To live the spirit of 'Things to do now'

30 years ago, on May 25, 1987, a short article, just over 300 words long, appeared in Nhan Dan newspaper with the title “Things to do immediately”. In the article, the author with the pen name NVL directly pointed out some of the basic causes of price increases and at the same time proposed some measures to overcome them.

Immediately, the article caused a stir in public opinion for its frankness and lack of avoidance commonly seen in journalism at that time.

In the following days (from May 25 to 30), there were 5 articles with the same title “Things to do immediately” by author NVL published. At this time, public opinion was like in an “earthquake”. This was considered the “starting shot” opening a new era for the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press.

(Illustration: Ngoc Diep)

When evaluating the achievements of Doi Moi, it is certainly impossible not to mention the great achievements in the field of communication and journalism. If the press previously mainly promoted good people and good deeds, limited and even "avoided" reporting negative incidents, then after the 6th Congress, specifically after the series of articles by author NVL, there has been a great revolution in this field.

From now on, the press no longer only disseminates and propagates policies and guidelines, highlights good examples and achievements, but also carries the responsibility of reflecting the bad and negative aspects. It can be said that the press in the post-“Things to Do Immediately” era is a multi-dimensional voice, reflecting quite honestly the social reality as well as the thoughts and aspirations of the people. From there, it moves towards the critical nature of the press as it is today.

Therefore, it can be said that the person who "paved the way" for the maturity of the Vietnamese Revolutionary press in the Renovation period was General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh with 31 articles published in Nhan Dan under the pen name NVL.

30 years have passed, but the vitality and spread of "Things to do immediately" is still very strong, a classic lesson of Revolutionary journalism in the spirit of speaking frankly, speaking truthfully, speaking in the spirit of building a better society.

For these reasons, recently, Nhan Dan newspaper has cooperated with the National Political Publishing House Truth to compile the work "Vitality: Things to do immediately" consisting of 3 parts. Part one collects all 31 articles by author NVL published in Nhan Dan newspaper, from the first article on May 25, 1987 to the last article on September 28, 1990.

Part two "Responding to things that need to be done immediately" includes 15 articles, starting with the Editorial published on July 13, 1987, ending with the article "Being a teacher, being a worker" written by the late Journalist Huu Tho on July 10, 1990.

In particular, part three "Vitality: Things to do immediately in the current period" has collected many articles by senior leaders of the Party, State and some reporters of Nhan Dan newspaper.

If in his works, what former General Secretary Le Kha Phieu cared about was expressed through the titles "Enhancing the fighting capacity and leadership role of the Party, strengthening the relationship with the people, the Party - People have one will" or "Speaking the truth, doing the truth to prevent and push back the degradation in a large number of cadres and party members"; for former President Truong Tan Sang, it was his thoughts before "The burden of responsibility before history and the future", then for General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, it was "Striving to carry out well the campaign to build and rectify the Party".

Evaluating this part 3, at the beginning of the book, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong wrote: “The main idea of ​​this part is to consider the implementation of tasks and solutions for Party building and rectification as “Things that need to be done immediately”; must become a specific action program of each level, each sector, each unit and the entire political system…”.

Also in the article, the General Secretary expressed his praise: “I welcome Nhan Dan newspaper and the National Political Publishing House Truth for researching, compiling and publishing this book. And I hope that comrades and compatriots nationwide will read and strongly respond to “What needs to be done immediately” in Party building to successfully implement Resolution 4 of the 12th Central Committee.”

The publication by Nhan Dan Newspaper, together with the National Political Publishing House, Truth, of a book containing articles by the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh and other senior Party leaders, is not only to recall a historical milestone in the Vietnamese revolutionary press, but also to motivate today's journalists to be steadfast in their fight against evil and bad things, while encouraging and motivating good things.

According to Dan Tri