Remember the Secretary who talks but acts

(Baonghean) - After the Nghe An Weekend Newspaper published on February 7th, it published an article titled “Nguyen Huu Doi and the works of the century”, and received many positive responses from readers. The responses all shared a high level of agreement when the newspaper recalled the portrait of the once famous “Secretary Doi” in the current time when personnel work is facing many concerns.

Many readers expressed their desire to know more about this official of the people, for the people; many others provided the newspaper with more authentic, vivid and emotional information about Secretary Doi, many of whom had worked and been closely associated with him.

General Secretary Le Duan visited the economic model in Quynh Hong commune (Quynh Luu). Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi was the person walking right next to the General Secretary.

Among the letters, articles, and phone calls to the editorial office, we received heartfelt lines from Provincial Party Secretary Ho Duc Phoc. The letter reads: “I read the article “Nguyen Huu Doi and the project of the century” in Nghe An Newspaper on February 7, 2016, and I found it very interesting. I met Mr. Doi twice when he retired, but each time I met him, I was left with a very deep impression (...) A very creative, decisive cadre, devoted to his work, talking with his hands, taking the lead, exemplary. During Uncle Doi’s time, he did new rural areas and industrialization. For example, planning residential areas, building electricity, roads, schools, stations, and craft villages (...). If we had many enthusiastic cadres like that today, the locality would certainly develop.”

In this article, we would like to continue telling stories about Secretary Doi, mainly in the memories of those who met, heard, and worked with him. These simple stories will help us understand and appreciate more a personality, a heart "burning out for work"

Only talk forward, not back

In his letter, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Ho Duc Phoc recounted his meeting with Secretary of the Quynh Luu District Party Committee Nguyen Huu Doi: “He once told me: “His house is only a few hundred meters from the District Party Committee (office). In the afternoon, he saw the smoke from cooking rice rising up and did not dare to go home even though he missed the dinner with his wife and children, but he thought that his brothers living far away would be sad or leave, so he stayed at the office with his brothers”. This story was also confirmed by Mr. Ho Phi Phuc, former Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee - who had lived and worked with Secretary Doi for a long time, and added, “One day, Mr. Doi missed his nephew so much that he had to ask his uncle to take him to the office so he could see him and hug him for a while to ease his longing. Back then, there was a lot of work. People say that Quynh Luu district is like a big construction site, which is not wrong. Especially during the period when the district was chosen by the Central Government to build a model district (after 1975). I saw that there were days when Secretary Doi worked without missing a single hour. In the morning, he had a meeting in the province, and at noon, when he returned, there were many delegations of guests waiting, and he received them all afternoon. In the afternoon, he had a meeting in the district. In the evening, he received guests. At peak times, the district received up to 600 to 700 guests per day, mainly guests from other localities coming to learn from Mr. Doi and Quynh Luu to build a model district.

Provincial Party Secretary Ho Duc Phoc visited Quynh Luu II High School.

Despite the amount of work, Mr. Doi was still "enthusiastic". His enthusiasm and determination inspired and gave confidence to the majority of cadres and people. Whatever he said and did, he did it, calling for everyone's unanimity for the common goal. Therefore, for Mr. Doi, "nothing is difficult". In a short period of time, many "projects of the century" were completed. Those projects are the mark of his burning determination. He is a man of the offensive, that is what I always think of him.

In many meetings discussing the most difficult tasks, his resolute statement was “Only discuss progress, not retreat”. If not, where would there be Vuc Mau lake, Binh Son drainage canal, An Ngai dam. Where else could there be the same spirit as in Quynh Luu in those days? Going to work, the distance traveled, carried, and carried by the workers was extremely miserable because the road was bad, cracked, and bumpy. Yet everyone carried a piece of board on their bicycle. When they reached a bad road, they lifted the board to walk and work... It can be seen that the “spiritual wind” blew to every villager. Thanks to that, welfare projects such as district hospitals, medical stations, especially charity houses could be completed quickly, entirely by human contributions. In 1 month, the district built 40-50 charity houses”.

Respect the "worker".

“The story of Mr. Doi could not be told all day,” said Mr. Ho Phi Phuc, “but for me, the two deep impressions, also unforgettable memories with Secretary Doi, were the moments of meeting and saying goodbye. At that time, I was a mechanical engineer at Vinh Mechanical Factory. When Quynh Luu built the model district, Secretary Doi himself went to the province to ask me to come back and help Quynh Luu. In 1976, that day, I cycled from Vinh to the district. An ordinary engineer, as soon as he entered the district gate, saw the famous Secretary of the whole province and the whole country waiting at the gate. He kindly took my bike for me and told the office staff to clean up the room in the agency for me. The first moment of meeting that Secretary forever left me with an unforgettable emotion.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi on a visit to the base.

Living and working with him, I know that he highly respected technical cadres in particular (because at that time Quynh Luu built a worker-farmer district), and people who could do the job in general. He hated cadres who “just talked but didn’t do it”, or who didn’t do it thoroughly, or who “talked back”. In today’s language, he was very allergic to “umbrella-carrying” cadres. I witnessed him disciplining many of those cadres. There were even cadres who were “attractive” and highly qualified from the province who came to help the district but couldn’t do the job, so he fired them immediately. He always said that he needed “people who could do the work”.

The last impression I want to tell about Mr. Doi was the day I walked among the crowd to see him off to the eternal world. At that time, I had retired, I joined the hearts of the people of Quynh district to bid farewell to that devoted cadre who devoted himself to the people. The whole group, kilometers long, on the country road, tears mixed with rainwater. Regret, longing, gratitude... I know all those emotions were swirling in the hearts of each of us.

Secretary Doi was not only fierce in criticizing cadres who “didn’t know how to work,” but he also always studied on his own, and frankly did not hide his shortcomings and shortcomings. Poet Nguyen Trong Tao recounted that once he visited Doi’s room when he returned to Vinh and saw that the room was filled with books, mostly thick theoretical books. He asked: “You read so many books?”, Doi replied: “I see that my education is not systematic, so I need to supplement and learn by myself by researching and reading a lot.”

Poet Thach Quy recounted a memory: “Once I returned to Quynh Luu and learned that Secretary Doi had just given a gift to someone who criticized him. Surprised, I asked him about it and learned that Mr. Doi had gone to the commune. He met a female farmer and asked her about it. She criticized Mr. Doi for saying something wrong here and there. He listened quietly and then took out a piece of silk to give to the female farmer. He said: I am just a farmer, but I dare to be frank and bold in criticizing cadres, and my criticism is reasonable. That is worthy of being commended.

Let me end this article with a story that made the poet Thach Quy exclaim: “Mr. Doi Quynh Luu - a strange person. A person who lives forever in the hearts of the people. During my days in Quynh Luu, I witnessed many people from the communes, such as Quynh Vinh, Quynh Thang, Quynh Thien...., they traveled to bring a few cans of new rice, bunches of newly threshed paddy to give to Mr. Doi. And they, with all their sincere gratitude, told about the respected Secretary: If it weren't for Mr. Doi, we wouldn't have rice to eat. Mr. Doi brought irrigation, replaced the sky with water, helped us farmers have two-crop rice fields. The fields that had been dry for hundreds of years have come back to life. We brought rice, brought paddy to thank him!”

So, these stories, though small, are full of emotion about a man from Nghe An “of a time” who cannot and will not be forgotten. That is why, decades after his death, the then Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen The Trung still mentioned the funding for the renovation of his tomb.

And until today, the current Provincial Party Secretary Ho Duc Phoc still entrusts and hopes that the provincial newspaper will research and write more about his portrait, so that everyone will always remember and follow his footsteps to work and contribute. The important thing is that the people of Quynh Luu will always be grateful to him when holding a bowl of new rice, or walking on the open roads today.

Thuy Vinh