Ideological work creates momentum for innovation

(Baonghean) - On August 1, 1930, on the occasion of the "International Red Day", the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Communist Party of Vietnam published the document "International Red Day August 1" calling on soldiers to unite with the people to respond to the struggle against imperialist wars, support the national liberation movement, and protect peace. This document quickly reached the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers, stirring up a revolutionary movement throughout the country; August 1 became a historical milestone in the Party's ideological work.

At the proposal of the Central Ideological and Cultural Commission (now the Central Propaganda Commission), the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee (VIII tenure) approved August 1 every year as the traditional day of ideological work of the Party. After 83 years of operation, the army of ideological work has grown remarkably, becoming an elite force bringing the Party's voice to all classes of people; ideological work has become a driving force of the revolution.

During the period of secret operations, in the condition of not yet having control of the government, our Party used many forms of ideological propaganda to enlighten the working class and laboring people to participate in the revolutionary movement. Through sharp forms of ideological propaganda, our Party enlightened and gathered a large number of people, organized forces to carry out the earth-shattering August Revolution, and took power into the hands of the people. During the two long resistance wars against the French and the Americans, the army of ideological workers encouraged the patriotism and revolutionary heroism of millions of Vietnamese people, creating the miraculous power of people's war to defeat the invaders, gain independence, freedom, and unify the country.

Entering the period of renovation, ideological work faces more difficult and complicated tasks. Our Party firmly adheres to the stance of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; firmly adheres to the path that Uncle Ho chose: national independence leading to Socialism. Our people wholeheartedly follow the Party to realize the goal of "rich people, strong country, democracy, equality, civilization". However, in the new historical context, on the ideological front, there are many complicated issues. Hostile forces are constantly sabotaging the Vietnamese revolution with very insidious peaceful evolution tricks to divide the great national unity bloc. Within the people, the ideological situation also has complicated developments. Corruption has not been pushed back, social evils have not been prevented, a large number of cadres and party members have degraded in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle... That situation erodes the people's trust in the Party and the regime.

Faced with such difficulties and challenges, ideological work must be sharper, more agile, and more attractive to meet the requirements set forth in practice. The renovation process was initiated at the 6th Party Congress (1986) with the starting point of renewing thinking, first of all, renewing economic thinking. Since then, after nearly 30 years of renovation, Vietnam's economy has had miraculous development recognized by the world, political stability, and national security and defense have been maintained. However, in the ideological field, due to not being able to adapt in time to the development of the market economy, there are still obstacles in the renovation process.

Conservative and stagnant thinking among a section of cadres and people is holding back the country's socio-economic development. If we want the country to develop, we must liberate human potential, the first requirement of which is to liberate the people's thinking from backward and conservative constraints. In that sense, ideological work is a driving force for innovation. To fulfill that historic mission, those who do ideological work must comprehensively innovate themselves, both as the Party's vanguard soldiers on the ideological front and as those who enlighten the people's thinking to create momentum for the cause of innovation.

Nghe An Newspaper