Linking 'building' and 'fighting', between protecting and supplementing, creatively developing the Party's ideological foundation

Dear Comrade Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member, Permanent member of the Secretariat, Head of the Central Organization Commission;

Dear Party and State Leaders;

Dear Central Party Committee members;

Dear delegates and guests!

Dear comrades and countrymen!

Today, I and the leaders of the Party and State are very pleased to attend the Award Ceremony of the third Political Contest on Protecting the Party's Ideological Foundation in 2023, right on the occasion of the 5-year review of the implementation of Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW of the 12th Politburo. On behalf of the leaders of the Party and State and with my personal feelings, I would like to send to the delegates, authors, groups of authors, representatives of collectives/localities attending the Award Ceremony and the television audience my warmest greetings and best wishes.

Dear delegates and comrades!

Exactly five years ago, on October 22, 2018, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong signed and issued Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW of the Politburo on "Strengthening the protection of the Party's ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile views in the new situation".

The Resolution was issued out of urgent practical requirements, which are to firmly protect the Party's ideological foundation, prevent manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party, and effectively fight against erroneous viewpoints and distorted arguments of hostile forces, thereby contributing to building a clean and strong Party and political system in all aspects.

Resolution 35 sets out goals, viewpoints, tasks, and comprehensive, synchronous solutions and has been systematically implemented with creative, diverse, and rich forms, methods, and approaches. The organization and successful implementation of the Political Contest on protecting the Party's ideological foundation is one of the concrete and vivid evidences for the creative, practical, and meaningful implementation of Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW of the Politburo.

I am very impressed with the third Contest, which has had the participation of more than 301,000 entries in the categories of print magazines, electronic magazines, print newspapers, electronic newspapers, radio, television and video clips. The forms of the works are diverse, the content of the works is rich, many works are of good quality. The authors/author groups participating in the Contest come from many different social classes, many occupations, ages (the oldest person: 101 years old and many are high school students), many ethnicities, religions, both domestic and overseas Vietnamese, foreigners who love Vietnam. This shows that the influence of the Contest is very wide and profound.

Dear delegates and comrades!

From the reality of the Contest, it can be clearly seen that the Party's ideological foundation is not dry, lofty, abstract theoretical issues; protecting the Party's ideological foundation is protecting the Party's Platform, guidelines, policies, and the State's policies and laws; is protecting the Party, protecting the regime, and protecting the people; is protecting what is right and progressive, criticizing what is wrong and negative, which has become a regular, familiar activity, closely associated with the work of agencies, units, and the daily life of each cadre, party member, and each citizen.

Many works after being sent to the Organizing Committee of the Contest have been published, posted and used in many forms to directly serve the political tasks of agencies, units and localities, participating in the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, refuting erroneous and hostile views, especially in cyberspace.

Thanks to that, the Contest has made an important contribution to creating and strengthening trust, solidarity, unity within the Party, within the political system and social consensus so that the entire Party, people and army can overcome difficulties and challenges and continue to achieve important results in the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, security, national defense and foreign affairs, continuing to consolidate the potential, position and prestige of our country and our Party.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, I acknowledge, appreciate and commend the units that have coordinated to prepare content, plan methodically and organize the 3rd Political Contest in 2023 very successfully. I acknowledge and appreciate the proactive, positive and creative participation of Party committees at all levels, especially the Steering Committee 35 of the ministries, branches, provinces, centrally-run cities and localities. The efforts, proactiveness, positivity and responsibility of the comrades are very important factors contributing to the success of the Contest so that its value and meaning spread far beyond the framework of a normal contest.

At the same time, I also acknowledge and highly appreciate the dedication, enthusiasm and responsibility of the staff, party members and people from all walks of life who responded and participated in the contest with the highest sense of responsibility, the most thorough investment and the highest quality compared to the two previous contests.

Dear delegates and comrades!

In the coming time, the international situation will continue to develop in a complex and unpredictable manner, with opportunities and advantages intertwined with challenges and difficulties, but there will be more difficulties and challenges. 2023 and 2024, pivotal years, will be of special importance in successfully implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress as well as summarizing 40 years of national renewal and preparations for the 14th National Party Congress. In such a context, hostile and reactionary forces will continue to step up sabotage activities, distort the ideological foundation of our Party, and sabotage the revolutionary cause of our Party and people with more sophisticated plots and tricks.

The socio-economic environment and information technology environment of the era are creating many favorable conditions for positive information, for the progressive life of humanity and our nation, but this is also a favorable environment for fake news, bad, toxic, and false news to spread and disseminate. Therefore, in the coming time, the work of Party building, building the political system, protecting the Party's ideological foundation in general and the organization of the Political Contest on protecting the Party's ideological foundation in particular need to focus on the following contents:

The first,In terms of content, it is necessary to continue to focus on firmly defending, applying and creatively developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; defending and disseminating the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, the cause of innovation, and the path to socialism in Vietnam; identifying and resolutely fighting and refuting erroneous and hostile views that sabotage the Party, the State, and the regime. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to encourage the summary and dissemination of good models and experiences in localities, agencies, and units in the organization to protect the Party's ideological foundation, and fight and refute erroneous and distorted views of reactionary forces and political opportunists.

Monday,It is necessary to pay more attention to the connection between "building" and "fighting", between protecting and supplementing, and creatively developing the Party's ideological foundation. Linking the identification, criticism, and refuting of false and hostile arguments, fighting fake news and toxic news with the spreading of positive information and focusing on self-reflection, self-correction, and self-prevention of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" manifestations within the Party.

Linking the protection of the Party's ideological foundation and the fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints with the work of building a clean and strong Party and political system in all aspects; with the effective implementation of professional work of each agency, unit, enterprise, organization and with the daily life of each family and each citizen; with studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle; with encouraging and protecting dynamic and creative people who dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate, dare to face difficulties and challenges and be resolute in action for the common good.

Tuesday,The ideological foundation of our Party is essentially the scientific, revolutionary ideology and theory of socialism and the path to socialism. This is the light of truth that guides the Vietnamese revolution from one victory to another. The contest has made an important contribution to “bringing socialism into daily life” as Lenin said and “bringing politics into the people” as beloved President Ho Chi Minh said.

In the coming time, we need to continue to mobilize the active participation of not only those working in ideological, theoretical and professional journalism, but also gather the widespread participation of a large number of cadres, party members, people of all walks of life, the sympathy and support of people, friends from all five continents, and progressive forces that love peace, justice and reason in the world.

The specialized, professional, elite force is the core, but it must mobilize and rely on the great emotional strength, belief, and intelligence of the entire people, combining the national strength and the strength of the times as President Ho Chi Minh once taught. When everyone "sees the right and protects it", "sees the wrong and resolutely fights it"; when every individual, every household, every sector protects what is right, protects the just, protects the positive, progressive; criticizes, refutes, and condemns the bad, the wrong, the deviant, the negative, and the corrupt, then no force can hinder the progressive development of our Party, our people, our nation, and our country.

Dear delegates and comrades!

After 3 times of organization, the Political Contest on protecting the Party's ideological foundation has affirmed its identity, attractiveness and prestige. In response to the requirements and tasks in the new context, I hope and believe that with the close direction of the Central Steering Committee 35, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the units coordinating the Contest will continue to innovate, spread the Contest more strongly, widely and effectively, contributing even more to consolidating trust, enhancing solidarity and unity within the Party, within the political system and social consensus so that our entire Party, people and army continue to achieve greater and more comprehensive achievements in the cause of building and developing the country and protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland of "rich, prosperous, civilized and happy".

I wish you all good health, happiness and success!

Thank you very much!

*Title by Nghe An Newspaper