To promote the strength of party cells in mountainous villages

(Baonghean) -With the efforts of Party committees at all levels, up to now, mountainous and highland districts have basically eliminated villages without Party members and villages without Party cells. However, to continue to develop internal strength of village and hamlet Party cells is a matter of concern to be resolved.

The Party cell of Huoi Mac village, Lang Khe commune (Con Cuong) was officially established at the end of 2004, eliminating the "blank" village without a Party cell. At that time, in addition to the two Party members of the village, Lang Khe Party Committee had to add one more Party member, who was the Vice Chairman of the commune, to act as Secretary, to manage and consolidate grassroots organizations.

After a period of operation, the Party cell gradually affirmed its role in coordinating with organizations, village elders, and village chiefs, strengthening mass mobilization work, and working with ethnic households to develop production and livestock farming. During that process, the Party cell focused on training outstanding masses and recruited a number of new Party members. By mid-2008, the Huoi Mac Party cell had 7 Party members.

At the same time, the Commune Party Committee withdrew its reinforced Party members to the Commune Party Cell, handing over all leadership work to the village Party Cell with 6 comrades as the core at the grassroots level. However, due to many changes in labor, the village faced many difficulties in economic development, and some Party members lacked a constructive spirit, so the leadership role of the Party Cell became obscure. All tasks from activities, implementing resolutions of higher levels, building Party Cell resolutions, urging mass organizations... were almost not implemented, or in some activities, if implemented, they were very superficial.

Faced with that situation, in mid-2012, Lang Khe Party Committee continued to strengthen the Party member Ha Dinh Trieu - Member of the Inspection Committee of Lang Khe Commune Party Committee, to become the village Party cell secretary. After a short time, "strengthened Party cell secretary" Ha Dinh Trieu gradually stabilized the Party organization, together with comrades in the Party cell, strengthened the work of monitoring the situation, urged the mass organizations to operate in an orderly and effective manner, promoted the coordination of forces to prevent social evils, focused on economic development, and stabilized the lives of the villagers...

In reality, many village party cells in the highlands are always in a state of lacking elite mass resources. Young people grow up and leave their families and villages, while those who stay behind do not meet the criteria for training and admission, while others are not "keen" on striving to join the party. This reality does not only happen to weak party cells and party bases that have fulfilled their tasks, but also to clean and strong party cells.

A typical example is the Party cell of Cua Rao 1 village, Xa Luong commune (Tuong Duong) which has been classified as clean and strong for many years, but has not recruited any new party members for 6 consecutive years. “That fact makes us very confused. For more than a year, the Party cell has coordinated with mass organizations to train and send 3 young comrades to study party subjects. But according to the preliminary information we have, 2 of them are contacting to apply for jobs in other places…”.

Comrade Dau Thi Lieu (2nd from right) - Party cell secretary of Cua Rao 2 village - Xa Luong (Tuong Duong) talks with villagers.

Comrade Dau Thi Lieu - Party cell secretary confided like that. In Huoi Bac village, Bac Ly commune, in 2009, the party cell was established with 2 indigenous party members and 1 party member of My Ly Border Guard Station (at Bac Ly station). Up to now, the party cell has 4 party members and the border guard party member has been transferred to another village. However, the most worrying thing is the successor team of the party cell. In the current village, many young people drop out of school, spend all day on farming, go into the streams to earn a living, and are not aware of striving to join the Party...

With the goal of helping Party cells in mountainous and border areas stabilize and develop after being established, and at the same time contributing to promoting the internal factors of each cell, in recent years, the Border Guard Party Committee has rotated cadres and Party members from border posts to temporarily participate in Party activities at grassroots Party cells.

According to the report, 77 comrades have held the role of Party cell secretaries in villages and hamlets. In Ky Son district alone, 11 officers have been promoted to deputy secretaries of border communes, including one trusted to be Party cell secretary of Bac Ly commune. In addition, border posts in the area have also increased the number of Party members participating in activities with village and hamlet Party cells. However, the issue of promoting the internal strength of Party cells, as well as the sense of responsibility and intelligence of local Party members, is the most fundamental to sustainably maintain the role of Party cells.

The reasons for this problem can be explained as follows: Firstly, because the lives of the people (including party members) are still too difficult, they are facing great worries about their families' daily food and clothing, so the roles and tasks of party members have not been clearly defined. There are even party members who go to the fields and "forget" to participate in party cell activities. Secondly, some good nuclei, when trained and matured, are transferred to work in other localities, so the party cell is lacking. Thirdly, the youth are the core successor team of the party cell, but after finishing their studies, this force is scattered in many places, making it difficult to nurture the source of party development. Finally, due to the characteristics of many villages, the population is sparse, spread across two or three hills, so the regular party cell activities are not regular, and the mass mobilization work of the party cell, therefore, has not been promoted properly.

However, a reality that needs to be clarified is that Party cells have not created "attraction" for the masses, and are even worried about re-creating "blank copies" of the Party cells. Comrade Vi Hai Thanh - Secretary of the Party Committee of Ky Son district affirmed that: "Although we are worried, we cannot let the "blank copies" be re-created.

Despite many difficulties, with the support of the Border Guard and local units, the district is gradually strengthening mass mobilization work, discovering and training the masses to have a reliable source of successors in each village. Perhaps when considering training and recruiting elite masses in the highlands and border areas, the standards of cultural level are still lower than in other regions, but those are internal factors in the villages...".

Regulation No. 23-QD/TU, dated October 31, 2006 of the Politburo on the implementation of the Party Charter, also stipulates the educational level of Party members. Accordingly, "Party members in general must have a junior high school diploma or equivalent or higher". Particularly, "Party members living in mountainous, remote areas, areas with difficult and especially difficult socio-economic conditions, who cannot meet the above regulations, must generally have a minimum educational level of primary school" (Article 1).

Nguyen Son