Spring of the nation and humanity!

At that historical moment, patriot Nguyen Ai Quoc had a vision of the times, found the most correct way to liberate his nation and oppressed nations. He became a communist soldier and raised the flag to rally all domestic and international forces to follow the October Revolution, Marxism-Leninism to fight for the goal of national independence and socialism.

Nguyen Ai Quoc at the Tours Congress of the French Socialist Party, 1920. Photo archive

That goal was applied by Him to the Vietnamese revolution, stated in the "Brief Platform" and "Political Platform" since the Party was founded. Up to now, there have been 13 congresses, firmly holding on to that goal, our Party has creatively proposed the correct revolutionary path for each period, leading the Vietnamese revolution from one victory to another. Gaining independence, defeating the "two great empires", carrying out the cause of renovation and achieving great achievements to have the "foundation" as it is today.

Despite the ups and downs, socialism is the law, the goal of social progress in line with the development trend of the times, the enemy always tries to eliminate it but fails. When the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc collapsed, the West happily declared: "This is the fateful collapse of socialism". They knew that it was only the collapse of a model, but the movement of real socialism is not outside the law of diverse development between continuity and discontinuity, between straight lines and zigzags, between progress and regression, between gradualness and leaps of human history. Scientific socialism is an invention of mankind, so it must be explored and created to perfect. The model of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries was not truly scientific socialism, so it went bankrupt.

Faced with that situation, promptly “looking straight at the truth” with scientific and practical thinking, the remaining socialist countries such as China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos… with over 1.5 billion people have found a path of innovation and reform in line with the trend and nature of socialism, which is “liberating humanity through social revolutions, with human intelligence and aiming at the goal of ensuring the quality of life, freedom and happiness”. That is the true path that Marxism-Leninism has pointed out.

Propaganda poster.

Although real socialism has temporarily fallen into decline and suffered losses, it does not mean it is doomed. No matter how the weather changes, spring will still come. The communist ideal and scientific socialism will continue on the path of development.

The world is changing, new things are constantly appearing, new problems are constantly being raised. At this time, we need to remember V. Lenin's words: "We do not consider Marx's theory of socialism as something finished, on the contrary, we must understand that that theory only lays the foundation for the scientific development of human history, while socialism is an invention that needs to be perfected..." Accordingly, reform and innovation must place socialism in the development of the process of constant transformation and improvement; must think, explore, and choose the appropriate path to socialism.

The strength and future of socialism in general and of each socialist country in particular depend on the reform and innovation process; on the one hand, knowing how to overcome the shortcomings and defects that have been encountered, on the other hand, we must firmly maintain the principles, must base ourselves on the practicality of the "starting point" associated with cultural, national and social traditions to inherit and promote in choosing methods. All good intentions have not and will not happen in reality if the move towards socialism lacks a scientifically proven theoretical basis and an effective implementation platform.

The mistake of carrying out “reform” in the Soviet Union left a profound lesson: in the process of development, they wanted to perfect socialism but abandoned the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism, considering them no longer relevant. With the framework, conditions and each specific historical period, the innovation and reform of each country is carried out in ways that are consistent with the spirit of independence, autonomy and scientific creativity, but must respect the general laws and the good nature of socialism.

The path of socialism is the path that each nation chooses to gain independence, freedom and social progress. However, socialism is not only the ideal or private property of a class or a nation, but it is the goal of the revolution to liberate mankind. In the process of historical development, each country moves towards socialism on its own path, but cannot be isolated, isolated or extremist, but must consider socialism as the quintessence of humanity, and must proactively cooperate, help and respect each other. Between countries and regimes, it is necessary to promote international integration in all fields. It would be a mistake not to exchange, cooperate and learn from each other's experiences to promote common values ​​in order to avoid unnecessary losses. That is the problem facing countries moving towards socialism, not only domestically but also globally. In today's era, it is necessary to fully understand the relationship and multilateral, diverse international cooperation for the long-term interests of each nation and of the superior socialist regime.

Panorama of the 13th National Congress of the Party. Photo: Thanh Duy

In the spring of 2021, the 13th National Party Congress affirmed the guiding viewpoint in the process of continuing to perfect the renovation process: "Firmly and continue to apply and creatively develop Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; firmly adhere to the goals of national independence and socialism; firmly adhere to the Party's renovation policy; firmly adhere to the principles of Party building to firmly build and defend the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam". In that spirit, the Party has set the goal of developing the country by 2025, 2030 and 2045 to turn Vietnam into a developed, high-income socialist country.

To do so, the entire Party and people must strongly promote the combined strength, patriotism, national spirit, socialist democracy, cultural values, and the quintessence of the times to help the country overcome all difficulties and challenges, focus on handling the Covid-19 pandemic with appropriate thinking in the new normal state and take the lead in the post-pandemic period, in order to bring the country to continue to develop rapidly and sustainably, creating new miracles. Strive for a prosperous and happy Vietnam, "standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers" on the path of building socialism to bring a good spring to the nation in the historical process towards the spring of humanity as wished by President Ho Chi Minh.