President Ho Chi Minh visited and talkedwith units of Military Region 4 in 1957

(June 15, 1957)

On behalf of the Party Central Committee and the Government, I would like to send my warm greetings to all cadres and soldiers, male and female.

I would like to share some ideas with you guys in your work. First of all, I would like to talk about your achievements and strengths:

1. You have tried to protect the sea and borders of the Fatherland, and together with the people maintain security and order, that is a commendable achievement.
2. You guys have tried to study politics and military.
3. You guys have helped people correct mistakes, fight hunger, floods, storms and droughts.

Those are three commendable advantages.

Now I'll talk about the shortcomings:

1. Insufficient vigilance.
2. There are some cadres and soldiers with the mentality of heroes, thinking that they have achievements and are long-standing, thinking that they are heaven, falling into the pit of individualism, thinking about preferential treatment, forgetting that every cadre and soldier of the people's army must serve wholeheartedly, should not half serve, half be jealous.
3. Insufficient awareness of labor. We must know that labor is glorious, manual labor is even more glorious. Without farmers working the fields, we would have no food to eat. So what do farmers do? Farmers do manual labor.
   Without weavers we would have no clothes to wear. So what is a worker? A worker does manual labor.
   Therefore, manual labor is very glorious. Any labor that is useful to society and to the people is glorious.
   Among you guys, there are some who do manual labor like working in the barracks, which is not considered honorable, and that is not right.
4. We must know that our regime, our State, and our army must have strict discipline and tight organization. Some of you do not have a full sense of discipline and organization, such as taking 3 days off and then taking 4 days.

Those are the flaws.

Now Uncle Ho presents the immediate task:

1. We must be vigilant. Our country is still temporarily divided into two regions. The Americans and Diem do not want us to succeed. They want to destroy us, they will find a thousand ways to destroy us, so we must be vigilant.
2. Do well in studying and political education.
3. Must try to learn military techniques and profession. Must try to learn every day, otherwise will regress.
4. Must fight against corruption and waste.
   We must make sure that our army is free of corruption and waste.
   Must raise awareness and labor discipline.
   Must raise awareness of saving.
5. We must unite. Our army is united, we must unite even more. Internal unity, the whole army must unite, soldiers in the South and the North must unite closely, not divide the North and the South, officers and soldiers must unite, army and people must unite.
   In the early days of the revolution, the enemy was strong and we were very weak, but we were united so we succeeded.
   At first we were weak, but we won because we were united. We must be very united.

Talking to you today, I have 3 compliments, 4 criticisms, and 5 instructions. Try to develop the compliments. Try to correct the criticisms. Try to do the instructions correctly.

I hope you guys will make more progress.