Uncle Ho's thoughts and feelings were always very deep for his homeland.

PV:Dear comrade! It has been 50 years since the passing of beloved Uncle Ho (July 21, 1969 - July 21, 2019) and also 50 years since the implementation of his Testament. On this occasion, could you share your thoughts?

Comrade Truong Cong Anh:On July 21, 1969, our Uncle Ho passed away. He passed away but left behind for the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people a personality, an ideology, a great career and the Will that he left behind is a priceless historical document, with profound theoretical and practical significance, historical and contemporary significance. Looking back at 50 years of implementing his Will, the work of Party building has always been identified by our Party as a key task. That is the core for the Party to initiate and successfully lead the Renovation process so that the country can develop as it is today.

President Ho Chi Minh. Photo archive

Immediately after the successful August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh also paid attention to the "disease" of power of the Party, the State, and cadres and party members.

He affirmed in his Testament: “Our Party is a ruling party”; however, in my opinion, from the 4th Congress to the 12th Congress, our Party has not yet set out the guiding ideology of improving the ruling capacity, but only improving the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party. Until the second half of the 12th Congress term, our Party has added the content of building and rectifying the Party on all 4 contents: politics, ideology, organization and ethics, instead of building on 3 contents of politics, ideology and organization as before. The reason why our Party adds the content of building the Party on ethics is because our Party is a ruling party; because the ruling party is easily “infected” with the “risks of ruling”, infected with the “disease” of power. Immediately after the successful August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh also paid attention to the “disease” of power of the Party, the State and cadres and party members.

After writing his Will and before passing away, he also wrote the article “Improving revolutionary ethics, wiping out individualism”. And in his Will, after the sentence “Our Party is a ruling party”, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “Every cadre and party member must be truly imbued with revolutionary ethics, truly diligent, frugal, honest, upright, impartial and selfless. We must keep our Party truly clean, worthy of being a leader, a truly loyal servant of the people”. Those are the theoretical values ​​and practical significance of Party building in his Will.

President Ho Chi Minh's Testament: Typewritten in 1965, handwritten, revised and supplemented in 1968 and 1969. Documentary photo

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the implementation of President Ho Chi Minh's Testament and the preparation for Party Congresses at all levels, towards the 13th National Party Congress, our Party needs to evaluate and review in the spirit of the 6th National Congress, which is to look straight at the truth, correctly evaluate the truth and tell the whole truth about Party building and rectification as a ruling party in accordance with his instructions: "Our Party is a ruling party". On the other hand, the thoughts and messages of President Ho Chi Minh in his Testament on solidarity and the practice of widespread democracy within the Party also need to be given the best attention and implementation.

PV:In addition to the general Testament, the Party Committee and people of Nghe An were honored to receive Uncle Ho's last letter before he passed away - this is considered a personal Testament for Nghe An. As a cadre who used to work in the Party agency and always cared about and accompanied the general development of the province, how do you feel about how Nghe An has implemented Uncle Ho's Testament?

Comrade Truong Cong Anh:After the success of the August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh's first letter was sent to a locality, Nghe An, and before he passed away, his last letter was also written to a locality, Nghe An. This affirms that President Ho Chi Minh, besides being a common person of the nation and of humanity, deep down, his thoughts and feelings were always very deep for his homeland.

Uncle Ho visited Kim Lien - Nam Dan. Photo archive

In his last letter to his homeland, he expressed his earnest wish to build Nghe An into one of the best provinces in the North.

In the last letter he sent to his homeland, he expressed his earnest wish to build Nghe An into one of the most prosperous provinces in the North. After 50 years of implementing his Will, although in many terms, the Party Committee and the government of Nghe An have been concerned and determined to fulfill his wishes, but up to now this has not been achieved.

Although President Ho Chi Minh's wishes have not been fully realized and although the province's gross social product, per capita income and budget revenue are still lower than some localities in the region, but going deep into the lives of the people, especially in remote areas, ethnic minority areas, there has been very good development. This is a great effort of the Party Committee and people of Nghe An, especially in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas.

PV:In your personal opinion, what should the province do in the coming time to continue implementing the Will, especially his wish to make Nghe An one of the best provinces in the North?

Comrade Truong Cong Anh:Nghe An has not yet fully realized President Ho Chi Minh's wishes, because objectively, Nghe An is not yet a truly attractive location to attract investors and large projects that are the driving force and locomotive to promote socio-economic development.

Comrade Truong Cong Anh introduced the portrait of Uncle Ho that he sent to the Party Committee and people of Nghe An on May 19, 1969, with his handwriting and the title: "Cadres and party members must be exemplary in all work, must wholeheartedly serve the people." Photo: Mai Hoa

Subjectively, there is still "conservatism" and the maintenance of small, self-sufficient production that has existed for too long is hindering development; the acceptance of new things, boldness, and breakthroughs in thinking and action in economic development of cadres, party members and people are still limited. Therefore, to promote development, Party committees and authorities at all levels need to research and propose solutions to solve the above two problems.

Conference to review the National Target Program on New Rural Development in the Red River Delta (RD) and North Central Coast (CCR) for the period 2010 - 2020. Photo: Duc Anh

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the implementation of President Ho Chi Minh's Testament and the last letter he sent to the Party Executive Committee of Nghe An province, and at the same time preparing for the Party Congresses at all levels; in my opinion, from the Party cell to the grassroots Party Committee, the upper-level Party Committee and the Provincial Party Committee need to self-examine the implementation of the Testament at their level to set out the determination, tasks and solutions for the new term, so that by the end of the 19th Provincial Party Congress, Nghe An can escape from poverty and become a well-off province as Uncle Ho always wished. And when the economy develops, the care for people's lives that he instructed will certainly be well implemented.

Nghe An develops its economy to fulfill the wish of the President to make Nghe An one of the most prosperous provinces in the North.. Documentary photo

Regarding the work of Party building, Nghe An is a province with a large number of Party members, so Party committees at all levels need to pay attention to political education, ideology, ethics, and revolutionary qualities for Party members; at the same time, they must have a spirit of learning, promoting the role and intellectual contribution of existing Party members to the work of Party building as well as the socio-economic development of the province. The admission of Party members does not necessarily have to pay attention to quantity, but the core is to consider and weigh the motivation of each individual to join the Party, joining the Party is to serve the Party and serve the people; however, for special regions and areas with a small number of Party members, there needs to be a solution to develop quantity in parallel with quality.

Another issue in Party building is the cadre work. Currently, the weakest point in cadre work is the cadre assessment stage, because the current standards are qualitative, such as loyalty or ability to complete tasks. Therefore, the province needs to conduct research to quantify cadre standards, from which to consider and select the right and appropriate cadres for promotion and appointment; at the same time, it must be clearly aware and act correctly that cadre work belongs to the Party, not to any other individual or group of people.

PV:Thank you very much, comrade!