"Guidelines" for the actions of the entire Party, army and people

To express deep gratitude and determination to successfully realize the wishes of Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on resolutely and persistently fighting against individualism, preventing and combating corruption and negativity; Politburo member, Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission, Standing Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee on preventing and combating corruption and negativity, Standing Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform Phan Dinh Trac wrote an article:"Deeply grasp the thoughts and viewpoints of Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - Continue to promote the prevention and fight against corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State to be increasingly clean and strong."

Vietnam News Agency respectfully introduces the article:

Throughout his revolutionary career, regardless of his position or field of work, from when he was a young cadre to when he held the position of Party and State leader, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has always been concerned with the work of Party building and rectification, and the fight against corruption and negativity. In particular, with the responsibility of Head of the Central Steering Committee on corruption and negativity prevention and control, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has led and directed closely and decisively, with many extremely important viewpoints and policies of profound theoretical and practical nature, demonstrating the vision, mettle, intelligence, humanity, benevolence, and persuasiveness of the leader of our Party.

With the resolute, persistent, unceasing, non-stop, no-holds-barred, no-exception, strict but very humane leadership and direction, the exemplary revolutionary ethics, the consistency between words and actions, actions go hand in hand with words of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity has been carried out very resolutely, methodically, comprehensively, in-depth, achieving many very important results, creating positive effects, spreading strongly throughout society, leaving a deep impression on cadres, party members, people and international friends.

Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - an exceptionally outstanding leader, typical of the qualities, talent, intelligence, and mettle of a loyal communist soldier, who devoted his whole life to the country and the people, has left us forever, but the thoughts and viewpoints of Comrade General Secretary will forever be the "compass" for the actions of our entire Party, army, and people.

More than ever, Party committees, Party organizations and each of us, cadres and Party members, need to thoroughly grasp the ideology and guiding viewpoints of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, continue to promote the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State to be increasingly clean and strong.

Corruption is "a congenital defect of power;" fighting against negative corruption is a necessary, inevitable task, an irreversible trend; it must be carried out regularly, resolutely, persistently, continuously, without rest, with high determination, concrete and drastic actions and "if anyone feels discouraged, then step aside and let someone else do it."

With rich practical experience and sharp theoretical thinking, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has pointed out that corruption is "a congenital defect of power," it takes place within us, carried out by people with positions and authority; preventing and combating corruption and negativity is a struggle within each individual, in their own agency, organization, unit, and locality, related to material interests, money, position, honor, and reputation of organizations and individuals; affecting people with positions and authority.

Our Party and State have seen this early and have directed it to be done many times, resolutely, but there is still much work to be done and it must be done in the long term, more resolutely, with greater determination, persistence, perseverance, and without haste. The General Secretary requested that we should not be subjective or hasty, but also not avoid or hold back, but must proceed regularly, continuously, resolutely, persistently, without stopping, without slowing down, or slackening off in the fight against corruption and negativity.

Even after establishing the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, Comrade also noted: The Steering Committee is not a "magic wand" that can immediately change the situation. From that, Comrade General Secretary often reminds us to be deeply aware of the risks and harms of corruption, which paralyzes the fighting power, damages the reputation, erodes the prestige of the Party, and changes the Party, not only losing money and property, but also losing people and the regime.

Therefore, the General Secretary affirmed: "The fight against corruption is a necessary and inevitable task; an irreversible trend." No matter how difficult it is, we must find every way to do it, do it by all means, do it to the end. "If anyone feels discouraged, then step aside and let someone else do it."

The General Secretary believes that if all of us, from top to bottom, have great determination, high unity, drastic and feasible implementation measures, close direction with a correct, sober, calm, non-extremist way of thinking, not allowing bad forces to take advantage, distort, incite, and sabotage, then corruption and negativity will definitely be prevented and gradually pushed back. And when "the furnace is hot, even fresh wood put in here must burn."

Degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle - the fundamental cause of corruption; must link anti-corruption with anti-negativity; link anti-corruption and anti-negativity with Party building and rectification and the political system, and socio-economic development.

Along with identifying the nature and harms of corruption, the General Secretary also pointed out the objective and subjective causes of corruption and affirmed that it is mainly due to subjective causes and our own faults. In particular, the General Secretary emphasized that the fundamental and direct cause of corruption is the degradation of political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; ultimately, it is due to the inability to overcome individualism.

This is the root, the most dangerous thing that leads to corruption; on the contrary, corruption makes the degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle more serious. Therefore, we must combine preventing and fighting corruption with preventing and fighting negativity, focusing on preventing and fighting degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle; if we only prevent and fight corruption of money and property, it is not enough; money and property can be recovered, but if there is degradation of morality and ideology, everything is lost; preventing and fighting negativity means getting to the root of corruption.

At the same time, the General Secretary requested that the fight against corruption and negativity must be linked with Party building and rectification, and socio-economic development; it is not necessary to close the door to rectify the Party; the fundamental issue in the fight against corruption and negativity is early and far-reaching prevention, with the focus on Party building and rectification, especially preventing and combating ideological, moral, and lifestyle degradation among cadres and party members; special attention must be paid to and emphasis placed on cadre work.

Consistent with the motto of no forbidden zones, no exceptions, no matter who the person is; very strict but also very humane, treating illnesses and saving people

During his leadership of the revolution, Lenin made it clear that corrupt communist party members must be "punished mercilessly, including by shooting," and that non-party members must be "punished three times more severely."

President Ho Chi Minh upheld the death sentence for Colonel, Director of the Quartermaster Department Tran Du Chau, which is a typical example of strictness in handling corruption.

Thoroughly grasping and creatively applying Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought and international experience, the General Secretary affirmed: The purpose of dealing with corruption and negativity is to cure diseases and save people, to discipline a few to save thousands, and to warn, deter, educate and prevent.

From there, the General Secretary requested to resolutely and strictly handle acts of corruption and negativity, but with reason, emotion, humanity, and kindness, with the principle that all cadres, party members, civil servants, and public employees in any position who commit violations must be promptly, strictly, and publicly handled, strictly from top to bottom, with no forbidden areas, no empty areas, no exceptions, no privileges, regardless of who the person is, without pressure from any organization or individual; if there is a case, it must be verified and clarified; actively, urgently, and clearly handled to the extent that there are signs of a crime, an investigation must be initiated, and if a crime is concluded, it must be prosecuted and tried according to the provisions of the law; if the case has not reached the level of criminal prosecution, strict disciplinary action must be taken according to the provisions of the Party, State, and organizations.

The handling process must be carried out synchronously between Party disciplinary handling with State administrative discipline, organization discipline and criminal handling; Party discipline is implemented first, creating the premise for administrative, organization discipline and criminal handling; Party discipline is stricter than handling according to the law.

Not only must we strictly handle serious acts of corruption and negativity, but we must also strictly handle those who condone, cover up, or assist corruption and negativity; and those who take advantage of the fight against corruption and negativity to distort, incite, divide, and sabotage the Party and the State.

At the same time, in directing the handling of corruption and negativity, the General Secretary always requires that the handling must be strict, but also very humane: We must detect early, handle from the beginning, not let small violations accumulate into big violations; must take education, deterrence, and prevention as the main thing, combining punishment with leniency; in handling, we must thoroughly grasp objective, comprehensive, historical, and specific viewpoints, differentiate between those who commit violations due to personal motives and profiteering and those who commit violations without personal motives and profiteering; must prosecute and try in absentia criminals who are on the run according to the law; strictly handling many officials, including high-ranking officials who commit violations is something no one wants, even very painful, very heartbreaking, but for the common cause, for the strictness of Party discipline, the rule of law of the State, the purity, strength and prestige of the Party, the State and the will of the People, we must do it, and resolutely do it.

These are the guiding thoughts and viewpoints throughout the process of detecting and handling corruption and negativity of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong; thoroughly grasped and seriously implemented by Party committees, Party organizations and functional agencies, bringing about clear results in practice, creating new breakthroughs, being bright spots and outstanding marks in the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity in recent times.(More to come)./.