Reflecting on an article about Uncle Ho's Party

For himself, President Ho Chi Minh determined: “My whole life has only one purpose, which is to strive for the interests of the Fatherland and the happiness of the people. The times I had to hide in the mountains, or go in and out of prison, or face danger were for that purpose” (1). Therefore, he constantly improved himself and became an exemplary moralist, a shining example of revolutionary morality and in today’s life.

As President, he still maintained a lifestyle like that of ordinary people. In the mountains and forests of Viet Bac, his residence was a simple thatched hut with bamboo walls. Returning to Hanoi, he lived in a small house of an electrician, built in the early 20th century.

When he lived in the stilt house in the Presidential Area, it was just a place with only a few rooms with very common and necessary items. His daily meals consisted of 3-5 hometown dishes such as eggplant with soy sauce, sour soup, fish stewed with ginger leaves... His clothes were also very simple: indigo shirt, soldier's shirt when in the war zone, mahogany shirt, rubber sandals, wooden clogs, living in the stilt house, taking care of fish, planting trees.

Simple yet great like that:“Ho Chi Minh is the embodiment of the best qualities of the Vietnamese people and the values ​​of all humanity, which are intelligence and modesty, talent and simplicity.”(2).

Ho Chi Minh's ethics is an ethics expressed through effective actions. At the same time, he also valued education through self-criticism, criticism, orientation, instruction, correction, propaganda... President Ho Chi Minh wrote many works and articles on ethics and moral character of party members and cadres such as:“Revolutionary Path” (1927); “Reforming the Way of Working” (1947); “Diligence, Thrift, Integrity and Uprightness” (1949); “Civic Ethics”, “Revolutionary Cadres” (1955); “Revolutionary Ethics” (1958); “Testament” (1969).

In particular, on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the Party's founding, on January 26, 1969, President Ho Chi Minh suggested the content for the Central Propaganda Department to prepare an article on revolutionary ethics to be published in Nhan Dan Newspaper on February 3, 1969. When the Propaganda Department sent the article, President Ho Chi Minh carefully revised the content and titled it "Sweeping away individualism, improving revolutionary ethics" and then he had the draft of the article typed and sent to each comrade in the Politburo to review and comment on the content before publishing it in the newspaper.

The comrades in the Politburo all had opinions and forwarded them to him. President Ho Chi Minh reviewed and took the version with comrade Truong Chinh's opinions as the original because it had the most practical ideas. On January 30, 1969, he worked with the Head of the Propaganda Department To Huu. Comrade To Huu suggested: "Dear Uncle, our Party's cadres are generally good, only a few have degenerated. Your title is too strong! Please allow me to put the clause "Improving revolutionary morality first" and the clause "Sweeping away individualism" later."

President Ho Chi Minh turned to ask the secretary. Comrade Vu Ky also agreed with this opinion. He then analyzed, “What you said is reasonable but not reasonable. I want to ask this: Your family saved up to buy a new set of tables, chairs, beds and wardrobes. So before putting them in the room, did you take out the old furniture and clean it up or did you just leave the trash and dirt behind before putting in the new set of tables, chairs, beds and wardrobes?”

The two comrades were still confused and didn't know how to answer when he continued: "Because you are the majority, I agree to make concessions and change the title to: "Promoting revolutionary morality, wiping out individualism" but in the article, the original idea must be kept: "Wipe out individualism, promoting revolutionary morality" (3).

Article No. 5409 signed by the pen name TL frankly criticized party members with low morals, pointing out the wrong consequences and unpredictable consequences of individualism:“They think of themselves first in everything. They do not care about themselves for the sake of others, but only want others to care for themselves. Because of individualism, they are afraid of hardships and difficulties, and fall into corruption, depravity, waste, and extravagance. They are greedy for fame and profit, and love position and power. They are arrogant, look down on the collective, despise the masses, are arbitrary, and authoritarian. They are far from the masses, far from reality, and suffer from bureaucracy and commandism. They do not have the spirit to strive to improve, and do not want to study to progress. Also because of individualism, they lose solidarity, lack a sense of responsibility, and do not comply with the Party and State's policies and guidelines, harming the interests of the revolution and the people.”

At the same time, the article also calls for:“Every Party member and cadre must put the interests of the revolution, the Party, and the people first and foremost. Must resolutely wipe out individualism, improve revolutionary ethics, foster collective thinking, solidarity, organization, and discipline. Must go deep, get close to reality, be close to the masses, truly respect and promote the people's right to collective mastery. Must strive to study, practice, and improve knowledge to perform all tasks well” (4).

Revolutionary ethics is the ethics of collectivism, because the collective is by the collective and resolutely eliminates individualism. Our Party is a ruling party, in the current context, the issue of protecting and rectifying the Party has become extremely urgent, which is the condition for the survival of the socialist regime in Vietnam.

The 4th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 04-NQ/TW on strengthening Party building and rectification; preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, morality, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party. Since then, the fight against negativity, corruption, waste, bureaucracy, and degeneration within the Party organization has been fierce and heated, achieving remarkable results, making the masses enthusiastic, excited, supportive, and following every day, thereby further strengthening the people's trust in the Party.

In such a situation, the responsibility of a party member becomes even heavier. Each person needs to draw practical lessons for themselves from their personal experiences at work, and continue to cultivate the ethics of a party member through specific actions:

- Correct ideological awareness: “The Party is not an organization for officials to get rich. The Party must fulfill its mission of liberating the nation, making the Fatherland rich and strong, and the people happy” (5). Therefore, if one voluntarily joins the Party, one must properly and well perform the role and responsibility of a Party member to the people, to the Fatherland and to the Party;

- Resolutely oppose individualism in all forms, boycott any phenomenon of group interests, family interests, local interests or relational interests;

- Practice diligence, thrift, integrity, impartiality in work and daily life;

- It is necessary to rely on the people to consolidate and build the Party. Thoroughly practice criticism and self-criticism;

- Must maintain and strictly enforce Party discipline. Evaluate correctly, objectively, and clearly between contributions and mistakes, merits and crimes. Party members must set an example first, from top to bottom, from the Central Committee to the grassroots Party cells.

- To be worthy of being a true party member, every party member must always keep in mind the teachings of President Ho Chi Minh and practice them in life: “Revolutionary morality does not fall from the sky. It is developed and consolidated through daily struggle and persistent training. Just as jade becomes brighter the more it is polished, gold becomes purer the more it is refined” (6).

Note:

1,4,5,6- "Ho Chi Minh Complete Works"-National Political Publishing House (2011)

2- “Ho Chi Minh in the memories of international friends” - National Political Publishing House (2009), p. 120

3- “Uncle Ho's Secretary Tells Stories” - National Political Publishing House (2008), pp. 106-107./.