How does Nghe An implement Uncle Ho's Testament and letter to the Party Committee and people of the province? (*)

Nghe An Newspaper respectfully introduces the content of the above presentation:

Uncle Ho visited Kim Lien - Nam Dan. Photo archive

50 years ago, Uncle Ho “went to meet Karl Marx, Lenin and other revolutionary predecessors”. Before saying goodbye to us, Uncle left the entire Party and the entire people his historic Will. Along with the Will, with a heavy heart for his homeland, on July 21, 1969, Uncle sent a letter of affection to the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee - his “homeland of deep affection”. This was the last time Uncle could write a letter to the Party Committee and people of his home province.

What Uncle Ho advised

We can summarize a few main points. Regarding the Party, with the vision throughout time of a great man, Uncle Ho advised: Our Party is a ruling Party. Each Party member and cadre must truly imbue revolutionary ethics, be truly thrifty, honest, impartial and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, worthy of being a leader, a truly loyal servant of the people. We must promote the precious tradition of solidarity inherent in the Party. In an important work, Uncle Ho wrote: "Promote revolutionary ethics, wipe out individualism. This is an extremely drastic requirement."

In his last letter to the Provincial Party Committee, Uncle Ho was "pleased to see that cadres at all levels and in all sectors in the province had initially corrected bureaucracy and commandism, and tried to stay close to the people to organize and mobilize them to implement the policies of the Party and State."

Uncle Ho gave very specific instructions: The Party must respect the democratic rights of the people. Cadres, party members, and union members need to regularly self-criticize before the people and encourage people to criticize. Humbly listen to people's opinions to promote good deeds, correct wrongdoings, and do better work. Our people love our Party very much. We must encourage people to contribute to Party building, such as: giving opinions to Party cells in selecting people to join the Party and selecting leaders. If we can do that, the relationship between the Party and the people will become even closer...

He emphasized: Nurturing the next generation of revolutionaries is a very important and necessary task. The Party needs to take care of educating revolutionary ethics for the youth, training them to become successors in building socialism who are both "red" and "expert".

Regarding economic, cultural and social development to improve the material and spiritual life of the people, in his Testament, he wrote: Our working people in the lowlands as well as in the mountains have endured hardships for generations, been oppressed and exploited by the feudal and colonial regimes, and have experienced many years of war. However, our people are very heroic, brave, enthusiastic, and industrious. Since the Party was founded, our people have always followed the Party and have been very loyal to the Party. The Party must have a very good plan to develop the economy and culture, in order to constantly improve the people's lives.

Regarding Nghe An, after praising the advanced models in production and the development potential of the province, Uncle Ho advised: Nghe An is a large province, with rich resources, hard-working and revolutionary people. He really hopes that the people and comrades of the province will strive to make Nghe An quickly become one of the most prosperous provinces in the North.

Before talking about the international Communist movement, Uncle Ho assessed and set out requirements for the entire Party and people: “The resistance war against the US may still be prolonged. Our compatriots may have to sacrifice a lot of property and lives. In any case, we must be determined to fight the US until complete victory... No matter how difficult or arduous, our people will definitely win completely. The US imperialists must leave our country. Our Fatherland will definitely be unified. The people of the North and the South will definitely be reunited under one roof. Our country will have the great honor of being a small country that has heroically defeated two great imperialists - France and the US; and has made a worthy contribution to the national liberation movement.”

To Nghe An, after praising the achievements of the army and people of the province, in his last letter, Uncle Ho kindly gave very specific instructions: “One thing that must always be remembered is: Our people's fight against the US to save the country is at a fierce stage. The US imperialists have been defeated painfully, but are still very stubborn. Our army and people must always be vigilant, ready to fight, maintain air defense and evacuation work, and strengthen trenches. Try to contribute more efforts to join the army and people of the whole country in completely defeating the US invaders.”

I think that Uncle Ho's mentioning of the task of defeating the American invaders at the end of his Testament as well as in the letter to Nghe An Provincial Party Committee meant that he wanted to emphasize the immediate key task that the entire Party, the entire army, and the entire people must always remember.

Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen - former Minister of Trade, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, had a speech pointing out the results and limitations of the Party Committee and people of Nghe An in implementing Uncle Ho's Will and letter to Nghe An Provincial Party Committee. Photo: Thanh Cuong

How does Nghe An implement Uncle Ho's Testament and letter to the Party Committee and people of the province?

It can be divided into two periods. From 1969 to 1975 - the period of resistance against the US to save the country, promoting the indomitable tradition of the Soviet homeland, despite being a land fiercely attacked by the US, the Party Committee and people of our province overcame all difficulties, regardless of sacrifice and hardship, fought steadfastly, enthusiastically worked and produced, contributing significantly with the whole country to support human and material resources for the cause of liberating the South and unifying the country.

The heroic sacrifice of 13 Youth Volunteers in Truong Bon is an immortal monument of Vietnamese revolutionary heroism. During this period, most party members set a shining example of the spirit: “Forgetting oneself for the country, forgetting oneself for the people”.

From 1975 to present, especially in the cause of innovation, the Party Committee and people of Nghe An have actively strived to implement Uncle Ho's Testament and his instructions in the letter sent to the Provincial Party Committee.

The work of Party building and development is given importance. In the movement against corruption and waste; building and rectifying the Party, to date, there has been no case of cadres and Party members who were disciplined or criminally prosecuted by the Central Committee for this crime during their time working in Nghe An.

Implementing the "Grassroots Democracy Regulations", Party organizations have focused on increasing dialogue with the people and resolving their concerns.

The work of developing the Party and “training the next generation of revolutionaries” has received due attention. It can be affirmed that many key cadres of the province in different periods have grown up from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Promoting the tradition of studiousness of the people of Nghe An, education in our province has developed comprehensively in both scale and quality of training. By September 2015, the whole province had 5,137,000 high school students at all levels with 17,654 classes, including over 106,000 children of ethnic minorities. Our province is always in the top of 63 provinces and cities with high university admission rates. Many excellent students have received national and international awards.

The socio-economic situation has developed quite well. The province has focused on the Western Nghe An region, paying attention to the lives of people in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas. Many large-scale production models applying high technology have appeared; the widespread development of the new rural construction movement has changed the face of the countryside. Nam Dan, Uncle Ho's hometown, has been recognized as a New Rural District and is striving to become a model New Rural District.

The economic structure of the province has shifted in the right direction. The proportion of industry in the total product structure in the area increased from 27.76% in 2013 to 33.35% in 2018. Following Uncle Ho's advice in the letter to the Provincial Party Committee, the afforestation movement has developed strongly, and the wood processing industry of planted forests has initially been formed. Vinh City is striving to become the center of the North Central region.

The material and spiritual life of the people is constantly improving. If the average income per capita in 2010 at current prices was 11,040,000 VND, by 2014 it had increased to 19,000,000 VND. GRDP in the period 2014-2018 increased by an average of 8%, the average per capita in 2018 was 37,000,000 VND. The poverty rate decreased rapidly. In 2010 it was 24.8%, by 2017 it was only 7.54%.

In general, over the past 50 years, the Party Committee and people of our province have strived and achieved important achievements in implementing the Will and the things he left in the letter to the Provincial Party Committee.

However, Nghe An still has many limitations and shortcomings in important areas that Uncle Ho was very interested in during his lifetime. These are:

The first,Party building and government work at all levels. Party members and officials have not yet been able to do what Uncle Ho taught: "Whatever is beneficial to the people, no matter how difficult, must be done, whatever is harmful to the people must be avoided at all costs." The situation of harassing people and the evil of "petty corruption" still exists among many civil servants. Although the province's CPI coefficient has improved in recent years, from 46th in 2013 to 21st in 2017, it still has to strive hard to reach the top 10 - a milestone recognizing the province as having a favorable business environment and attracting investors.

Although in recent years, the leadership has been united and unified. That is a good thing, but in some periods, the key leaders of the province still lacked unity, leading to a state of distraction within the Party Committee and the people of the province, hindering development.

Regarding these contents, although the provincial leaders have paid attention to promoting them, our province has not really been commensurate with the spirit of "The revolutionary offensive of the Soviet homeland". We understand that studying Uncle Ho is not limited to "The Testament" and "The Letter of Uncle Ho to the Provincial Party Committee" although these are the core contents, but studying the entire ideology, morality and style of Ho Chi Minh according to Directive 05 of the Politburo of the 12th Party Central Committee.

Uncle Ho was not only a great thinker of the era but also an extremely dynamic revolutionary activist. In him, enlightened thoughts always led to revolutionary actions to reform reality, words matched actions, actions with courage: "Resolutely and constantly advancing", working with the spirit of "Nothing is difficult, only fear of not being steadfast, digging mountains and filling seas, determination will surely make it happen". Our province's cadres have not done this well.

The Provincial Party Committee needs to seriously discuss to answer the question: Why are Nghe An businesses very successful in other regions, even abroad, but still face many difficulties in their homeland?

Monday,Economic growth is still not commensurate with the potential and the spirit of hard work and learning of Nghe An people. The mentality of being satisfied with reality still exists in the majority of cadres, party members and people. Nghe An's industrial production index in 2015 was still the lowest among the 6 provinces of the North Central region. Average income per capita in 2014 was only 4th among the 6 provinces in this region. GRDP per capita in 2018 only reached 70% of the national average.

Many pressing issues still arise. Drug trafficking and addiction are on the rise. Nghe An is becoming a transit point for drugs from the “Golden Triangle” into Vietnam and other countries. The environment is seriously polluted.

The workshop on the morning of August 31 was an opportunity for Nghe An officials and party members to have objective assessments of the current situation of the province and draw important lessons to continue the journey of "following Uncle Ho's footsteps". Photo: Thanh Cuong

Dear comrades!

Uncle Ho not only lived a simple and frugal life, he also did not like to use big words but often spoke to cadres and people in easy-to-understand and easy-to-remember terms.

“He often left the chicken dish and ate all the Nghe eggplants.

Avoid speaking loudly and walk softly in the garden.

My heart aches with the pain of people in the ends of the earth

Coming to Him, I breathe easier.

(Thousands of love cover the whole homeland, Viet Phuong)

Uncle Ho was also a person who loved nature, loved to live in the midst of nature, the sky and the earth. The house where he both lived and worked was just a simple stilt house surrounded by trees and leaves. Next to his house, birds were dancing and fish were swimming happily. Meanwhile, in many places, including our province, besides the positive changes in the countryside during the industrialization process, where are the village landscapes with bamboo hedges, hibiscus rows and the sound of cicadas in the summer, losing the peaceful scene and cool air of the past. To the point that Mr. Phan Xuan Thuong - former officer of the Department of Culture of Dien Chau district had to exclaim:

“I clasp my hands and pray to the plowman/ Let me follow the old days...”

We know that this is a common situation in many rural areas across the country, but we cannot ignore it, especially in the context that we are promoting experiential tourism and community tourism. Obviously, the Party Committee and people of our province must strive even harder, more resolutely to realize Uncle Ho's wish: We sincerely hope that our compatriots and comrades in the province will strive to make Nghe An quickly become one of the best provinces in the North... I understand that "best" is not only in terms of economy but also in all aspects of social life.

The workshop on 50 years of implementing Uncle Ho's Testament and letter to the Provincial Party Committee in his homeland is a very practical and meaningful activity. Through this workshop, Nghe An cadres and party members will have objective assessments of the current situation in all aspects of our province, drawing important lessons to continue the journey of "following Uncle Ho's footsteps".

As a son of Nghe An, and having worked locally for a short time, I see that the achievements are the efforts of my comrades and compatriots, and the limitations and weaknesses are my responsibility.

With that in mind, I believe that the key cadres of the province will promote the existing spirit of solidarity and continue to lead our province to strive to carry out the Will and the things Uncle Ho told us before he passed away.