Some thoughts on Party personnel work in the new situation
In recent times, the Party's personnel work has undergone many innovations, achieving very important results in all aspects, meeting the requirements and revolutionary tasks in the new situation. However, personnel work still shows certain limitations, and solutions are slow to be found. In the coming time, in order to build and rectify a clean and strong Party and political system, it is necessary to continue to pay attention to research, summarize experiences, and promote the role and responsibility of Party committees, collective leadership and the masses.
Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on Party personnel work
Our Party and beloved President Ho Chi Minh paid special attention to cadre work. He said: "Cadres are the root of all work."(1), "The success or failure of a job depends on good or bad staff"(2); Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, dated May 19, 2018, of the 12th Central Executive Committee, "On focusing on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level, with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the task", clearly defines the viewpoint: Cadres are the decisive factor for the success or failure of the revolution; cadre work is the "key" link in the work of building the Party and the political system. Building a contingent of cadres, especially at the strategic level, is a top priority task, a crucial work of the Party, which must be carried out regularly, cautiously, scientifically, closely and effectively. The document of the 13th National Party Congress continues to affirm: "Focus on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level and in leadership positions"(3).
Recently, our Party and State have had many very important documents on personnel work.(4)Accordingly, the dissemination and implementation of resolutions and regulations of the Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat are ensured seriously and consistently, so the Party's personnel work is carried out in a disciplined manner from the Central to local levels.
The Party's cadres are increasingly mature, many cadres have made important contributions to the leadership, direction, administration and implementation of political tasks at all levels, sectors, agencies and units. The Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, headed by the General Secretary, have resolutely directed the implementation of the goals and targets of the Party's congresses of each term. The investigation, prosecution, trial, inspection, audit and auditing agencies have mastered their expertise and skills, and have made many important contributions in participating in the assessment of the qualities and capacities of the cadres, through the fight against corruption, waste and negativity, contributing to strengthening the people's trust in the Party and the State.
However, in reality, there are still a number of cadres with limited qualities and abilities, but wanting to develop to higher positions, they have sought to obtain degrees, plans, promotions, and appointments contrary to the regulations of the Party and the State.
A number of officials with positions and authority seek to introduce, promote, and appoint relatives, family members, "backyards", etc. to positions that do not meet standards.
Some cadres, after being promoted and appointed, soon degraded in quality, ethics, lifestyle, embezzled, corrupted, wasteful, caused loss of budget and state assets, and had to receive strict disciplinary measures from the Party and State; among them, there were also a few high-ranking cadres who undermined the people's trust in the Party, State and regime.
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The above limitations and negative aspects of personnel work have several causes as follows:
The first,Some Party committees, agencies, departments and branches have not focused on studying, learning and thoroughly grasping the contents of the Party's resolutions and regulations, and the State's policies and laws on personnel work, so they have not changed the awareness of each cadre, Party member, civil servant and citizen to understand and implement.
Monday,Some Party committees, especially heads of departments, branches, localities and units, have not fulfilled their responsibilities in personnel work, especially not respecting the principle of democratic centralism. In some cases, there have been signs of authoritarianism and authoritarianism in the planning, rotation, promotion and appointment of cadres.
Tuesday,Correctly evaluating cadres is a very difficult step, but in addition to general standards for cadres, there are no clear regulations on standards and evaluation criteria for each position of leadership and management cadres, especially heads of Party committees and authorities at all levels and in all sectors.
Wednesday,People are very interested in building a team of Party cadres in the political system, but currently there is no truly effective mechanism for people to participate, introduce and recommend truly virtuous and talented people to the Party and State, as well as periodically measure people's satisfaction and trust in leaders of Party committees and authorities at all levels.
Thursday,Although Party documents have clearly stipulated the inspection, supervision, and control of power in personnel work and the fight against the abuse of power and position, while many functional agencies have performed well, in some places the implementation is still poor, with low effectiveness and efficiency.
Friday,Personnel work is very important and is carried out through specific people, but Party and State documents do not have full and strict regulations on the authority and responsibility of organizations and individuals in advising, introducing, nominating and arranging personnel, especially in cases where officials are not truly virtuous or talented, but are still promoted and appointed, damaging the prestige and reputation of the Party and State.
Some issues need to be researched and experiences drawn to continue to do better in personnel work in the new situation.
The Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress affirmed: “Strengthening Party building and rectification, promoting the Party's working-class nature, improving the Party's leadership capacity, governing capacity and fighting strength; building a clean and strong Party and political system in all aspects, building a streamlined State that operates effectively and efficiently; associated with streamlining the payroll, improving the quality and restructuring of the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees; building a contingent of cadres and Party members, especially a contingent of strategic-level cadres and leaders with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the tasks, and close to the people are factors that have decisive significance for the success of the cause of national construction, development and defense of the Fatherland.”(5), needs to be widely deployed throughout the Party and political system.
To organize the implementation of the above viewpoint, there must be many synchronous solutions. In particular, personnel work needs to pay attention to researching and summarizing experiences on a number of issues as follows:
Firstly, continue to promote the people's role as masters, rely on the people to build a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially strategic-level cadres and heads of Party committees and authorities at all levels and in all sectors.
Consistently implementing the Party's viewpoint that "People are the root", affirming the role of the subject and the central position of the people in the country's development strategy, in the entire process of building and defending the Fatherland and the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit", the Party Committee must promote the people's mastery, rely on the people to build a contingent of cadres.
To create all conditions for the people to actively and effectively participate in personnel work, there must be specific mechanisms and documents to introduce and recommend truly virtuous and talented people to the Party; to inspect and supervise cadres on "things that Party members are not allowed to do" and on the responsibility to set an example, especially for strategic-level cadres and heads of Party committees and authorities at all levels and in all sectors. The Party and the State need to have mechanisms to protect people in reporting and denouncing cadres who violate regulations on personnel work; at the same time, strictly handle those who take advantage of democracy to incite and divide the great national unity bloc and make false accusations.
Second, continue to innovate and streamline the Party's apparatus and political system to operate effectively and efficiently, associated with streamlining the payroll and improving salary policies so that cadres can better perform their assigned political duties and tasks.
Văn kiện Đại hội XIII của Đảng xác định: “Tiếp tục hoàn thiện mô hình tổ chức của hệ thống chính trị; xác định rõ hơn chức năng, nhiệm vụ và cơ chế hoạt động của các tổ chức trong hệ thống chính trị...”(6), “Đẩy mạnh thực hiện tinh giản biên chế gắn với cơ cấu lại đội ngũ cán bộ, công chức, viên chức theo vị trí, việc làm”(7)In the new era, science and technology develop rapidly, especially information technology, allowing the Party and State to streamline the organization and intermediate apparatus at the provincial and district levels, general departments, bureaus, offices, and institutes in ministries and branches.
Đối với hệ thống Mặt trận Tổ quốc Việt Nam và các tổ chức chính trị - xã hội, cần tăng cường đội ngũ cán bộ nghiên cứu, tổng kết thực tiễn ở cấp trung ương để vừa tham mưu cho Đảng, vừa làm nòng cốt vận động, tập hợp hiệu quả tổ chức, đội ngũ đoàn viên, hội viên trong cả nước; đồng thời, xây dựng đội ngũ cán bộ ở cơ sở vững mạnh, trực tiếp tuyên truyền, làm nòng cốt, vận động, tập hợp, đoàn kết hội viên, đoàn viên thực hiện chủ trương, đường lối của Đảng, chính sách, pháp luật của Nhà nước và nhiệm vụ chính trị ở cơ sở.
Đối với các cơ quan tham mưu cho cấp ủy, cần tăng cường đội ngũ cán bộ có năng lực nghiên cứu lý luận và tổng kết thực tiễn để tham mưu hiệu quả cho cấp ủy; đồng thời, tinh giản biên chế hành chính, phục vụ. Trên cơ sở đó, sớm cải tiến chính sách tiền lương cho phù hợp để đội ngũ cán bộ, công chức, viên chức yên tâm công tác.
Thứ ba, tiếp tục thực hiện tốt công tác đánh giá cán bộ.
Đánh giá cán bộ từ trước đến nay vẫn là khâu khó. Có cán bộ thông minh, năng động, dám nghĩ, dám làm vì việc chung, nhưng ở nơi nội bộ mất đoàn kết, nhất là người đứng đầu không thực sự có đức, có tài thì cán bộ rất khó phát huy năng lực; ngược lại, có cán bộ làm việc trong môi trường công tác rất tốt, nhưng không tự giác nỗ lực phấn đấu, rèn luyện thì khó trưởng thành. Trên thực tế, đo lòng người là khó nhất, có người nói hay, nhưng làm không hay, nói khác làm khác, nói không làm... Nguyễn Trãi - bậc hiền tài thời nhà Lê đã phải thốt lên: Nước nông sâu cá biết/ Non cao thấp mây tường/ Cây mềm yếu gió hay/ Ôi lòng người khó lắm thay.
Văn kiện Đại hội XIII của Đảng chỉ rõ: “Lấy kết quả công việc, sự hài lòng và tín nhiệm của nhân dân làm tiêu chí quan trọng để đánh giá chất lượng tổ chức bộ máy và chất lượng cán bộ, đảng viên”(8), “Coi trọng đánh giá chất lượng, hiệu quả, sản phẩm thực tế theo chức trách, nhiệm vụ được giao và đề cao trách nhiệm người đứng đầu”(9).
The Politburo has issued a document evaluating cadres, but it is necessary to specify criteria for a number of important positions, which will contribute to enhancing the responsibility of those cadres before the people and the country. Because the number and structure of cadres in the political system is very large, it is recommended to prioritize early regulation of criteria for evaluating the positions: Minister, head of ministerial-level agency, secretary, chairman of the People's Committee at the provincial, city, district, commune, and ward levels.
These positions work directly or indirectly with the legitimate rights and interests of the people every day, so they are closely monitored and evaluated by the people. Along with regulations and evaluation criteria, it is necessary to stipulate both rights and responsibilities so that industry leaders, Party leaders, and government leaders can promote their roles. Annually, there are regulations to take the satisfaction and trust index of officials, civil servants, public employees, workers in the industry and people nationwide towards ministers, and take the satisfaction and trust index of people of all classes in the locality towards leaders at each level. After the assessment of the upper-level Party committee, it is necessary to widely publicize it on the mass media for the people to know. This is a very important measure, contributing to making the movement nationwide change for the better; At the same time, it requires leaders to select and introduce their subordinates more practically, not allowing the situation of officials running for positions, power, and weak capacity to enter the state apparatus.
The criteria for evaluating a minister must be based on the results and effectiveness of directing and implementing the state management functions and tasks of the sector, on the satisfaction index and trust of cadres, civil servants, public employees, and workers in the sector, and on the satisfaction index of the people nationwide.
The evaluation of a comrade who is the head of a local Party Committee or government is mainly based on whether the material and spiritual life of the people in that locality has improved compared to before, the results of the annual and term-wide socio-economic, defense and security targets, and whether the satisfaction and trust index of the people is high or low. If we only rely on the year-end and term-end review votes conducted by the Party Committee, it is difficult to ensure substance, because some places do it seriously, others do it in a formal way.
Objectively evaluating the "industry commanders" and heads of local Party committees and authorities is the basis for creating a source of cadres for strategic-level cadres... Before assigning cadres to important positions in the country, it is necessary to evaluate the results and practical performance of those cadres throughout their working process, only then can we minimize the cases of not really having enough virtue and talent to be leaders of the Party and State.
Fourth, do a good job of planning, promoting and appointing truly virtuous and talented officials.
The current cadre planning is directed by the Politburo and the Secretariat according to regulations that are both quite strict and proactive in creating a source of cadres for the Party Committee before promoting, appointing and preparing personnel for the Party Congresses at all levels for the new term. However, the current planning method still misses a part of the country's talents because it has not promoted well the role of the people as masters in building the cadre team.
In our opinion, before developing a cadre plan, the Party Committee should widely disseminate the purpose, requirements, and standards of cadres to the people and have a mechanism to encourage people to participate in introducing and recommending truly virtuous and talented people to the Party Committee. On the basis of synthesizing the results of introductions and recommendations from the people, the competent agency on cadre organization will study, consider, and advise the Party Committee to select and decide. In order to have a more effective team of strategic cadres, it is recommended that the planning work must create a source of cadres early and from afar.
For example, creating a source of ministers, especially in specific sectors such as education, health, etc., each term, the Central Committee should select young factors with outstanding capacity, good qualities and flexible social skills to send to the grassroots to do sector management work. Relevant departments monitor and evaluate those factors through practical leadership and management activities at the district and provincial levels to select one or a few people with the most potential and best qualities to arrange to be deputy ministers for a period of time before becoming ministers. With that approach, it is certain that after two terms, there will be steadfast "sector commanders" who are still at their "ripe" age.
Regarding the promotion and appointment of cadres, the Central Committee has had strict regulations, but it is necessary to continue to promote the responsibility of the staff agency regarding cadres. The arrangement of cadres must continue to follow the instructions of beloved President Ho Chi Minh: "Only by clearly knowing the cadres can we properly promote them."(10)“When promoting a cadre, it is necessary to clearly examine whether that person is close to the masses, whether they trust and admire him. It is also necessary to see what he is suitable for. If a talented person is not used properly, the job will not be successful.”(11).
Practical experience has clearly demonstrated that one of the qualities of a leader and manager is “having the talent to use talented people”. President Ho Chi Minh gave very profound instructions to leaders and managers: “If we have the right to use people, we must use talented people who can do the job. Do not drag people into this or that position just because of relatives and friends. Do not, because of fear of losing position, suppress those who are more talented than us.”(12).
To continue to carry out the work of planning, promoting and appointing the right cadres according to Ho Chi Minh's ideology and the regulations of the Central Committee, the competent agencies on cadre organization need to survey and evaluate objectively and effectively the arrangement of cadres in cases such as arranging heads of sectors, but not yet trained in that field; arranging cadres who have not had practical experience in Party building work, but are elected to the Party Committee and then appointed to work as Party Committee secretaries; arranging cadres who have never done state management work, but are introduced to be elected as People's Committee chairmen or arranging a number of general directors and directors of enterprises, after being elected to the Party Committee, to be appointed to work as Party Committee secretaries in Party Committees with many Party members...
If we survey and evaluate objectively and closely, the results and effectiveness of leadership, direction and management in practice of leaders and managers will certainly draw many valuable lessons for the Party's personnel work. In fact, there are cadres who, thanks to their experience learning from the people, comrades and colleagues, have still matured quickly and completed their assigned tasks well.
Fifth, further strengthen the control of power in personnel work.
To effectively control power in personnel work, Party committees must lead leaders at all levels and sectors to thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the Politburo's regulations during the implementation process.(13)On that basis, Party committees at all levels need to develop annual programs and monitoring plans for recruitment, reception, planning, training, rotation, promotion, appointment, reward, and discipline of cadres, especially cadres under the management of the Politburo, Secretariat, and Party committees.
In the current situation, it is necessary to promote the role of the people in supervising organizations in the political system on personnel work. Party committees at all levels should designate a specific agency and address so that each citizen can promptly report and provide information on violations in personnel work to that agency and address. Based on receiving and synthesizing information, report and submit to competent authorities for resolution and handling (if any).
Thanks to the people's feedback, some Party committees have accepted and withdrawn the decision to appoint and promote a number of officials who do not meet the standards and procedures, which has been agreed and supported by public opinion. To contribute to more effective control of power in personnel work, it is necessary to study regulations on the responsibilities of organizations and individuals when directly recommending to Party committees for promotion and appointment of people who are not truly virtuous or talented, who violate the law, and must receive disciplinary action from the Party and the State.
The promotion and appointment of cadres who are relatives, friends, colleagues, and "cronies" occurs in some places, but the harm is very great, reducing people's trust in local Party committees and authorities; at the same time, directly affecting the psychology and enthusiasm for work of cadres in agencies and units,... Therefore, wherever Party committees, functional agencies and people do a good job of supervising and controlling power in personnel work, that place contributes to making politics stable, solidarity and unity within the organization, and the relationship between the Party and the People increasingly closer and more solid./.
(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 5, p. 309
(2) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 313
(3) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. II, p. 242
(4) Regarding resolutions: The Politburo issued Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW, dated November 30, 2004, "On the planning of leadership and management staff in the period of promoting industrialization and modernization of the country"; Resolution No. 04-NQ/TW, dated October 30, 2016, the 4th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee, "On strengthening Party building and rectification; preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party"; Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, dated May 19, 2018, the 7th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee, "On focusing on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level, with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the tasks".
Regarding regulations: The Politburo issued Regulation No. 211-QD/TW, dated November 8, 2013, "On the supervision of Party members who are cadres under the management of the Politburo and Secretariat", in which Article 7 contains the content of supervising the compliance and implementation of Party and State regulations on organizational work, cadres, and things that Party members, cadres, and civil servants are not allowed to do; Regulation No. 262-QD/TW, dated October 8, 2014, of the Politburo, "On taking a vote of confidence for leading members of Party committees and leading cadres in Party, State, Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations"; Regulation No. 86-QD/TW, dated June 1, 2017, of the Politburo, on "Supervision within the Party"; Regulation No. 98-QD/TW, dated October 7, 2017, of the Politburo, “On cadre rotation”; Regulation No. 132-QD/TW, dated March 8, 2018, of the Politburo, “On annual review, assessment and classification of quality for collectives and individuals in the political system”; Regulation No. 07-QD/TW, dated August 28, 2018, of the Politburo, on “Disciplinary action against violating party organizations”, in which Article 2 stipulates violations in organizational work, cadres and party members; Decision No. 99-QD/TW, dated October 3, 2017, of the Secretariat, “Issuing framework guidelines for party committees and party organizations directly under the Central Committee to continue promoting the role of the people in the fight to prevent and repel degradation, “self-evolution”, and “self-transformation” within the Party”; Regulation No. 08-QDi/TW, dated October 25, 2018, of the Central Executive Committee, on “Responsibility to set an example for cadres and party members, first of all Politburo members, Secretariat members, and Central Executive Committee members”; Regulation No. 179-QD/TW, dated February 25, 2019, of the Politburo, “On the inspection and supervision regime of cadre work”; Regulation No. 205-QD/TW, dated September 23, 2019, of the Politburo, “On controlling power in cadre work and combating the practice of buying and selling positions and power”; Regulation No. 214-QD/TW, dated January 2, 2020, of the Politburo, on “Framework of standards for titles and criteria for evaluating cadres under the management of the Central Executive Committee, Politburo, and Secretariat”; Regulation No. 41-QD/TW, dated November 3, 2021, of the Politburo, “On dismissal and resignation of cadres”; Regulation No. 50-QD/TW, dated December 27, 2021, of the Politburo, “On cadre planning”; Regulation No. 22-QD/TW, dated July 28, 2021, of the Central Executive Committee, “On inspection, supervision and discipline enforcement of the Party”; Regulation No. 80-QD/TW, dated August 18, 2022, of the Politburo, “On decentralization of cadre management and appointment and introduction of cadres for candidacy”; Regulation No. 124-QD/TW, dated October 4, 2023, of the Politburo, “On annual review, assessment and classification of quality for collectives and individuals in the political system”.
(5) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. II, p. 325
(6) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. II, p. 239
(7) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. II, p. 240
(8) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 192
(9) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, op. cit., vol. II, p. 242
(10) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 321
(11) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 314
(12) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 123
(13) Such as: Regulation No. 205-QD/TW, dated September 23, 2019, of the Politburo, "On controlling power in personnel work and combating the practice of buying and selling positions and power"; Regulation No. 86-QD/TW, dated June 1, 2017, of the Politburo, on "Supervision within the Party"; Regulation No. 211-QD/TW, dated November 8, 2013, of the Politburo, "On supervision of Party members who are cadres under the management of the Politburo and the Secretariat".
