Secretary Nguyen Huu Doi and the works of the century

(Baonghean) - Coming to Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai, it is not difficult to see the timeless vision of Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi - Former Secretary of Quynh Luu District Party Committee. Those are works that demonstrate the dedication of a Secretary who tirelessly strived for the life and happiness of the people all his life. However, there was a time when people thought that he was willful, hasty, and subjective. And only history can prove that what Secretary Nguyen Huu Doi did was correct, appropriate to the stature of the times.

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

Misconceptions from public opinion

Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi - former member of the Standing Committee of Nghe Tinh Provincial Party Committee, former Secretary of Quynh Luu District Party Committee is quite famous not only in Nghe Tinh. He is famous for many reasons, but the reason most people know is because of the saying "Mo rice, qua ca, the heart of communism advances to socialism".

When referring to him with this saying, people often refer to a common disease during the subsidy period, which is “childish, subjective, hasty, and voluntaristic”. Even in university lecture halls or political theory training classes, many lecturers often cite Nguyen Huu Doi and his hometown Quynh Luu as a model of revolutionary enthusiasm without any guiding theory. This has existed for decades, and is so typical that, just by mentioning “mo com qua ca, tam tam cong” (rice, eggplant, communist heart), the listener already knows what it is metaphorizing.

The writer of this article was also haunted by such a perception. It was not until I witnessed with my own eyes the projects that he directed to be completed, contacted the people who worked with him, read the numbers that speak of his contributions to Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai in particular, and Nghe An in general, that I realized one thing: up to now, I, like many others, when looking at and evaluating him, have suffered from the disease of superficiality and dogmatism, a disease that people like Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi have never suffered from.

The one who left behind works of the century

Regarding Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai land, it is not difficult to see that Nguyen Huu Doi's timeless vision is still clearly imprinted in many works that he led the people of Quynh Luu to build.

First of all, we must mention the irrigation system with a total of 86 projects built in Quynh Luu district, including many projects of national scale such as Vuc Mau lake, 3/2 dam (in Tan Son commune), An Ngai dam, Binh Son drainage canal... In particular, the Vuc Mau reservoir project is located on the upper reaches of Hoang Mai river, with a reserve of up to 75 million m³ The water project, the largest irrigation project of the province built in the 20th century, was designed and constructed solely by Quynh Luu district.

Vuc Mau Lake - The irrigation project with the largest water reserve in Nghe An in the 20th century. This project was designed and constructed by Quynh Luu district. Vuc Mau Lake also shows the vision of the times of Secretary Nguyen Huu Doi.

The project was built in the form of the State and the people working together, mobilizing 3 million working days and digging and filling 1.6 million m³ soil and rocks. Vuc Mau Lake has provided irrigation water for over 2,000 hectares of cultivated land, while also contributing to flood prevention, creating the Hoang Mai area today, which in 2013 was decided by the Government to be built into a town, with the orientation of developing into a large industrial park of the Nam Thanh - Bac Nghe region. Vuc Mau has also become an eco-tourism destination, one of the destinations on the current Nghe An tourism map.

It was from the movement to build irrigation works that Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi was the soul of, spreading his famous slogan "mo rice, qua ca, communist heart, the whole district joins hands to build irrigation works" which later people only knew its variant as "mo rice, qua ca, communist heart, advance to socialism".

Another major project that he led and was mentioned a lot by the people was the direction of planning fields, settling down and settling down. In just a short time, under his direction, organization and mobilization, Quynh Luu district mobilized nearly 2,100 households from the communes of Quynh Ba, Quynh Thuan, Son Hai, An Hoa, Quynh Luong, Quynh Nghia, Quynh Di, Quynh Van... to migrate to the mountainous communes of the district such as Ngoc Son, Tan Son, Quynh Chau, Quynh Tam, Tan Son, Quynh Thang, Tan Thang, Quynh Trang, Quynh Tan; mobilized nearly 1,000 households in Quynh Luu to migrate to new economic zones in the mountainous districts in the West of Nghe An such as Quy Chau, Quynh Hop, Nghia Dan, Thai Hoa and many households to go to the Central Highlands to build a new economy...

Not only ensuring irrigation, Vuc Mau Lake has now become an attractive eco-tourism destination.

That policy, in addition to the purpose of relocating people to expand the cultivated area and develop agriculture and forestry, also has an important meaning in strengthening national defense and security. This movement has contributed significantly to changing the appearance of the mountainous areas in the West of Nghe An and solving the difficulties in the lives of many other farmers. It is from here that he became famous with the slogan "change the sky, change the land, rearrange the country" and is also the reason why dogmatic or ignorant minds label him as "voluntarism".

Also under his “time”, small and medium-sized industrial zones, handicraft cooperatives, and craft villages were built in extremely difficult conditions. Many projects have survived the test of time and still maintain their value, such as Giat market, salt fields of 7 communes in the coastal area and 5 communes in the coastal area, the waterway from Cau Giat to Lach Thoi...

Not only developing the economy, he also paid great attention to welfare projects such as building the district hospital at a time when Quynh Luu was a key target for American bombing; building commune health stations, and a system of primary, secondary, and high schools. These projects were all built with the people's resources. Many of them have become the foundations and bases for today's projects, such as the district hospital and Quynh Luu 3 High School.

The cadre who, under his leadership and direction, left behind such works, could not possibly be “voluntarist”. Rather, it was a mindset that transcended the times, a strength of will that transformed into material strength, when that will was breathed into the masses by that fiery leader, that true communist.

Here is a quote from Comrade Nguyen The Trung - Former member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Mass Mobilization Commission, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee - evaluating Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi (in the article The Legend of Nguyen Huu Doi, the Man of Today - author Van Chinh), to better understand that: “…The concretization of Nghe An’s canals originated from Quynh Luu during Mr. Doi’s time. Land consolidation and plot exchange during Mr. Doi’s time. Residential planning and exploitation of bare hills and mountains during Mr. Doi’s time. Even the concept of large-scale production, which was once ridiculed by many people, suddenly seems correct when forming a trend of land accumulation for commodity production; also during Mr. Doi’s time…”.

People's cadre

When Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi passed away, people from all over Quynh Luu district came to see him off. His funeral was the largest in Quynh Luu at that time (1996), with a procession of mourners stretching for kilometers. People came to see him off with sorrow and gratitude for the achievements they enjoyed from the projects he had contributed greatly to build. They saw him off because he was a cadre of the people, from the people, and all his thoughts, feelings, and efforts were devoted to the people, to make sure the people were warm, well-off, and happy. That is why, in the hearts of the people, he is always a monument.

It is known that in some areas in Quynh Luu, people want to build a temple to worship Mr. Nguyen Huu Doi. That is the most noble recognition he has received!

Bao Ngan