People)... became the pride of the revolutionary press in general.

As a leader of the revolution and the Party, Nguyen Ai Quoc himself was a great journalist. Therefore, his influence, right from the early 20s of the 20th century, contributed greatly to the formation and development of revolutionary journalism, the most important legacy among the revolutionary cultural legacies of our Party before taking power.

Uncle Ho read the newspaper to the children at the children's camp in Viet Bac.

Journalism is a profession. The "professionalization" of revolutionary journalism is also of interest to our Party in many aspects, from the human factor to the legal basis: in 1939, for the first time, our Party initiated the Northern Press Conference; in December 1945, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam allowed the establishment of the Vietnam Press Union, the predecessor of the current Vietnam Journalists Association; in June 1950, the Government officially decided to establish the Vietnam Journalists Association, which has since gone through 7 Congresses.

Like many other cultural fields, on the press front, President Ho Chi Minh had a special interest. He expressed his wish that "the press must contribute to the cultural face of the new Vietnam" (article: "Half an hour with President Ho Chi Minh" by Nguyen Tuong Phuong, Tri Tan newspaper, September 20, 1945). In particular, on December 14, 1956, he signed Decree No. 282-SL on the press and publishing regime of the new Vietnam. The 1956 Press Decree affirmed and marked the victory of freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press of citizens and people of Vietnam, opening a new stage of the country's press, being the first brick for the press to later have the 1990 Press Law...

Peace

(Synthetic)