Purifying the Party: Lenin's Instructions Never Get Old

Lenin is the teacher of the proletarian revolution, the great leader of the working class and working people all over the world. His name is associated with the great October Revolution of 1917.

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth (April 22, 1870), communists around the world once again expressed their gratitude and deep respect for Lenin's outstanding contributions to the cause of fighting for the independence and freedom of nations, and for the cause of liberating people from oppression and injustice. This is also an opportunity for us to gain a deeper understanding of the lasting values ​​in the rich legacy of ideology and theory that he left behind.

In particular, in that legacy, his instructions on Party building and rectification are always valuable to communists even though history has gone back hundreds of years. These instructions are truly meaningful when we are stepping up the fight against corruption, purifying the Party, and eliminating degenerate and corrupt elements.

Screening party members, eliminating non-communist elements

According to research by Dr. Ngo Kim Ngan, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Russian October Revolution succeeded, and the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party became the ruling party. In the new conditions, the Party lost its natural selection, and on the other hand, due to the attraction of the ruling party, these opportunists, along with the old opportunists, truly became a significant force in the Party. The number of members of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party increased rapidly. The admission process had errors in standards, affecting the quality of the Party. This was the origin of factions and groups in the Party.

Faced with that situation, in 2 years (1919-1920), the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party had to register and screen its members, eliminate non-communist elements, and remove opportunists and profiteers from the Party. In 1921, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party held its 10th Congress. The Congress decided to implement the New Economic Policy.

Realizing that the existence of many factions in the Party led to the risk of hindering the implementation of the new economic policy, in September 1921, V. Lenin wrote the article "On the issue of party purification". He pointed out that party purification was a serious issue, of special importance to the work of building the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. He proposed that all opportunists, reactionaries, and those who opposed the Party's policy and went against the interests of the people should be removed from the Party, with the participation of the majority of the working masses. The 10th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party unanimously approved the above draft resolution and organized its implementation in 1921. Thanks to the 1921 party purification, the Party removed 170,000 people from the Party (accounting for 25% of the total number of Party members).

The purpose of the Party's purification is to eliminate unqualified people and improve the Party's leadership and fighting capacity. From there, the Party is truly a vanguard trusted and supported by the masses.

The Party must be truly clean, strong, and capable of leading the government.

Explaining the issue of bureaucracy and corruption according to Lenin's ideology, Dr. Nguyen Tran Thanh, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said: As the leader of the Russian proletariat to seize power and having spent many years directly leading and building the first new-style state apparatus in the world, Lenin had the conditions to clearly understand the nature as well as the dangers of bureaucracy and corruption to the organization and management of the state apparatus. Therefore, he believed that it was necessary to strengthen the inventory and control of the state apparatus, strictly handle bureaucrats, and make the Party truly clean, strong, and capable of leading the government.

The immediate task is to reduce the cumbersome and overlapping organizational structure, while improving the quality of cadres and party members, and building a mechanism to detect and eliminate corrupt and degenerate civil servants.

Building an independent monitoring mechanismfor party members

Under the chairmanship of V. Lenin, the All-Russian People's Committee passed the "Ordinance on the Punishment of Corruption and Bribery", which stipulated the minimum penalty of 5 years of forced labor and the deprivation of all political rights. To deal with this terrible disease in the government apparatus, he proposed urgent and fundamental long-term measures, including the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism, including Supervisory Committees from the central to the grassroots levels.

The members of this Supervisory Commission at the Central level have equal authority with the Central Executive Committee and similarly at the next levels. Those who participate in the Supervisory Commission are not allowed to participate in the Party Executive Committee at any level and are not allowed to hold any government position. The resolutions of the Supervisory Commission submitted to the corresponding Executive Committee must be implemented, without addition or subtraction. Thanks to this, many acts of embezzlement and corruption have been discovered and many "corrupt officials" have been brought to trial.

It can be said that Lenin's lessons on party purification, on fighting embezzlement and corruption seem to never be old, and even have timeless significance. Creatively applying Lenin's instructions and Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on party building, we have been promoting the fight against corruption, building and rectifying the party in the spirit of the Central Committee's Resolution IV, Session XI and Session XII.,are supported and agreed by the people. By perfecting the Party's policies and the State's laws and policies, we have gradually eliminated degenerate and corrupt elements that go against the interests and expectations of the people. Tens of thousands of Party members at all levels have been disciplined since the beginning of the 12th term, including more than 90 officials under the Central Committee's management. These efforts have no other purpose than to make the Party truly clean and strong, worthy of being the leader and a truly loyal servant of the people.

Excerpt from the yearbook "Lenin's legacy in today's world and the cause of innovation in Vietnam" on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Lenin's birth (2010).