Ho Chi Minh's Testament: An order in the "rectification" of the party

On the morning of May 10, 1965, at a time when everywhere was bustling with competition to achieve achievements to celebrate Uncle Ho's 75th birthday, at the stilt house in the Presidential Palace, Uncle Ho began to write the first lines of his Will, leaving instructions for posterity before he peacefully entered the eternal world more than 4 years later.

Uncle Ho revised the will several times, adding more content, but it was very concise, specific, and profound. Knowing that he could not live until the day the Fatherland was unified, the country was reunited, but Uncle Ho firmly believed that the cause of resistance to save the country and unify the country would definitely be victorious.

President Ho Chi Minh paid great attention to the issue of Party building during his lifetime. (Photo courtesy)

Must be worthy of being a leader and a servant

50 years after Uncle Ho passed away, his image and thoughts will forever remain with the country. Rereading his Will and examining the results of implementing his instructions, we can see the great vision of a national hero, with the issues raised still relevant today.

I see that implementing Uncle Ho's Testament, what we have achieved is reaching the goal with a glorious victory, unifying the country in 1975. This is what Uncle Ho had been most concerned about since his youth, and then decided to go abroad to "find the shape of the country" in 1911, from Nha Rong port. And since the implementation of the renovation in 1986, we have also had many proud achievements in economic development, international integration, making our country "more decent and more beautiful".

I was a bodyguard of Uncle Ho, staying by his side to protect him in his final years before he passed away, and then being assigned the task of holding the pen and broom to preserve the mementos of his residence and workplace. After 50 years, looking back at the Will that I have memorized and carried with me for half a century, I still feel a pain in my heart, and that is what Uncle instructed: "First of all, talk about the Party".

Why in the sacred Testament, did he “First of all talk about the Party”? Because it was a revolutionary party that Nguyen Ai Quoc – Ho Chi Minh had founded and worked hard to build, a pioneering political party with the historic mission of leading the people to liberate the nation, eliminate oppression, and build a better society... but at the same time, it was a ruling party that harbored the risk of degradation that a leader like Uncle Ho had foreseen.

In the passage “First of all, about the Party”, Uncle Ho advised “comrades from the Central Committee to the Party cells must preserve the unity and consensus of the Party as they preserve the pupils of their eyes. Within the Party, practicing democracy extensively, regularly and seriously, self-criticism and criticism is the best way to consolidate and develop the unity and solidarity of the Party. There must be comradely love for one another. Our Party is a ruling party. Each Party member and cadre must truly imbue revolutionary ethics, truly be thrifty, honest, impartial and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, worthy of being a leader, a truly loyal servant of the people”.

Dr. Tran Viet Hoan, former Director of the Uncle Ho Relic Site at the Presidential Palace.

Full of pride, but also very anxious

As an experienced revolutionary, who traveled all over the world, and was well-versed in culture and history, Ho Chi Minh had enough experience to clearly realize that: "A nation, a party and each individual, who were great yesterday and had great appeal, are not necessarily loved and praised by everyone today and tomorrow, if their hearts are no longer pure, if they fall into individualism..."

From that awareness and concern, not only in the Will but many times Uncle Ho reminded party members and cadres that: "The masses only love people with moral character"; "You must be upright yourself first, then you can help others to be upright. If you are not upright but want others to be upright, that is unreasonable"; "The rice we eat, the clothes we wear, the materials we use all come from the sweat and tears of the people"...

What makes veteran party members like me feel proud but also very worried, remorseful, and guilty towards Uncle Ho every time we think about the Party is that many years after Uncle Ho passed away, that worry has become a reality, as the head of our Party, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, painfully admitted: "The state of degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle, corruption, waste, and depravity among a large number of cadres and party members, including high-ranking officials, has not been pushed back but is becoming more and more serious, eroding trust in the Party." More than ever, we express our high and absolute support for the work of Party rectification, fighting corruption and degradation, which is being resolutely directed by General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

We think that along with resolutely “fighting” we must “build” systematically, starting with the work of cadres, with the serious implementation of Uncle Ho’s instructions to “practice democracy widely”. We must truly find talented people, “both red and expert” to shoulder the country’s affairs, and absolutely cannot let the situation of “plentiful party members, few communists” to arise.

Based on such arguments, we see that the Testament has great humanistic value, is the instruction of a genius leader, requiring cadres and party members, especially those holding high positions and power, to cultivate their qualities to live and be human. In life, one must be close to the People, care about the People's worries, and feel the People's pain. As a human being, one must be upright, diligent, frugal, honest, upright, and impartial.

After 50 years of implementing Uncle Ho's Testament, I hope that each of us Vietnamese will re-read and re-read his instructions, reflecting on our daily lives and work. Uncle Ho's Testament must become an order in the "rectification" of the ruling party, urging each Vietnamese, especially cadres and party members, to honestly self-criticize and criticize, clearly see mistakes to correct, and see advantages to promote. Only then can we worthily continue his career, building a country "on par with the world powers" as Uncle always wished./.