Great lesson in criticizing and correcting shortcomings in the Party's mass mobilization

(Baonghean)In the glorious revolutionary history of our Party and nation, General Secretary Le Hong Phong belongs to the generation of senior revolutionary soldiers, the first generation of Party members, an outstanding leader of the Party, a staunch revolutionary soldier of the international Communist and workers' movement.

As the head of the Party's External Command and head of the Party Central Committee (1935), comrade Le Hong Phong made extremely important contributions to the restoration of the Party, the revolutionary movement and the activities of Party organizations from the Central to the grassroots in the early 1930s; preparing to organize the 1st Congress of the Party, preparing all aspects of ideology, politics and organization to bring our country's revolutionary movement to the peak period of 1936 - 1939, creating an important premise to move towards the national liberation peak period of 1939 - 1945.

Those important contributions of Comrade Le Hong Phong were due to his early and profound awareness of the role of the Party's mass mobilization work, the role of criticism and correction of shortcomings in general, and in the Party's mass mobilization work in particular. These were the two thoughts that ran through his leadership of the Party. Thought and action were always unified. After each revolutionary movement and each period of Party leadership, he always reflected and analyzed the good and bad aspects, criticized and corrected shortcomings in the mass mobilization work, in order to orient the right actions in the next period.



Memorial site of General Secretary Le Hong Phong in Hung Thong commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: S. M

The first Congress of the Party took place in 1935 with the active preparation of comrade Le Hong Phong and at this Congress, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Party. The Congress marked the restoration of the Party's organization and recognized the great contributions of comrade Le Hong Phong in drafting a change in strategy and tactics of struggle to rally the masses around the Party.

As General Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party and member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, comrade Le Hong Phong made many great contributions to the struggle to unify viewpoints within the Party, to build strategic lines and revolutionary tactics suitable to the new situation in the world and in the country, to widely gather the masses in the struggle against the danger of fascism, against imperialist war, demanding freedom, food, clothing and peace for the nation.

In the process of studying the issue of criticizing and correcting shortcomings in the Party's mass mobilization work by comrade Le Hong Phong, the first lesson we learn today is to correctly place mass mobilization work in the revolutionary cause.

When studying the ideology of comrade Le Hong Phong, we also see that criticism and correction of shortcomings in mass mobilization work must be carried out regularly. Criticism and correction of shortcomings is the law of development of the Party and mass mobilization work is no exception to that law. This is a regular task in mass mobilization work, because in the implementation process, there are many difficulties and many shortcomings, so criticism and correction of shortcomings are needed to overcome limitations. However, criticism must be carried out correctly, scientifically, "honestly and principled", in accordance with objective reality; it is necessary to avoid taking advantage of criticism to attack, slander, create factions or suppress outspoken critics, causing distraction in the organization and distraction in the people.

Currently, criticism and correction of shortcomings in mass mobilization work have not been given due importance in some localities and units. The force doing mass mobilization must be the force of the entire political system, but when conducting criticism, we only see the limitations and weaknesses of mass mobilization work in specialized organizations doing mass mobilization work, but do not see the responsibility of each cadre, party member, agency, or other organization; or we only see the responsibility of cadres who directly contact the people, directly resolve the needs of the people, but do not see the responsibility of leaders and managers... Besides, criticism and correction of shortcomings in mass mobilization work in some places because of "disdain for mass mobilization work" is done hastily and roughly, without seeing the advantages to promote, without pointing out the limitations to overcome, and even without clearly defining the content of mass mobilization work, causing mass mobilization work to sometimes be forgotten. That limits criticism and correction of shortcomings in mass mobilization work.

Looking at the practice of mass mobilization work, it can be seen that mass mobilization work in recent times has made many efforts in mobilizing the masses to realize revolutionary goals, contributing to improving the living standards of the majority of the people; the face of the country has been completely renewed. Mass mobilization work has made timely proposals and recommendations to the Party and the State on policies and guidelines to resolve the legitimate rights of the people; the relationship between the Party, the government and the people has been consolidated and strengthened; creating awareness of mass mobilization in the new period... Besides the positive aspects, mass mobilization work still has many shortcomings and weaknesses. Some Party committees and authorities have not fully recognized the role and importance of mass mobilization work for the cause of national development; knowledge, skills and methods of mass mobilization are still lacking; some mechanisms and policies are still inadequate, causing resentment among the people. A large number of cadres and party members take mass mobilization work lightly, have degraded in ideology, morality, and lifestyle, and have undermined people's trust in the Party and the State. This reality requires criticism, but more importantly, determination to correct shortcomings so that mass mobilization work can continuously progress. During the revolutionary process, there are many difficulties, both subjective and objective, but there must be determination to overcome difficulties, and to propose specific and feasible contents and measures to correct shortcomings.

From studying the ideology of comrade Le Hong Phong, we also have a deeper understanding that: To successfully carry out the Party's revolutionary tasks, it is necessary to further consolidate the awareness of the role of the Party's mass mobilization work in the entire political system, in all levels, sectors, organizations, units, in each cadre, party member, civil servant, and public employee; instill the awareness of mass mobilization, considering it the responsibility of each cadre, party member, civil servant, and public employee before the Party, before the people, and before the development of the country. It is necessary to disseminate, thoroughly grasp, and well implement the Regulations on mass mobilization work of the political system in Decision No. 290-QD/T.U dated February 25, 2010 of the Politburo; Regulations on democracy at the grassroots level... and at the same time monitor and inspect the implementation of these regulations in organizations and units. The Party's mass mobilization work is one of the major issues of the Vietnamese Revolution. However, to do good mass mobilization work, regular criticism and correction of shortcomings are very important. That is a great idea, a great lesson that comrade Le Hong Phong contributed to building in the Party's ideological heritage and left for us.

Nguyen Xuan Son