Intact lesson of seizing opportunities in the era of national growth

The success of the August Revolution in 1945 was the first great victory of our people since the Party's leadership, opening a great turning point in the history of the Vietnamese nation.

One of the important factors contributing to the victory of the August Revolution in 1945 was the art of creating opportunities, accurately assessing opportunities, and resolutely seizing the opportunity to launch a nationwide uprising to seize power.

Up to now, the lesson about opportunity from the August Revolution remains intact in value, especially when our country is preparing its position and strength to firmly step into a new era, an era of national growth.

Prepare forces and predict opportunities

At the end of 1939, World War II broke out and spread throughout Europe, the world and domestic situation changed rapidly.

In 1940, analyzing the developments of the war between the fascists and the allies, leader Nguyen Ai Quoc affirmed that the final victory would belong to the democratic side and assessed that the opportunity for national liberation was very near, and the revolutionary situation was about to appear.

In June 1940, upon hearing the news of France's surrender to Nazi Germany, he commented: "This is a very favorable opportunity for the Vietnamese revolution. We must find every way to return home immediately to seize the opportunity. Delaying now would be a crime against the revolution." And on January 28, 1941, after 30 years of wandering abroad, Uncle Ho returned home to directly lead the Vietnamese revolutionary movement.

Four months later, in May 1941, the 8th Central Executive Committee Conference stated: “At this time, if we do not resolve the issue of national liberation and demand independence and freedom for the entire nation, not only will the entire nation and people continue to suffer the fate of slaves, but the interests of individual groups and classes will not be regained for ten thousand years.”

The 8th Central Conference advocated further strengthening the great national unity bloc, aiming to gather all classes, all strata, all parties, all ethnic groups, all individuals, all those with revolutionary spirit, patriotism, fighting against French imperialism, Japanese fascism and their lackeys.

At the Conference, our Party established the Viet Minh Front, bringing together all classes and strata to unite through associations: Farmers for National Salvation, Workers for National Salvation, Youth for National Salvation, Women for National Salvation, Children for National Salvation... to form a broad and solid bloc of great national solidarity.

In October 1944, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to the people of the whole country, analyzing the favorable world situation. He commented: "The opportunity for our nation to liberate is only in one or five and a half years. Time is very urgent. We must act quickly."

To meet the requirements of the revolution, on December 22, 1944, following Uncle Ho's direction, the Liberation Propaganda Team (the predecessor of the Vietnam People's Army) was established with the task of armed propaganda activities, combining politics with the military.

Along with building and consolidating revolutionary forces in all aspects, we proactively carry out partial revolutionary struggles, aiming to contribute to promoting ripe opportunities.

On the night of March 9, 1945, Japan staged a coup against France and monopolized Indochina. On March 12, 1945, our Party issued a Directive: "Japan and France are fighting each other and our actions." Like a "flash of lightning," the Directive was quickly transmitted. The political and armed struggle of our people took place vigorously in many localities, especially in the North. At this time, famine was occurring seriously, which was also one of the reasons why our Party advocated "destroying enemy rice warehouses to solve the famine."

The movement broke out and it was the broad economic struggle that fanned the flames of the struggle against Japan, destroyed the enemy's government, led the masses into partial uprisings, and established local revolutionary governments.

Resolutely grasp, take advantage of and seize opportunities

In August 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies; in Indochina, the Japanese army panicked; the revolutionary movement in the whole country was seething; the conditions for a general uprising were ripe. Uncle Ho said: "Now the favorable opportunity has come; no matter how much sacrifice is required, even if we have to burn down the Truong Son mountain range, we must resolutely gain independence." And "We must seize every second, every minute; the situation will change rapidly; we cannot miss the opportunity."

Seizing that opportunity, the Party Central Committee convened the Party's National Conference and the National Congress in Tan Trao (August 13), advocating launching a general uprising to seize power before the Allied forces entered our country to disarm the Japanese army. Next, the Tan Trao National Congress met, approved the general uprising policy, passed 10 major policies of the Viet Minh and elected the National Liberation Committee.

Immediately afterwards, Uncle Ho sent a letter calling for a general uprising to the people of the whole country, in which he affirmed: "The decisive hour for the destiny of our nation has come. The people of the whole country must stand up and use our own strength to liberate ourselves."

Seizing the "once in a thousand years" strategic opportunity, under the leadership of the Party, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, people across the country simultaneously rose up in revolt to seize power. In less than half a month (from August 14 to 28, 1945), the general uprising was completely victorious, ending the domination of French colonialism, Japanese fascism and the feudal regime, and the government returned to the people. From here, the Vietnamese people escaped from slavery to become masters of the country, masters of their own destiny; our country entered a new era, an era of independence and freedom associated with socialism.

The achievements of the August Revolution are the crystallization of the efforts, intelligence, will, blood and bones of the entire Vietnamese people, led by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

That is the result of our Party's careful and scientific preparation of revolutionary strength and potential and its political sensitivity in identifying revolutionary situations and opportunities.

Applying lessons about opportunities in the era of national growth

The exemplary lesson of seizing opportunities in the August Revolution of 1945 has been continuously promoted and developed in the periods of fighting and glorious victory of our entire army and people, establishing the Dien Bien Phu victory "famous in five continents, shaking the earth" in 1954 and the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975 of epochal significance.

From here, the country was completely independent, the mountains and rivers were reunited, bringing the whole country into a new era - the era of building socialism.

Lessons learned from recognizing and seizing strategic opportunities continue to be creatively applied, contributing decisively to helping our Party lead the country to overcome vital challenges and achieve historic victories.

The decision to launch the renovation process in 1986 (the 6th Party Congress) was a great strategic decision, which brought the cause of building and defending the Vietnamese Fatherland into a new era: the era of renovation and development, overcoming serious crises. In all circumstances, firmly upholding the goal of national independence and socialism, in the spirit of "using the unchanging, responding to all changes," firmly grasping the times and situation, promoting the total strength of the nation combined with the strength of the times has been flexibly applied by the Party to move the country forward, innovate and integrate.

Thanks to that, after nearly 40 years of innovation, Vietnam has transformed strongly, becoming a country with a dynamic economy, a successful model of development and integration.

Under the leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese people have persistently and creatively led the country to overcome many challenges and gain unprecedented achievements in history.

From a poor, backward, low-level, besieged and embargoed economy, Vietnam has become one of the 32 largest economies in the world, with an economic scale nearly 100 times larger than in 1986; among the top 20 economies in terms of trade and foreign investment attraction; per capita income increased from less than 100 USD to 4,700 USD in 2024; the fields of agriculture, processing industry, high technology, tourism, education, health... have all made great strides. People's lives have improved significantly, the poverty rate has decreased sharply, now only 1.93% (according to multidimensional standards) compared to more than 60% in 1986.

From an isolated country, Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with 194 countries in the world, has strategic partnerships and comprehensive partnerships with 37 countries, including 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Vietnam is an active member of more than 70 international and regional organizations, with increasingly high prestige in the international community.

The results, achievements and positions attained in the era of independence and freedom and the era of innovation and development have created the position and strength for Vietnam to enter a new era - the era of national growth, starting from the 14th National Party Congress.

The era of national development is the era of breakthrough and acceleration under the leadership of the Party, successfully building a socialist Vietnam that is rich, strong, democratic, fair, civilized, prosperous, and happy; catching up with, advancing together, and standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers. The top priority in the new era is to successfully implement the strategic goals by 2030, Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and high average income; by 2045 it will become a developed socialist country with high income; all people will be comprehensively developed, have a prosperous, free, happy, and civilized life.

In the context of globalization, the 4.0 industrial revolution and digital transformation are opening up unprecedented opportunities. However, our country is also facing many new challenges: the risk of falling behind, the risk of the "middle income trap," climate change, population aging, complex fluctuations in the world situation...

Along with that, the world situation is changing rapidly, complexly, unpredictably, and the 4.0 technology revolution is taking place strongly. That situation requires the Party and people to continue to promote the spirit of sensitivity, proactiveness, closely following and summarizing reality, improving the capacity to analyze and forecast changes in the international situation, anticipating achievements in science and technology of mankind, and promptly leading the implementation of development decisions.

On October 31, 2024, during the discussion session on "New era, era of national rise" with students of the Training and updating of knowledge and skills for planning cadres of the 14th Party Central Committee, General Secretary To Lam emphasized: "The world is in a period of epochal change, from now to 2030 is the most important period to establish a new world order, this is also a period of important strategic opportunity, the sprint stage of the Vietnamese revolution to achieve the 100-year strategic goal under the leadership of the Party, creating a solid premise to achieve the goal of 100 years of national founding.

The epochal change brings new opportunities and advantages, but also many challenges, in which the challenges are more prominent and new opportunities can appear in the moments between sudden changes in the world situation.

The 4th industrial revolution, especially artificial intelligence and digital technology, brings opportunities that developing and underdeveloped countries can grasp to get ahead and develop rapidly."

With such an important strategic opportunity, the head of our Party noted, "it is necessary to have a long-term plan to achieve the set goals. Because the world is changing continuously, slow change means falling behind the world."

Next, at the conference summarizing the work of 2024 and deploying the work of 2025 of the Government and local authorities held online on January 8, 2025, General Secretary To Lam pointed out: “… we need to thoroughly grasp and act urgently and resolutely, turning awareness into concrete action, will into reality. Every opportunity that comes to us must be seized promptly, because if we miss the opportunity, we will be guilty before history and before the people.”

Most recently, in the article “Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one,” the leader of our Party, General Secretary To Lam once again affirmed: “We cannot let the country fall behind. We cannot let the nation lose opportunities. We cannot let the spirals of history repeat themselves. Therefore, we must put national interests above all else. We must act for the long-term future, not for short-term achievements. We must firmly maintain independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and maintain a peaceful and stable environment. At the same time, we must strongly innovate in development thinking, administrative reform, building a socialist rule-of-law state, a socialist-oriented market economy, with State management, under the leadership of the Party, and building a modern socialist society."

Deeply aware of that historical requirement, our entire Party, people and army are making every effort, determined to innovate more strongly, constantly innovate, unite and join hands, with the highest goal of building a prosperous, happy, powerful and prosperous Vietnam. The work of building and developing the country in the new period not only requires arousing the spirit of patriotism and the will to self-reliance that has been forged over thousands of years of history, but also needs to highly promote the intelligence, mettle and creativity of the Vietnamese people in the new era.

This is also what General Secretary To Lam emphasized in the article “Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one”: “The 21st century is the century of nations that know how to master their own destiny. And the Vietnamese people - with all the lessons from the past, with all the solidarity today - will certainly continue to write new brilliant chapters in their development journey. For an independent, free, happy, prosperous, civilized, prosperous Vietnam, with an important position and voice in the international community.”./.

TTX