General Secretary: Promoting comprehensive strength to protect national security
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the People's Public Security Forces' Traditional Day (August 19, 1945 - August 19, 2015), General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong wrote an article entitled "Strengthening the Party's leadership, promoting comprehensive strength, and doing better in protecting national security and maintaining social order and safety".
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Nghe An Newspaper respectfully introduces the full text of the article:
Born in the early days of the August Revolution in 1945, under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, with the wholehearted support and assistance of the people, the People's Public Security force has always shown absolute loyalty to the revolutionary cause; solidarity and dedication in work; bravery, intelligence and creativity in combat; together with the entire Party, people and army, we defeated all plots and sabotage activities of hostile and reactionary forces and all types of criminals; contributed to the cause of national liberation, firmly protected national security, maintained social order and safety.
The vibrant practice of 70 years of building, fighting and growing of the People's Public Security force has affirmed the fine tradition, revolutionary nature and steadfast fighting strength of the People's Public Security force - an important and trustworthy armed force of the Party, State and people.
Imbued with Lenin's thought that "A revolution is only valuable when it knows how to protect itself" [1], in the process of leading the revolution, our Party always focuses on building armed forces including the army and police to protect the Party, protect the people, and protect the achievements of the revolution. Immediately after its founding, our Party established Red Self-Defense teams, Workers' and Peasants' Self-Defense teams...
The activities of these organizations have contributed significantly to promoting revolutionary movements, leading to the general uprising and seizing power. These organizations also created the premise for the birth of the Vietnam People's Public Security during the August Revolution. August 19, 1945 became the Traditional Day of the People's Public Security Force.
In the early years after the August Revolution, the young people's government had to deal with countless difficulties and challenges, internal and external enemies, and a "life-threatening" situation. The Party, President Ho Chi Minh and the Government issued many directives and decrees to improve the organization and combat capability of the Public Security.
On February 21, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree No. 23/SL to merge the Public Security forces nationwide into the Vietnam Public Security Service. The Party sent loyal and trustworthy cadres to lead the Public Security force. During the nine years of resistance against French colonialism, the Public Security Department continued to be strengthened into the Deputy Ministry of Public Security and then the Ministry of Public Security.
On May 5, 1950, the Central Party Standing Committee issued Directive No. 10-CT/TW on the Party's leadership of the Public Security, stating: "To rectify the way of leading the Public Security, each Party Committee must assign a member to be in charge of leading the Public Security. Select capable comrades to join the Public Security to grasp the Party's guidelines and policies..." Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, dated November 23, 1952 of the Central Party Secretariat emphasized: "From now on, at all levels of the Party Committee, directly doing Public Security work must be a Party Committee member... must guide, urge, inspect Public Security work and educate and train Public Security officers".
On October 30, 1956, the Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW to establish the Party Delegation of the Ministry of Public Security. This was an important milestone demonstrating the comprehensive attention and strengthening of the Party's leadership role in the Public Security.
The People's Public Security Forces promptly fought and suppressed counter-revolutionaries; prevented and dealt with the espionage and spying activities of French colonialists; achieved many feats of arms; contributed significantly to smashing the plots and sabotage activities of reactionary and colonialist forces; protected the Party, the revolutionary government, and the people; and actively contributed to the victory of the resistance war against the French colonialists.
During the period when the whole country carried out two revolutionary strategies: building socialism in the North and fighting to liberate the South, the organization and apparatus of the Public Security continued to be improved to meet the requirements and tasks in the new period. The Party's leadership method for the Public Security was also gradually supplemented and perfected.
The Party Central Committee has issued many resolutions and directives on strengthening the leadership of the Public Security work, clearly stating: "The Public Security force is one of the important tools of the people's democratic dictatorship, a sharp weapon of the Party and the State... The entire Party needs to firmly grasp the Public Security force and consider strengthening the Public Security force an important political task... Public Security forces at all levels must be under the close leadership of Party committees at all levels" [2].
In the North, the Party led the People's Public Security to organize well the work of grasping and forecasting the situation, correctly identifying targets, setting out guidelines and organizing well the work of preventing and effectively fighting against all types of spies and counter-revolutionaries; directed and organized well the mass movement to protect social order and security and "protect against espionage" in agencies and enterprises, creating a widespread mass movement, arousing the spirit of patriotism and revolutionary vigilance of all classes of people.
In the South, under the leadership of the Central Bureau, the security forces have closely followed the locality, closely followed the base, protected the Party, protected the revolutionary base, and protected the people. Intelligence, security, armed reconnaissance, and urban commando forces were formed and achieved many outstanding feats.
The Southern Regional Party Committee and later the Central Bureau established the Security Protection Committee, the Central Bureau Security Committee and regional security committees with the task of protecting the Party, protecting revolutionary bases, and protecting the people's struggles. Many comrades who were Party Committee members were assigned to direct security work to ensure the direct and regular leadership of the Party.
After the complete liberation of the South and reunification of the country, in the new situation, the Party issued many important resolutions and directives to direct the People's Public Security in the cause of protecting security and order.
The Party Central Committee Secretariat issued Decision No. 45-QD/TW, dated November 14, 1979, regulating the Party organization in the Ministry of Home Affairs (now the Ministry of Public Security). The Party Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs was established and became the focal point directly under the Party Central Committee; the Party organization in the local Public Security was directly under the Party Committee of the same level. With this decision, the Party's leadership over the People's Public Security was concretized and strengthened in an important step.
On January 30, 1987, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 40-NQ/TW on the task of protecting national security and maintaining social order and safety in the new situation, which continued to affirm the principle: "The Party comprehensively and directly leads the work of protecting national security; building a truly clean and strong People's Public Security force."
The implementation of those resolutions and decisions has comprehensively strengthened the Party's leadership over the People's Public Security. Public Security forces nationwide have focused on fighting and defeating sabotage activities; suppressing and dismantling many reactionary organizations; attacking and pursuing criminals, maintaining political security, order and social safety in the context of the country facing many difficulties due to the blockade and embargo policies of hostile forces.
In the early years of the renovation period, the world situation had many profound changes, directly affecting the Vietnamese revolution, threatening the survival of the Party and the regime. The socialist system fell into a serious crisis, leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries in Eastern Europe.
While the country is facing many difficulties, hostile, reactionary, and political opportunists are stepping up their ideological sabotage activities, demanding the "depoliticization" of the armed forces, including the People's Public Security Forces; inciting "pluralism" and "multi-partyism", plotting riots and overthrowing in order to eliminate the leadership role of the Party and the socialist regime in Vietnam.
The Party has led the People's Army and People's Public Security to proactively detect, fight, prevent, and defeat the "peaceful evolution" plots of hostile forces; and maintain national security, order, and social safety.
After the Politburo issued Decision No. 110-QD/TW on August 30, 1990, establishing the Central Public Security Party Committee, the principle of the Party's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects over the People's Public Security was further fully and comprehensively determined.
Since 1990, the Party has assigned Party and State leaders to participate in the Central Public Security Party Committee. For local public security, provincial, municipal, district, county, and town party committees have all appointed (or assigned) permanent deputy secretaries and chairmen of people's committees to participate in or be in charge of the public security party committee at the same level.
The Party Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat have issued many resolutions and directives to lead the work of ensuring security and order in accordance with the requirements and tasks of the revolution in each period. The Party's resolutions and directives on the field of security and order protection have clearly stated the directions, viewpoints, guiding thoughts, determined the goals and tasks; pointed out the objects of struggle; principles and guidelines for handling the field of national security protection, maintaining social order and safety. These are important viewpoints and policies for the People's Public Security to thoroughly grasp and organize implementation.
The cause of renovation carried out by our Party and people has achieved great and historic achievements. With these important achievements, our country has undergone many profound changes, our economy continues to grow, people's lives are increasingly improved, national defense is strengthened, security is maintained, and Vietnam's position in the international arena is increasingly enhanced.
Thoroughly grasping the Party's viewpoints and guidelines for innovation, the People's Public Security force has proactively and actively innovated its thinking, leadership style and working methods. At any time, even in difficult and challenging times, the Public Security force has always demonstrated absolute loyalty to the Party, the Fatherland and the people; steadfastly and firmly performed its advisory function to the Party and the State, closely coordinated with all levels, sectors and localities, especially closely coordinated and cooperated with the People's Army to firmly protect independence and sovereignty, maintain national security, social order and safety, protect the peaceful life of the people, and create a peaceful and stable environment for national construction and development.
In the current context, the trend of globalization and international integration is increasingly deep, the security, political and economic situation of the world and the region, in addition to favorable aspects, continues to have complex developments, with many potential uncertain and unpredictable factors. The world is facing global issues such as international terrorism, ethnic, religious conflicts, sovereignty and territorial disputes; non-traditional security issues such as climate change, cyber security, natural disasters, epidemics, etc., directly threatening the peace and stability of countries, including Vietnam.
Hostile forces have not given up their goal of eliminating the leadership role of the Communist Party and the socialist regime, and have thoroughly exploited Vietnam's difficulties in the process of developing a market economy and international integration to continue to increase activities that destabilize political security.
In that context, strengthening the Party's leadership role over the People's Public Security is of particular importance for the People's Public Security force to perform well its task of protecting the Party, the State and the people, and to truly be the Party's absolutely trustworthy and vital armed force. To further strengthen the work of ensuring national security and maintaining social order and safety, it is necessary to pay attention to the following issues:
Firstly, it is necessary to unify awareness, regardless of circumstances and conditions, we must always adhere to the principle of the Communist Party of Vietnam's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects over the People's Public Security. This is an objective and inevitable requirement for the cause of protecting security and order. The Party's leadership over the People's Public Security is comprehensive, covering all political, ideological and organizational fields; over all tasks of protecting national security, maintaining order and social safety, and building forces. Wherever there is organization and operation of the Public Security, there is the leadership of the Party.
The Party sets out the policy of protecting national security, maintaining social order and safety, and the content of special importance is to build a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, gradually modernized People's Public Security force, absolutely loyal to the Party and the Fatherland, wholeheartedly serving the people. The Party leads the State to institutionalize the Party's policies and viewpoints in the Constitution and legal documents for Public Security officers, soldiers and all people to thoroughly understand and implement.
The Central Party Committee of the Public Security and Party committees at all levels in the Public Security must always thoroughly grasp and seriously implement the Party's guidelines and policies on security, order, and national protection; perform well the advisory function to the Party and State on security and order protection; serve socio-economic development, national defense, and foreign affairs; comply with and fully implement the Party's leadership and direction in all aspects of work.
The People's Public Security Force must strictly comply with the Party's leadership, properly implement the provisions of law and the management and administration of the State. Continue to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement Regulation No. 92-QD/TW, dated May 15, 2012 of the Politburo on Party organization in the People's Public Security Force; resolutions and directives of the Party on protecting the Fatherland, protecting security and order, especially the Resolution of the 8th Conference of the 11th Party Central Committee on the Fatherland Protection Strategy; Directive No. 46-CT/TW, dated June 22, 2015 of the 11th Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership in ensuring security and order in the new situation.
The Party's leadership role is first and foremost demonstrated in determining guidelines, policies, and strategies; in the capacity to effectively organize and implement the proposed guidelines and strategies. Therefore, the Party must continue to supplement and perfect the guidelines and leadership mechanisms for the People's Public Security and the cause of protecting security and order. Promote the leadership role of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and local Party committees in Party building and building the Public Security force. Determine the responsibility of Party committees and authorities in taking care of building a clean and strong grassroots Public Security force.
Second, the police force must always be vigilant, proactive, sensitive, and ready to have plans to deal with situations. Continue to innovate thinking, leadership style, working methods, and force arrangement to meet task requirements in the new situation. In particular, it is necessary to have new thinking on identifying targets and partners; be proactive and sensitive in grasping, analyzing, and forecasting the situation; perform well the advisory function with the Party and State on policies and strategies to ensure national security, protect territorial sovereignty, strengthen foreign policy, and enhance Vietnam's position in the international arena.
Absolutely do not be subjective, vague, or lose vigilance; do not be passive and surprised by any situation. Continue to summarize and innovate working measures, in which importance is attached to professional, legal, technical, mass, economic, and diplomatic measures. All innovations start from practice, from the grassroots, so all police activities must be directed towards the grassroots, serving the people.
The process of globalization and international integration is taking place more and more deeply, requiring the People's Public Security force to actively and proactively expand foreign relations and participate in international and regional security cooperation organizations. At the same time, through international cooperation activities, to deploy measures to firmly protect security and order from afar, from outside the border and territory, contributing to the implementation of the foreign policies and guidelines of our Party and State.
Third, strengthen and improve the effectiveness of State management in the task of protecting national security, maintaining social order and safety, contributing to building a society of order, discipline and respect for the law. In the context of the ruling Party, the Party's policies and viewpoints on the tasks of protecting security and order must be institutionalized into legal documents and implemented through State management mechanisms. Improving the effectiveness of State management in the cause of protecting security and order is an important task in the current period. Proactively propose the development and promulgation of legal documents regulating the field of security and order, as a basis for preventing, combating and handling acts of violating security and order.
Fourth, the people play an extremely important role in the cause of protecting national security, maintaining social order and safety, and in building the People's Public Security force. Whenever and wherever, the Public Security forces (Security, Intelligence, Police...) must always come from the interests of the people and serve the people. The Public Security must strengthen its close relationship with the people, focus on building and developing the movement "All people protect national security"; mobilize and promote the great capacity of all classes of people in the cause of protecting security and order.
Police officers and soldiers must listen to people's opinions, have a mechanism to check, monitor, and evaluate the spirit and attitude of serving the people, first of all in the departments that regularly have relationships, contacts, and resolve work directly related to the people. Continue to reform administrative procedures, innovate working methods to be truly close to the people, making the people increasingly trust and support the police force.
In work and combat, police officers and soldiers must always uphold the sense of discipline and organization, resolutely fight against irresponsibility and indifference to the legitimate demands of the people; practice civilized manners and behavior towards the people. Proactively and actively overcome shortcomings and deficiencies that damage the relationship between the people and the police. Innovate and strengthen mass mobilization work, contributing to consolidating the great national unity bloc and the close relationship between the Party, the police and the people, consolidating "the people's hearts and security", increasing the people's trust in the Party, the State and the police force. Uncle Ho taught: "When the people help us a lot, we will succeed a lot; when they help us a little, we will succeed a little; when they help us completely, we will succeed completely".
Strengthen the close relationship between the Public Security with sectors, levels, organizations and unions in performing tasks; closely combine security and order assurance with economic and social development, and expand foreign relations. Constantly consolidate the close relationship between the People's Public Security and the People's Army in performing national defense and security tasks, serving economic and social development; closely combine the building of people's security and people's security posture with the building of a solid all-people national defense and all-people national defense posture.
Strengthen coordination and cooperation with sectors and organizations in the work of protecting national security, maintaining social order and safety, combined with building an increasingly clean and strong People's Public Security force.
Fifth, focus on Party building and building the People's Public Security force. Do a good job of political and ideological education, perfect the organization, build the contingent of cadres and Party members; improve the quality of Party committees at all levels, ensure that they are truly the core of leadership, representing the intelligence, qualities and capacity of the Party organization.
Well implement the principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership, individual responsibility, and responsibility of the head; attach importance to the development, completion, and implementation of working regulations; strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws in accordance with the functions and tasks of units in the People's Public Security.
Special attention is paid to building a clean and strong Central Public Security Party Committee in terms of politics, ideology and organization. Continue to effectively implement the Resolution of the 4th Central Conference of the 11th term "Some urgent issues on Party building today" associated with studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh and implementing the 6 teachings of Uncle Ho to the Public Security through practical and effective actions.
Step up the fight to defeat the plots and tricks of "peaceful evolution" and "depoliticization" of the People's Public Security force. The Public Security needs to coordinate with specialized agencies to strengthen the summary of practices, research theories and use research results to fight against reactionary and erroneous arguments.
At the same time, enhance the political capacity and vigilance of police officers and soldiers against the plots and sabotage tricks of hostile forces. Strengthen internal political protection work; promptly detect and resolutely combat signs of wavering, loss of confidence, ambiguity, loss of vigilance, and degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle.
The more proud we are of the glorious 70-year tradition of building, fighting and growing up of the heroic Vietnam People's Public Security, the more we see the great honor and responsibility of the People's Public Security in the new era. The Party, the State and the people always believe and hope that the Public Security force will continue to promote its revolutionary qualities and fine traditions, strive to train and build a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and gradually modern People's Public Security force, better perform the task of protecting national security and maintaining social order and safety, contributing to the successful implementation of the cause of building and firmly protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam./.
According to VNA
