General Secretary: The great ideology of the Russian October Revolution will shine forever

This morning (November 5), the 100th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution (1917-2017) was solemnly held at the My Dinh National Convention Center, Hanoi. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivered an important speech at the ceremony titled: The Russian October Revolution and the Socialist Ideal in the Present Age.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the ceremony.

Dear delegates and guests,

Dear comrades and friends,

Today, we gather here - in the middle of the thousand-year-old civilized and heroic capital Hanoi, to join the entire Party, people and army in celebrating a great event of historical and epochal significance - the victory of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917.

As we know, exactly one hundred years ago, following the signal gun from the battleship Aurora, the attack on the Winter Palace in Petrograd began and the great socialist revolution under the leadership of the Russian Bolshevik Communist Party headed by V.I. Lenin won in Petrograd and quickly spread throughout Russia.

The Russian October Revolution "shook the world", destroyed a large part of the capitalist and imperialist system, and opened a new era in human history. With the victory of the October Revolution, the predictions of the founders of scientific socialism became reality on one-sixth of the globe.

For the first time in history, the workers rose up to take power into their own hands to build a completely new society. A new type of State in the form of Soviets was formed and was evaluated by V. Lenin as "the highest level of democracy for workers and peasants,... a new type of democracy"[1].

The victory of the October Revolution and the birth of the Soviet State founded by Lenin fundamentally changed the fate of the Russian people, turning Russia from a backward, poor feudal, capitalist country into a leading economic, political, military, scientific, technical, cultural, educational... power in the world; turning the masses of workers and peasants from slaves into masters of the country and society; the role and position of Russia in the international arena were constantly enhanced.

The victory of the Russian October Revolution gave strength to the international communist and workers' movement. Many communist and workers' parties were born in various countries, forming a widespread international movement across five continents, pioneering the struggle of progressive humanity for the noble ideals of national independence, democracy and socialism.

A wave of proletarian revolution in Europe broke out strongly, creating a climax of struggle of the working class and working people, shaking the domination of the monopoly bourgeoisie in many countries. A socialist system was born, playing a huge role in the development process of the modern world.

The Russian October Revolution had a strong impact on the political and social life of many countries and peoples; it awakened and encouraged oppressed colonial peoples and dependent countries to rise up and fight for independence and freedom, bringing confidence and hope in the possibility of self-liberation. The working class and laboring people in a series of colonial countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America rose up to fight for national independence; hundreds of millions of people were liberated from the chains of slavery, forming a strong national liberation movement worldwide.

The victory of the October Revolution, the achievements of the Soviet regime and the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II also awakened and encouraged the movement for people's livelihood, democracy and social progress in the developed capitalist countries, forcing capitalism and imperialism to make adjustments to adapt and survive.

As Lenin affirmed: "Our October Revolution opened a new era in world history"[2]. President Ho Chi Minh assessed: "Like the brilliant sun, the October Revolution shone across the five continents, awakening millions upon millions of oppressed and exploited people on earth. In human history, there has never been a revolution with such great and profound significance"[3].

With such great and profound significance, the victory of the Russian October Revolution truly created a new era for Russia, and at the same time opened a new era in human history. It transcended space and time, becoming a great symbol of the era. The Vietnamese people and progressive humanity will forever remember the great leader V.I. Lenin, the Bolsheviks and the people of all ethnic groups in the Soviet Union who struggled and sacrificed to create this unique historical event!

Dear comrades and friends,

During more than seventy years of existence and development, the Soviet Union has achieved many brilliant achievements in the cause of protecting the achievements of the October Revolution as well as in the cause of economic and social construction and development, and has made great contributions to the cause of peace, national independence, democracy and social progress of mankind. As the new masters of the country, the workers, peasants and intellectuals in the Soviet Union, with great determination and extraordinary efforts, have turned their country, which was backward compared to other developed countries, into a powerful industrial power, leading the world in many fields.

For example: The Soviet Union reached many peaks in science and technology, especially opening the era of human conquest of space. Soviet education was ranked among the most advanced in the world. The fields of culture, arts, etc. developed brilliantly, extremely richly, uniquely, and were praised and respected by the whole world.

The material and spiritual lives of all classes of people are taken care of, all people enjoy high-quality social benefits, and live in a peaceful and healthy environment with love, justice and mutual respect.

In the context of having to constantly face the sinister plots and sabotage acts of imperialist and reactionary forces, the Soviet State always put first the task of strengthening national defense and security, defeating all kinds of enemies inside and outside, maintaining the achievements of the revolution and national sovereignty, and since the 1950s of the last century, it has achieved a balance in modern weapons, an important guarantee for world peace.

The people of the world will never forget the enormous sacrifices and glorious feats of arms of the Soviet people and Red Army in World War II, saving humanity from the fascist disaster, creating favorable conditions for many countries to take the path of building socialism and for many nations to regain independence and sovereignty from colonialism and imperialism.

Commemorating the October Revolution in Russia and reviewing the great achievements of the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, we cannot help but mention the strong support, great assistance, and pure international spirit that the first socialist state gave to socialist countries, to the national liberation movement and the struggle of the world's people for peace and social progress.

Those are historical facts that no one can deny!

Throughout the years of existence of the Soviet State - the offspring of the October Revolution, and especially since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, hostile forces and opportunistic forces of all colors have always used a thousand and one tricks to deny the significance of the October Revolution and the great achievements of the Soviet regime. However, the truth remains the truth. No matter how things change, the spirit of the October Revolution and the historical achievements as well as the great contributions of the people of all ethnic groups in the Soviet Union to mankind will never fade, and will forever remain engraved in the minds of all people of conscience around the world!

Dear comrades and friends,

As for Vietnam, we have sufficient grounds to affirm that all victories of the Vietnamese revolution are closely linked to the influence of the Russian October Revolution as well as the wholehearted support and assistance of the Soviet people.

Our beloved President Ho Chi Minh was the first Vietnamese to approach, absorb and creatively apply the ideas of the October Revolution very successfully to our country's revolutionary cause. After the victory of the October Revolution, he stood firmly on the side of the French Socialist Party members, supporting the Third Communist International founded by V. Lenin. In 1920, when reading V. Lenin's "First Draft Theses on the National and Colonial Questions", he was very moved, excited, clear-headed, confident,... so happy that he cried, sitting alone in the room he spoke loudly as if he were speaking before a large crowd: "My miserable compatriots! This is what we need, this is the path to our liberation"[4].

After that, he overcame all dangers to come to the Soviet Union, participated in activities in the Communist International, and directly learned about the revolutionary experience of the Soviet Union to lead the Vietnamese revolution. During that period, he sent many Vietnamese revolutionary youths in the country to study in the Soviet Union, including comrades who later became General Secretaries of our Party, such as comrade Tran Phu, comrade Le Hong Phong, comrade Ha Huy Tap, and many other senior revolutionary leaders.

Vietnamese communists and patriots, despite having to operate in extremely difficult and secret circumstances, even in imperialist prisons and on the guillotine, still wholeheartedly turned towards Soviet Russia, towards the homeland of Lenin and the October Revolution with steadfast faith and full hope for the final victory of the revolutionary cause they were pursuing.

The great victory of the Soviet army and people in the war against fascism, forcing the Japanese militarists at that time to surrender unconditionally, created favorable objective conditions for the success of the August Revolution in 1945 in our country, opening a new era - the era of national independence and socialism in Vietnam. Especially, during the period when our people waged resistance wars against the French colonialists and the invading American imperialists, as well as in the construction of socialism initially in the North and later in the whole country when the country was unified, the Soviet Union always gave our people the strongest support, helping our army and people to win glorious victories in the resistance wars and in the work of restoring and developing the economy and society.

One of the extremely important aids of the Soviet Union was the training, fostering, and coaching of tens of thousands of Vietnamese cadres, soldiers, and workers in all fields of politics, economics, science and technology, culture, diplomacy, military, security, etc.; not to mention the thousands of Soviet experts who came to Vietnam to share the hardships and wholeheartedly help our people protect and build the country.

Obviously, thanks to the correct revolutionary line of our Party, under the light of Marxism-Leninism, with the will of self-reliance and self-strengthening of the nation combined with the wholehearted and righteous help of the Soviet Union, China, fraternal socialist countries and international friends, the Vietnamese revolution has achieved the great achievements it has today.

As President Ho Chi Minh said: "When drinking water, remember its source." The more we remember the humiliating days of losing our country, the more we remember each step of the revolutionary struggle full of sacrifice, hardship but also full of glorious victories, the more the working class and people of Vietnam appreciate the great contributions of Lenin and the October Revolution"[5]. On this occasion, we once again express our deep gratitude to the people of all ethnic groups in the Soviet Union for the noble international solidarity, the great and extremely valuable support and assistance given to our people!

Dear comrades and friends,

The more deeply grateful and closely attached we are to the influence of the October Revolution, to the invaluable contributions of the Soviet people to humanity and the warm Vietnam-Soviet relationship, the more heartbroken we, the Party, State and people of Vietnam are over the tragic events that occurred in the Soviet Union in the early 90s of the last century.

We know that revolution is a difficult and complicated undertaking, not a smooth and easy path, sometimes it has to go through many different stages, winding and twisting, sometimes even temporary failure and setback, but we still cannot help but be shocked by that incident. With a pure revolutionary spirit and serious scientific nature, on the one hand, we firmly and objectively evaluate the unchanging significance of the October Revolution as well as the great achievements and contributions of the former Soviet Union; on the other hand, we also soberly identify the subjective and objective causes that led to that sad event; and more importantly, we need to draw profound lessons to continue to persevere and resolutely pursue the goal and ideal of building socialism in our country, avoiding the mistakes that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As early as 1991, our Party had recognized that the underlying cause of this historical event was that, in the process of building socialism in the Soviet Union, in addition to achievements of historical and international significance, there were also shortcomings and mistakes that were slowly discovered and overcome, especially the contradictions that arose in the process of building a new society along with the deviation from the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism by the highest leaders of the Party at that time. In particular, there were two fundamental and direct causes that were closely related to each other: First, serious mistakes in political guidelines, Party building, ideological work, and organizational and personnel work during the reform process; and second, hostile and reactionary forces implemented the strategy of "peaceful evolution", seeking every way to influence and divert the reform process in the Soviet Union, taking advantage of internal mistakes to achieve the goal of abolishing the socialist regime.

Drawing on successful lessons and clearly recognizing shortcomings and mistakes in the process of building socialism in the Soviet Union, our Party has proposed a correct and creative innovation policy and is steadfastly and persistently carrying out step by step the comprehensive innovation process in our country.

Dear comrades and friends,

Our Party's Platform on national construction in the transitional period to socialism (supplemented and developed in 2011) clearly stated: Advancing to socialism is the aspiration of our people, the right choice of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, in line with the development trend of history. Firmly grasp the flag of national independence and socialism - the glorious flag that President Ho Chi Minh handed over to today's generation and future generations. National independence is a prerequisite for implementing socialism and socialism is the solid foundation for national independence.

The Party's correct leadership is the leading factor determining all victories of the Vietnamese revolution. The Party must firmly grasp, creatively apply, and contribute to the development of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, constantly enrich its intellect, improve its political mettle, moral qualities, and organizational capacity to be able to solve the problems posed by revolutionary practice.

All Party guidelines and policies must originate from reality and respect objective laws. We must prevent and combat major risks: mistakes in guidelines, bureaucracy, and degeneration and corruption of cadres and Party members. All Party activities must originate from the legitimate interests and aspirations of the people. The Party's strength lies in its close connection with the people. Bureaucracy, corruption, and distance from the people will lead to immeasurable losses for the fate of the country, the socialist regime, and the Party.

Our country's renovation process over the past 30 years has achieved great and historic achievements. This is the result of a principled and dynamic renovation process based on the steadfastness and creative application of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought; at the same time, it is also the basis for each Vietnamese person to have a deeper understanding of the historical stature, significance and practical value of the great Russian October Revolution for the Vietnamese revolution in particular and the world in general.

The achievements we have made demonstrate the vitality of socialism in Vietnam. The comprehensive national renewal process ahead still faces many difficulties and challenges, but with the noble ideals and profound practical lessons of the Russian October Revolution continuing to illuminate and shine, our people, under the leadership of the Party, continue to unite, strive to develop the country and protect the Fatherland, successfully building socialism for the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness and civilization.

Following the ideals of the Russian October Revolution, with valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of real socialism over the past century, we need to continue to summarize practices and research theories in order to continue to clarify the laws and principles of development in accordance with the reality of Vietnam. Focus on thoroughly grasping the basic viewpoints and guidelines stated in the Party Platform and successfully implementing the key tasks that the congresses, especially the recent 12th Congress of the Party, have pointed out:

- Strengthening the building of a clean and strong Party, improving the Party's leadership capacity and fighting strength; preventing and repelling the degradation of political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party. Focusing on building a contingent of cadres, especially strategic-level cadres with sufficient capacity, qualities and prestige, equal to the task. Innovating the organizational apparatus of the entire political system to be streamlined, operating effectively and efficiently; stepping up the fight against bureaucracy, corruption and waste.

- Focus on implementing solutions to improve growth quality, labor productivity and competitiveness of the economy. Continue to effectively implement 3 strategic breakthroughs (perfecting the socialist-oriented market economic institution; fundamentally and comprehensively innovating education and training, developing human resources, especially high-quality human resources; building a synchronous infrastructure system), overall and synchronously restructuring the economy associated with growth model innovation; promoting industrialization and modernization of the country, focusing on industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas associated with new rural construction.

- Resolutely and persistently fight to firmly protect the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Fatherland; defeat all plots of "peaceful evolution", sabotage and overthrow by hostile and reactionary forces; maintain a peaceful and stable environment, preserve social order and security for national development. Expand and develop depth in foreign relations; be ready to be a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community; take advantage of opportunities, overcome challenges, effectively implement international integration in new conditions, continue to enhance Vietnam's position and prestige in the international arena.

- Attract and promote all resources and creativity of the people. Take care to improve material and spiritual life, effectively solve urgent problems; strengthen social development management, ensure social security, social welfare, improve social welfare and sustainable poverty reduction. Promote people's mastery, promote the strength of great national unity.

- Promote the human factor in all areas of social life; focus on building people in terms of ethics, personality, lifestyle, intelligence and working capacity; build a healthy cultural environment.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution, more than ever, we are more aware of the values ​​and great contributions that this revolution has brought to humanity, more deeply aware of the painful lessons from the collapse of Soviet-model realism and more steadfast in the path of innovation for national independence associated with socialism that the Party, Uncle Ho and our people have chosen. The reality and achievements of the Vietnamese revolution are vivid realities that contribute to refuting the distorted arguments, denying the value of the October Revolution, denying Marxism-Leninism and the path to socialism in our country.

Dear delegates,

Dear comrades and friends,

We celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution in the context of our country witnessing vibrant days of implementing the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress and the resolutions and conclusions of the Party Central Committee.

The entire political system is taking action and moving in a positive direction: the Party has issued, led, and directed the effective implementation of many important resolutions; the Government is taking drastic actions to implement the Party's resolutions and policies; the National Assembly is making strong innovations, welcomed by voters and people nationwide. Many of our recent policies and concrete actions have been widely agreed upon and supported by cadres, party members, and people, and are demanding and expecting us to do even better.

With the spirit of the Russian October Revolution, the spirit of the August Revolution and the Vietnamese will, with new determination, new spirit, new vitality, with firm belief in the strength and will of the entire Party and the entire nation, in the bright future of the country, we firmly believe that we will certainly successfully implement the renewal policy for a Vietnam with rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization, firmly advancing towards socialism.

The great ideas of the October Revolution in Russia on national liberation, social liberation and human liberation will shine forever!

Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought live forever!

Long live the glorious Communist Party of Vietnam!

Long live the glorious Socialist Republic of Vietnam!

Great President Ho Chi Minh lives forever in our cause!

Thank you very much.

1] See: VILe-nin, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, volume 44, p.184.

[2] See: VILe-nin, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, volume 44, p.185.

[3] Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 15, p.387.

[4] Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 12, p.562.

[5] Ho Chi Minh, Complete Works, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, volume 15, pp. 392 - 393./.

According to VOV