High determination for the goal of economic - cultural center of the Southwest region of the province

(Baonghean) - These days 70 years ago, responding to the call of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, within just one week from August 17 to August 25, 1945, the prefectures and districts in Nghe An rose up one after another to successfully seize power. In Con Cuong, under the leadership of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, on the morning of August 28, 1945, the people in the district rose up to seize revolutionary power into their hands.

Before that, the Viet Minh base in Mon Son commune proactively contacted the Viet Minh General Committee in Dang Thuong (Anh Son) to mobilize the masses to rise up and fight, suppress, confiscate the Chief's cards and bronze seals, and declare the establishment of a revolutionary government on August 23, 1945. Faced with the strong momentum of the revolution, the ruling apparatus and officials of the colonial and feudal regimes from the district to the communes, villages, and hamlets were extremely confused; the "special" cadres of the Viet Minh province and the Viet Minh district representative persuaded the Con Cuong district chief to transfer power to the revolution.

After preparing and urgently organizing the mass forces, on August 28, 1945, a large rally took place at Cua Luy Temple (in Vinh Hoan village, Bong Khe commune today - the center of the district at that time), the Viet Minh representative stood up to declare the establishment of a revolutionary government. The provisional revolutionary committee was established (consisting of 7 people) with Mr. Lang Van Luong as Chairman and Mr. Lang Van Mai as Vice Chairman. Then the revolutionary government system was quickly established in communes, villages, and hamlets throughout the district...

People in Bai Oi village (Chi Khe - Con Cuong) harvest lemons. Photo: Ho Phuong

Promoting the tradition of ardent patriotism, the spirit of solidarity, overcoming difficulties and challenges, in the resistance wars to protect the Fatherland, the army and people of Con Cuong both built and protected the homeland and actively supported the front line, together with the army and people of the whole country, writing a heroic history of great victory in the spring of 1975, completely liberating the South and unifying the country.

In the renovation process, the Party Committee and people of all ethnic groups in Con Cuong district have always been united, proactive, creative, and made efforts in socio-economic development, taking care of improving people's lives, maintaining political security, social order and safety, and building a strong Party and political system. Among them, we can draw out the following outstanding achievements:

Firstly, over the past 70 years, Con Cuong has had over 7,000 people participating in revolutionary activities, over 4,000 young people joining the army; 165 people joining the Youth Volunteers and thousands of people joining the frontline laborers serving in combat on the Lao battlefield and in all regions of the country. Of these, 512 comrades, officers and soldiers remained permanently on the battlefields; 517 wounded and sick soldiers. In addition to human support, Con Cuong district has contributed and supported hundreds of cubic meters of wood, thatch, bamboo, rattan, and meters for military units; donated and supported the resistance with 319 taels of gold, 39 houses (total area of ​​1,320 square meters); contributed other assets equivalent to 1,639.7 tons of rice...

In recognition of such great contributions, the Party and the State awarded the Third Class Military Exploit Medal to the District Military Command; Comrade Vi Duc Cuong, from Luc Da commune, was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces; the Forestry Unit (now Con Cuong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd.) was awarded the title of Hero of Labor in the renovation period; Comrade Nguyen Ngoc Lai - former Director of Con Cuong Forestry Unit was awarded the title of Hero of Labor twice by the State; 17 mothers were awarded or posthumously awarded the title of "Heroic Vietnamese Mother"; Mon Son commune was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the State; Binh Chuan commune was awarded the Third Class Military Exploit Medal...

Second, the socio-economy continues to be stable and develop, the economic structure is shifting in the right direction; urban and rural infrastructure continues to be invested in and built; the rural landscape has many improvements; people's lives are constantly improving.

In the field of agricultural and forestry production, from a district with backward agriculture, low productivity and output, thanks to the application of scientific and technical advances and the implementation of agroforestry, many advanced examples have emerged such as Pha village (Yen Khe), Khe Ran village (Bong Khe), Lien Dinh village, Bai Oi hamlet (Chi Khe); Bai Gao village, 2/9 hamlet (Chau Khe); Dong Tien village, Chom Lom (Lang Khe); Hua Na village, Kim Son village (Luc Da); Thai Son village, Nam Son (Mon Son); Thanh Binh village (Thach Ngan)...

Up to now, the whole district has 13/13 communes with 97% of households using the national grid; 13/13 communes and towns have car roads to the center, connecting with other districts. Each commune has a market or commercial service cluster to meet the needs of exchanging and purchasing goods and necessities for the people. The movement to support the elimination of dilapidated temporary houses, hunger eradication and poverty reduction has become a widespread movement. The rate of poor households accounted for 75% (in 1990) and by 2014 it had decreased to 32.1%. The results of 4 years of implementing the national target program on new rural construction have mobilized 731,738 million VND, of which the people's contribution reached over 23 billion VND, building 100km of new rural concrete roads; striving to bring Yen Khe commune to meet new rural standards in 2015.

Third, the cultural and social career has made many advances, notably: education has developed strongly in terms of network, scale and quality. Since 1997, the district has been recognized as a national standard unit in combating illiteracy and universalizing primary education, and has been awarded the Third Class Labor Medal by the Government. Up to now, Con Cuong has 32 schools meeting national standards in phase 1, of which 4 schools have met national standards at level 2. Nghe An Vocational College - Ethnic Minorities was established, gradually improving the effectiveness of vocational training for the Southwest region of Nghe An.

Con Cuong district leaders talk with orange growers in Yen Khe commune. Photo: Huu Nghia

People's health care is given attention. The Southwest Regional General Hospital has been invested in and put into use with a team of doctors and nurses who have received basic training and a high sense of responsibility to serve the people's medical examination and treatment needs well. Preventive medicine is done well; population and family planning work, raising healthy children, and teaching good children are developing strongly in remote areas.

The district has paid attention to investing in information, radio and television work to serve the people's listening and viewing needs. The culture of ethnic groups has been preserved and promoted. The relics of Vi Van Khang's house and Bia Ma Nhai have been recognized as national historical and cultural relics; Pu Mat National Park has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve, creating a strong attraction for tourists. Social policies have been led and directed with attention. Party committees, authorities, the Fatherland Front and people's organizations regularly pay attention to activities of gratitude, repayment and support for Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, policy beneficiaries and people with meritorious services to the Revolution.

Fourth, the political system has been constantly consolidated and developed; step by step, the effectiveness of Party building work has been innovated and improved, focusing on implementing Resolution 4 of the Central Committee (11th tenure) in conjunction with continuing to promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's moral example, creating changes in the sense of responsibility, awareness of training and self-cultivation of cadres and party members, strengthening the steadfast belief of ethnic minorities in the Party's innovation cause. Promoting the revolutionary tradition, from the Mon Son Commune Party Cell - the first Party Cell established in the Southwest of Nghe An (established in 1931) with only 5 party members at the beginning, to date, the district Party Committee has had 48 affiliated grassroots organizations, with over 3,947 party members.

The people's government from the district to the grassroots level always complies with and implements the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's laws, promotes the mastery of the working people; actively develops the socio-economy, improves and gradually raises the material and spiritual life of the people. National defense and security are increasingly strengthened, resolutely fighting to prevent illegal religious activities, ensuring political security and social order and safety, firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security.

Carving furrows during the festival in Con Cuong. Photo: Cong Kien

...In the coming time, to achieve the goal of building Con Cuong into a fairly comprehensive district, an economic and cultural center of the Southwest of Nghe An, the Party Committee and people of the district need to focus on implementing the following tasks:

Firstly, continue to promote revolutionary traditions, raise political determination, grasp the situation, take advantage of opportunities, exploit potentials and resources, expand connections; overcome all difficulties and challenges to develop the economy and society quickly and sustainably.

Second, focus on implementing breakthroughs, focusing on human resource development; developing services, trade and tourism. Continue to develop agriculture and forestry in the direction of commodities; apply scientific and technological advances in production; promote potential, promote the development of historical, cultural, resort and ecological tourism...

Third, promote administrative reform, continue to attract investment and creatively apply central and provincial policy mechanisms to build infrastructure and develop ecological urban areas.

Fourth, take good care of cultural and social affairs; further promote the movement of the whole people uniting to build cultural life at the grassroots level; the movement of hunger eradication and poverty reduction; pay attention to and better implement social policies; and carry out national defense and security work well.

Fifth, perform well the task of Party building, focusing on resolutely and persistently performing well the urgent tasks of Party building associated with studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh. Improve the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party organization, the quality of the Party cadre and member team and the effectiveness and efficiency of State management, promote the role of the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations.

The immediate tasks of the Party committees, authorities, the entire army and the entire people of the district are: To concentrate on taking care of the crop, promoting the production of the autumn-winter crop to ensure the area, productivity and output. Actively prepare for storm and flood prevention, and prepare well for the new school year 2015-2016. All levels and sectors review the socio-economic indicators of 2015, strive to achieve and exceed the highest planned targets, practically establish achievements in implementing the Resolution of the 26th District Party Congress, the 18th Provincial Party Congress, towards the 12th National Congress of the Party.

Hoang Dinh Tuan

Secretary of District Party Committee, Chairman of People's Council of Con Cuong district