General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong: Prepare and organize well the Party Congresses at all levels

On this occasion, to guide party committees at all levels, the General Secretary and President wrote an important article "Preparing and organizing well party congresses at all levels towards the 13th National Congress of the Party".

We respectfully introduce the full text of the article by General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong:

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong. Photo: Tri Dung/VNA

PREPARE AND ORGANIZE PARTY CONGRESSES AT ALL LEVELS WELL

TOWARDS THE 13TH NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE PARTY

Nguyen Phu Trong
General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Party congresses at all levels for the 2020-2025 term leading up to the 13th National Party Congress will be held in 2020; this is a broad political activity within the entire Party, people and army.

The Congress is taking place in the context of the country having gone through 35 years of renovation, 30 years of implementing the Platform for national construction in the transitional period to socialism, and 10 years of implementing the 2011-2020 Socio-Economic Development Strategy with proud achievements.

Socialist democracy and the strength of great national unity have been strongly promoted; the socialist rule-of-law State has been increasingly perfected, its effectiveness and efficiency have been enhanced; the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country has achieved many important results; political security, social order and safety have been ensured, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity have been maintained; international integration has become increasingly deep; the work of Party building and rectification, and the consolidation of the political system have been promoted; the fight against corruption has achieved many remarkable results; the close relationship and trust of the people in the Party have been constantly consolidated and enhanced. These great and historically significant achievements have significantly contributed to creating the foundation, position and prestige of our country today.

Along with the above achievements and advantages, we are facing many difficulties and challenges. Along with the advantages in the development process are new requirements, tasks, new challenges and new conflicts. That is also natural, in accordance with the objective law of development.

Looking back over the past years, it can be seen that although our country's socio-economic development has made progress, it is not really stable, not commensurate with its potential and advantages, and has not fully promoted the historical values ​​and cultural traditions of the Vietnamese nation and people. The international political and security situation is evolving rapidly and complicatedly, with unpredictable and destabilizing factors.

The work of building the Party and the political system still has some weaknesses and shortcomings; the leadership capacity and fighting strength of many Party organizations and Party members are still limited. Meanwhile, seizing opportunities and overcoming challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the impacts of global climate change, environmental pollution, etc. are huge challenges for our country.

Hostile and reactionary forces are actively sabotaging the Party, the State, and the cause of building and defending our Fatherland with increasingly sophisticated and sinister plots and tricks, especially in the political and ideological fields.

To ensure the success of party congresses at all levels, the preparation and organization of congresses need to thoroughly grasp the following guiding viewpoints:

(1) Firmly uphold the goal and ideal of national independence associated with socialism on the foundation of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought. Firmly uphold the issues of principle in the Party's Platform, Statutes, guidelines and policies;

(2) Strengthen the leadership role of the Party, promote the responsibility of Party committees, Party organizations, Party members, especially leaders. Uphold the principles of Party organization and operation, especially the principle of democratic centralism and closely follow the directives and instructions of superiors and the actual situation of localities, agencies and units;

(3) Promote broad democracy, highly gather the intelligence of the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army, create solidarity and unity within the Party, and consensus in society; consolidate and enhance the trust of cadres, party members, and people in the Party;

(4) Respect objective laws, attach importance to summarizing practices, researching theories, and doing a good job of forecasting to determine appropriate and feasible goals, directions, tasks, and solutions for both the immediate and long term;

(5) Strictly implement the principle of the Party unifying leadership in personnel work and managing the staff. Put the interests of the Party, the country and the people above all else. Take political qualities, ethics, lifestyle, prestige and work efficiency as the basic basis for evaluating, screening, arranging cadres and innovating personnel work;

(6) Link the preparation and organization of the congress with promoting patriotic emulation movements, successfully and comprehensively implementing political tasks; proactively and effectively resolving complicated, urgent, and long-standing issues; promptly and effectively handling newly arising issues.

The preparation and organization of party congresses at all levels has many important contents, requiring party committees and organizations at all levels to promote responsibility and focus on leading the implementation of the following tasks:

First of all, each Party Committee, Party organization and Party member needs to fully and deeply understand the meaning, role and importance of the congress in order to prepare well and successfully organize Party Congresses at all levels.

Strengthen the comprehensive and direct leadership role of the Party Committee, from preparing the content of documents and personnel plans to preparing conditions for the congress; from resolving internal issues to gathering and promoting the strength of the people. All contents of the congress must be carefully prepared, not focusing on one content and neglecting another.

Through the preparation and organization of the congress to gather and promote the combined strength of the entire political system; consolidate and strengthen solidarity and unity, and improve the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party Committee.

Each Party Committee, Party organization and Party member must identify the congress as an opportunity to rectify the ranks, tighten discipline, improve courage, intelligence, democratic spirit, creativity and responsibility to participate most effectively in the decisions of the congress.

Link each content of the congress preparation work with the innovation of the Party's leadership and the State's management methods, promote the positivity, proactiveness and the vanguard and exemplary role of Party members. Enhance the role of the Party Committee collective along with enhancing the personal responsibility of the head of the Party Committee and Party organization in resolving issues of concern to cadres, Party members and the people.

Focusing on preparing for the congress is an important task at this time, but it must not affect other aspects of work; we must lead the implementation of political tasks well, promote the patriotic emulation movement, and make practical achievements to welcome the party congresses at all levels and the 13th National Party Congress.

In fact, some recent terms show that some party committees only focus on taking care of the congresses and are somewhat lax in leading the implementation of political tasks, failing to complete the set goals and tasks, even causing negative effects for the next term.

On the contrary, there are still party committees that pay more attention to carrying out regular political tasks and neglect the work of preparing and organizing congresses. Therefore, in leadership and direction, both of these tendencies must be avoided.

In the current context, we need to continue to promote Party building and rectification, tighten discipline, and effectively fight against corruption and negativity; at the same time, create a favorable environment and conditions to encourage innovation and creativity, and protect cadres who dare to think, dare to do, and dare to take responsibility for the common good.

Right from the preparation for the congress, we must proactively and actively do a good job of ideological work, creating unity within the entire Party and consensus in society. The press is an important channel reflecting the will and aspirations of the people towards the Party, and we need to innovate to do a good job of information and propaganda, promote intellectual participation and orient public opinion.

Experience shows that the preparation process for the congress is also the time when hostile and reactionary forces and opportunistic, politically dissatisfied elements take full advantage to incite, distort, and fiercely sabotage both policies and guidelines, and especially personnel work.

The press and relevant agencies must mobilize a broad force to step up the fight against false, distorted, hostile arguments and fake, bad, toxic, fabricated, and distorted information on social networks and the Internet, firmly protecting the ideological foundation, Platform, and guidelines of the Party. At the same time, focus on propagating and mobilizing all classes of people to participate in Party building and building the political system, actively and effectively contributing to the success of the congress.

In order for the congress to make correct and wise decisions, meeting the wishes and expectations of the people, the preparation and organization of the congress must be carried out seriously, methodically and thoughtfully; specific and scientific programs and plans must be developed; responsibilities must be clearly assigned to each organization and individual and regular inspection and supervision of implementation must be carried out.

The organization of the congress must be practical, safe, economical, avoiding ostentation, formality, and waste, ensuring solemnity and meaning, creating a good impression in the hearts of the people and international friends.

Second, the preparation of the political report - the central document of each congress, must most centrally demonstrate the vision, mettle, intelligence, will, and solidarity of the Party Committee, Party organization, Party members, and people of all walks of life.

The political report of the congress is the crystallization of the Party Committee's wisdom, enthusiasm, responsibility, creativity, vision, and aspirations and the development orientation of the locality, agency, and unit. The process of building the report must closely follow the Party's Platform, viewpoints, guidelines, and major orientations, especially the six key tasks and three strategic breakthroughs according to the Resolution of the 12th Congress, closely follow the orientation of preparing the Party's 13th Congress Documents and the actual situation to assess and determine the goals, directions, tasks, and practical, feasible, and effective solutions to implement in the 2020-2025 term and with a longer-term vision.

The report must skillfully combine theory with practice, closely combine inheritance and innovation; focus on objective, comprehensive and specific assessments in all areas of politics, economics, culture, society, national defense, security and foreign affairs, especially limitations, weaknesses and causes; evaluate the leadership, direction, innovation in thinking, vision and implementation methods of Party committees and organizations.

At the same time, seriously evaluate the implementation of the Central Committee's resolutions, directives and regulations on Party building and rectification, building the political system, building cadres at all levels; studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle; and the responsibility to set an example for cadres and Party members, especially leaders.

Correct assessment is always difficult, requiring strong political will, scientific methods, seriousness, sincerity and honesty of each Party committee, organization and leader.

Evaluation of achieved results must focus on summarizing new models, good practices, drawing valuable practical lessons; encouraging aspirations to rise up, encouraging exploration, innovation, and creativity to serve development. Evaluation of limitations and weaknesses must look straight at the truth, bravely face reality, clearly identify causes, especially subjective causes, draw lessons to find solutions to overcome them.

In particular, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze emerging issues such as: Not ensuring harmony between economic development and cultural development, human development, solving social problems and protecting resources and the environment; implementing land policies, ensuring traffic safety, corruption, waste, negativity, social evils; manifestations of individualism, status rivalry, localism, "group interests", "term thinking"...

Determining the direction, goals, tasks and solutions for the coming term must closely follow the Party's innovative viewpoints and ideas and the actual situation of the locality in the context of the region, inter-region and the whole country; at the same time, doing a good job of forecasting, seizing opportunities, maximizing potential and advantages for rapid and sustainable development, constantly improving the material and spiritual life of the people.

To do so, we must promote democracy, gather the wisdom of Party committees and subordinate Party organizations; respectfully accept the valid and responsible opinions of all classes of people, and create unity between the Party's will and the people's hearts.

Third, the Party Committee's review report must look straight at the truth, clearly state the truth, correctly evaluate the truth, point out the advantages, disadvantages and causes, promote self-criticism and criticism, and not be lenient or evasive.

The report reviewing the leadership and direction of the Party Committee is like a mirror reflecting the capacity and qualities, will and actions, thinking and working style of the Party Committee during the entire term. Therefore, it is necessary to have a serious and objective attitude, correctly evaluate the advantages to promote and be strict with each shortcoming to overcome and correct.

The Party Committee's review must closely follow the working regulations, the results of the leadership and implementation of the Party Committee's resolutions, the direction of the higher-level Party Committee, and the specific situation of the locality, agency, and unit. The review must promote self-criticism and criticism, without being lenient or evasive, as Uncle Ho advised: "A Party that conceals its shortcomings is a rotten Party. A Party that has the courage to admit its shortcomings, clearly point out those shortcomings, clearly examine the circumstances that gave rise to those shortcomings, and then seek every way to correct those shortcomings. That is a progressive, bold, steadfast, and genuine Party."

In fact, in recent times, many Party committees have demonstrated a resolute spirit, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, actively innovating, creating clear changes in many aspects, improving the material and spiritual life of the people. In addition, there are still Party committees that have not affirmed their responsibility and leadership capacity, are still passive, waiting, relying, and indifferent to the difficulties and frustrations of the people; there are signs of "hot above, cold below", "policies above, countermeasures below"; despite favorable conditions and circumstances, they have not exploited or promoted the potential and advantages for socio-economic development, and even allowed negativity and violations of the law to occur.

The collective review report needs to be linked to individual responsibilities in the assigned areas and areas, which is the basis for evaluating the Party Committee members during the term and contributes significantly to the preparation of personnel for the new term. The review needs to clarify the extent to which the shortcomings and weaknesses that have been pointed out have been overcome and corrected, especially the contents that the competent authority has suggested for review or concluded.

Based on the review report of the Party Committee, each comrade seriously reviewed the performance of his/her duties and responsibilities, "self-examined and self-corrected", promoted strengths, overcame limitations and shortcomings, made efforts to cultivate, train, and successfully complete assigned tasks. This is also a good opportunity for each Party Committee and each individual to self-rectify, strengthen solidarity and unity, and improve the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party Committee as well as each Party Committee member.

Fourth, well organize discussions and contribute opinions to draft documents of congresses at higher levels and the 13th National Party Congress, creating a broad and effective political activity, promoting the intelligence of the entire Party, people and army.

Currently, the Central Committee is actively directing the drafting of documents for the 13th National Party Congress and will organize a wide consultation of opinions from the entire Party, people and army. Opinions contributed at Party congresses at all levels and from all walks of life are extremely important, reflecting the Party's will and the people's will, and having rich and vivid practical value for the Central Committee to study, absorb and perfect the draft documents.

On the contrary, through discussion and contribution of opinions, lower-level Party committees have more suggestions and directions to supplement and perfect their draft documents. Dedicated, accurate, reasonable, and constructive opinions must be respectfully studied, filtered, and seriously accepted.

In addition, for issues with many different opinions, it is necessary to promote the responsibility and intelligence of the collective and individuals, spend adequate time to discuss and debate in order to find the most optimal solution and reach consensus. It can be said that this is a broad political activity of the entire Party, people and army.

The organization of opinion gathering must be practical, effective, and avoid formality. Based on the specific situation of the Party Committee, choose the appropriate way to gather opinions, receiving many quality opinions. It is necessary to orient and suggest important contents, new issues, issues with many options, and at the same time, allocate adequate time for discussion at the congress.

Pay attention to collecting opinions through conferences, seminars, mass media and other forums suitable for each audience, especially the opinions of scientists, experts, veteran officials, dignitaries and intellectuals.

Promote democracy, be open-minded, listen, encourage exploration and creativity, and be unprejudiced against opposing opinions that differ from the majority, but be steadfast on principled issues, without ambiguity or wavering, and always be alert and vigilant against any plots to take advantage of giving opinions to distort and sabotage.

Fifth, do better in personnel work and actively and proactively prepare Party committee personnel to ensure the success of Party congresses at all levels.

Deeply imbued with Uncle Ho's teachings that "cadres are the root of all work", "success or failure of all work depends on good or bad cadres", since the beginning of the term, the Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat and Party committees at all levels have paid special attention to cadre work, considering it the "key" part of the "key" task. On the basis of the resolutions, directives, regulations and statutes of the Central Committee, Party committees at all levels need to proactively specify and perfect documents on cadre work and Party committee personnel to suit the conditions and circumstances of each Party Committee.

Review, supplement, complete and improve the quality of Party committee planning as a basis for developing personnel plans to meet political requirements and tasks in the new situation. Continue to promote training, fostering and updating new knowledge suitable for each target group to improve political theory, moral qualities, practical capacity, leadership and management skills and effectively handle practical issues.

It is necessary to enhance the responsibility, proactiveness, positivity, objectivity and impartiality of competent agencies in evaluating cadres; strongly innovate the work of evaluating cadres in a consistent, continuous, multi-dimensional manner, according to specific criteria, by products, through surveys, and publicizing results; link individual evaluation with collective and task performance results of localities, agencies and units.

To proactively plan human resources, it is necessary to harmoniously combine on-site personnel preparation with staff mobilization, rotation, and arrangement, ensuring that staff have sufficient qualities and capacity to complete tasks, and have enough time to train and test through practice.

The preparation of Party committee personnel must be based on planning, standards, conditions, requirements, political tasks and the ability of cadres to meet them. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on discovering and introducing new factors with virtue, talent, prestige and prospects.

In personnel work, it is necessary to handle the relationship between standards and structure in a harmonious and reasonable manner, in which standards are the main thing, not lowering standards for the sake of structure; attach importance to both virtue and talent, in which virtue is the root; closely and effectively combine improving the quality of Party committees with ensuring the structure of three age groups, the proportion of young cadres, female cadres, and cadres from ethnic minorities.

Personnel work must be carried out step by step, task by task, firmly, carefully, strictly, following the correct procedures, ensuring democracy, objectivity, openness, transparency, but must be done with the right person for the right job. It is necessary to strengthen control over personnel work and personnel preparation at the Party Committee level; strictly prohibit all manifestations of violating the principle of democratic centralism, seeking to promote one person and demote another, causing suspicion, and causing internal disunity.

Resolutely do not allow into the new Party Committee those who are ambitious for power, who seek positions, power, votes, structures, factions, localism, group interests, who have degraded political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, "self-evolution", "self-transformation", bureaucracy, corruption; who are conservative, stagnant, ineffective in work, who say things that do not match their actions; who themselves or their spouses, children have an exemplary lifestyle, who take advantage of their positions for illegal profits.

Carefully review, fully supplement information, and have a firm grasp of cadres; Party members with political problems must be examined and concluded by competent authorities before being nominated for election to the Party Committee. The Party Committee's personnel plan must be closely linked to the work of preparing personnel for state agencies at all levels for the 2021-2026 term and personnel for the leadership of the 15th National Assembly delegation of the province and city.

The congress is the leading body, concentrating the mettle and intelligence of the entire Party. Therefore, the selection and election of delegates to the congress at higher levels must be comrades who truly have qualities, abilities, prestige and represent the intelligence of the Party; at the same time, ensuring a reasonable structure, especially the structure of delegates between localities and sectors and fields of work to improve the quality of discussion and decision on important issues of the congress.

After the congress, Party committees at all levels need to do a good job of assigning work to Party committee members according to the personnel plan, ensuring that it is suitable to the capacity and strengths of each cadre; proactively develop working regulations, programs, and work plans for the entire term; attach importance to ideological work, well and promptly implement the regime and policies for comrades who are not re-elected according to regulations; have a plan to deploy and organize implementation, and soon bring the congress resolution into life.

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President Ho Chi Minh taught: "The Party Congress is very important to the revolutionary future of our Party and our people. The Congress will make our already united Party even more united, and our thoughts and actions even more unified."

Preparing and organizing party congresses at all levels is one of the key tasks from now until the end of the term and to practically celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Party's founding, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country, the 45th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification, and the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great President Ho Chi Minh and towards the 13th National Party Congress.

The workload is huge while time is running out, so Party committees at all levels must further enhance their responsibility to the Party and the people, striving to successfully complete the goals set out in the Resolution of the 12th National Congress and resolutions of Party congresses at all levels for the 2015-2020 term.

The entire Party, people and army must strengthen solidarity, strive, be united from top to bottom, actively prepare and organize well the Party Congresses at all levels, making an important contribution to the success of the 13th National Congress of the Party."