When the people are in agreement

Ideological work to build consensus

We visited Phuc Son - a border commune in Anh Son district. This locality covers an area of ​​over 14.5 square kilometers.²Phuc Son, occupying one-quarter of Anh Son district's area, comprises over 25 villages, including 5 inhabited by ethnic minorities. The population structure is quite diverse, and the majority of people are facing difficulties; the level of awareness among officials, Party members, and the general public is uneven. Given these conditions, implementing the Party and State's policies and resolutions, as well as achieving local goals and objectives, is very challenging.

Officials from Phuc Son commune (Anh Son district) inspect a tea plantation model. Photo: Thanh Le

Therefore, according to Nguyen Van Trang, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Son commune, before implementing any policy or initiative, the locality always takes a proactive step to disseminate information and provide political and ideological guidance. First, they focus on educating cadres and Party members to ensure they understand the Party and State's policies and viewpoints correctly and accurately. Based on this understanding, they play a pioneering role while simultaneously disseminating information and explaining it to the people.

Thanks to this, the policies and initiatives implemented in Phuc Son over the past period have been quite successful. The clearest evidence is in the implementation of the new rural development program. Despite the economic and infrastructure challenges, Phuc Son's approach has been to focus on developing each village and hamlet individually. They select key, appropriate areas to prioritize first, then gradually implement the subsequent criteria.

In 2019, the people of Phuc Son commune invested 1.2 billion VND, and the district invested 34 billion VND in road construction. Along with infrastructure development, villages invested in electricity for lighting and ensured security and order. To date, the commune has 5 villages that meet the criteria for new rural development, and it is expected that an additional 3 villages will meet the standards by the end of the year.

The above results were achieved thanks to effective propaganda and ideological work; the people understood the benefits and necessity of building new rural areas, so both the government and the people wholeheartedly participated.

A view of Bai Lim village, Phuc Son commune (Anh Son district). Photo: Thanh Quynh

Village 10 in Cao Son commune, Anh Son district, has just completed a 1.2km-long asphalt road at a total cost of nearly 500 million VND. Prior to this, many villages had also contributed labor and resources to renovate, build, and expand numerous public welfare projects worth billions of VND. Many people are asking: how can a commune facing many difficulties like Cao Son mobilize its people's resources so effectively?

Exactly two years ago, Comrade Nguyen Duc Vinh, Head of the Education and Training Department of Anh Son District, was assigned to serve as Chairman of the People's Committee of Cao Son Commune, a particularly disadvantaged area in Anh Son District. Demonstrating the responsibility of a leader, Comrade Vinh, together with the local Party committee and government, effectively carried out ideological work and built unity and solidarity. Many popular movements were launched and achieved high levels of public support.

“Previously, the movement in Cao Son was almost stagnant. The people here believed that Cao Son would find it very difficult to achieve the remarkable development it has today without reforms in the administrative system. Now, Cao Son has truly changed. The people's concerns have been addressed, many main roads have been paved with asphalt and concrete, and even the most remote areas have been paved with gravel. Especially noteworthy is the innovative mindset and collective solidarity and consensus among the people in implementing local movements.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy - Hamlet 10, Cao Son Commune (Anh Son District)

Mobilizing youth union members to upgrade and expand the main traffic routes of Cao Son commune (Anh Son district). Photo: Minh Chi

Staying close to real-life situations

In Anh Son, propaganda work, political and ideological work, and public opinion guidance are given great attention by the Party committee and the entire political system from the district to the grassroots level. In the process of leading and directing the implementation of local goals and tasks, political and ideological work is prioritized and implemented quite systematically.

First and foremost, the district focuses on strengthening the ideological work team at the grassroots level, such as establishing propaganda committees in communes and reinforcing the team of grassroots speakers to provide information and promptly grasp public opinion and guide social discourse. Monthly, the district holds speaker conferences, delving into specific issues, selecting new, focused, practical content relevant to the local socio-economic situation; providing materials, compiling content, guiding grassroots levels and speakers, innovating communication methods, grasping public opinion in the district, and promptly advising the District Party Committee on ideological work orientation.

Officials from Anh Son district are exploring and understanding the thoughts and aspirations of officials and people in Tam Son commune. Photo: Thanh Le.

In 2019, the district organized 12 regular briefing conferences, 2 Current Affairs - Social Policy Club conferences; and successfully held the District-level Conference for Excellent Speakers.

The district regularly organizes dialogues to directly listen to and answer all questions, as well as to guide public opinion and thought on emerging issues in life in a timely manner, creating a high level of social consensus.

To enhance the effectiveness of disseminating the Party's guidelines and the State's policies to the people, in 2019, Anh Son district implemented a project to upgrade and modernize the management of the grassroots broadcasting system in 13 communes, with a total investment of 4 billion VND. To date, all 21 communes and towns in the district have completed the repair and upgrading of their grassroots broadcasting systems and are operating effectively.

Anh Son town viewed from above. Photo: Quang Dung

Nguyen Van Son, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Anh Son District Party Committee, stated: The global and regional situation still harbors many unpredictable issues. Hostile, reactionary, opportunistic, and politically disgruntled forces are increasing their subversive activities; using the Internet and social media to spread malicious and harmful information, aiming to undermine the Party's ideological foundation and directly impact the thoughts and feelings of cadres, Party members, and the people. Religious activities are exhibiting many complex manifestations and developments. These issues have affected the thinking of cadres, Party members, and the people in the district, causing them concern and anxiety. Given this situation, the ideological work team must proactively grasp public opinion and the thoughts of cadres, Party members, and the people within the Party Committee, promptly proposing and advising the district Party committee on comprehensive leadership and guidance to achieve high results in all areas of work.